With zero marijuana overdose deaths in the history of man, new research uncovering the plant’s medical benefits and millions in tax dollars flooding into legal weed states, staunch prohibitionists are running out of excuses to support their anti-cannabis stance. Now, thanks to new numbers from a widely accepted national survey, one more fear-mongering anti-weed talking point has finally been laid to rest.
According to the Washington Post, a new study from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that teenage marijuana use across the country is down to its lowest rate since 1996. The study found that only 6.5% of American teens are toking on a monthly basis, compared to a high of almost 10% in the late ‘90s.
This drop isn’t new, of course, and since Colorado first started selling recreational weed in 2014, almost every study, on a national or local level, has shown similar downward trends. Still, that hasn’t stopped cannabis detractors from citing youth use as a reason to end legalization and crack down in places like Colorado and Washington.
On the other side of adulthood, the same survey found that grown-ups across all age ranges are using cannabis at a higher rate than any generation since 1985, which makes sense after other national polls have pegged public support for legal cannabis at their highest rates ever recorded.
Still, it seems like no amount of data or research can dissuade folks like Jeff Sessions and the forces behind anti-cannabis group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. And with Fall approaching fast, it’s only a matter of weeks before those same anti-cannabis activists start rehashing their long-debunked “edibles in the Halloween candy” scare tactics, citing the increased adult use numbers as a threat to our nation’s children.
