Does Legalizing Pot Spur Kids to Try It?

Does Legalizing Pot Spur Children to Strive It?

In 2 states studied, teenagers downplayed harms after leisure pot legalized; use elevated in 1 state

WebMD Information from HealthDay

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Dec. 27, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- States that legalize leisure marijuana use could also be sending a message to teenagers that pot is innocent, a brand new research suggests.

Fewer youngsters in Washington and Colorado noticed marijuana as dangerous to their well being following approval of leisure use by voters in these states, researchers report.

Washington additionally noticed a rise in leisure pot use amongst eighth and 10th graders following legalization there.

"With legalization, marijuana use turned much less stigmatized and adolescents had been extra seemingly to make use of it," stated research writer Magdalena Cerda. She is an epidemiologist with the College of California, Davis, Violence Prevention Analysis Program.

Nevertheless, the research didn't show that legalizing leisure use of marijuana brought about teenagers to search out it much less dangerous or be extra prone to strive it.

In 2012, Washington and Colorado turned the primary two states to legalize leisure marijuana use. Six states -- Alaska, Oregon, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada -- together with Washington, D.C., have since adopted go well with.

Cerda and her colleagues examined federal survey information to find out whether or not legalization had any influence on marijuana use and perceptions of threat amongst eighth, 10th and 12th graders in Washington and Colorado.

The U.S. Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse funds the annual survey, which questions youngsters about their behaviors, attitudes and values. Practically 254,000 Colorado and Washington state college students participated within the survey through the interval in query.

Perceptions of marijuana's harmfulness decreased dramatically in Washington following legalization, falling by 14 p.c and 16 p.c amongst eighth and 10th graders.

About 61 p.c of eighth graders and 47 p.c of 10th graders in Washington noticed marijuana as vastly or reasonably dangerous to well being in 2013-2015, in contrast with 75 p.c and 63 p.c in 2010-2012, the findings confirmed.

Washington teenagers' pot use elevated throughout the identical interval, by 2 p.c for eighth graders and four p.c for 10th graders, researchers discovered. By 2013-2015, about eight p.c of eighth graders and 20 p.c of 10th graders stated they'd used marijuana throughout the previous month.