A new analysis from the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) shows that teen cannabis consumption has decreased in every single state that has legalized marijuana for adults. The report tracks federal and state government survey data on youth use from the years before each state legalized through the present.
In every instance, fewer high school students are using cannabis today than they were before their state enacted legalization. The findings undercut claims from opponents that legalization will entice more underage kids to use marijuana.
Colorado and Washington State, the first states to legalize in 2012, have seen steep declines. According to the Colorado Healthy Kids Survey, high school student use of marijuana has decreased by more than half (56 percent).
The Washington State Healthy Youth Survey shows cannabis use has declined 62 percent for 8th graders, 73 percent for 10th graders and 56 percent for 12th graders. Massachusetts has seen high school students’ marijuana use cut in half, a 51 percent decrease, since legalization was enacted a decade ago.
Use has also decreased nearly 60 percent in Arizona, almost 50 percent in Michigan and nearly 30 percent in Nevada since each state enacted legalization.
The MPP report also incorporates new national data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figures show the percentage of U.S. high school students who use marijuana is now at an all-time low.
The CDC data, released on Monday, shows that 12.9 percent of high school students currently consume cannabis, defined as having used it at least once in the past 30 days. That is down from 23.1 percent in 2011, the year before the first states approved recreational legalization laws.
NORML, citing the CDC’s YRBS Explorer website, said the percentage of high-schoolers who identify as current cannabis consumers fell approximately 60 percent over the past decade. The group said the percentage is now lower than at any time over the past three decades.
The MPP report also cites the Monitoring the Future survey supported by NIDA, which found cannabis use among eighth, 10th and 12th graders “remained stable” even as more states enacted legalization.
“It’s simple economics,” MPP Executive Director Adam Smith said in a press release about the new analysis. “As consumers transition into a legal market, illicit operators start to go out of business. And illegal dealers are the ones who sell cannabis to kids.”
“Licensed retailers have regulators to answer to, and everything to lose. They check ID every time,” Smith added in the press release.
“More than a decade into states legalizing cannabis for adults the data is clear: Legalization does not increase youth cannabis use,” MPP’s report says.
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