Cannabis Use In Legal States Haven’t See An Increase In Kids Using Marijuana
After thorough research was conducted study’s show that cannabis legalization doesn’t increase marijuana use from kids. Whether in a medicinal or recreational state. This research was published in a prominent scientific journal earlier in the week. The policy change rather has an overall influence on teenage cannabis use. Which is “statistically indistinguishable from zero,” they discovered.
So far it looks like creating ceratin-regulated systems may be a positive.
What this could lead to is a decrease in cannabis use amongst younger kids. This discovery led to an immediate conflict with anti-legalization disputes that are generally caused by prohibitionists.
The study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined federal Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 1993-2019. This research took place in 10 medical or adult-use states. It grows upon current investigations on the influence of cannabis reform. With a focus on kids who use cannabis that has reached similar results.
Researchers determined that the adoption of recreational cannabis legalization “was not associated with current marijuana use or frequent marijuana use.” Further, “medical marijuana law (MML) adoption was associated with a 6% decrease in the odds of current marijuana use and a 7% decrease in the odds of frequent marijuana use.”
This investigative research also discovered that youth cannabis consumption decreased in legal states. Mainly where recreational legalization had been in place for about 2 years or more.
“Consistent with estimates from prior studies, there was little evidence that RMLs or MMLs encourage youth marijuana use,” the researchers said. “As more post-legalization data become available, researchers will be able to draw firmer conclusions about the relationship between RMLs and adolescent marijuana use.”
What’s Next For Controlling Youth Cannabis Use With Legalization
The person who documented this study made no effort to explain why kids may not being using cannabis more often. Especially those in states where marijuana is legal. Yet it is not a pattern that comes as a shock to advocates who for some time have had called these results. Marijuana advocates have said that sales in regulated states decrease from the illegal market and reduce the access to cannabis for kids.
“This study provides additional evidence that legalizing and regulating cannabis does not result in increased rates of use among teens,” Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment. “In fact, it suggests that cannabis legalization laws might be decreasing teen use.”
“That makes sense because legal cannabis businesses are required to strictly check the IDs of their customers,” he said. “The unregulated market, which prohibitionists are effectively trying to sustain, lacks such protections.”
Director Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse also made some acknowledgments in a recent interview. She stated that legalization has not led to more kids using marijuana even with her prior fears.
Volkow said on Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann’s podcast that she was “expecting the use of marijuana among adolescents would go up” when states moved to legalize cannabis but admitted that “overall, it hasn’t.” It was reform advocates like Nadelmann who were “right” about the impact of the policy change on youth, she admitted.
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Controlling Cannabis Use With Kids And Teenagers
Back in May, a federal report was released which went against the stance of prohibitionists. This was in regards to state-level marijuana legalization leads to increased youth use.
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics also analyzed youth surveys. This was for kids in high school from 2009 to 2019. This study showed that there’s been “no measurable difference” in the percentage of those in grades 9-12 who reported consuming cannabis. Mainly for students who tried cannabis one time in the past 4 weeks.
A different, study was conducted at an earlier time, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This analysis determined that marijuana consumption among high school kids dipped during the peak years of state-legal recreational cannabis legalization.
There was “no change” in the amount of current high schoolers who used cannabis from 2009-2019, the survey found. When analyzed using a quadratic change model, however, lifetime marijuana use dropped while in that time period.
A federally funded Monitoring the Future report released in late 2020 found some good data. It discovered that cannabis consumption among adolescents “did not significantly change in any of the three grades for lifetime use, past 12-month use, past 30-day use, and daily use from 2019-2020.”
Another study was released by Colorado officials back in 2020. This study revealed that youth cannabis consumption in the state “has not significantly changed since legalization” in 2012, though methods of consumption are diversifying.
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Final Thoughts On Kids Using Cannabis In Legal States
A ranking member of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s National Marijuana Initiative went the distance in 2020. They came forth for reasons that are unclear, about kids using of cannabis “is going down” in Colorado. As well as other states that have legalized cannabis and that it’s “a good thing”. Even if “we don’t understand why.”
Investigative studies from the past about teens using cannabis after legalizing cannabis have shown some shocking results. It has been found that there is a drop in marijuana usage as well as a similar lack of proof showing there’s been an uptick.
3 years ago in 2019, a study used data from Washington State. To which this data concluded that declining youth marijuana consumption could be known by substituting the illicit market with regulations or the “loss of novelty appeal among youths.” Another study from 2020 revealed a dropping number of youth cannabis consumption in legalized states. Yet it didn’t propose any probable reasons.
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