Could The Use of Marijuana Begin to Increase as More States Legalize Pot

In November, which is just six months away, California, along with Maine, Nevada, and a few other states, will be choosing whether or not they would like to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. From now until that time, residents are going to be bombarded with reasons why they should legalize and why they should not.

Residents are going to hear people fighting about how it will affect government revenue, the good it will do to criminal justice, the bad it will do for the environment, and even how it will affect cartels selling marijuana from Mexico. In the end, there are two sides. The first side says that the good outweighs the bad while the other side says the reverse.

Of course, there are extremes on both sides, and extremes should never be believed, but one fact is undeniable. If recreational marijuana is legalized, consumption is going to increase. Research from Colorado and Washington, where recreational marijuana was legalized in 2012, are not exactly finished yet. However, from what has been gathered, we do know that the amount of people living in Colorado that use marijuana jumped from around eleven percent to about fifteen percent in a matter of three years. In Washington, over that same timeframe, use jumped from ten percent to about thirteen percent.

Since both Washington and Colorado had medical marijuana systems set up beforehand and was already available to a few, it would be near impossible to know that recreational marijuana did not account for at least a few of these new smokers. Of course, there are other factors that could have influenced the jump, which is why researchers have not concluded their search. It could also be that those taking the tests are now being more honest since marijuana is legal now. We can infer though that legalization certainly had its part.