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. 2016 Aug;106(8):1498-503.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303153. Epub 2016 May 19.

Young People's More Permissive Views About Marijuana: Local Impact of State Laws or National Trend?

Laura A Schmidt  1 , Laurie M Jacobs  1 , Joanne Spetz  1
Affiliations

Young People's More Permissive Views About Marijuana: Local Impact of State Laws or National Trend?

Laura A Schmidt et al. Am J Public Health. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether state medical marijuana laws "send the wrong message," that is, have a local influence on the views of young people about the risks of using marijuana.

Methods: We performed multilevel, serial, cross-sectional analyses on 10 annual waves of the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2004-2013) nationally and for states with marijuana laws using individual- and state-level controls.

Results: Living in medical marijuana states was associated with more permissive views regarding marijuana across 5 different measures. However, these associations became non-statistically significant after we adjusted for state-level differences. By contrast, there was a consistent and significant national time trend toward more permissive attitudes, which was less pronounced among children of middle school age than it was among their older counterparts.

Conclusions: Passing medical marijuana laws does not seem to directly affect the views of young people in medical marijuana states. However, there is a national trend toward young people taking more permissive views about marijuana independent of any effects within states.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Trends in Young People’s Attitudes About Marijuana and Medical Marijuana Laws: US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2004–2013 Note. Within each year, age group differences are statistically significant at P < .001; 2004–2013 differences are also significant at P < .01 for each age group.
FIGURE 2—
FIGURE 2—
Odds ratios Associated With Living in a Medical Marijuana State, by Age Group and Outcome: US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2004–2013 Note. OR = odds ratio. **All ORs significant at P < .01; ***All ORs significant at P < .001.
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