3.5 years after legalization, there’s a 34% reduction in hospitalizations for those below relative to those above the minimum legal age
The legalization of the adult-use cannabis market in Canada resulted in a significant decline in the rate of underage youths requiring hospitalization for marijuana-related incidents, according to data published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers affiliated with the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto assessed nationwide rates of cannabis-related hospitalizations among those ages 15 to 44 years old in the years immediately prior to and following legalization.
They reported that hospitalization rates increased by 2% annually among both underage youth and adults during the three years prior to legalization. Following legalization, hospitalization rates fell among underage youth, but not among adults.
“The total effect, 3.5 years after legalization, was a 34% reduction in hospitalizations for those below relative to those above the MLA [minimum legal age],” the study’s authors concluded. “The results suggest that cannabis legalization may … prevent such increases for at-risk young people in regions pursuing cannabis legalization.”
Survey data from Canada and the United States have consistently failed to identify an uptick in young people’s use of marijuana following legalization.
This analysis was republished from NORML. Full text of the study, “Minimum legal age of nonmedical cannabis purchase laws and cannabis-related hospitalizations in Canada, 2015-2022,” appears in the American Journal of Public Health. Additional information on youth use patterns following marijuana legalization is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Marijuana Regulation and Teen Use Rates.‘
