Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors
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Psychol Addict Behav · Feb 2018
Legalization of recreational marijuana and community sales policy in Oregon: Impact on adolescent willingness and intent to use, parent use, and adolescent use.
Studies investigating the impact of medical marijuana legalization have found no significant changes in adolescent use. In one of the few studies focused on recreational marijuana, we investigated how recreational marijuana legalization and community sales policy influenced factors that likely impact youth use (youth willingness and intent to use, parent use) as well as youth use. Legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon coincided with our study on adolescent substance use. ⋯ For youth who used marijuana, legalization was associated with increased use, and those in communities opting out of sales had greater growth in marijuana use. Community policy appears to impact youth attitudes toward, and use of, marijuana. Results suggest that legalization of recreational marijuana did not increase marijuana use for youth who did not use marijuana but did increase use in youth who were already using. (PsycINFO Database Record