Understanding the Highs and Lows of Adolescent Marijuana Use.

Abstract

The latest report from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that rates of marijuana use in the past month among 12- to 17-year-olds decreased by 0.5% between 2015 and 2016.1 Supporters of marijuana legalization have interpreted these new data to strengthen the claim that legalization is not associated with increases in adolescent marijuana use.2 Data from large, national studies are important but offer only a single, narrow view of the big picture. We now have more than 4 decades of national survey data showing shifts in the patterns of adolescent substance use over time. Data from the Monitoring the Future survey illustrate that the proportion of students who report no lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana has steadily increased from a low of 2.9% who denied any use in 1983 to 25% in 2013.3 This enormous and largely unnoticed public health success represents a cultural shift away from substance use overall. That is the good news. In the 1980s, the rates of student use of alcohol, … Address correspondence to Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: sharon.levy{at}childrens.harvard.edu