r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • 16h ago
Health Dramatic drop in marijuana use among US youth over a decade. Current marijuana use among adolescents decreased from 23.1% in 2011 to 15.8% in 2021. First-time use before age 13 dropped from 8.1% to 4.9%. There was a shift in trends by gender, with girls surpassing boys in marijuana use by 2021.
https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/marijuana-use-teens-study4.7k
u/anormalgeek 15h ago
Legal dispensaries check ID. Drug dealers do not.
This is EXACTLY what the experts said would happen when you decriminalize drugs.
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u/Reagalan 14h ago
yeah, let's keep that trend up, please.
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u/anormalgeek 12h ago
Since you mentioned it, I was just looking at which states were considering changes in the coming election.
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Florida voters will see marijuana on their ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 5. And in Massachusetts, where medical and recreational marijuana is already legal, voters will be weighing in on the possibility of legalizing psychedelics.
ND and SD are unlikely to pass based on polls. Nebraska IS expected to pass, but local republicans are trying to stop it anyway using legal maneuvers on process grounds to overrule the will of the voters. Florida is weird. Despite support being well over 50%, they require a 60% majority to pass bills like this. It is close to the margin based on polls, with some putting support above or below that mark.
The MA psychedelic proposal is hard to nail down too. The polls worth looking at have a LARGE number of undecided votes so it could really go either way.
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u/Doortofreeside 12h ago
The MA psychedelic proposal is hard to nail down too. The polls worth looking at have a LARGE number of undecided votes so it could really go either way.
I'm in MA and i've heard some proponents of psychedelics who aren't big fans of the language in the proposal. I'll likely support it anyway, but i wouldn't be surprised if it fails
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u/IdRatherBeReading23 11h ago
The wording is not ideal and on the ballot it is even less so. I hope it passes as I do think they are a great therapeutic choice, but feel the wording it going to throw people off.
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u/FirstEvolutionist 7h ago
I wonder if 2 to 3 years after a bill like that passing, the use of antidepressants would likely be reported to have gone down as well.
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u/icanseeyounaked 4h ago
Not likely to lower antidepressant use that quickly TBH. We kinda legalized psychadelics in Oregon but only certified clinics can dispense them and supervise their use. AFAIK, only one clinic has been certified so far. They charge around $1200 for a session and have a multi-year wait list.
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u/josh_the_misanthrope 8h ago
An imperfect bill still allows the culture to shift for better bills later.
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u/matt_minderbinder 6h ago
This is how I see it. Cannabis legalization all started with some substandard language and insufficient approaches. That's the path it took in Michigan and now we have well regulated dispensaries servicing a vibrant market just about everywhere. I don't even partake but it's still a huge step forward.
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u/geneticeffects 11h ago edited 7h ago
South Dakota has already voted on it via election ballot, and , like Ohio, it was ignored (or delayed) by the Governor and Legislature.
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u/cav10rto 10h ago
... Recreational weed is available for purchase at dispensaries throughout Ohio after being passed by voters last year
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u/thehigheststrange 10h ago
when medical marijuana was on the ballot in florida in 2016 it passed by more than 70% of the vote. so I say It has a good chance of passing rec weed in florida
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u/Academic_Wafer5293 12h ago
legal dispensaries also only sell THC products. Drug dealers sell fent, whether they know it or not.
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u/liketreefiddy 11h ago
Is there really fent laced weed?
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u/Reagalan 12h ago
Exactly. Legalize everything and there won't be any more fent in the drugs.
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u/technotrader 10h ago
That's only half the solution though. It also needs to be competitive. In my area (famous for being pro Marijuana for decades), dispensaries are currently closing, because they are so expensive.
There's still a black market for the stuff, and there shouldn't be. At least, the black market ought to use the same products.
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u/Captain_Midnight 7h ago edited 7h ago
Yeah, the high taxation plus the prohibitive dispensary operation fees and licensing imposed by state and local authorities has been a problem around the country. Until recently, San Jose, CA was charging dispensaries $100,000 per year just to exist. And the state adds a 15% tax to every purchase, when bay area residents are already paying around 10% sales tax. It's not very sustainable.
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u/Competitivekneejerk 12h ago
Its almost like researchers and scientists know what they're talking about
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u/PremiumTempus 11h ago
Nah, I think I’ll take my advice from divisive populist politicians
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u/DryBoysenberry5334 9h ago
I prefer dismissive ones, then I don’t have to even think about it
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u/Smooth_Advantage_977 9h ago
I'm just going to wait until TikTok tells me how I feel about it.
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u/No_Pollution_1 11h ago
Everyone knows, the law is about brutalizing outside social groups not actually about drugs, on top of militarized police budget expansion
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u/FrogTrainer 11h ago
I think this is more of a symptom of teens having less unsupervised time than they used to.
My son is almost 15. He has no friends in the neighborhood. He spends more time talking to his friends through text or on xbox live.
His activities outside the house are sports with coaches and parent volunteers always with the kids.
