According to a federal study released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marijuana use among teens has declined in Washington State’s largest county since cannabis was legalized for adults. Between 2008 and 2021, the prevalence of current and regular use among youth in grades 8-10 and 12 decreased significantly.
The study published in the latest Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report of CDC shows that current and frequent marijuana use among teens in King County have decreased significantly since November 2012, when state voters approved adult-use cannabis.
Researchers believe that legalization, age restrictions and regulations could have helped to fuel the trend. This is because it made marijuana more difficult for teens to obtain. However, they also think the COVID epidemic may have played a role in recent declines.
In the period between 2008 and 2021, the current marijuana use rate, defined as having used cannabis at least once within the last month, fell from a high of 20.4% among males in 2010 and 15.5% among females in 2012 to 7.7% and 9.0%, respectively.
The CDC report states that “the legalization of non-medical cannabis in Washington for adults >=21 with licensed dispensaries requiring age proof might have affected the availability of cannabis and their chances to use it.” This, in turn could have an impact on the prevalence of use.
Washington became one of the first states in 2012 to legalize cannabis for non-medical purposes. This sparked concern over how it might impact younger people. Several factors could lead to an increase in cannabis use among youths. These include increased permissiveness and reduced perceptions of harm. Washington data, however, suggests that despite these concerns, legalization is not associated with an increase in cannabis use among adolescents and young adults.
Researchers used data from Washington’s Healthy Youth Survey administered by the Department of Health to students in public schools. They also looked at “frequent use,” which is defined as use six days or more in the last month.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The study authors believe that the COVID-19 epidemic, which resulted in stay-at home orders starting in March 2020, could have exaggerated recent declines.
The report states that “with increased time at home, students may have been under increased parental supervision which could deter substance abuse, including cannabis use.” The report says that increased parental supervision may have been compounded if the main source of cannabis was friends or social settings outside of the home.
The survey shows that youth usage has fallen steadily since its peak around 2010 and 2012. For example, the percentage of males who use it frequently fell from 7.5 percent to 7.2 in 2016 to 6.5 in 2018 to 3.7 in 2021.
The use of the device by female students also dropped, although less dramatically. After a peak of 15,5 percent local use in 2012, reported rates have been 15.2 percent by 2014, 14.6% in 2016, 15.1% in 2018, and 9.0 percent by 2021.
It is noteworthy that 2021 was the only year in which survey data showed a greater prevalence of current usage among female respondents. However, male respondents were still slightly more inclined to report frequent use.
The CDC found that the once stark differences between marijuana usage rates for males and women have almost disappeared in recent times.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Precious Esié of the CDC and Myduc Ta of Public Health — Seattle and King County, wrote that past research indicated cannabis use by young people had generally decreased amid state-level legalization. However, “less is know about sex specific trends.”
The report suggested that differences in cannabis consumption by gender could be attributed to changing social norms surrounding marijuana. They encouraged future studies to examine trends in cannabis norms by gender, and the relationship between norms, cannabis use, and gender.
Researchers concluded that “although downward trends in cannabis usage among King County students of grades 8, 10 and 12 are encouraging,” they added, “continued surveillance is necessary to understand longer-term impacts of social phenomena such as cannabis legalization and disruptions related to pandemics and to assess if observed decreases are sustainable.” Monitoring should prioritize differences in demographic characteristics such as sex and gender identity. This can help to develop tailored interventions, and ensure equity when it comes to programmatic cannabis reduction and prevention measures.
These findings follow a separate study conducted among Canadian high school students that found that after the legalization, the proportion of youths who believed marijuana was easily accessible fell. The authors of this study attribute this phenomenon to Canada’s legalization of marijuana and COVID related social distancing.
A U.S. official of health said last month that the use of marijuana by teens has not increased , “despite state legalization spreading across the nation.”
Marsha Lopez, the chief of NIDA’s epidemiological research branch, said that there had been no significant increases. “They haven’t reported an increase either in perceived availability, which is interesting.”
CDC’s earlier study found that rates for current and lifetime cannabis usage among high school students continued to decline despite the legalization movement.
The study, which was published in November last year, found that the use of marijuana by youth in Massachusetts did not increase after the legalization of cannabis . However, more students believed that their parents were cannabis users after this policy change.
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a separate NIDA-funded report in 2022 that found state-level marijuana legalization did not increase youth cannabis use.
The study showed that “youths who spent more time in their adolescence during legalization weren’t more or less likely than teens who spent little or none of their adolescence during legalization to have used marijuana at age 15.”
Another 2022 study by researchers at Michigan State University, in the journal PLOS One found that cannabis retail sales could be followed in some states by an increase in cannabis onsets among older adults, but not in those who are underage and cannot purchase cannabis products from a retail outlet.
According to data released separately last year, despite adult marijuana use and certain psychedelics reaching “historic highs” by 2022.
Gallup’s poll conducted last summer found that more than half of American adults had tried marijuana in the past, and that cannabis use was higher than tobacco. According to a Gallup poll conducted last summer, 29 percent (or 18-34 year olds) of Americans smoke marijuana. However, this is not representative of the overall use of cannabis, as it only asked about smoking, not edibles, tinctures, or vaping.
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