Youth Use of Cannabis Down by Unprecedented Numbers According to Government-Backed Study

Washington, DC: The University of Michigan’s yearly Monitoring the Future survey reveals that youth use of cannabis and other substances has recently seen an unprecedented decline.

“The percentage of students who reported using marijuana (in all forms, including smoking and vaping) within the past year decreased significantly for eighth, 10th, and 12th grade students,” the study reports.

The findings indicate that, among eighth-graders and tenth-graders, cannabis use is down 38 percent, while use by 12^th graders has seen a decline of 13 percent. Nora Volkow, Director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, which provides funds for the study, partially attributes the reduction in youth use to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We have never seen such dramatic decreases in drug use among teens in just a one-year period,” says Volkow.

She went on to suggest that available data further illustrates that the legalization and retail sales of cannabis to adults have not contributed to increased use by young people, despite the concerns of opponents of legalization and echoing the findings of the US National Institutes of Health in recent months. The NIH report cites a stunning decline in cannabis use by youths aged 12 to 17.

If anything, these reports indicate that the federal legalization of cannabis and other illicit substances could potentially reduce youth use and lead to a situation similar to alcohol in the United States, as alcohol is generally harder for young people to access than many illegal drugs.

So, to quote a famous Reggae star, legalize it!