Well, Damn, Colorado's Teen Marijuana Usage Dips after Legalization

[Logical]

So much for the outrage about legal marijuana!

Government study puts the state’s high school cannabis use below the national average

Marijuana consumption by Colorado high school students has dipped slightly since the state first permitted recreational cannabis use by adults, a new survey showed on Monday, contrary to concerns that legalization would increase pot use by teens.

The biannual poll by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also showed the percentage of high school students indulging in marijuana in Colorado was smaller than the national average among teens.

According to the department, 21.2 percent of Colorado high school students surveyed in 2015 had used marijuana during the preceding 30 days, down from 22 percent in 2011, the year before voters statewide approved recreational cannabis use by adults 21 and older. The first state-licensed retail outlets for legalized pot actually opened in 2014.

Nationwide, the rate of pot use by teens is slightly higher at 21.7 percent, the study found.
“The survey shows marijuana use has not increased since legalization, with four of five high school students continuing to say they don't use marijuana, even occasionally,” the department said in a statement.


More at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/colorado-s-teen-marijuana-usage-dips-after-legalization/

[doc03]

1. Don't tell Fox News they want marijuana use to run

rampant, doesn't fit the right wing agenda.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Quick threaten to ban it again! n/t

[Laffy Kat]

3. LOL. Well it's not as much fun now!

If it's legal and Mom and Dad are imbibing where's the coolness? I told my kids I would rather they use pot than drink alcohol and they think I'm crazy. Neither of them have ever touched it and they say they never will. We'll see.

[tritsofme]

4. This is going to irritate a whole bunch of drug warriors!

[MADem]

5. It's not cool anymore. It's what GRAMPA does....

It's like martinis in the sixties. The old people liked 'em, the young people liked the weed.

And now, it's legal to smoke a little of grampa's medicine in many states.


Hell, if the gubmint outlawed square dancing, youngsters would be holding secret barn dances and do-si-do-ing all night long!

[tenderfoot]

13. It's the new Geritol!

LOL!

[MADem]

16. Hahahahaha!!!!!!!

[FrodosPet]

18. Saw a Geritol ad on American Bandstand once

I've laughed harder, but not very often. To this day, I wonder if the ad buyer got fired.

[MADem]

20. LOL--rather like a DEPENDS ad during Teen Mom, or Catfish~! nt

[roamer65]

6. The newness and fun of it is wearing off.

It's not illicit anymore, so no rush from that either.

[RobertEarl]

7. Heard they are closing jails, too

Not enough criminals these days.

[MH1]

22. Faux headline: "Job losses continue in Colorado"

(job losses of prison guards that is)

[Rex]

8. Impossible! Quick someone make a fake film showing teens killing each other after smoking dope!

Oh wait, well maybe we should ban it...because like I have an opinion and junk and stuff.

[struggle4progress]

9. The Thrill Is Gone

[Logical]

15. Good video! Nt

[jmowreader]

10. Are there fewer street dealers now?

A 3.5-percent decrease in the number of teenage pot smokers could just be that it's harder for teens to get it now.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

11. no no no

simply wrong

[joshcryer]

17. A very large part of the marijuana tax goes to education.

Studies have proven marijuana can harm the developing brain.

Teens don't want to fuck their brains up.

[jmowreader]

19. And roughly the same number are fucking theirs up now as then

Before pot was legalized, about a fifth of Colorado teens were smoking weed.

The next poll taken, about a fifth of Colorado teens were smoking weed.

The swing is within margin of error...and teens are very good at telling authority figures what the authority figures want to know.

What might be entertaining (if it was legal) is to take the school that had the lowest percentage of self-admitted pot users and piss test the entire student body at one whack.

[joshcryer]

21. I doubt it's an anomaly.

Colorado has gone with a very low key campaign talking about pot dangers to the developing brain. They initially had a reefer madness style campaign that scared teens from using, but they pivoted and are now saying "don't use until you're older, and your brain is more developed, it's your choice, here are the facts."

http://www.protectwhatsnext.com/

The old campaign was terrible, and expensive (I guess the people behind it got all those tax dollars and wanted to just blow it all at once). They literally erected metal cages around schools with signs that said "don't be a lab rat." Implying that kids or teens doing marijuana were going to basically be lab rats. Very stupid move. The current approach seems to be quite effective.

I think you may believe the numbers if the rates continue to drop, which in states that have legalized, I expect it to do.

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Logical.

[Logical]

14. You are welcome! So much for reefer madness!

[Odin2005]

23. I think we all knew this would happen.

Legalization has taken away the edgy "I'm a bad-ass who doesn't give a shit about the law" factor.