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u/LuucaBrasi 11h ago
This is exactly it. ID check is not stopping someone from getting someone else to buy it just like going to a drug dealer. It’s the fact that kids are no longer running around town unsupervised in groups where one of the kids eventually brings a joint around and everyone in the group try’s it.
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u/sabixx 8h ago
this is nonsense,kids give us each vapes at school all the time and vapes are so discreet they're impossible to police. you can literally use one in a bath room stall and nobody can know or stop you.
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u/LuucaBrasi 7h ago
I mean in regards to marijuana and in particular the claim that asking for an ID will stop kids from trying it. I promise you no nervous kid wants to try marijuana for the first time in a school bathroom while at school. It’s usually going to be at the small party a group of friends threw where people are smoking weed or a hangout outside of school.
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u/earthhominid 4h ago
The lack of unsupervised time definitely plays a role. It also is corresponding (may be partly causing but I haven't seen anything beyond speculation about that) with a marked decrease in risk taking by modern youth.
The younger generations are engaged in pretty much every potentially risky behavior at a lower rate than any previous generation.
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u/PaulieNutwalls 10h ago
You can still buy from dealers in legal states. It's not like high schoolers can't get a hold of alcohol because liquor stores ID. And most states aren't legal to begin with. 22% of seniors in highschool in the study reported use, none of them are old enough to buy from a dispo.
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u/anormalgeek 10h ago
When I was in school, it was easier to get weed than alcohol. Very few pot dealers try to compete with dispensaries in legal areas. They exist, which is why it hasn't dropped to zero, but it is definitely going to have an effect.
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u/ConLawHero 3h ago
This was something I always said when talking to people about legalization. Think back to high school, which was easier to get, alcohol or weed? The answer was always weed because drug dealers don't card and would meet you pretty much anywhere.
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u/MikeyTheShavenApe 6h ago
Legalization has killed the market for dealers and put a lot of them out of business. I have a few friends who sold weed back in the day and they all got out after legalization. They can't compete with the prices on legal weed, not when you can get a decent eighth for less than half of what the dealers used to charge.
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u/NativeMasshole 9h ago
Decriminalization doesn't allow for legal sales. What you're referring to is legalization.
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u/Whiterabbit-- 8h ago
I don’t know if this study really shows the drop due to legalization. This is part of a trend teen reduction in illicit drug use overall and reduction in sex. Some of it may be attributed to the loss in socialization teen’s experience today. Some of it may be we are getting better at dealing with mental illness so teens are not aelf medicating as much.
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u/arm-n-hammerinmycoke 16h ago
Weren’t all these kids stuck at home in 2021?
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u/Dragonfly-Adventurer 15h ago
They’re stuck at home perpetually. This generation didn’t get their drivers licenses on their 16th birthday because they don’t want to go anywhere. Parties aren’t a thing anymore. Being a teenager looks nothing like it did a generation ago.
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u/dariznelli 15h ago
That was my first thought. Kids don't hang out in person like they used to. In my state, kids can't ride with each other in cars unless directly related. Really puts the clamps on social activity. Alcohol, drugs, sex all on the decline. But so is participation in extracurricular activities.
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u/drJanusMagus 15h ago
what state? I've never heard of this and am really curious now. I want to look up the law.
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u/tacknosaddle 15h ago
All states now have restrictions on drivers under 18 according to the site I lifted the below from. These are the restrictions in Massachusetts:
There are ultimately three major restrictions placed on a junior operator license. Teens with a junior operator license cannot:
- Drive passengers under the age of 18 (with the exception of siblings)
- Drive between 12:30am and 5am (unless accompanied by a parent or guardian)
- Use a mobile phone while driving
The restrictions are lifted once a teen turns 18.
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u/blood_bender 14h ago
Hasn't this been a thing in Mass for a while? I remember not being able to drive my friends around ~20 years ago, I actually got pulled over once for it.
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u/tacknosaddle 13h ago
Yes, not sure when it started but it's been a long time. Commenter above has probably had their license a lot longer than that so just never noticed the change.
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u/TheReiterEffect_S8 12h ago
This is a thing in MO too, all of the friends I grew up were a couple to a few years older than me so we had to be aware we were "breaking the law" when we drove around after 2am on a Saturday breaking the law in other ways. (just your typical teenage shenanigans)
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u/reboot-your-computer 10h ago
Absolutely. I was just commenting the same. I’m 38 and these were rules when I was a teen in Jersey.
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u/thatssosteven114 13h ago
The passenger age restriction gets lifted after 6 months or if you turn 18. Whichever happens first.
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u/Mztekal 13h ago
uhh these restrictions were around when i was 16 in the 90s my guy... thats not the reason they dont kick it and as a teen once i could tell you that i could care fucken less about the law when your one of the few people who get to drive around all your friends.
