MARIJUANA POLICY HAS GONE TO POT
users of marijuana lost an average of 5.5 IQ points in adulthood, compared to an average loss of 0.7 points among lifelong non-users. One study found that marijuana was the most common substance found in post-mortem toxicologies of youth suicide decedents. Additionally, a 2021 study found that poly-substance use, including marijuana, was associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety, and lower grade point averages.
Part of this exposure — and the impact it has on kids — comes from increased commercialization, like we are seeing in New York. Weed promotion is everywhere. One study in Oregon found half of high school juniors report being exposed to online marijuana advertisements in the past 30 days. Another study found that one in three youth living in a state where marijuana is “legal” engaged with marijuana promotions on social media, and youth who engaged with marijuana promotions were five times as likely to use marijuana.
What about national numbers? The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey asked kids about daily marijuana use and found that it increased dramatically from 2018 to 2019 — among eighth graders, use rates jumped 85.7% from 2018 to 2019. By 2019, they found that marijuana use in the past 12 months and in the last 30 days had reached the highest levels ever reported.
But then COVID hit. Kids weren’t around friends or at school as much. Parents weren’t at the office. And a natural experiment about access and availability unfolded. And indeed, what happened is what many thought would happen: drug use and initiation fell dramatically during the pandemic among teens.
According to the Monitoring the Future Survey the percentage of 10th graders who thought it was “fairly easy or very easy” to get marijuana declined from 65.8% in 2019 to 47.5% in 2021. Among 12th graders, the percentage declined from 78.0% in 2019 to 69.6% in 2021. For context, these declines are comparable to the gains of the prior 15—20 years of prevention efforts. Prior to the pandemic, these answers would annually fluctuate one or two percentage points; the pandemic made the task of obtaining drugs much more difficult.
After schools transitioned to online learning options, many students lost in-person access to their primary source of drugs: their peers. Students could no longer buy it at school or get it through their friend group, which is where kids usually get drugs (not from shady dealers).
Similarly, youth were no longer surrounded by peers who could pressure them to use marijuana. Some kids may have smoked it, thinking it would make them look cool, while others may have used it at a party because they didn’t want to feel left out. They were less likely to adopt the attitude, “well, everyone else is using it,” when they were not exposed to others using it. At home, away from their social groups, students felt less pressure to use marijuana.
As students were spending significantly less time at school with their friends, they were also spending more time at home with their parents. Parental disapproval is a key protective factor against youth use. In 2020, 88.1% of 12—17-year-olds said their parents would “strongly disapprove” of their using marijuana once a month or more. Recognizing that their parents disapprove of their use, many youth were unable to use marijuana at home — and they were not going to events where it could have been used.
Going forward, we must apply these lessons to efforts that will prevent future drug use. This doesn’t mean we shut down society and discourage lasting friendships. Instead, we should invest in efforts that reduce the availability of marijuana, encourage parents to monitor their child for potential marijuana use, and teach children the importance of being drug-free.
Those who perceive marijuana as being available are five times more likely to use it than those who think it is unavailable. This should make intuitive sense — you cannot use something you are unable to get. Thus, an effective means of deterrence against use includes making it more difficult to obtain marijuana. We must also focus on international cooperation and preventing drugs from entering our nation. With fewer drugs circulating through a community, fewer students will use them.
As we emerge from the pandemic, we should analyze its effects like controlled variables in an experiment. When students entered an environment where use was not normalized, they were less able to obtain marijuana. And when they were under the supervision of their parents, they were less able to use any drugs they had obtained. We should learn from this, and renew our efforts to keep drugs out of our communities and empower parents and youth to lead healthy, drug-free lives. That phrase may sound old fashioned — but it’s the right thing to do.