Autumn 2005
O'Shaughnessy's
Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical
Group
|
Use By Teens Declines in States
With Medical Marijuana Laws
By Karen O'Keefe and Mitch Earleywine
"The Examination." Saturday Evening Post Cover
by Norman Rockwell
|
Nine years after the passage of the nation’s first state medical
marijuana law, California’s Prop. 215, a considerable body of
data shows that no state with a medical marijuana law has experienced
an increase in youth marijuana use since their law’s enactment.
All have reported overall decreases of more than the national average
decrease —exceeding 50% in some age groups— strongly
suggesting that enactment of state medical marijuana laws does
not increase teen
marijuana use.
•
In California, which has the longest-term, most detailed data available,
the number of ninth graders reporting marijuana use in the last 30
days declined by 47% from 1996 (when the state’s medical marijuana
law passed) to 2004. An analysis commissioned by the California Department
of Alcohol and Drug Programs found “no evidence supporting
that the passage of Proposition 215 increased marijuana use during
this
period.”
•
In Washington state, sixth graders’ current and lifetime marijuana
use has dropped by at least 50% since the 1998 enactment of the state’s
medical marijuana law. All other surveyed grade levels have seen
both lifetime and current marijuana use drop by between 25% and
50%.
•
In Hawaii, youth marijuana use has decreased among all surveyed grade
levels by as much as 38% since the 2000 passage of the state’s
medical marijuana law.
• Data from Maine suggest a modest decline since
the 1999 passage of its law. Data from Nevada (whose law was passed
in 2000) and Alaska
(whose law was passed in 1998) show overall decreases in marijuana
use, with a modest increase in a few individual grade levels.
•
Data from Oregon (whose law passed in 1998) suggest modest declines
in marijuana use among the two grades surveyed in 2004, a slight decrease
in lifetime marijuana use among high schoolers, and a tiny increase
in current marijuana use among high schoolers. Colorado (whose law
passed in 2000) is the only state without an in-depth statewide survey,
but the limited data available suggest modest declines in Colorado
teens’ marijuana usage as well.
• Vermont and Montana, whose medical marijuana
laws were enacted in 2004, have not yet produced statistically valid
data covering the period
since their laws were passed.
Nationwide, teenage marijuana use has decreased in the
nine years since California enacted the country’s first effective
medical marijuana law. Overall, the trends in states with medical marijuana
laws are
slightly more favorable than the trends nationwide.
California, Washington, and Colorado have all seen much greater
drops in marijuana usage than have occurred nationwide. Overall,
Alaska’s
and Hawaii’s trends are also more favorable than nationwide
trends, though some individual measures are less favorable. Trends
from Maine,
Oregon, and Nevada are slightly less favorable than nationwide
trends, although use is still down.
When states consider proposals to allow the medical use
of marijuana under state law, the concern often arises that such laws
might “send
the wrong message” and therefore cause an increase in marijuana
use among young people. The available evidence strongly suggests that
this hypothesis is incorrect and that enactment of state medical marijuana
laws has not increased adolescent marijuana use. Consequently, legislators
should evaluate medical marijuana proposals based on their own merits —without
regard for the speculative and unsupported assertions about the bills
sending the “wrong message.”
Methods & Data Sources:
Nearly every state that has enacted a medical marijuana law has conducted
surveys on adolescent marijuana use both before and after their medical
marijuana laws were enacted. We analyzed publicly available data from
all such surveys considered statistically valid by the agencies that
performed them.
Since 1996, 10 states —Alaska, California, Colorado,
Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington— have
passed laws allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Eight of these were enacted via voter-approved ballot measures, while
Hawaii’s
and Vermont’s laws were passed by their legislatures. (The
District of Columbia passed a similar ballot initiative in 1998,
but due to
congressional action, the law hasn’t been implemented.)
One argument consistently raised in opposition to such
measures is that they “send the wrong message to young people,” encouraging
teen drug experimentation. For example, in an October 1996 letter to
anti-drug advocates, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator
Thomas Constantine wrote, “How can we expect our children
to reject drugs when some authorities are telling them that illegal
drugs should no longer remain illegal, but should be used instead
to help
the sick?... We cannot afford to send ambivalent messages about
drugs.”
Such arguments continue to be raised by opponents of
medical marijuana laws. In June 2005, Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri
(R) explained
his veto of a medical marijuana bill in part by arguing that the
measure would “place our children at increased risk of abusing marijuana.” That
same month, U.S. Representatives Mark Souder (R-IN) and Frank Wolf
(R-VA) raised the “wrong message” concern during a
debate on medical marijuana in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 1996, the issue of whether these laws would impact
teen marijuana use was an open question; both sides made assertions,
but neither
had concrete data for support. Now, nine years after the passage
of the
first medical marijuana initiative, a considerable body of data
exists. No state with a medical marijuana law has experienced an
overall
increase in youth marijuana use since the law’s enactment. All have reported
overall decreases —in some cases exceeding 50% in specific age
groups— strongly suggesting that the enactment of state medical
marijuana laws does not increase teen marijuana use.
Karen O’Keefe, esq., is a legislative analyst for the Marijuana
Policy Project. Mitch Earleywine, PhD is Associate Professor of Psychology,
University at Albany, State University of New York