Introduction: Following the spread of recreational cannabis legalization and commercialization, cannabis has become increasingly available at lower prices. As policies regulating prices are common tools to control the demand for commercialized drugs, it is crucial to understand how cannabis use responds to price changes. In this study, we assessed the association between wholesale prices for legal cannabis flower and adults’ self-reported current cannabis use in ten states with recreational cannabis commercialization in the U.S. Materials and Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis using individual-level data on cannabis use from the longitudinal Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, during 2015 and 2021. Our analysis included 19,812 U.S. adults from ten states that legalized recreational cannabis sales during the study period. We first conducted logistic regressions to estimate the association between state-level cannabis prices and individual current cannabis use. To address potential endogeneity of cannabis prices, we then employed generalized method of moment (GMM) estimator, using cannabis taxes as an instrumental variable (IV). Results: IV-based GMM regressions suggested that cannabis taxes were a significant predictor of cannabis prices. However, the association between legal cannabis flower prices and adults’ current cannabis use was negative but statistically insignificant (coefficient = −0.18, p = 0.086). Price elasticity estimates for current cannabis use ranged from −0.66 to −0.59 across different model specifications. Conclusion: In the initial years of recreational cannabis commercialization in the U.S., the price elasticity of cannabis use among adults was negative but statistically insignificant. Given the rapid progression of commercialization, further research utilizing longer-term data is needed.

Background: Cannabis excise tax structures vary widely across the states in the United States. Standardizing taxes may improve cross-state comparisons and strengthen evaluations of how taxes and prices influence public health outcomes. This study developed category-specific standardized tax metrics for flower, vaping, and edible products by incorporating price and tax structure variations using retail scanner data. Methods: We analyzed cannabis retail scanner data from dispensary point-of-sale systems for flower, vaping, and edible products in 12 states with legal recreational markets from Q1 2020 to Q4 2024. Using retail prices and excise tax policies, we converted taxes in different forms across the supply chain into standardized measures and estimated tax incidence (ratio of standardized taxes to retail prices) for each category. We also evaluated the association between standardized taxes and retail prices. Results: Mean standardized excise taxes were USD 32.58/ounce for flower, USD 180.21/ounce for vaping, and USD 0.024/milligram THC for edible products. Corresponding tax incidences were 13.03%, 13.59%, and 13.09%. Standardized taxes and tax incidences varied considerably across states. Category-specific standardized taxes strongly predicted retail prices, supporting their use as an instrumental variable candidate. Conclusions: Category-specific standardized measures of cannabis excise taxes derived from retail scanner data may support cross-state comparisons and pricing policy evaluation.