Self-Reported Pot Use Among Colorado Teens Dropped: Study

DENVER, CO -- Their parents may be lighting up, but marijuana use by Colorado teens and adolescents has dropped to the lowest rate in ten years, according tonew national data. According to an analysis in the Washington Post, state-level statistics from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that 9 percent of Colorado teens ages 12-17 ingested pot monthly in 2015-16, which was a significant drop from prior years. According to the analysis, monthly teen use has not been that low since 2007-8.

Rates of teen alcohol, tobacco and heroin use are down sharply in the state, as well, the analysis said.

Since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, proponents and opponents of pot legalization watch these self-reported federal numbers yearly. Last year, Colorado was the No. 1 state for adolescents teens self-reporting they used marijuana. This year, Colorado fell to No. 7 after Alaska, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.

For state-level data, the survey uses pooled two-year periods to increase sample sizes and statistical accuracy. Last year the survey showed that Colorado was ranked No. 1 in the nation on adolescent marijuana use, a fact seized by marijuana opponents to argue that legalization was failing to protect children from drug use.

“Teen use appears to be dropping now that state and local authorities are overseeing the production and sale of marijuana,” said Brian Vicente of Vicente Sederberg LLC, one of the drafters of Colorado's marijuana ballot measure, told Washington Post in a statement. “There are serious penalties for selling to minors, and regulated cannabis businesses are being vigilant in checking IDs.”

The Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment performed their own "Healthy Kids Survey" in 2015 showing Colorado teen marijuana use at 21.2 percent, compared to a national average of 21.9 percent.

Another 2016 study on the website of the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that marijuana use did not increase among Colorado teens after legalization in 2014.

Read more in the Washington Post here.
Image via Pixabay