Is the Legalization of Marijuana Associated With Its Use by Adolescents?

Growing moves in the U.S. toward relaxed laws surrounding adult use of marijuana raise concerns about concurrent increases in adolescent use of marijuana.

This study collected and analyzed primary data on the relationship between marijuana legalization status in U.S. states and adolescents' marijuana use.

Recruited through social networking sites and youth-services community agencies, a sample of 1,310 adolescents from 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia reported their use of marijuana. Youths' use rates were compared with the marijuana legalization status of youths' states of residence.

Study findings failed to show a relationship between adolescents' use of marijuana and state laws regarding marijuana use. Relationships were found for increased marijuana use by older youths, females, and non-Hispanic youths. Youths whose parents completed 2 or more years of college were less likely to report marijuana use than those whose parents completed fewer than 2 years of college.

Albeit study findings do not support predictions of growing marijuana use by adolescents in states with liberalized adult use laws, further monitoring of adolescents' use with larger and more representative samples is needed.