According to a new study, the legalization of licensed marijuana retail outlets is not directly associated with an increase in marijuana use among young people.
Titled Increasing lifetime and past 30-day marijuana use among middle school students regardless of recreational marijuana sales, the study is being published in the June, 2024 issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors.
“This study investigated whether adult use marijuana sales were associated with changes in lifetime and past 30-day (P30D) marijuana use among middle school students in Nevada (NV), which had adult-use marijuana sales during the study period, compared to New Mexico (NM), which did not have adult-use marijuana sales during the study period”, states the study’s abstract.
For the study, “Data were drawn from the middle school 2017 and 2019 NV Youth Risk Behavior and NM Youth Risk and Resiliency Surveys. Difference-in-difference analyses compare changes in lifetime and P30D marijuana use in NV (adult-use sales implemented July 2017) vs. NM (no adult-use sales during the study period).”
Researchers found that “there was no difference in lifetime and P30D marijuana use by adult-use sales status. The odds of lifetime and P30D marijuana use increased in both states, particularly among students who were female, older, non-White, or attending a Title 1 school.”
The study concludes:
Adult-use sales were not associated with an increase in lifetime or P30D marijuana use. State-level prevention efforts should focus on sub-populations with increasing lifetime and P30D use regardless of adult-use sales status.
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