Teens Lose Interest When Marijuana Is Legal
When Colorado made the official move to legalize marijuana, critics claimed that there would inevitably be a drastic increase in teens smoking pot. While it’s pretty common to find a handful of stoners in any high school, everyone has been watching closely to see if legalizing marijuana would have any impact on how many young people were experimenting with weed. It turns out that today’s teenagers are less interested in pot and more interested in breaking the law. The latest reports actually show that marijuana use is declining among Colorado high school students in the past year.
This week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a press release to announce the drop in teen marijuana use. According to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey in 2011, 22 percent of high school students reported using pot within the past month while 39 percent said they had tried it at some point in the past. The preliminary data from the 2013 survey shows the numbers are on a downward trend. After the first full year of legalized marijuana, only 20 percent of high school students said they had used weed in the last month while 37 percent reported trying it in the past.
While the results are still very premature, future surveys will offer a more revealing look at how the marijuana trend is changing in Colorado high schools. Since 2009, the number of teens that report using pot with a vaporizer has continuously declined. The National Bureau of Economic Research is currently monitoring the impact of legalizing marijuana. They originally hypothesized that it would cause a spike in pot use among high school students, but so far, it seems that they were wrong.
Perhaps the big appeal of weed at teen gatherings is less about the actual pot and more about the illicit activity. Now that marijuana is legal and more easily available in Colorado, teens seem to be losing interest. It’s possible that the numbers will spike in next year’s reports, but for now it’s a step in the right direction to see that legalization is having some early success.
Do you think the number of teens using pot will continue to decline in Colorado?
This week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a press release to announce the drop in teen marijuana use. According to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey in 2011, 22 percent of high school students reported using pot within the past month while 39 percent said they had tried it at some point in the past. The preliminary data from the 2013 survey shows the numbers are on a downward trend. After the first full year of legalized marijuana, only 20 percent of high school students said they had used weed in the last month while 37 percent reported trying it in the past.
While the results are still very premature, future surveys will offer a more revealing look at how the marijuana trend is changing in Colorado high schools. Since 2009, the number of teens that report using pot with a vaporizer has continuously declined. The National Bureau of Economic Research is currently monitoring the impact of legalizing marijuana. They originally hypothesized that it would cause a spike in pot use among high school students, but so far, it seems that they were wrong.
Perhaps the big appeal of weed at teen gatherings is less about the actual pot and more about the illicit activity. Now that marijuana is legal and more easily available in Colorado, teens seem to be losing interest. It’s possible that the numbers will spike in next year’s reports, but for now it’s a step in the right direction to see that legalization is having some early success.
Do you think the number of teens using pot will continue to decline in Colorado?