8-24-2024 12:11pm

Study Finds Teen Marijuana Use Down with Legalization

Chris Edwards Editor

Study Finds Teen Marijuana Use Down with Legalization - AlamogordoTownNews.org

Teen marijuana use down as more adults are purchasing marijuana via legal cannabis channels. A new study released has revealed that teen marijuana use is trending downward and is down in states with legalization. Federal researchers have released a pair of surveys confirming that teen marijuana use has declined sharply over the last decade — during the same time which nearly half of all U.S. states have moved to legalize the substance.

According to data provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the percentage of those ages 12 to 17 who reported having ever tried marijuana fell 18 percent from 2014 to 2023. Those reporting having consumed cannabis during the last year fell by 15 percent. The number of teens reporting current marijuana use fell by 19 percent.

Similarly, data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavioral Survey finds that the percentage of high schoolers nationally who identify as current consumers of cannabis fell by 26 percent between 2013 and 2023.

And these latest surveys are far from the only evidence that fewer teens are experimenting with cannabis. According to the findings of a 2020 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, the adoption of state-level legalization laws “predicted a small significant decline in the level of marijuana use among [youth] users.”

Another study published in JAMA Pediatrics similarly concluded: “Marijuana use among youth may actually decline after legalization for recreational purposes,” since “it is more difficult for teenagers to obtain marijuana as drug dealers are replaced by licensed dispensaries that require proof of age.”

All the while more and mire people are flocking to the legal marijuana market where applicable per yet another report.

Among cannabis consumers in states with legalization laws, nearly 8 in 10 say they purchase all or most of their marijuana from licensed retailers—seemingly supporting advocates’ arguments that enacting regulated markets can detract from illicit sellers in reporting by the Marijuana Moment.

That’s according to a new poll conducted by the cannabis telehealth platform NuggMD as reported by the Marijuana Moment. It found that 77 percent of people in legal marijuana markets buy all or most of their cannabis from regulated stores.

Specifically, about two-thirds (65 percent) of all respondents said they get “all” of their cannabis products through legal outlets, while 12 percent said they get “most” of it through legal sources.