According to a recent annual survey sponsored by the state government, youth cannabis use is still steady amid more states’ effort to legalize the crop.
On Tuesday, the MTF (Monitoring the Future) report indicated that adolescents’’ marijuana consumption didn’t change in the three grades for lifetime past 365-day use, lifetime use, past one-month use and everyday use from 2019 to 2020. This is according to self -reports from 12th, 10th and 8th-grade students.
Daily cannabis vaping also reduced to almost half in that period for 12th and 10th graders. It decreased to 1.5% and 1.1% respectively.
The survey indicates that for the three grades, marijuana lifetime use, past one-month use and everyday use either stayed the same or slightly declined from 2019-2020. There’s only one exception in daily use among 12th graders where it improved by half the percentage point.
Cannabis harmfulness perceptions also remained stable.
This report counters the narrative that’s been constantly put forward by prohibitionists, that the state-tier legalization initiative will culminate in a significant rise in youth marijuana use since it would normalize the act.
Activists have argued that setting up regulated cannabis programs would prohibit access by the younger population. The programs will also mitigate the impact of the black markets where rules such as ID checks are not necessary.
2018’s MTF survey, that’s performed by the Michigan University and sponsored by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), showed that fewer youths are currently using marijuana than eight years ago when the first counties began legalizing marijuana.
These results are coherent with other state information from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). The department’s biennial YRBS (Youth Risk Behavior Survey) concluded that cannabis use among high school kids hurtled in the peak years of national-level recreational marijuana legalization.
A separate study by Colorado representatives released during August concluded that youth marijuana consumption within the state has remained the same since the 2012 legalization. However, consumption methods are diversifying.
