College Students Views on Marijuana Unchanged Post-Legalization, States Study
According to a newly released study young adult college students who live in states where marijuana has been legalized possess similar attitudes toward cannabis as do those residing in a jurisdiction where cannabis use remains illegal. This is according to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health and titled Effects of recreational marijuana legalization on college students: A longitudinal study of attitudes, intentions, and use behaviors.
For the study researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison examined the attitudes towards marijuana, intentions to use, and consumption patterns in a longitudinal cohort of 338 students at two large public universities in Washington and Wisconsin.
They found that “Ever use, attitude, and intention-to-use scores did not change significantly more in Washington after legalization than in Wisconsin.” However, authors did report that “among prior users, the proportion using in the last 28 days rose faster in Washington after legalization that it did in Wisconsin.” The study concludes by stating: “Although the proportion of participants ever using remained similar across states overtime, the prevalence of 28-day use increased significantly more in Washington after RML [recreational marijuana laws] than in Wisconsin. Thus, rather than increasing the prevalence of new users, our findings suggest that legalization had the greatest direct effects on current marijuana users.”
Below is the study’s full abstract:
Purpose
As legal recreational marijuana use expands rapidly across the U.S., there is growing concern that this will lead to higher rates of use among college-aged young adults. Given the limited research addressing this issue, a longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the effects of legalizing recreational use on the attitudes, intentions, and marijuana use behaviors of college students in two different legalization contexts, Washington State and Wisconsin.
Methods
Survey data assessing marijuana attitudes, intentions, and use behavior were collected from 2011 to 2016 on a longitudinal cohort of 338 students at two large public universities in Washington and Wisconsin. Time series analyses were conducted to evaluate postlegalization changes in ever use, 28-day use, and mean attitude and intention-to-use scores in Washington state, using Wisconsin participants as the control group.
Results
Ever use, attitude, and intention-to-use scores did not change significantly more in Washington after legalization than in Wisconsin. However, among prior users, the proportion using in the last 28 days rose faster in Washington after legalization that it did in Wisconsin (p < .001).
Conclusions
The findings suggest that legalization had the greatest effects on current marijuana users, who are surrounded by a climate that is increasingly supportive of its use.