According to a study by researchers at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration, there has been a steady decline in youth pot use for over ten years.
According to NORML, the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, investigated how often kids ages 12 to 17 used weed between 2002 and 2014. Astonishingly, the research found that the prevalence of past-year marijuana use for youth had dropped 17% over the recorded period.
The study also concluded that there was a 25% decline in the prevalence of youth abusing marijuana.
“In the United States, compared to 2002, even after adjusting for covariates, cannabis use decreased among youth during 2005-2014, and cannabis use disorder declined among youth cannabis users,” the authors stated. “Associations between declines in tobacco use and decreased cannabis use suggest the importance of tobacco use control and prevention among youth.”
According to the annual Monitoring the Future survey, the accessibility to cannabis is at a record low for 8th and 10th graders and has stayed roughly stagnant among students in 12th grade
Marijuana use fell slightly among 8th and 10th graders, while remaining the same for high school seniors in 2016.
