Marijuana use by tenth and twelfth graders has risen over the past several years, with roughly one in fifteen high school seniors smoking marijuana daily or near daily, according to a 2011 report from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Could this have something to do with the passage of medical marijuana laws? In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Since then, sixteen states have passed similar legislation. Anecdotal evidence suggests that legalized pot is making its way into the hands of teenagers—prompting UO economist Benjamin Hansen and colleagues at two other universities to investigate.
Hansen—along with Daniel I. Rees of the University of Colorado at Denver and D. Mark Anderson of Montana State University—designed a study to examine the effects that the passage of medical marijuana laws has on teen marijuana use in those states, compared to neighboring states.
Their conclusion: there’s no statistical evidence that legalization increases the probability of teen pot smoking. The study examined the relationship between the legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana consumption, using both national and state data on high school students’ drug use behavior. At the time the researchers collected their data, thirteen states had legalized medical marijuana. Since the conclusion of the study, three more states and the District of Columbia have established such laws and legislation is pending in seven additional states.
The researchers examined the relationship between legalization and various outcomes such as marijuana use at school, whether students were offered drugs on school property and the prevalence of alcohol and cocaine use. They found no evidence that legalization led to increases in any of these associated behaviors.
Federal officials, including the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and certain law enforcement agencies argue that the legalization of medical marijuana has contributed to the recent increase in marijuana use among teens in the United States. They have targeted dispensaries operating within 1,000 feet of schools, parks and playgrounds.
“Our results are important given that the federal government has recently intensified its efforts to close medical marijuana dispensaries,” said Hansen, who studies risky behaviors. “In fact, the data often showed a negative relationship between legalization and marijuana use.”
-Lisa Raleigh
While reviled as a people, the Roma of Eastern Europe are revered for their music.
