A new study suggests that teen usage of pot has not surged after the legalization of medical marijuana.
Initially, many expressed concern that marijuana smoking among teenagers would shoot up if the drug was decriminalized. However, this study shows that number of adolescents using marijuana has remained stable.
Research team led by Esther K Choo of Brown University's Alpert Medical School, examined data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey between 1991 and 2011. The information included rates before and after pot was legalized for medical purposes. The survey is given every year to students of ninth to 12th grades. The estimation sample was 11,703,100 students.
The study findings showed that marijuana use was still common among the youth but there was no rise in the number of teenage pot smokers in any of the states that legalized medicinal marijuana. The figures were compared before and after the legalization in the states.
The results showed that one-third of the teens reported trying pot whereas one-fifth confessed to smoking weed within the past month.
According to The Washington Post, the researchers pointed at the health problems associated with smoking weed at a young age. "Marijuana has a demonstrated impact on the still-developing adolescent brain. In early adolescence, marijuana may have permanent detrimental effects on cognition. Marijuana has also been linked to schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders among adolescents. Longitudinal cohort studies of adolescents using marijuana found associations between use and later respiratory problems, general malaise, and neurocognitive problems, as well as social problems including lower academic achievement and functioning," the researchers wrote.
Earlier this month, Colorado reported its first death due to recreational marijuana. Levy Thamba Pongi, a 19-year-old exchange student form the Republic of Congo, jumped from a hotel balcony in Denver after eating a marijuana cookie.
The study, 'The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Legislation on Adolescent Marijuana Use,' was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
