“[We] observed a high rate of injection initiation among at-risk street-involved youth,” the study’s authors wrote. “Our results indicate that periods of frequent cannabis use were associated with slower rates of initiation: daily cannabis use was associated with a 34 percent decrease in the hazard rate of injection initiation.
In another study looking at cannabis use over decades, but focusing specifically on the consumption habits of American teenagers before and after legalization, researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health found no significant changes in youth marijuana habits. In other words, the research debunks any fear that legal weed could quickly corrupt the country’s impressionable teens.
“For now, there appears to be no basis for the argument that legalizing medical marijuana has increased teens’ use of the drug,” Deborah Hasin, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School, and senior author of the study, said in a press release. “However, we may find that the situation changes as commercialized markets for medical marijuana develop and expand, and as states legalize recreational marijuana use. “
Even with the minor concession about possible future changes, the Columbia University study,