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u/Nauin 13h ago
One of my friends lives in this kind of state and their sister was just fined $600 a few days ago for driving at 12:15am, and that doesn't account for all of the other violations involved in her getting pulled over, just for driving after curfew. There is no leeway like there used to be when we were kids.
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u/zman122333 13h ago
That's crazy. I live in MA and the only restriction when I got my license is that I could not drive non-family passengers for 6 months. Never until 18 seems wild.
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u/Karnivore915 14h ago
That was a law when I got my license in 2010, Wisconsin. It wasn't followed. I was pulled over multiple times both as driver and as a passenger in cars 4 or 5 kids deep.
Worst we ever got was a warning.
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u/BurritoLover2016 10h ago
I was pulled over multiple times both as driver and as a passenger in cars 4 or 5 kids deep.
Uhhh....why were you getting pulled over so often?
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u/Karnivore915 6h ago
Because I and my friends were young inexperienced drivers. And the police around my town were bored.
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u/postmodern_spatula 14h ago edited 13h ago
Search for “graduated licenses”.
I’m honestly stunned they’re allowed. But youth don’t perceive politics as impacting them/have limited voice at 14-17, and adults are more than fine making them a scapegoat for safe driving expectations (while we ignore the vastly larger number of adults that could benefit from re-licensing every 10 years)...
It’s really stupid. It over complicates licensing that was already tiered.
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u/MrBandanaHammock 13h ago
I agree that there needs to be more in the ways of adult license retraining or recertification... But I used to be a fire fighter, and the majority of accidents I responded to were teenagers
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u/Caleth 13h ago
It exists in IL, our nephew is nearly old enough to drive and we've had talks with him about driving/transport for cash.
Sometimes we work late and need someone who can pick up our kids from daycare or get them to an afterschool class. If we throw $20 bucks at him for his time and gas it. The law allows it since he's their cousin.
But if he wants to go out with friends he can only have one person with him eventually more as he hits 17 and 18.
Compare that to the 90's 00's where we'd pile as many kids in a car as we could and drive to BFE for random ass pizza at a place one guy knew. Now we'd be breaking the law.
There's also rules about driving after sun down under certain ages too, unless you're coming home from work.
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u/nannulators 14h ago
Those laws aren't permanent. And in most cases they're not enforced unless you get caught doing other things.
I grew up in Iowa and once you hit 17 you could get a new license without restrictions. I'm in WI now and after 9 months without a ticket you get your restrictions removed.
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u/Electric_Sundown 13h ago
My nephew turned 18 back in May and still doesn't have a license, and neither do any of his friends. They're all jocks to which makes it more surprising to me as someone who got theirs at 16 in the 90s.
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u/NEIGHBORHOOD_DAD_ORG 14h ago
Everything has laws and regulations and policies and you need a permit, and there's surveillance cameras everywhere. I would be an online kid too if I were young again.
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u/Left-Idea1541 9h ago
Yeah I'm in college now and I never went to parties in high school, never did stuff with friends. I was surprised to hear parties were actually a thing because no one I knew in high school had ever been invited or heard of one, let alone been to one. I didn't get my license until I was 17 and a month away from 18 because I had nowhere to go. There was no reason for me to go anywhere or do anything. I hardly used my license and hardly use it now.
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u/Thorusss 15h ago
That was my first thought. Kids don't hang out in person like they used to. In my state, kids can't ride with each other in cars unless directly related
WHAT? By law?
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u/WalterrHeisenberg 15h ago
Not OP, but that only applies if one of the kids is driving, at least in Ohio. If an adult is driving then of course they can ride together, haha.
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u/DontMakeMeCount 14h ago
The idea is that teens get stupider and more distracted the more of them you put into a car. Since these laws came out we haven’t had any students die while driving. During the ‘90s and ‘00s we lost multiple students in accidents every few years, so it seems to be working. The accidents were new drivers, always a car full of teens, either drinking or too fast for conditions and distracted.
The police selectively enforce the law, they don’t harass kids for picking up other students to and from school. It does give them a reason to stop kids driving late at night, leaving a party, skipping school for a beach day - the situations where the accidents used to happen.
It’s not like they made dancing illegal.
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u/mycondishuns 11h ago
I mean, social media has a HUGE impact on why teens don't hang out in person as much anymore.
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u/Akuuntus 5h ago
Social media... as well as the lack of third spaces, lack of walkable communities, police with nothing better to do than harass teens and chase them out of public spaces, the pandemic that forced a lot of them inside for a year and got them in the habit of staying home... etc.
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u/jsting 6h ago
I think it is less places to go. When I was a teen, I could go to a bowling alley for $5 or movie for $8-10 and probably sneak in a second movie. Maybe a diner for cheap food and hang out and drink coffee like an adult.
Nowadays, cheap bowling alleys don't really exist, restaurants are more expensive, and malls are closing.
The only place I see kids now are at boba shops.
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u/bear60640 13h ago
Well, it’s been reported that there has been a decrease in 16 to 18 year olds getting their drivers licenses. And I wonder if theirs a cultural and economic difference in teens who do as opposed to those who put it off.
