These days, cannabis is all about the Willy Wonka world of chocolate bars, lollipops, and exotically flavored gummies. Not to mention the joints, vapes, drinks, and more. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes, spurring innovation, lowering prices, and making more potent marijuana more widely available than ever before. The Biden administration this week recommended loosening federal regulations on cannabis.
What do all this mean for young people?
Research has demonstrated that marijuana use can have negative effects on brain development. Some new strains are associated with psychosis. Many health experts worry that relaxing cannabis laws could lead to increased use among minors.However, Rebecca Levine Corey, A developmental psychologist at Boston University isn't so sure.
In April, she and colleagues published a study in JAMA that examined drug use patterns among 900,000 high school students from 2011 to 2021 using self-reported data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. They found that in states where the drug was legalized, fewer minors reported using marijuana in the previous month. However, in the 18 states that have legalized marijuana and allowed retail sales, some adolescent users were also found to be using marijuana more frequently. The net effect was that marijuana use among adolescents remained flat or decreased slightly.
Dr. Corey spoke to The New York Times about this research and its implications for state and federal drug policy. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
It seems prudent to assume that legalizing marijuana will lead to even more use by young people.
Indeed, common sense might argue that once cannabis is legalized, it will become more accessible. With fewer potential legal implications, availability will increase and usage will increase.
That wasn't found among adolescents. Rather, they found only small declines in cannabis use in states that have legalized recreational marijuana, as well as declines in alcohol use and e-cigarettes.
What is their relationship to matter?
There are various theories. Some argue that individuals often use substances together. Therefore, increasing the use of one substance may also increase the use of other substances. Similarly, a reduction in one substance can lead to a reduction in others as well.
Why does marijuana use decrease when it is legalized?
One possible explanation is that moving cannabis from illegal markets and street sales to legal markets, where access is restricted to those under 21, actually reduced access for youth.
Another theory is that as cannabis becomes legal, parents and others are becoming more aware of their children's potential access, and that parents are discussing potential risks with youth and providing more supervision. It is said that it is now imposed.
In previous generations, alcohol was legal and parents knew it, but binge drinking skyrocketed in the 1980s and 1990s. How is the situation different now?
There are different types of consciousness. Some public health campaigns about the dangers of cigarettes and the serious health consequences of cigarette use have been shown to be effective in reducing use, especially among young people, and in discouraging people from using cigarettes in the first place. ing. It has also had some success in slowing the exponential growth of e-cigarettes.
It is also important to note that overall drug use has decreased significantly among adolescents.
Another idea is that norms against overachievement, control, and hedonism have increased among adolescents, and they are spending far less time with their peers. However, these explanations help explain overall trends in risk behavior and drug use among adolescents. These do not explain the differences across states that we found that recreational cannabis legalization is associated with reduced drug use.