Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Poll: More Than Half of American Adults Have Tried Marijuana appeared first on Law Street.

Marijuana opponents have frequently argued that legalizing weed encourages more underage kids to try it as justification for why states shouldn’t adopt recreational use laws. However, a new survey from the state of Washington shows that simply isn’t the case.

According to a Youth Health Survey from the state of Washington, which legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 and established dispensaries in 2014, results indicated that teen cannabis consumption hasn’t changed over the past decade.

The survey, which is conducted every two years, found that 26 percent of 12th graders, 17 percent of 10th graders, and 6 percent of 8th graders reported having tried marijuana over a month period in 2016–nearly the same as data collected in 2012.

Washington kids not going to pot… pic.twitter.com/iEtInnsXvc

— BreakTime (@dreamgbutterfly) March 22, 2017

A total of 230,000 Washington students from 1,000 local school in all 39 Washington counties participated in the survey as part of a collaborative effort involving the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Department of Health, the Department of Social and Health Service’s Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, and the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Of the students who reported using marijuana, the vast majority said they “usually smoke marijuana” instead of eating, drinking, or vaping it. The study also found that stores aren’t making it any easier for students to buy marijuana, with 8th and 12th graders saying marijuana was just as accessible in 2014 and fewer 10th graders saying it was “very easy” to obtain.

The Washington Post noted that a separate study conducted in Washington found a small increase in marijuana use among 8th and 10th graders in the state, while a federal survey showed “no significant change in teenage marijuana use in the most recent period.”

Overall, these findings look promising for California and Massachusetts, and other states looking to begin recreational operations soon. While AG Jeff Sessions may be worried about “marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store,” this will 1) likely will never be the case and 2) not pose a particular threat to minors. With proper controls put in place, like ID verification, dispensaries can offer a sense of security to parents worried about them selling to their children. That being said, kids largely reported that marijuana is just as easy to get now as it was before the drug was legalized–legalizing it didn’t change anything in that regard.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Legalizing Marijuana Hasn’t Led to More Teen Use in Washington appeared first on Law Street.

Every year since 1992, the Monitoring the Future survey has asked 8th, 10th, and 12th graders how difficult it would be to procure drugs, from marijuana to meth, and how often they use them. In 2016 the survey found that, despite the growing number of states making it easier to obtain marijuana, not only is marijuana use down among teenagers, but so is its availability.

Most teens are obtaining marijuana at a lower rate than ever before, as 34.6 percent of 8th graders said pot would be “easy or very easy to get,” 2.4 percent lower than the rate in 2015. Students in 10th grade also recorded the lowest rate ever for the study, with 64 percent saying the drug is attainable, a 1.4 percent drop from 2015. Eighty-one percent of 12th graders said marijuana would be easy to get, up 1.5 percent from last year.

“I don’t have an explanation. This is somewhat surprising,” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which commissions the survey, told U.S. News & World Report. “We had predicted based on the changes in legalization, culture in the U.S. as well as decreasing perceptions among teenagers that marijuana was harmful that [accessibility and usage rates] would go up. But it hasn’t gone up,” she said.

Eight states–including four last month–and D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana for people 21 and over. So why has accessibility and use gone down, even among those that are underage? One reason posited by Volkow and other experts is that younger people are more familiar with the harmful effects of inhaling smoke. Or perhaps it’s that their free time is being eaten up by watching TV or playing video games, rather than seeking out the high school pot dealer. Or, as some legalization advocates point out, maybe it’s that as pot laws loosen, the rebellious stigma of marijuana fades away.

For 8th, 10th, and 12th graders alike, alcohol was said to be much easier to obtain than marijuana. Cigarettes also consistently ranked higher than marijuana in terms of ease of access, but lower than alcohol. Marijuana use is also down from last year among 8th and 10th graders, continuing a downward trend that began in 2010. In 2016, 8th grade marijuana use hit its lowest rate since 1993, with 9.4 percent of respondents saying they smoke pot. That figure is significantly higher for 10th graders, with 23.9 percent saying they smoke pot, but that number also saw a 1.5 percent decrease from 2015, and was the lowest usage rate since 2008.

“We’re seeing that more people in the U.S. except for teenagers are taking [marijuana],” Volkow said. “The rates of increases are highest among young adults 18-24, so one would expect that would translate to the adolescents, but apparently it has not.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post For Teenagers, Marijuana is Less Accessible Than Ever Before appeared first on Law Street.