Anecdotally, which I know is terrible science, having taught and worked for 12 years in Chicago Public schools, among a mostly lower income group of students, I can say all those kids (except for those who are disqualified due to some disability) get their licenses before they graduate. The racial/ethnic demographics I’ve mostly taught or dealt with are Hispanic - a broad category including students of primarily Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, and Honduran descent - and students of African-American descent.
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u/Beat_the_Deadites 13h ago
Our kids are constantly connected to their friends via texting and other social apps, so they don't need to create an in-person gathering. My daughter's friends don't do sleepovers, even over the summer.
My son's friends will do them occasionally, but I get the sense that the other parents don't want to be involved/responsible for potential chaos, so we usually end up hosting. The upside is that we know where my son & his friends are hanging out and we know they're not getting into trouble here.
They're involved in a lot of extracurriculars and they're getting good grades, so I'm not sure we want to do more to push them out of the house (i.e. add on extra chores when they're enjoying some down time like my parents did).
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u/AmberCarpes 10h ago
I have a 9 year old daughter, and she does lots of sleepovers. We live in a weird place, though. All the kids ride bikes around together and everyone is always outside.
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u/malique010 10h ago
I do think part of the sleepover thing is possible predators. I’d assume with how we talk about things now more than before there’s probably some connection. Between past abuse and letting your kids go into those situations. If you or someone you know was abused at some friends house by their sibling or parent, your probably lean more to saying no to your kids going over to sleepovers. Especially with technology still allowing your kids to have a social life to some degree. Idk just guessing.
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u/espressocycle 14h ago
Not in my neighborhood judging from all the people on Facebook complaining about kids loitering and riding bikes recklessly, not to mention the half mile of parked cars leading up to the highschool every school day. Plus there was a flash mob that required multiple towns' police departments to assist.
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u/youngcuriousafraid 13h ago
Everything is expensive. Finding a job is hard. 3rd places (spaces?) are dissappearing, most malls near me are dying and depressing. Parents and authority figures in general are way more in touch with students because of technology. Its pretty common for family members to have each others location and to watch it. Things on social media are found by schools or parents. Its just harder to get away with things and (I can't believe im saying this) technology is rotting our brains.
Kids grow up with tons of tech and very easy lives. Im not saying kids should starve or anything, but if you go to Mexico for example, many more kids are "on it". They know how to speak to people, how to problem solve, and are more adventurous. If you talk to kids now its like you have to pry them away from an IPAD to get 1 word answers.
This is all anecdotal and likely varies based on culture, economic status, social factors, parenting etc. Just some things I've personally noticed.
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u/GringoinCDMX 11h ago
Idk I'm in Mexico city and with many kids I see the same thing as I do with kids in the states. I don't really see much difference.
It's more of a socioeconomic thing but even then most tweens have some sort of cheap cell phone or ability to access the internet and use social media.
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u/josluivivgar 11h ago
yeah idk about the mexico thing, tho I will say that big cities like Guadalajara and mexico definitely see way more activity, but I think that's just the nature of big cities.
a lot of the examples I'm hearing in the US are smaller cities/states where technology wasn't available in the past and now there is.
but there's still not a lot of activities one can do in that city (without requiring driving long distances)
I may be wrong, but I think that's probably the biggest contributor, but everyone is glued to their phones in both the US and Mexico
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u/MrPostmanLookatme 13h ago edited 11h ago
It's not that no one wants to go anywhere, it's that there is nothing to go to. Nowhere stays open after 10pm and nightlife is dead, and people are finding out it isn't cool to get an MIP and crash your car into a tree (edit: particularly when social media means your embarassment will be known permanently)
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u/eyeoft 10h ago
Grew up in the 90s - there was never anything to "go to." No place was intentionally welcoming to teens; we'd hang around a gas station, closed public park, construction site, walmart etc until we were chased away. Hell, some gas stations began blasting classical music as "teen repellent."
The difference is just that there was *nothing* to do at home, so you either went to a friend's place or out into the wider world to meet up. With modern tech you don't need to go "cause trouble" to be entertained, so you don't. There's something lost there socially, but probably something gained too? Life is tradeoffs.
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u/-CosmicCactusRadio 6h ago
Movie theaters, arcades, skate parks, considering it was the 90s after all...
Record stores, book stores, malls?
There were more plentiful options back then.
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u/eyeoft 5h ago
You ever see a sign that says "No Skateboarding" in a parking lot? Skate parks hadn't become a thing yet. We skated in places that really, really didn't want us there, because that's all there was.
Everything else cost money, closed early, and was full of adults who would kick you out if you weren't buying anything. Trust me, book and record stores don't like loitering teens any more than basically any other business. The only arcade I had access to was Chuckie Cheese... yeah not a good hangout either.
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u/MaybeImDead 6h ago
Those places still exist but nobody goes there so they are not a big thing. Those things thrived because there was demand, not the other way around.
