Pubdate: Sat, 27 Dec 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

POT USE INCREASES IN COLORADO

Federal Data Show the Estimated Percentage of Regular Users Rose to 
the Second-Highest Level in the U.S.

As marijuana legalization took hold in Colorado, the estimated 
percentage of regular cannabis users in the state jumped to the 
second-highest level in the country, according to new federal data.

When asked, roughly one out of every eight Colorado residents over 
the age of 12 reported using marijuana in the previous month. Only 
Rhode Island topped Colorado in the percentage of residents who 
reported using marijuana as frequently.

The results come from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and 
represent the average of estimates gathered in 2012 and 2013.

The numbers are among the first measurements of marijuana use in 
Colorado to be released after it became legal in late 2012 for people 
over 21 to use and possess marijuana in the state. But because they 
do not include data from this year, the numbers aren't able to answer 
the question experts have watched Colorado closely for: How will 
widespread commercial sales of marijuana impact use?

"This is not surprising, given what's going on on the medical side," 
Mark Kleiman, a University of California-Los Angeles professor who 
studies marijuana policy, said of the increase, referring to the 
uptick in medical marijuana patients in Colorado in the same period. 
"I don't think this tells us about the long-term impacts of legalization."

State-specific data from the survey are averaged over two-year 
periods to compensate for relatively small sample sizes.

For the 2011-12 period, 10.4 percent of Coloradans 12 and older 
reported using marijuana in the month prior to being surveyed. That 
placed Colorado seventh in the country for monthly marijuana use.

Monthly use in Colorado jumped to 12.7 percent - a 22 percent 
increase - in the 2012-13 data. The result means the survey estimates 
about 530,000 people in Colorado use marijuana at least once a month.

Nationally, monthly marijuana use by people 12 and older increased by 
about 4 percent to 7.4 percent. In Washington state-which, like 
Colorado, in 2012 legalized marijuana use and limited possession for 
adults-monthly marijuana use rose by about 20 percent to 12.3 percent.

Kleiman said researchers will get a better idea about marijuana use 
in Colorado once they are able to zoom in on data showing how many 
people use marijuana daily.

A study commissioned by Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division 
this year found that people who use marijuana almost every day 
account for about 22 percent of cannabis users in Colorado but 
consume nearly 67 percent of the marijuana used. Other studies have 
warned about a possible uptick in heavy marijuana use.

"The fraction of people who are monthly users who are in fact daily 
users has gone way, way up," Kleiman said.

Monthly marijuana use increased across all age groups in Colorado, 
according to the new survey numbers. The number of people who 
reported using marijuana in the past year also increased in Colorado 
in the 2012-13 data, but the state ranked only sixth nationally in 
the measurement. Measurements for alcohol consumption and illicit 
drug use increased, as well.

This month, a different federally funded survey found that teen 
marijuana use had not increased nationally, despite marijuana 
legalization. A Colorado survey released this year found no increase 
in marijuana use by high schoolers in 2013.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom