The headline is according to a top researcher in the field who spoke at a webinar for Substances and Mental Health Services Administration, a federal agency.
Ryan Vandry, a psychologist from Johns Hopkins University, pointed to numbers from California, all the way back to 1996 when the state allowed medical patients to consume marijuana.
There has “really been no change in the rates of cannabis use among eighth, 10th or 12th graders. And in fact, in very recent years, we’ve seen a decrease in rates of consumption,” according to Vandry.
A study from last year shows a pretty dramatic drop in teen usage from 2011 to 2021.
Now that we’re getting into the second decade of recreational marijuana in some states, the data is becoming sturdier. Seeing how teen use hasn’t increased much in the years following legalization is a hard point to counter.
Vandry speaks on multiple topics during the webinar, check out Marijuana Moment for a recap on everything else.