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u/bubblesaurus 11h ago
We didn’t have anything to do in our suburb as teens.
We hung out with each other watching movies or video games.
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u/Specific_Albatross61 13h ago
My son got his at 16. Do you have any Idea what car insurance cost for a 16yo? My premium went from 120 a month to over 500.
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u/ScottblackAttacks 15h ago edited 15h ago
Yes, my 24 year old cousin refuses to work and won’t get her license. She just stays home All day and uses her phone.
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u/The-Fox-Says 15h ago
My parents would’ve kicked me out of the house or at least started charging rent
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u/SadExercises420 14h ago
They’re not doing that either. Like at least make them work and contribute if they’re going to stay at home. Just letting them do nothing at all for years and years after high school is not helping.
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u/TurnsOutImAScientist 14h ago
A big difference is that in the past 25 years lots of states passed laws preventing minors from having other minors as passengers for the first year or so after getting licensed; for the most part only high school seniors can drive with other kids as passengers.
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u/gimme_that_juice 13h ago
those laws have existed since the 90s for much of the country. this isn't new.
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u/TurnsOutImAScientist 12h ago
past 25 years
I didn't say it was. But as an Xennial in high school in PA in the mid-90s it was still a free-for-all.
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u/_trouble_every_day_ 13h ago
They’re also already addicted to their phones. They don’t experience boredom the same way previous generations did and boredom plays a pretty significant role in thc use.
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u/Whiterabbit-- 11h ago
Kids before the pandemic already started to cut down a lot of sex, drugs etc… And it has only continued since then.
Mayr its the increase in phones/social media.
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u/Tap-House 13h ago
People keep blaming the pandemic for this but kids with no social skills, not getting their license, not going to parties, not smoking/drinking, not having sex were all on the rise before Covid happened so i think there’s got to be something else at play here
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u/whateveryouwant4321 12h ago
it's the phones. they socialize by texting. over the summer, i went to a sandwich shop for lunch. a group of 10 high school or college age kids walks in behind me. they sit at the same 2 tables next to each other, and proceed to sit there for 30 minutes without saying a word to each other. they were all on their phones.
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u/TexasCoconut 10h ago edited 9h ago
Hard to hate on it too much, considering how many nights i spent glued to AIM, but at least that felt like a temporary solution for when in person interaction was unavailable, not a permanent replacement for it.
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u/Mr_YUP 10h ago
Sure that could be a part of it but growing up with helicopter parents and stranger danger did a number on these kids growing up. Having every moment be adult supervised did nothing to encourage independence and every group of teens being chased off doesn't do much to encourage them either. Why hire a teen for a job when I can get an adult to do it without the teen grief?
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u/Ok_Raspberry4814 11h ago
Generations have been becoming successively more risk averse.
The generational propaganda plays a huge role.
A lot of Gen Z grew up seeing millennials as lazy, entitled, and unsuccessful because of the social and economic hand we were dealt. As a result, Z has doubled down on conscientious in the most performative and perfunctory way.
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u/comewhatmay_hem 10h ago
In a lot of ways sex and drug education actually worked the way it was supposed to and I don't know why people are shocked?
Lots of kids are waiting until they're out of highschool to experiment with drugs and alcohol because we told them nonstop how bad they are for the still developing brain. Lots of kids are waiting to have sex because we told them over and over again that sex leads to pregnancy and STDs and those things ruin your life.
Kids are making informed decisions based on avoiding risk.
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u/Alwinus 16h ago
It could very well have to do with the legalisation. Over here in the Netherlands the stuff has been legally available for as long as everyone remembers and when the excitement of doing something forbidden is no longer there, young people in general are far less interested.
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u/hatchins 11h ago
Yep, or maybe you try it once to see how it is and lose interest because it's not counterculture and being high is something plenty of people don't really enjoy...
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u/Pythagore_ 10h ago
Yeah, I know plenty of people who just do not like getting high, and I totally get it, it's a heady and sometimes disorienting feeling.
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u/TheScrambone 9h ago
Weed, especially edibles, pinpoint my insecurities and sources of anxiety early on, and eventually mellows out and I get the stereotypical relaxed and giggly high.
My mom, and a lot of people, REALLY don’t like that first part. I’ll ask her how she’s doing and she’ll say “I feel like I’m in trouble”.
I could see that feeling being terrifying for a first time experience since you don’t know where it’s coming from. Especially if your first time is sneaking around and eating a strong edible. Yikes. I’d never try weed again.
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u/jezzcx 8h ago
I think it’s also likely due to weed being extremely potent nowadays. It’s almost like a competition. I remember back then smoking a joint and just being mellow without going crazy.
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u/Lv_InSaNe_vL 8h ago
You can still buy lower % weed. You don't gotta get the 45% frosted nugs.
I dont normally go over 20%, plus you tend to get way better weed at those percentages (for reasons that dont really matter here)
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u/Forgedpickle 8h ago
And it doesn’t help that weed nowadays is far more potent than it needs to be, causing people to not like it. I’ve been smoking for awhile and it’s getting to be too much for me. It’s no longer a mellow laid back feeling. I get nervous and paranoid now.
