Myth busted: More teens don’t consume marijuana because it becomes legal
Sorry, marijuana opponents. You’ll have to start looking for another excuse to try and prevent marijuana from becoming accepted. Contrary to what anti-marijuana pundits have tried to make many believe, marijuana use among teenagers is not on the rise in states that have legalized its consumption.
According to a study that was funded by the government, the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, marijuana use among teenagers has not only seen an increase in legalized stated, it is now lower than it was pre-legalization. The study was conducted by comparing students at the 8th-, 10th- and 12th-grade level pre- and post-legalization and showed that teenage drug use is not running rampant.
According to the Marijuana Policy Project’s Mason Tvert, “Once again, federal survey data has debunked the myth that rolling back marijuana prohibition will result in increased rates of use among teens. It’s quite clear that our country does not need to arrest hundreds of thousands of adult marijuana consumers in order to prevent teens from using marijuana.”
Additionally, fewer teens indicate that they see any harm with occasional or frequent marijuana consumption. Previously, “experts” have argued that a lower perception of risk was associated with higher marijuana use. The data is now refuting that argument.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse adds, “Rates of marijuana use by teens have been of great interest to researchers over the past decade, given major social and legislative shifts around the drug; it is now legal for adult recreational use in 10 states plus the District of Columbia, and it is available medicinally in many more. Fortunately, even as teens’ attitudes toward marijuana’s harms continue to relax, they are not showing corresponding increases in marijuana use.”
Myth, busted.
