Marijuana plants flourish under the lights at a grow house in Denver, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. (Ed Andrieski, AP Photo) In Colorado, the first state in the country to allow legal recreational cannabis sales to adults, youth marijuana use is going down, according to newly released survey results .
Fewer than 13% of Colorado’s high schoolers last year reported using marijuana at least once in the previous 30 days. That is the lowest percentage since at least 2013 — the year before recreational pot shops opened in Colorado.
The percentage of high schoolers who reported ever using marijuana — 26.3% — is 10 percentage points below 2013 levels.
The numbers come from the latest edition of the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, an every-other-year snapshot of the physical, mental and behavioral health of Colorado’s youth. The survey is a collaboration between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health.
This version of the survey polled more than 120,000 students across the state, making it by far the largest study tracking youth behavior in Colorado. The results have margins of error of around +/- 1 percentage point. A Flourish chart
In addition to marijuana use numbers being down, several other metrics are also trending in perhaps counterintuitive directions following Colorado’s legalization of cannabis. For instance, the percent of high school students who say marijuana is easy to get was 14 percentage points lower in 2023 than in 2013.
Meanwhile, perceptions of disapproval of marijuana use are going up. More than 70% of Colorado high school students said they think it is wrong for someone of their same age to use cannabis — 10 percentage points higher than in 2013. More than 89% say they think their parents or guardians would disapprove of them using marijuana. Differing views over what gets credit
Advocates for cannabis legalization were quick to credit the policy’s impact for the shift.
“Colorado continues to be proof that regulating cannabis works,” Chuck Smith, the board president for Colorado Leads, a cannabis industry group, said in a statement.Opponents of legalization point out that not all […]
A decade after legal pot shops opened, teen marijuana use is going down in Colorado
