Cannabis legalization has sparked tremendous interest in recreational and medical marijuana.
One study from the University of Colorado Boulder found that cannabis use increased by 24% in states where it was legalized. But the question is, why?
In this article, we seek to explain why so many people have begun using marijuana.
Surge Toward Legalization
Legalization has surged recently as more states jump on the bandwagon. While 35 states have legalized medicinal marijuana, 21 have legalized recreational marijuana as of November 2022.
In 2021/2022 alone, seven states passed legislation or enacted amendments relating to marijuana use.
It has been a movement that has gathered pace, but the question is, why has this led to an increase in marijuana use?
Modern American Perceptions of Marijuana
Once upon a time, marijuana was viewed as an evil substance that led to the use of harder drugs, known as the Gateway Drug theory. Most of the misconceptions of what marijuana is were pushed by both federal and state governments.
Today, the picture has changed.
A Pew Research Center survey found that 88% of American adults believed marijuana should be legal for recreational or medicinal use, with just 10% saying marijuana should be banned entirely.
Naturally, there are significant differences relating to demographics. Adults aged 75 years or older are likelier to support prohibition than younger age groups. This should come as no surprise because older Americans were raised with propaganda espousing the evils of marijuana for most of their lives.
The same study found that 72% of adults under 30 supported legalization for both medical and recreational purposes.
The Gateway Drug Theory
One of the most popular reasons opposition to marijuana was so strong was the belief that marijuana would lead to addiction and using harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin.
However, a study from the University of Colorado Boulder found that legalizing recreational cannabis doesn’t increase the use of other illicit drugs or substance use disorders.
The smashing of the Gateway Drug theory has done much to tackle the fear that trying marijuana could lead to a lifetime of drug addiction.
New Research into the Health Benefits of Marijuana
Legalization has also brought new opportunities to study and research cannabis and cannabinoids that were previously unavailable. Despite cannabis being used for more than 3,000 years for various health ailments, it’s only recently that modern science has been able to study it properly.
Some of the benefits of cannabis highlighted by this research include marijuana tackling conditions like:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Epilepsy
- Chronic pain
These same benefits are why you can now obtain a medical marijuana card in Texas, Oklahoma, and Alabama, traditionally highly conservative states.
Availability
Also, there’s the simple question of availability. Legalization means that people who want to try cannabis no longer have to worry about receiving a criminal record, losing their jobs, or being branded with the social stigma of being arrested for drug use.
Although millions of Americans used marijuana even before legalization, state marijuana programs have actively encouraged people to try this substance.
Will the Trend Hold?
However, legalization in many parts of the country has happened surprisingly quickly. Many observers state that there’s a high chance the surge in marijuana use has been linked to it being new.
There are no guarantees that people who tried marijuana in newly legal states this year will continue to purchase cannabis next year.
But this is just a theory about what could happen in the future.
After all, New York City was named the city with the highest level of weed consumption in the world in January 2020, with a consumption rate of 77.44 metric tons. This was when marijuana was still only partially legal.
Conclusion
In short, while legalization has spurred more people to try cannabis, there are no guarantees that this trend will hold in the long term.
Suffice it to say that many are discovering the benefits of marijuana for the first time, and the number of new users could mean that this trend continues. But the good news is that no evidence states it increases substance misuse.
Is marijuana legal in your state yet?
