Teen Drug Treatment Admissions Haven’t Increased in Legal Marijuana States

A study from the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence revealed that recreational marijuana legalization laws are not associated with increased youth drug treatment admissions for marijuana.

Researchers studied annual drug treatment center admissions among teens between 2008 to 2017, NORML reported.

 “To our knowledge, this is the first study examining the effect of recreational legalization of marijuana in the US on adolescent treatment admissions for marijuana use,” the study reported. “Over all states in the analysis, the rate of adolescent treatment admissions for marijuana use declined significantly over the study period, with the mean rate falling nearly in half.”

Self-reported marijuana use by teens has been declining both nationally and in the legal marijuana states.