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.

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Legalizing recreational marijuana, some argue, could lead to a proliferation of underage sales. Profit might trump policy and safety. But a new study offers no evidence, specifically in Colorado, where state-licensed dispensaries popped up in 2014 after recreational weed earned legal status in 2012, that dispensaries sell recreational pot to minors.

Visiting state-licensed dispensaries in Colorado over a period of four days in August 2015, the authors of the study found that all proprietors asked for ID, and only one agreed to sell their product in the absence of an ID. Led by a pair of doctors from the health communications firm Klein Buendel, the study concluded:

Compliance with laws restricting marijuana sales to individuals age 21 years or older with a valid ID was extremely high and possibly higher than compliance with restrictions on alcohol sales. The retail market at present may not be a direct source of marijuana for underage individuals, but future research should investigate indirect sales.

In 2012 Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, the first state to do so. But recreational bud did not hit the regulated market until 2014. Opponents argued shifting to a legal market would lead to minors having easier access to the drug. And despite the new study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, state-sponsored sting operations have uncovered evidence to support both sides.

A police sting operation of 20 retailers in Colorado in June 2014 found no wrongdoing. All dispensaries complied with the law, refusing to sell to minors. “We are pleased with the results, and will continue to monitor the businesses to ensure that the compliance efforts are maintained,” said the director of Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, which worked with the police in the sting.

But a similar operation nearly one year later contradicted those findings. In September 2015, one month after the Klein Buendel study conducted its study, undercover police visited 30 Denver-area dispensaries. Police issued seven of them–including “The Healing House” and “Herbs 4 You”–citations for selling to minors. “Up until now these compliance checks have been a bright spot for the industry. This recent check drops compliance to 92 percent,” the MED director said at the time.

In Washington, where recreational marijuana is also legal, a sting last May found four stores guilty of selling to minors. For stores in Colorado that break the law and sell to minors, penalties can include a suspended or revoked license, and up to $100,000 in fines.

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 How Often Do Dispensaries Sell Marijuana to Minors? appeared first on Law Street.