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Impacts of Medical Marijuana Laws on Young Americans Across the Developmental Spectrum

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Abstract

Introduction State legalization of marijuana for medical purposes could increase illicit marijuana use among young people. Medical marijuana laws may boost the availability of marijuana and reduce perceptions of its harmfulness, leading more young people to try it. Prior studies report little evidence that these laws are impacting marijuana consumption by young Americans, and none have systematically compared developmentally distinct age groups. Methods We performed multilevel, serial cross-sectional analyses on ten annual waves of U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, from 2004 to 2013, comparing young people in states with and without medical marijuana laws. Disaggregated analyses compared multiple measures of marijuana use across approximately 450,300 individuals in early adolescence (12–14 years), late adolescence (15–17 years) and young adulthood (18–25 years). Results Dwelling in a state that had legalized medical marijuana was not associated with marijuana consumption in the past month among early adolescents, late adolescents or young adults. However, young adults living in medical marijuana states were significantly more likely to have initiated first use in the past year. Conclusions Medical marijuana laws increase the likelihood that young adults will start using marijuana but do not affect more vulnerable developmental groups in early and late adolescence. Delaying the age of first use into young adulthood can reduce the risk of a drug use disorder later in life. Young adults are in the peak years of engagement with illicit drugs and state medical marijuana laws appear to be leading larger numbers to try the drug.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our colleagues who assisted in the data collection and technical execution of this manuscript, including Timothy Bates MA, Susan Chapman PhD, Casey Palmer MS, and Juliana Fung of the University of California at San Francisco. We would also like to acknowledge staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and the University of Michigan for their assistance in data acquisition and management. This study was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (Grant No. R01 DA034091) but played no role in the design and conduct of the study; data collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies & Department of Anthropology, History and Social Science, University of California, 3333 California St, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

    Laura A. Schmidt

  2. Community Engagement and Health Policy Program, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of California, 550 16th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA

    Laura A. Schmidt

  3. School of Medicine, University of California, 505 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Laura A. Schmidt, Laurie M. Jacobs & Joanne Spetz

  4. Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, 3333 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

    Laurie M. Jacobs

  5. Yale School of Nursing, Nursing School of Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    David Vlahov

  6. Institute for Health Policy Studies & Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California St, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA

    Joanne Spetz

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Schmidt, L.A., Jacobs, L.M., Vlahov, D. et al. Impacts of Medical Marijuana Laws on Young Americans Across the Developmental Spectrum. Matern Child Health J 23, 486–495 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-018-2656-1

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