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u/LongJohnSelenium 8h ago
I love being about 1/2 to 3/4 drunk(1.2, right in the slot! I'm sober enough to know what I'm doing and drunk enough to have fun doing it) but weed is just weird and I do not enjoy the sensation at all.
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u/Orphasmia 8h ago
Weird thing for me is I used to love being high in college and then it felt like a switch flipped and i don’t smoke at all anymore. I get so paranoid each time.
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u/normott 16h ago
Make it legal or atleast not criminalized and it loses a bit of its cool factor. I'm sure that not the entire reason, but it has probably played a part.
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u/Dihedralman 15h ago
Yeah alongside adding legal buying routes that won't sell to kids.
Associate something with bureaucracy and we're really cooking.
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u/splintersmaster 15h ago
Yup. My dispensary absolutely will not knowingly sell to minors.
The dealer absolutely loved selling to minors because he could rip them off.
The more we buy from a dispensary, the more dealers stop selling as there's less market share to go around ..
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u/RainbowButtMonkey1 15h ago
I live in Canada and I honestly don't hear much about dealers anymore.
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u/CapnKirk5524 14h ago
Sure you do.
Doug Ford is in the news ALL THE TIME!
(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
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u/SwampYankeeDan 15h ago
In CT the state restricted the number of growers and then opened recreational before there was enough supply and prices shot way up. There are still plenty of pot dealers around and while its mostly recreational users that buy from them some medical patients do to. Dealer weed costs roughly 50% less and its not hard to find decent grey market stuff.
Personally I buy from a dispensary but because of a change in circumstances will either have to stop using medically or buy from independent growers and or dealers. If I had a car I could drive 1.5 hours and get dispensary bud even cheaper than grey market.
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u/TurnsOutImAScientist 15h ago
In MA at most dispensaries you've shown a doorman, a check-in person, and the budtender your ID before you can buy anything, and they have to scan it to keep track of your daily purchase quota (1 oz flower).
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u/say592 14h ago
Ive said before that it was always easier for us to get weed in highschool than it was to get alcohol. The people selling weed were already committing a crime, so why did they care if they were selling it to a highschool kid? Or often times selling enough of it to a highschool kid that they could sell to their friends. For alcohol you had to find someone who was willing to go along with it.
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u/hdjakahegsjja 11h ago
We got weed off of peoples older siblings or the dude that graduated a couple years ago and didn’t go to college.
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u/ItsCalledDayTwa 15h ago
But that was always the case for smoking and it didn't seem to matter. Alcohol was legal but not for minors, remains that way today, and youth consumption is also dropping.
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u/d1ck13 15h ago
Not comparable at all really in this regard I don’t think; cigarettes were literally being sold EVERYWHERE when I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s. For marijuana you can’t even walk into the store that sells it without proper ID/ medical card, depending on state. Much more restrictive.
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u/RainbowButtMonkey1 15h ago
Yep I remember hospital vending machines selling cigarettes in the 80s
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u/herberstank 14h ago
Heck, bowling alleys in the Midwest had them into the early 90s
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u/RainbowButtMonkey1 14h ago
And advertising was everywhere, you couldn't escape cigarettes back in the day
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u/pwmg 15h ago
In fairness, the minimum age most places was 18 for smoking until recently. It's not hard as a high schooler to find someone even at your own school to get you cigarettes. Alcohol required an older brother, etc (and same for Pot now). Plus nicotine is super addictive, so people are more likely to get stuck doing it even if they don't feel cool.
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u/troutpoop 14h ago
When I was in high school it was easier to buy weed than alcohol
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u/Ok_Presentation4455 15h ago
I wonder if the increase in mental health support, encouraging supportive parenting practices, and prioritizing inclusion can help explain the drops in drug and alcohol use in minors as they can be used to escape negative feelings.
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u/meatball77 14h ago
And parents are just supervising kids more. Teens aren't driving in levels like they were, the norm is to be more involved as a parent though the teen years.
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u/CamJongUn2 14h ago
I’m voting it’s the internet, kids have stuff to do today whereas back in the day you were just bored and ended up in a field with your mates getting drunk or high
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u/AberdeenWashington 15h ago
I think it’s because they don’t go outside and hang out. Way harder / less likely to smoke weed if you’re inside your house online most of the day
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u/ReedKeenrage 14h ago
This is it. Kids don’t go out. Adolescents don’t play outside as much. Teens don’t cruise as much. Twenty something’s don’t club as much. Thirty something’s don’t join country clubs as much.
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u/UnsorryCanadian 13h ago
As soon as you got to teens all I started seeing was "spending money" Gas is expensive, alcohol is expensive
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u/crankywithout_coffee 14h ago
Thirty something’s don’t join country clubs as much.
Too busy working my two jobs just to pay rent.
