Impacts of Medical Marijuana Laws on Young Americans Across the Developmental Spectrum.

ABSTRACT: Introduction State legalization of marijuana for medical purposes could increase illicit marijuana use among young people. Medical marijuana laws may boost the availability of marijuana and reduce perceptions of its harmfulness, leading more young people to try it. Prior studies report little evidence that these laws are impacting marijuana consumption by young Americans, and none have systematically compared developmentally distinct age groups. Methods We performed multilevel, serial cross-sectional analyses on ten annual waves of U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, from 2004 to 2013, comparing young people in states with and without medical marijuana laws. Disaggregated analyses compared multiple measures of marijuana use across approximately 450,300 individuals in early adolesc

SUBMITTER: Schmidt LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6440814 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature