A report published by the American Medical Association (AMA) has revealed that the legalisation of adult-use cannabis and the opening of dispensaries and retail stores does not lead to an increase in youth cannabis use. In fact, cannabis reforms were linked to more young individuals reporting abstinence from cannabis, as well as an increase in those abstaining from alcohol and vape products.
Published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, the study, conducted by a team of five researchers from Boston College and the University of Maryland at College Park, analyzed data from 47 states, encompassing responses from 898,271 teenagers. The participants, with parental consent, self-reported their use of cannabis, alcohol, cigarettes, and e-cigarettes in the previous month.
The analysis found that the passing of recreational cannabis laws (RCL) did not correlate with an increased likelihood or frequency of cannabis use among adolescents. Rather, there were significantly lower levels of cannabis use following the implementation of RCL, while the launch of recreational cannabis retail sales (RCR) did not lead to increases in cannabis use among young people.
The study also indicated that over time, adult-use cannabis laws were associated with reduced odds of any cannabis use, with each additional year of RCL linked to an 8% lower likelihood of cannabis use. The opening of retail markets was also associated with higher odds of abstinence from cannabis.
In addition, the report highlighted that the legalisation and regulation of cannabis for adults did not facilitate adolescents’ entry into other substance use. It showed a negative total effect estimate for alcohol use following the enactment of RCL, while no significant results were found for cigarettes. The study revealed that the presence of adult-use marijuana legalisation laws and regulated retail cannabis markets was associated with increased odds of abstinence from e-cigarette use among adolescents.
“Together, results found no net increases in cannabis or, through spillover effects, alcohol or tobacco use among adolescents in response to the rapid rise of RCL and RCR,” study authors said. [These] results suggest that legalization and greater control over cannabis markets have not facilitated adolescents’ entry into substance use.”
These findings add to the growing number of studies that challenge the misconceptions the legalisation and regulation of cannabis for adults would lead to increased youth cannabis use.
A US government-funded study, published earlier this year, found that there was no link between the legalisation of cannabis and consumption amongst adolescents. Meanwhile, data gathered from the 2022 Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that teenagers in America reported levels of cannabis use close to the lowest on record, despite there being 24 states in America that had fully accessible adult-use cannabis markets at the time.