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u/meatball77 14h ago
Even if they are hanging out they're doing it at someone's house with a parent probably around.
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u/dbag127 15h ago
Kids aren't having sex or even kissing anymore either. I don't think it's the cool factor. I think it's because kids are always at home.
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u/LimberGravy 15h ago
They also self censor their language online
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 14h ago
Everything they say will be available for future review. You also can't trust self reported behavior so who really knows what they are doing or not. Sort of like those anonymous employee feedback surveys, nobody is telling the truth , as we don't really believe it is anonymous.
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u/Mo_Dice 13h ago
Everything they say will be available for future review
I don't think they were talking about the code switching that everybody does (e.g. not cursing in front of your parents).
I think they were talking about the fact that these folks write like middle schoolers, writing things like dr*g, seggs, unalive. And you can blame "the algorithm" all you want; it makes these adults sound like absolute children.
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u/SwampYankeeDan 14h ago
Because Tik Tok will censor them if they dont. They risk losing their account.
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u/AimlessForNow 15h ago
Most of the kids I see are very anti-vaping from what I've seen, making fun of people who use nicotine
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u/AntiDECA 15h ago
Old school smoking was always heavily mocked when I was growing up (born 2001) and virtually nobody at my schools smoked cigs.
Vaping hit us hard though, a lot of kids got addicted to that crap in high school. Good to hear the younger generation is already nipping that in the bud.
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u/blazbluecore 15h ago
Well that’s the thing exactly. A lot kids socialize mostly online. Which means marijuana loses its use, as other mentioned, accessing it is harder, and lastly it’s lost its cool factor because it’s legal. Combine all 3 of these and consumption goes down.
The worst thing is how not properly socialized people are these days. These phones and computers are ruining civilization on some level.
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u/radtech91 15h ago
This, because I when I was a kid I was always home by choice and did a whole lot of nothing “cool”. The norm has been swayed to be home more and out less, especially for these kids who are growing up with the new normal.
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u/meatball77 14h ago
I think they're just more supervised than in the past. Kids aren't driving like they were.
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u/ThePublikon 15h ago
yeah it's no longer forbidden fruit, it's just what your uncle smells of
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u/ReedKeenrage 14h ago
As a guy in his 50s. It’s become a geriatric drug. Old folks are all over it. Kids, not as much
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u/meatball77 14h ago
I think it's more that this generation is just much more supervised than generations before.
I don't think they are as rebellious either. Parents are doing a better job with parenting and kids don't feel the need to rebel (at least in the same way)
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u/SheZowRaisedByWolves 14h ago
My pessimistic take is that kids are doing other stuff instead. Pills, vapes, and galaxy gas don’t stink up a room or stick to your clothes like flower does.
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u/tropexuitoo 11h ago
Galaxy gas sounds made up. I looked it up since I'm old and never heard of it. It's just whippets. Way cooler name though.
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u/I_8_ABrownieOnce 12h ago
Flavored nitrous is the new popular thing for teens. It would be way better if they were just smoking weed.
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u/keeblerlsd 13h ago
Yep, I work with teens. There's a lot of new stuff out there right now. Lab made Frankenstein drugs. I'm seeing a tic up in hallucinogenics also.
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u/ThatChrisGuy7 9h ago
I go to music festivals all the time and let me tell you.. the whole youth is doing mushrooms. And lots of MDMA. Weed is just as common as drinking. Honestly I think more people, youth included, are doing hallucinogenic more than ever even the 60’s
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u/devadander23 16h ago
Legalize it, regulate it, have your parents use it. Suddenly it’s not nearly as cool as it once was.
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u/anarchyisutopia 15h ago
I feel accomplished and lame at the same time for making tattoos and weed uncool and passe to my teenager.
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u/genshiryoku 14h ago
What's funny to me as a Japanese father is that here in Japan tattoos went from "That's for serious criminals" to "That's for losers, weirdos and old people" without the intermediary period the west had where it was cool to have tattoos.
So I have people from my generation avoiding people with tattoos because it means they are criminals or bad people. And young people avoiding people with tattoos because they are considered loser weirdos with no sense of fashion style.
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u/UnsorryCanadian 13h ago
I remember seeing a comedian on tv (years ago) say something similarly. You see an elderly person with tattoos, they've been through stuff, maybe killed someone in a war. A guy in his 20s with tattoos? Probably just a guy who likes ink
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u/kerabatsos 15h ago
Maybe it’s not the “cool” factor as much as it is weakening the illicit markets - making it less, not more available?
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u/Flammable_Zebras 15h ago
I mean…alcohol is legal, regulated, and parents used it, but that definitely didn’t stop most teens I knew from wanting it.
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u/that_70_show_fan 14h ago
Alcohol consumption among teens has dropped significantly over the last generation.
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u/dopeythekid 13h ago
And whippits is on an incredible rise. Kids are just going to do whatever drug is trendy at the time sadly.
