Cannabis Legalization and Teen Use
As cannabis legalization changes, there have been questions about the impacts of legal cannabis on prevalence rates. A recent brief report in JAMA Psychiatry sought to examine if state-level cannabis legalization has resulted in increased cannabis use among more than 1.75 million teens using cohort data collected between 1993 and 2021. Results did not find a significant increase in the prevalence of any past-month cannabis use or number of individuals engaging in frequent cannabis use (i.e., 10 or more times in the past-month) as a result of recreational cannabis legalization. There was also no significant impact of first dispensary opening on cannabis outcomes. This brief reports suggests that recreational legalization does not result in increased prevalence of teen cannabis use.
The full article can be accessed here: Recreational Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use, 1993-2021 | Adolescent Medicine | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network
Anderson, D. M., Fe, H. T., Liang, Y., & Sabia, J. J. (2024). Recreational Marijuana Laws and Teen Marijuana Use, 1993-2021. JAMA psychiatry.