New research reveals that cannabis use has decreased among teenagers, while disapproval of the drug is up.
An investigative study that was released on Monday discovered that in contrast to an increase of acceptance of cannabis at city and state levels, adolescent use of pot and the approval of it is down all throughout the country .
The research, published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, watched the use of cannabis among adolescents as well as some young adults perception towards marijuana, from 2002 to 2013.
In reference to the information documented “The proportion of adolescents aged 12–14 reporting ‘strong disapproval’ of marijuana use initiation increased significantly from 74.4–78.9%. Concurrently, a significant decrease in past 12-month marijuana use … was observed among younger adolescents.” In that 12-14 age demographic, the percentage of those who have used cannabis in the past year has lowered from 6 percent in 2002 to 4.5 percent in 2013. For teens who are older ranging from 15 to 17, disapproval of marijuana didn’t not change. Yet the percentage of teens who have smoked pot in this past year have gone down from 26 percent in 2002 to 22 percent in 2013.
The research viewed nationally representative data from the National Survey on Drug use and Health, spread throughout the period of 2002 to 2013, based on self-documented questions from roughly 500,000 kids and young adults.
“With decriminalization, medicalization and in some places recreational use, and adults no longer viewing marijuana use as an immoral act, we were concerned how it would affect teen use and attitudes,” head author Christopher Salas-Wright, assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. “But, especially at the middle school age, youth became more disapproving, not more permissive. And certainly this data tells us we don’t see a dramatic spike at the national level in terms of marijuana use.”
While more laws throughout the U.S. progressively change, Salas Wright states more investigative studies will be needed into the reason behind why teen marijuana use is decreasing and why the behavior is altering yet this data could have crucial implications. It displays, he identifies in a press release, that switching laws and policies “have not resulted in more use or greater approval of marijuana use among younger adolescents.”
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