According to a new study, the legalization of marijuana is associated with reduced usage rate among teens.
The study, published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Pediatrics, found that legalizing marijuana including allowing licensed marijuana stores is associated with reduced use rates among teenagers. The study included data from nearly a million teens across 47 states who reported “prior month use of cannabis, alcohol, cigarettes, and e-cigarettes.”
“[Legalizing recreational marijuana] was not associated with adolescents’ likelihood or frequency of cannabis use, although negative total effect estimates indicated significantly lowered use following RCL”, states the study. The study also found this to be true once legal marijuana states begin legal access to marijuana through licensed marijuana stores.
“The past decade has witnessed rapid shifts in cannabis legalization: since 2012, 24 US states and Washington, DC, enacted recreational cannabis legalization (RCL), and 18 implemented recreational cannabis retail sales (RCR)”, states the study. “Although studies of early-enacting US states and Canada reported few effects of RCL on adolescent substance use, experts have highlighted the need to further assess policy outcomes in youth as legalization and retail availability spread and other policies targeting youth substance use shift.”
Researchers say that “To our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate associations between RCL and RCR policies and adolescent substance use through 2021, capturing data from youth affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
You can find more information on this study by clicking here.
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