One of the many worries and criticisms over legalization efforts is that the move will prompt a flurry of new children to taking-up the habit of smoking. Protecting children was one of the central themes of Trudeau’s legalization promise. But the recent cannabis report from Colorado is showing something different. It turns out that kids in Colorado are not smoking more cannabis since the drug finally became legal. But it does report that adults are smoking it more.
In a recently released report which contained comprehensive data related to cannabis legalization in the state, with stats on things like pot arrests, tax collections, and more, it confirmed that more adults are turning to use the plant. Surveys were given to roughly 40,000 students that were both middle-school aged children and high-school aged children and these surveys indicated that the cannabis use didn’t rise significantly in the years following the move to legalize back in 2012.
With high school students, use back in 2005 was estimated to be around 23 per cent, and in 2014 was measured at 20 per cent. There was also no significant change seen in children who were younger than 13 years of ago. However, for the adults that were between the ages of 18 to 25 in the year 2014, who reported their usage in the last 30 days, it was determined that there was at least a 5 per cent increase from the year before. For adults over 26 years old there was also an increase seen.
In the state of Colorado not only have they not seen a sharp rise in child usage, but they’ve also reported seeing safer roads since legalization and violent crime has allegedly decreased. The state has also acquired an abundance of financial success following the move to legalize; they even offered taxpayers a chance for a refund from the marijuana tax in the state, but voters surprisingly voted no and ended-up going with the option of allowing politicians to keep the excess sum.