Teen Marijuana Use (And Also Alcohol And Drug Use) Down Since States Started Legalizing


Marijuana use among teenagers dropped this year, despite two states (Colorado and Washington) legalizing pot, CNN reports. Additionally, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use is also dropping among teens.

Every year, the University of Michigan and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse release the Monitoring the Future study, which surveys 40,000 8th-graders, 10th-graders and 12th-graders, according to The Washington Post, about their drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. This year’s report found that marijuana use is down, along with use of just about every substance adults don’t want teens using.

“Both alcohol and cigarette use in 2014 are at their lowest points since the study began in 1975… With marijuana use appearing to level off, and rates of many other drugs decreasing, it is possible that prevention efforts are having an effect.”

Also down among teens is the use of “synthetic” marijuana products such as K2 and Spice, which contain chemicals designed to mimic the “high” of marijuana. Since the study began asking teens about such substances in 2011, the number of kids who report having tried them has fallen from 11 percent in 2011, to just under 6 percent, according to USA Today. The study’s chief author, Lloyd Johnston, credits the falling use of synthetic marijuana to aggressive prohibition efforts at the state level.

“Efforts at the federal and state levels to close down the sale of these substances may be having an effect.”

Last month, according to this Inquisitr report, 19-year-old Connor Eckhardt after ingesting a single toke of synthetic marijuana.

Washington Post blogger Christopher Ingraham points out that marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington does not appear to have led to an increase in pot use among teens, despite the expectations of Washington’s most ardent marijuana opponent, Representative Andy Harris (R-MD).

“Relaxing [marijuana] laws clearly leads to more teenage drug use. It should be intuitively obvious to everyone that if you legalize marijuana for adults, more children will use marijuana because the message that it’s dangerous will be blunted.”

Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, points out that teenagers are not only rejecting marijuana, but are also staying away from much more addictive and dangerous drugs, such as prescription painkillers.

“There’s a very strong and aggressive campaign about educating the public on the risk of opioid medications as it relates to overdoses and deaths. That has made teenagers aware that they are not so safe as they thought they were.”

Do you believe that marijuana legalization is going to lead to more kids hooked on pot and other drugs? Sound off in the Comments below.

[Image courtesy of: The Learning Community]

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