![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-15-at-10.07.13-AM-1024x695-2.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Youth marijuana use \u201cdecreased significantly\u201d in 2021, as did teen consumption of illicit substances overall, according to a federally funded survey that was released on Wednesday. That\u2019s despite the fact that more state cannabis legalization laws are being enacted and implemented across the country.<\/p>\n
The Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which has been tracking adolescent drug behavior and attitudes since 1975, revealed a large drop in past-year cannabis use among 8th, 10th and 12th graders this year.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-15-at-10.07.13-AM-1024x695-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
And while the coronavirus pandemic limited social interaction in a way that likely contributed to the abrupt dip, the new data provides more evidence supporting the argument that legalizing marijuana for adults doesn\u2019t lead to increased underage usage.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how past-year cannabis use changed for each age category from 2020 to 2021:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 8th graders:<\/strong> 7.1% reported using marijuana in the past year in 2021, compared to 11.4% in 2020 Lifetime, 30-day and daily cannabis use among adolescents similarly dropped this year.<\/p>\n The use of alcohol, nicotine vaping and all other illicit drugs also \u201cdecreased significantly,\u201d the survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, found.<\/p>\n The drop in past-year cannabis use is notably steeper compared to consumption of all other illicit drugs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have never seen such dramatic decreases in drug use among teens in just a one-year period. These data are unprecedented and highlight one unexpected potential consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused seismic shifts in the day-to-day lives of adolescents,\u201d NIDA Director Nora Volkow said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n \u201cMoving forward, it will be crucial to identify the pivotal elements of this past year that contributed to decreased drug use\u2014whether related to drug availability, family involvement, differences in peer pressure, or other factors\u2014and harness them to inform future prevention efforts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The survey<\/a>, which involved self-reporting by 32,260 students across 319 schools from February to June, is another example of how the prohibitionist narrative that marijuana legalization would increase youth use isn\u2019t holding water.<\/p>\n \u201cThese latest findings add to the growing body of scientific literature showing that marijuana regulation policies can be implemented in a manner that provides access for adults while simultaneously limiting youth access and misuse,\u201d Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, said<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n The 2020 MTF survey also 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 federally funded study, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), was released in October showing that youth marijuana use dropped in 2020<\/a> amid the coronavirus pandemic and as more states moved to enact legalization.<\/p>\n Further, an analysis published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in September found that enacting legalization has an overall impact on adolescent cannabis consumption that is \u201cstatistically indistinguishable from zero.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In fact, it seems that establishing certain regulated cannabis models might actually lead to lower marijuana use among adolescents under certain measures.<\/p>\n Volkow herself also conceded in a recent interview that legalization has not led to increased youth use<\/a> despite her prior fears. A federal report released in May also\u00a0challenged the prohibitionist narrative<\/a> around under marijuana consumption.<\/p>\n With respect to this latest MTF survey, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Rahul Gupta said that the \u201cBiden-Harris Administration is committed to using data and evidence to guide our prevention efforts so it is important to identify all the factors that may have led to this decrease in substance use to better inform prevention strategies moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Administration is investing historic levels of funding for evidence-based prevention programs because delaying substance use until after adolescence significantly reduces the likelihood of developing a substance use disorder,\u201d he said.<\/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 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 ONDCP\u2019s National Marijuana Initiative went even further last year, admitting that, for reasons that are unclear, youth 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 Illinois Announces $45 Million In Marijuana-Funded Grants To Support Community Reinvestment<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Youth Marijuana Use \u2018Decreased Significantly\u2019 In 2021 Despite State Reforms, Federally Funded Survey Finds<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Youth marijuana use \u201cdecreased significantly\u201d in 2021, as did teen consumption of illicit substances overall, according to a federally funded survey that was released on Wednesday. That\u2019s despite the fact that more state cannabis legalization laws are being enacted and implemented across the country. The Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":51763,"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\/51762"}],"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=51762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51764,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51762\/revisions\/51764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n10th graders:<\/strong> 17.3% reported using marijuana in the past year in 2021, compared to 28.0% in 2020
\n12th graders:<\/strong> 30.5% reported using marijuana in the past year in 2021, compared to 35.2% in 2020<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-15-at-10.15.16-AM-1024x627-1.png\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n
\nRead More: Youth Marijuana Use \u2018Decreased Significantly\u2019 In 2021 Despite State Reforms, Federally Funded Survey Finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"