Does legalization encourage consumption among teenagers? False. According to data from a recent study, the use of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis has dropped sharply, marking the lowest rates ever recorded since 1975.
Published from the North American agency AP, the most recent edition of the annual "Monitoring the Future" analysis, interviewed further 24 thousand students 8th, 10th and 12th graders from various schools in the United States. The results?
In 2024, approximately two thirds of 12th grade students reported not having used alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the 30 days prior to the survey. It's the abstinence rate higher never recorded for this age group.
The data is even more surprising for 8th grade students, where up to 80% of those interviewed confirmed that they had not taken any substance in the last period, scoring a new record.
Where cannabis is legal, consumption among young people decreases
Scientific studies are a deny the accusations of the prohibitionists, according to which legalization could increase cannabis use among adolescents.
The last one, conducted recently by researchers at Florida Atlantic University, confirmed (with data in hand) that: “The percentage of adolescents who reported current marijuana use dropped significantly from 23.1% in 2011 to 15.8% in 2021. Self-reporting of having tried marijuana before age 13 for the first time also decreased significantly from 8.1% in 2011 to 4.9% in 2021".
"The results of this study show declining trends in marijuana use among U.S. high school adolescents from 2011 to 2021,” the scholars noted.
They continue, "The significant decreases observed in both the 'never used marijuana' and 'currently using marijuana' categories highlight a promising reduction in marijuana use among adolescents, with usage falling to around 70% of levels recorded in 2011."
USA: cannabis consumption among young people drops by 20%.
This is confirmed by the data from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Over the past 10 years, cannabis use among adolescents in the United States is dropped by 20%. But is it a coincidence? At all.
In fact, it's been 10 years that some form of cannabis regulation has been adopted in the USA.
What does all this mean?
As also confirmed by other previous studies, legalization does not encourage the use of cannabis among younger people, in fact, it can make it decrease.
| For further information: "Legalization does not increase cannabis consumption among young people, studies"
* Photo by Dennis Ottink on Unsplash
