Cannabis legalization and rising sales have not contributed to increase in substance abuse, study finds

The results of a new study, utilizing the most recent data on adolescent substance use to evaluate the effect of recreational cannabis legalization and retail sales on youth’s use of cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol, appear in JAMA Pediatrics.

The study authors—co-principal investigators Rebekah Levine Coley, a Lynch School of Education and Human Development professor; School of Social Work Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins; and Christopher F. Baum, chair of the Economics Department—are among the first to evaluate associations between recreational cannabis legislation and recreational cannabis retail sales through 2021.

“Although studies of early-enacting states and Canada reported few effects of recreational cannabis legislation on adolescent…