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Abstract
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Rivera-Aguirre et al. provide one answer to the question of cannabis legalization's effects on youth in their report on youth cannabis use in Uruguay. Using national surveys of secondary school students, they document stable cannabis use patterns after legalization, relative to historical trends and to the neighboring country of Chile [1].
Uruguay was the first country to nationally legalize cannabis for adult use in 2013 [2]. This occurred at the same time as Colorado and Washington State became the first legalizing states in the United States. In any jurisdiction, this change in law alone could have been expected to affect youth cannabis use by reducing perceptions of risk and normalizing use.
In one important way, Uruguay's legalization was less restrictive from a prevention lens than in the United States: in Uruguay, the age of legal purchase and use is 18 rather than 21 years. This means that some young people still in secondary school could legally purchase cannabis, and possibly share with other younger people. Plausibly, availability could have increased and contributed to greater use among youth.
However, in nearly all other regards Uruguay has a more strictly regulated cannabis market than the United States. Only cannabis plants (e.g. flower) are legal, not manufactured products such as vapes, edibles or concentrates, which represent a growing share of the legal retail cannabis market in the United States [3, 4]. Adults can access cannabis via dispensaries (pharmacies), by growing at home or via social clubs of up to 45 people, but they must register and choose only one source...
Language: en |