Examination of the Divergence in Trends for Adolescent Marijuana Use and Marijuana-Specific Risk Factors in Washington State.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

As marijuana laws have become more permissive, survey data on adolescents in the United States have shown an increase in marijuana-specific risk factors, particularly in the proportion of youth who do not perceive marijuana use as harmful. Prevalence of marijuana use among youth, however, has changed little. Using representative data from Washington State, which has legalized medical and nonmedical marijuana for adults, we examined two competing hypotheses to account for this divergence in population trends.

Methods

Data were from 2000 to 2014 biennial Washington State surveys of 10th-grade students. First, we assessed whether associations between marijuana use and marijuana-specific risk factors have weakened over time. Second, we examined whether decreases in alcoh

SUBMITTER: Fleming CB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5002255 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature