Pubdate: Mon, 13 Jun 2016
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321

WOULD KIDS BE ALRIGHT IF POT WERE LEGAL?

The coming debate over whether California should legalize marijuana 
would be improved by the use of the ultimate mind-expanding drug. By 
which we mean data.

Opponents of legalization are going to say that allowing recreational 
marijuana would end up harming young people.

But is that true, or is it supposition or propaganda?

The question has been tackled by researchers at Washington University 
School of Medicine in St. Louis. They used data gathered over a 
12-year span by a study called the National Survey on Drug Use and 
Health. Their findings were published in the June issue of the 
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Although no single piece of research should ever be taken at face 
value, obviously these are serious people, and their findings are 
worth breathing in.

Their key finding is this: Even though more and more U.S. states have 
been legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana in recent years, fewer 
adolescents have been using pot or experiencing pot-related problems.

To put it another way: At a time when adult pot use has been rising, 
adolescent pot use has been declining.

That's quite a rhetorical blow to marijuana opponents who say they're 
looking out for the welfare of the nation's kids.

And it gives a lift to proponents of the marijuana legalization 
initiative that has qualified for the November state ballot.

That measure would propose to legalize the possession, cultivation 
and sale of marijuana by people 21 and up, and allow the state to 
regulate and tax marijuana commerce.

Despite the 21-and-up requirement, expanding the legal availability 
of marijuana for more than medical purposes would make it easier for 
kids to get.

The question is: How big a problem that really would be.

To help answer the question here and elsewhere, the Washington 
University researchers looked at statistics from 216,000 people ages 
of 12-17, from all 50 states, from 2002-13. During the 12-year period 
of the study, 10 states relaxed criminal sanctions against adult 
marijuana use, and 13 states implemented medical weed.

What did the researchers see?

"We were surprised to see substantial declines in marijuana use and 
abuse [among young people]," study author Richard A. Grucza said in 
the university's account.

The number of kids reporting they'd used marijuana in the previous 
year declined from 16 percent in 2002 to 14 percent in 2013. The 
number with marijuana-related problems  like dependence or school 
trouble  fell from about 4 percent to about 3 percent.

It's possible these modest declines have less to do with pot policies 
than with, say, better approaches to treating kids with behavioral problems.

As Mr. Grucza said, "Whatever is happening with these behavioral 
issues, it seems to be outweighing any effects of marijuana decriminalization."

It appears legal pot won't mess up our kids. Remember that in the 
cloud of arguments for and against legalization that Californians are 
likely to hear this year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom