Despite fears that relax marijuana control laws will go to higher rates of sess use among shaver , new research establish that less US teenagers are currently dabble in weed than in 2002 . Furthermore , the cogitation – which come along in theJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – indicates that use of the drug is now less strongly colligate with “ conduct problems ” such as push and slip among adolescents .
To impart their enquiry , the subject field source from the Washington University School of Medicine incur data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for find out how rates of marijuana employment and genial health disorders fluctuated among 12- to 17 - class - olds between 2002 and 2013 . During this period , 13 US state introducedmedical marijuanaprograms , while a further 10 relax their restrictions on recreational cannabis smoking .
Though the symmetry of youngsters with marijuana use disorders – such as dependence on the drug – remained more or less constant across this period , the investigator noted a 24 percent decrease in the act of teenagers present both marijuana use disorders and deportment trouble . In other speech , the correlation between weed dependance and behavioral issue fell by roughly a quartern .
moreover , the phone number of youths using cannabis in the US was 10 percent low in 2013 than it had been in 2002 , suggesting that the sound changes brought in during this fourth dimension did not promote more young mass to smoke weed .
Exactly what has brought about this improvement is difficult to pinpoint , although the written report authors suggest that it could have something to do with wider societal efforts to protect the genial wellness of child and curb teenage delinquency . For model , the researchers cite “ more frequent diagnosis and discussion of childhood conduct disorders , a cost increase in school - based programs to prevent ferocity and intimidation , and the outgrowth of state antibullying laws ” as potential contributor .
Commenting on these finding , study co - author Richard Gruczaexplainedthat “ we do n’t know how legalization is dissemble young marijuana users , but it could be that many kids with behavioural job are more likely to get treatment in the beginning in childhood , have them less likely to turn to pot during adolescence . But whatever is happening with these behavioral issues , it seems to be outweighing any event of marijuana decriminalisation . ”
