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A recent federal study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has shown a notable decline in cannabis use among teenagers in King County, Washington State’s largest county, following recreational use legalization in 2012. The study indicates a substantial decrease in both frequent and current cannabis use among 8th, 10th, and 12th-grade students, according to data from 2008 to 2021.
According to researchers, the legalization of marijuana combined with related rules and age restrictions may have made it less available to minors. They do, however, concede that the COVID-19 epidemic may have contributed to more recent drops in use.
Using youth survey data from the state’s health department, researchers found that “current cannabis use,” defined as use within a one-month time frame, decreased significantly from peak levels of 15.5% in 2012 to 9% in 2021 for females and 20.4%in 2010 to 7.7% in 2021 for males.
Although the trend of reduced teen-use rates started soon after the legalization of recreational cannabis, according to the study’s authors, the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the imposition of stay-at-home regulations in March 2020, may have exacerbated the decline in recent years.
Since peak usage in 2012, there has been a steady decline in teen use of cannabis. For instance, the percentage of males who used the substance frequently, meaning more than six days a month, decreased from 7.5% in 2014 to 3.7% in 2021. Though usage among female students declined as well, it did so more gradually, with rates dropping from 15.5% in 2012 to 9% in 2021.
Interestingly, 2021 was the only year where female users had a slightly higher prevalence of current use. Nonetheless, male users still reported more frequent use compared to their female counterparts.
According to the study, there has been a noticeable decline in the gender gap in recent cannabis use prevalence rates. Although the study hypothesized that changing societal norms surrounding marijuana could be connected to gender variations in marijuana use, the authors urged further research to look at cannabis-use patterns related to gender and norms.
These results are consistent with another study conducted on high school students in Canada, which found that once marijuana was legalized, most felt that it was less accessible. The study authors attributed the outcome to both national legalization and COVID-19 social-distancing measures. Additionally, another CDC analysis also showed a decline in high school students’ marijuana use after legalization in most states.
Such research findings don’t support prohibitionists who argue that ending cannabis prohibition by allowing such as Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) to operate would result in skyrocketing teen access to the drug.
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