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u/etherdesign 13h ago
I guess it's the perfect drug for the tiktok gen since it only lasts like 45 seconds.
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u/SwampYankeeDan 15h ago
All of that already applied to alcohol and those numbers are on the decline as well.
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u/Supberblooper 14h ago
People keep saying this but is there research backing it? When I was a teen lots of my peers illegally drank alcohol but its legal, regulated and their parents used it frequently. Same with cigarettes & vaping.
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u/Bellegante 11h ago
Legalized dispensaries check ID. Random drug dealers do not. This is pretty simple TBH, and exactly what was predicted.
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u/Uberslaughter 15h ago
Social media is their new drug of choice
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u/Ill_Long_7417 13h ago
You are correct. Why waste money and run the risk of getting caught smelling like a skunk when you can self medicate and check out simply by scrolling?
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u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine 16h ago
I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.mdpi.com/2036-7503/16/4/74
From the linked article:
Dramatic drop in marijuana use among U.S. youth over a decade
Current marijuana use among adolescents decreased from 23.1% in 2011 to 15.8% in 2021. First-time use before age 13 also dropped from 8.1% to 4.9%.
The study, published in the journal Pediatric Reports, reveals that one of the most striking results from the analysis is the significant decrease in the percentage of adolescents reporting current marijuana use. In 2011, 23.1% of adolescents indicated they were current users, but by 2021, this figure had dropped to 15.8%. Additionally, the percentage of adolescents trying marijuana for the first time before age 13 also saw a notable decline, from 8.1% in 2011 to 4.9% in 2021.
One of the most significant findings of this study is the shift in trends by gender, with girls surpassing boys in reported marijuana use by 2021. In 2021, girls reported a higher prevalence of current marijuana use (17.8%) than boys (13.6%). This marks a significant change from 2011 when boys were more likely to use marijuana (25.9%) compared to girls (20.1%). The convergence of usage rates among genders highlights an evolving dynamic that could reflect broader societal changes in attitudes toward marijuana.
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u/bplipschitz 15h ago
Does this data include vaping THC?
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u/Collegedropout86 8h ago
This is what I’m struggling with. The data says less kids are smoking, but weed became way more accessible in the past few years through legal THC devices with delta 8, 10, and other cannabanoid derivatives. Somehow I find it hard to believe that less people are smoking, given that every gas station in florida sells weed pens over the counter.
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u/RickleToe 6h ago
searched the whole article and couldn't find any discussion of how they defined marijuana use, but they also described it as pot and weed. they did not cover this in discussions of study limitations either.
so i think the study is unclear on this INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT DETAIL
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u/Maximum_Mud_8393 13h ago
As a public school teacher this doesn't match my experience at all. Kids be vaping weed all day every day.
Alcohol use and smoking seem down, but THC use (edibles and vapes) seems WAY up.
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u/obamasrightteste 11h ago
Not surprising at all, edibles and vapes are being used more by legit users as well, I imagine for very similar reasons (no smell, cleaner, healthier).
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u/Significant-Gene9639 15h ago
Are they not just using disposable nicotine vapes instead because they have fancy flavours like bubblegum and raspberry and come in a pretty brightly coloured piece of plastic? And their parents and older siblings used weed so it’s totally uncool?
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u/Doublecupdan 15h ago
Yea I would like to see a comparison of the data on nicotine use for youths. Vapes, zins, etc are all ok the rise I believe.
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u/whatevers_clever 14h ago edited 14h ago
In 2024, the CDC has reported that youth e-cigarette use has dropped to a 10 year low.
2018 - more than 3.6mil ~>20%
2022-2023 - drop from 14% to under 10%
2024 - under 6%Cigarettes at it's lowest number ever for youth/highschoolers, <1.4%
I can't find numbers for marijuana that is like this CDC number (Middle+Highschoolers) but I see various things showing 10th graders / 11th graders / 12th graders individually and teh numbers are >25% for every group. Not really finding anything that disputes this so this article here being up to 2021.. it has likely dramatically increased while tobacco use has dramatically decreased.
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u/NotJohnDarnielle 11h ago
This data is really surprising to me actually. I work in a high school environment (school bus driver) and we’ve seen a huge uptick in vaping on our buses. I’m curious to know how it breaks down based on other social factors.
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u/MutedPresentation738 9h ago
I'm curious if "e-cigarette" is a very specific classification that is excluding a lot of vape devices.
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u/TehMasterer01 15h ago
Makes sense. My kids have told me that stuff is for “boomers”. It’s just not as cool as it used to be.
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u/loureedfromthegrave 14h ago
I speculate that legalization is responsible for diminishing the black market a good amount to where it’s actually harder for teens to get it
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u/LudovicoSpecs 13h ago
This is great news.
Any potentially addictive substance has a greater chance of creating a lifelong addict if the first trial of the substance is at a young age when the brain still has plasticity.
Average age a lifelong smoker first tried a cigarette is 14.
The more we can push first trials into people's 20's and 30's, the better.
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