New study confirms no link between marijuana legalization and increased use by teenagers

By Natan Ponieman

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that marijuana legalization laws are not linked to increased use by high school students.

“Consistent with estimates from previous studies, there was little evidence that [recreational marijuana laws] or [medical marijuana laws] Promoting marijuana use among adolescents, ”the newspaper said.

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The study builds on previous work using data from the Survey on risk behavior among young people (YRBS) for 1993-2017, which found marijuana adoption was linked to an 8% decrease in high school students’ likelihood of marijuana use.

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This earlier study used pre and post legalization data from only seven states and pre and post free time sales data from only three states. The new study included data from up to 2019 and included 10 legal states for use by adults.

With this additional data, the study found that “the introduction of the Medical Marijuana Act was accompanied by a 6% decrease in the likelihood of current marijuana use and a 7% decrease in the likelihood of frequent marijuana use.”

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With regard to recreational use, the new study found that prior to legalization in the states analyzed, there was no association with marijuana use. After two or more years, the introduction of the Recreational Marijuana Act was associated with a decline in marijuana use.

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The study’s authors point out one limitation of this new research: recreational marijuana laws are a relatively new phenomenon.

“As more data becomes available after legalization, researchers will be able to draw more certain conclusions about the relationship between [recreational marijuana laws] and adolescent marijuana use, ”concluded the authors.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and was republished with permission.