When it comes to marijuana and teen consumption, this is an issue that needs to be taken seriously. No responsible consumer of marijuana will support teen use unless in a medically approved situation by a doctor.

That being said, when marijuana prohibitors make surprising predictions about marijuana’s surge Youth marijuana It needs to be called out due to the consumption rate of looming cannabis reform.

The truth is that regulated industries are better than unregulated industries from a youth consumption rate perspective. After all, no one checks IDs in an unregulated system.

Cannabis reform, especially medical cannabis reform, has swept the continent in recent decades. How does this affect youth consumption rates in Europe?

Comprehensive Study

a team Swedish researchers A recent analysis of self-reported cannabis use data from Belgium, the Czech Republic, GermanyItaly, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, SpainSweden and the United Kingdom.

The data spanned the period 1994 to 2017, with the researchers paying particular attention to data involving younger consumers.

“Cannabis policies vary widely across European countries, but the evidence on how such policies affect recreational cannabis use among young people is conflicting. This study aims to clarify this by investigating how changes in cannabis legislation affect cannabis use. association,” the study said.

As the researchers detail, the methodology used was rigorous: “Available data on self-reported recreational marijuana use among individuals aged 15-34 years were retrieved from EMCDDA. Information on cannabis policy changes was categorized as more permissive (decriminalization or decriminalization) or stricter (criminalization, punishment).

“Countries that have made changes to cannabis legislation or have information on prevalence of use for at least eight years are eligible for inclusion. We used a disrupted time-series linear model to investigate changes in country-specific prevalence trajectories over calendar time and with policy changes related changes,” the study said.

The researchers concluded that “the findings do not support any significant impact of cannabis legislation on recreational cannabis use rates among youth and young adults in Europe.”

may be true in other regions

Studies of this scope and scale have not yet been conducted on other continents. However, it may be a safe bet if/when similar studies are conducted on other continents, it may yield similar results.

Medical marijuana is popular globally, and thankfully, more and more lawmakers are standing on the right side of history and creating safe access within their jurisdictions.

As mentioned earlier, a regulated system is better at preventing underage people from mastering marijuana than an unregulated system.

That’s not to say any marijuana won’t escape the regulated system. Just as alcohol and tobacco are illegally purchased and/or given to youth, so too is marijuana and any other regulated substance.