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Youth marijuana use does not increase after states enact legalization for medical or recreational use, researchers concluded in a study published in a prominent scientific journal on Tuesday. The policy change instead has an overall impact on adolescent cannabis consumption that is \u201cstatistically indistinguishable from zero,\u201d they found.<\/p>\n
In fact, it seems that establishing certain regulated cannabis models actually leads to lower marijuana use among adolescents under certain measures\u2014a finding that directly conflicts with anti-legalization arguments that are commonly made by prohibitionists.<\/p>\n
The analysis, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed federal Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 1993-2019 in 10 medical or adult-use states. It builds upon existing studies on the impact of cannabis reform on youth consumption that have reached similar conclusions.<\/p>\n
Researchers determined that the adoption of recreational cannabis legalization \u201cwas not associated with current marijuana use or frequent marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further, \u201cmedical 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nVia JAMA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The study, which received partial funding through a federal National Institutes of Health grant, also found that youth cannabis consumption decreased in states where recreational legalization had been in place for two years or more.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsistent with estimates from prior studies, there was little evidence that RMLs or MMLs encourage youth marijuana use,\u201d the researchers said<\/a>. \u201cAs more post-legalization data become available, researchers will be able to draw firmer conclusions about the relationship between RMLs and adolescent marijuana use.\u201d<\/p>\n The study authors didn\u2019t attempt to explain why youth might not be using marijuana more frequently in states that have legalized, but it\u2019s a trend that doesn\u2019t surprise advocates who have long reasoned that permitting sales in a regulated environment would detract from the illicit market and minimize youth access.<\/p>\n \u201cThis study provides additional evidence that legalizing and regulating cannabis does not result in increased rates of use among teens,\u201d Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Marijuana Moment. \u201cIn fact, it suggests that cannabis legalization laws might be decreasing teen use.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat makes sense because legal cannabis businesses are required to strictly check the IDs of their customers,\u201d he said. \u201cThe unregulated market, which prohibitionists are effectively trying to sustain, lacks such protections.\u201d<\/p>\n National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow also conceded in a recent interview that legalization has not led to increased youth use<\/a> despite her prior fears.<\/p>\n Volkow said on Drug Policy Alliance founder Ethan Nadelmann\u2019s podcast that she was \u201cexpecting the use of marijuana among adolescents would go up\u201d when states moved to legalize cannabis, but admitted that \u201coverall, it hasn\u2019t.\u201d It was reform advocates like Nadelmann who were \u201cright\u201d about the impact of the policy change on youth, she admitted.<\/p>\n A federal report released in May also challenged the prohibitionist narrative<\/a> that state-level marijuana legalization leads to increased youth use.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Education\u2019s National Center for Education Statistics also analyzed youth surveys of high school students from 2009 to 2019 and concluded that there\u2019s been \u201cno measurable difference\u201d in the percentage of those in grades 9-12 who reported consuming cannabis at least once in the past 30 days.<\/p>\n In a separate, earlier analysis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that marijuana consumption among high school students declined during the peak years of state-legal recreational cannabis legalization.<\/p>\n There was\u00a0\u201cno change\u201d in the rate of current cannabis use<\/a>\u00a0among high school students from 2009-2019, the survey found. When analyzed using a quadratic change model, however, lifetime marijuana consumption decreased during that period.<\/p>\n A federally funded Monitoring the Future report released late last year found that cannabis consumption among adolescents \u201cdid not significantly change<\/a>\u00a0in any of the three grades for lifetime use, past 12-month use, past 30-day use, and daily use from 2019-2020.\u201d<\/p>\n Another study released by Colorado officials last year showed that\u00a0youth cannabis consumption in the state \u201chas not significantly changed since legalization\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in 2012, though methods of consumption are diversifying.<\/p>\n An official with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy\u2019s National Marijuana Initiative went even further last year, admitting that, for reasons that are unclear,\u00a0youth consumption of cannabis \u201cis going down\u201d in Colorado<\/a>\u00a0and other legalized states and that it\u2019s \u201ca good thing\u201d even if \u201cwe don\u2019t understand why.\u201d<\/p>\n Past studies looking at teen use rates after legalization have found declines in consumption or a similar lack of evidence indicating there\u2019s been an increase.<\/p>\n In 2019, for example, a study took data from Washington State and determined that declining youth marijuana consumption could be explained by replacing the illicit market with regulations or the \u201closs of novelty appeal among youths.\u201d Another study from last year\u00a0showed declining youth cannabis consumption<\/a>\u00a0in legalized states but didn\u2019t suggest possible explanations.<\/p>\n Federal Courts In Two U.S. Territories Hosting Event On Marijuana Legalization\u2019s Tourism Impact<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Marijuana Legalization Doesn\u2019t Lead To Increased Youth Use, American Medical Association Study Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Youth marijuana use does not increase after states enact legalization for medical or recreational use, researchers concluded in a study published in a prominent scientific journal on Tuesday. The policy change instead has an overall impact on adolescent cannabis consumption that is \u201cstatistically indistinguishable from zero,\u201d they found. In fact,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":49823,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,15462],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49822"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49824,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49822\/revisions\/49824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Marijuana Legalization Doesn\u2019t Lead To Increased Youth Use, American Medical Association Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"