Marijuana Legalization did not Lead to Teen Usage

A large reason as to why the legalization of pot would result in more teenagers smoking it, but those fears seem to have been for no reason according to a new national survey on drug use. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) data showed that 7.4% of teenagers used pot on a monthly basis in 2014, according to a report from The Washington Post’s wonkblog. This does seem to be a 0.3% increase from last year, but the figure is irrelevant due to much higher percentages in 2002. Teenagers have not been smoking marijuana more, but it does seem as if adults have; the amount of people smoking marijuana often over the age of 26 has rises from 5.6% to 6.6%.

The report states that “cannabis use and access among students in 6th through 12th grades have changed little from 2002 through the most recent survey in 2014.” Although the number of teen-smokers has not drastically changed, there is a significant difference in teenagers who think marijuana is dangerous, which is much lower than it was a few years back. WSIPP says that these results should not be considered to be long term effects since the legalization of marijuana is still relatively new.

Lauren Vazquez is a part of the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project and was talking to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Here’s what she had to say: “States around the nation are rolling back marijuana prohibition, and teen use is not increasing. It appears the regulation of alcohol and tobacco is leading to reductions in teen use, and regulating marijuana in a similar fashion could produce similar results.”