 The next time you hear someone criticize cannabis legalization because of their fears over potential teen usage increasing, you can let them know that federal studies actually show that cannabis use by teens is trending downward as states legalize the plant.
A federal biennial report has just been relased, titled, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The study found that teen marijuana use declined from 2019 to 2021, and 2021 actually had the lowest rate in a decade; since states began legalizing for recreational use in 2012. This Federal study directly contradicts cannabis opponents who fear that legalizing adult use will lead to an increase in usage by teens. Cannabis advocates, on the other hand, have long maintained that legalizing adult use, along with proper regulation and legislation to uphold things like ID verification enforcement, would reduce teen use. This federal study confirms that. But it’s not unique… there have actually been many prior similar studies. Last year, for example, another National Institute on Drug Abuse funded study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and they also found that state-level cannabis legalization was not associated with increased youth use. Michigan State University researchers conducted another federally funded study which published their findings in the journal PLOS One last summer. They found that “cannabis retail sales might be followed by the increased occurrence of cannabis onsets for older adults” in legal states, “but not for underage persons who cannot buy cannabis products in a retail outlet.” There have also been numerous other studies with similar findings done by multiple agencies, including several more federally funded studies such as: the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and earlier studies also done by the Center for Disease Control. Comments are closed.
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