Legalization of recreational marijuana linked to decrease in teen use, study finds
Recreational marijuana legalization may be contributing towards kids smoking less weed.
What a topsy turvy world?! A big reason why recreational marijuana use is illegal is because of fear that legalizing it will put it straight in the hands (or pipe) of the young and pure.
Now it appears that the very act of legalizing recreational marijuana is linked to a decrease in teen use of the devil’s lettuce.
In the study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers evaluated data from national and state survey’s administered between 1993 and 2017 that tracked trends in behaviors such as unhealthy eating, sexual activity, and substance use.
The team analysed the data to estimate the “associations between medical and recreational marijuana legalization and the likelihood of marijuana use in the past 30 days,” the study reads.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
The sample size was 1 414 826 and the results are quite telling…
“Consistent with the results of previous researchers, there was no evidence that the legalization of medical marijuana encourages marijuana use among youth,” the study states.
“Moreover, the estimates showed that marijuana use among youth may actually decline after legalization for recreational purposes. This latter result is consistent with findings by Dilley and with the argument that it is more difficult for teenagers to obtain marijuana as drug dealers are replaced by licensed dispensaries that require proof of age,” the study concludes.
So whether recreational marijuana use has lost its ‘bad boy’ appeal or simply isn’t as accessible to youths as it once was, there is a decline in teen use, which is positive.
At the end of the day, recreational marijuana legalization is a friend, not a foe.
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