This month marks one year of
CANNABIS UPDATE
How Changing Attitudes Impact Local Youth Anne Malinoski
legal recreational cannabis sales in California. While the impact on local youth is hard to calculate, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department hasn’t seen a significant increase in youth marijuana arrests. And the San Diego County Probation Department reports a gradual decrease in youth marijuana referrals over the last two years. As marijuana becomes more accessible, the most concerning effect on young people is a declining perception of the drug’s potential to cause harm.
What the Data Says SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments) reports that in 2007, 42 percent of San Diego youth arrestees said they thought marijuana use was “bad” or “very bad.” By 2017 that number had dropped to 14 percent. When asked if they were more likely to try cannabis now that it’s legal, 67 percent of youth respondents said yes, even though the drug remains illegal for those under age 21. While the survey only collects data from youth in the justice system, it is the only test offering an objective measure of drug use change over time, says Cindy Burke, Ph.D., director of applied research at SANDAG. “Trends we may be seeing with this more risk-taking population could be underreported among youth not in the justice system. Any other data that we have nationally is self-reported, like school surveys,” she says.
Parents: Cannabis remains illegal for individuals under age 21.
22 • SanDiegofamily.com • January 2019
Even school surveys show a downward trend in perception of harm. Take the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which is offered to middle and high school students in all states (even where marijuana use remains illegal). “Nationally, disapproval of regular marijuana use is high in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, at 81, 70 and 65 percent, respectively. However, disapproval of trying marijuana and the perception of use as harmful, both continue to decline for all three grades,” says Special Agent Kameron D. Korte, public information officer for the San Diego DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration). When it comes to San Diego youth, local culture may contribute to lower perception of the drug’s potential to cause harm. California was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana in 1996. Then in 2016, Californians voted to pass Proposition 64, which immediately legalized recreational use, followed by legal recreational sales in January of 2018. While the drug remains illegal at the federal level, local youth have seen legal access to marijuana increase greatly in recent years — legal adult access, that is.
The Dangers Experts contend that marijuana use can harm the developing brain. Cognitive impairment lasts longer in young people than in adults, opening youth to greater risk for car accidents and risky behavior. Regular use can impair learning abilities, attention span and communication skills. In addition, today’s kids are getting much higher doses of THC (the primary psychoactive in cannabis) than previous generations, due to increasing potency and high-dose methods of consumption, like dabbing (inhaling vapors from a concentrated form of marijuana). According to Brian Couey, PsyD, director of outpatient programs at Hazelden Betty Ford Center in San