Pubdate: Wed, 01 Jun 2016 Source: Washington Post (DC) Column: Wonkblog Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Author: Christopher Ingraham NO, LEGAL WEED IS NOT DUMBING DOWN NATION'S TEENS The marijuana policy landscape changed rapidly between 2002 and 2013. During that time, 13 states passed medical-marijuana laws, nearly as many relaxed penalties for marijuana use, and Colorado and Washington became the first states to fully legalize recreational pot use. Opponents of marijuana liberalization warned that these changes would bring devastating consequences, particularly for kids. The president of National Families in Action, an anti-drug group, warned that commercial marijuana would "literally dumb down the precious minds of generations of children." Psychiatrist Christian Thurstone, an outspoken opponent of Colorado's marijuana legalization, argued that "the state's relaxed laws have made the drug widely available - and irresistible - to too many adolescents." But even with the widespread liberalization of marijuana laws and huge changes in public acceptance of the drug, marijuana use among the nation's teens has not increased. Nor have problems such as marijuana addiction and dependency. In fact, the opposite has occurred, according to a new study from Richard Grucza and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The number of American teens with marijuana-related problems - such as dependency on the drug or troubles with family or school due to marijuana use - fell by 24 percent between 2002 and 2013. The overall number of teens using marijuana fell, too. And the teens who do use marijuana are less likely to experience problems due to the drug. "We were surprised to see substantial declines in marijuana use and abuse," Grucza said in a statement. "Whatever is happening with these behavioral issues, it seems to be outweighing any effects of marijuana decriminalization." Grucza and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual federal survey. Their research, forthcoming in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The reduction in the past-year prevalence of marijuana use disorders among adolescents took place during a period when 10 U.S. states relaxed criminal sanctions against adult marijuana use and 13 states enacted medical marijuana policies," the study found. "During this period, teenagers also became less likely to perceive marijuana use as risky, and marijuana use became more socially acceptable among young adults." If legalization opponents are to be believed, these are all the ingredients necessary for an explosion in marijuana problems among the nation's teens. So what happened? In looking more closely at the data, the researchers discovered that the number of adolescents experiencing an array of nondrug-related conduct problems - fighting, stealing, arguing with their parents - also was declining. And so they divided the youths experiencing marijuana-use problems into two groups: those who exhibited marijuana-use disorders along with other conduct problems and those who had marijuana-use disorders but no other conduct problems. They found that the decline in marijuana-use disorders was concentrated almost exclusively among adolescents dealing with other problems on top of their pot use. By contrast, they discovered, "the proportion of adolescents with marijuana use disorders who did not report conduct problems remained relatively constant." Researchers know that bad behavior and drug use often go hand in hand among teens. While the causality can go either way - bad behavior causes drug use or vice versa - a reduction in one usually accompanies a reduction in the other. So if teens are becoming better-behaved overall, it stands to reason that drug problems will decrease, too. "Other research shows that psychiatric disorders earlier in childhood are strong predictors of marijuana use later on," Grucza said in a statement. "So it's likely that if these disruptive behaviors are recognized earlier in life, we may be able to deliver therapies that will help prevent marijuana problems - and possibly problems with alcohol and other drugs, too." This research does not show a direct link between liberalization of marijuana laws and the reductions in teens' marijuana abuse. It instead strongly suggests that other factors - such as broader behavioral and mental health trends - are much more likely to drive changes in teen marijuana use. Grucza's study adds to a growing body of evidence showing that changes to marijuana policy have had a much smaller effect on teen drug use than once feared. A paper published in Lancet Psychiatry last year found that passing medical-marijuana laws had no effect on teen marijuana use at the state level. Other large surveys of adolescents, such as the Monitoring the Future Study, found flat teen marijuana use in recent years. State-level federal survey data shows little change for the age group, even in states that have legalized use for adults. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom