A study of high school students in Massachusetts found that youth were no more likely to use marijuana after legalization, though more students perceived their parents as cannabis consumers after the policy change.
“No statistically significant differences were found in the prevalence of past-30 day cannabis use before and after legalization among adolescents,” says the report, published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics. The proportion of students who reported perceiving that a parent uses cannabis, however, rose from 18 percent to 24 percent after legalization.
“Adolescent perceptions of their parents as cannabis users increased after legalization,” the study says, “even before state-regulated retails [sic] sales began.”
The findings stem from the results of two waves of survey data collected from two eastern Massachusetts high schools in 2016 and 2018. The earlier survey took place before legalization, while the later one occurred after legalization went into effect but before retail sales began.
In 2016, 82 percent of respondents reported that their perception was that their parents did not use marijuana. By 2018, that number had fallen slightly, to 76 percent.
When it came to their perception of best friends’ cannabis use, students also reported a slight bump. In 2016, 31 percent of students said they perceived their best friend used marijuana, which climbed to 36 percent in 2018.
One main finding of the study was that the likelihood of marijuana use was significantly higher among adolescents who reported perceiving that a parent, sibling or best friend uses the drug.
“The strongest association with past 30-day use was perceived marijuana use among best friends,” the study says, followed by the perception that a sibling uses cannabis both medicinally and recreationally. Adolescents’ perceptions that a parent uses medical and/or adult-use marijuana was also associated with a higher likelihood of past 30-day use.
Hellbound and Down 