Wednesday, June 17, 2015

No increase in teens smoking pot after legalization

Nature: A new study finds that legalized medical marijuana doesn’t lead to an increase in pot smoking among teens, The Washington Post reports. The scientists examined more than 1 million survey responses stretching from 1991 to 2014 of students—eighth, 10th, and 12th graders from 48 states—asked about marijuana use in the previous month. Although marijuana use was usually higher in the states that would eventually pass medical marijuana laws, no additional spike in use among teens was seen after the laws were adopted, the researchers report online this week in The Lancet Psychiatry. Among eighth graders, they add, marijuana use declined in those 21 states with the new laws.