Marijuana is the most frequently utilized drug in the United States that is federally prohibited. It is likewise an addicting substance that is connected with unfavorable health and psychosocial results. Prior to 2014, cannabis might not be legally bought or offered for recreational purposes anywhere in the United States. By early 2022, over 141 million Americans lived in a state where recreational cannabis was legal..
Referral: “Impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on marijuana use: a longitudinal discordant twin study” by Stephanie M. Zellers, J. Megan Ross, Gretchen R. B. Saunders, Jarrod M. Ellingson, Jacob E. Anderson, Robin P. Corley, William Iacono, John K. Hewitt, Christian J. Hopfer, Matt K. McGue and Scott Vrieze, 24 August 2022, Addiction.DOI: 10.1111/ include.16016.
Financing: This work was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under awards numbers R01DA042755, U01DA046413, R37DA005147, R01DA013240, R01DA036216, R01DA037904, K24DA032555, R01DA035804, P60DA011015, R01DA012845, R01DA038065, R01MH066140, r37aa009367, and r01aa023974. The material is exclusively the responsibility of the authors and does not always represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Of specific interest were the 111 identical twin sets in which one twin lived in a state with a different recreational marijuana policy to the other. Study individuals included 1,425 people living in states with legal leisure marijuana usage and 1,997 living in states in which leisure marijuana use is prohibited. These results suggest that leisure legalization caused a boost in marijuana use.
The legalization of recreational marijuana appears to have triggered a 20% typical boost in cannabis usage frequency.
According to a new study released in the clinical journal Addiction, the legalization of leisure cannabis in U.S. states appears to have actually caused a 20% typical increase in marijuana use frequency in those states.
The research assessed the effects of leisure marijuana legalization in a big sample of adult identical twins. Of specific interest were the 111 identical twin pairs in which one twin resided in a state with a various recreational marijuana policy to the other. Compared to research on unassociated individuals, twin studies supply remarkably well-matched controls for one another and make it possible for more accurate estimation of the causal impact of leisure legalization.
Study individuals included 1,425 individuals living in states with legal recreational marijuana usage and 1,997 living in states in which leisure cannabis use is illegal. These outcomes show that recreational legalization triggered a boost in marijuana usage.