{"id":296236,"date":"2026-05-02T06:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T06:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296236\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T06:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T06:29:07","slug":"teen-cannabis-use-increased-after-ca-legalization-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296236\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Cannabis Use Increased After CA Legalization: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, CA \u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom was among state officials who celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the legalization of cannabis in California on Monday, but the festivities arrived with its share of highs and lows.<\/p>\n

New research from Kaiser Permanente found that after adult recreational cannabis was legalized in 2016, cannabis use among teenagers in Northern California increased.<\/p>\n

The study<\/a>, which was published April 17 on JAMA Network Open, analyzed 1.3 million well-child pediatric visits among Kaiser Permanente patients aged 13 to 17 between 2011 and 2024. During each visit, they completed a confidential questionnaire that included questions about substance use.<\/p>\n

Before legalization, 10.4 percent of teens reporting past-year use in 2011 compared to 6.8 percent in 2016. After legalization, rates increased to 8.1 percent in 2017 and 9.5 percent in 2018.<\/p>\n

Rates began to decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

“We saw adolescent cannabis use begin to rise after legalization was passed and before retail sales began,” said researcher Kelly C. Young-Wolff, per Kaiser Permanente<\/a>. “This suggests that changes in social norms and perceptions may play an important role in shaping teen behavior.”<\/p>\n

Researchers said the increase could have been attributed to adolescents viewing cannabis as more socially acceptable, as well as increased availability, lower prices, and the increase in vaping products.<\/p>\n

The authors said more research is needed to understand what sparks teens to use cannabis, but the results of the study indicate “societal factors likely influence use.”<\/p>\n

The study was released days before California celebrated its 10-year anniversary of cannabis legalization. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted his record on regulating and supporting the cannabis industry, which, since 2018 has generated more than $7 billion in tax revenue for the state.<\/p>\n

California has cleared more than 215,000 cannabis convictions and disrupted $1.2 billion in illegal cannabis activity since Proposition 64 passed in 2016.<\/p>\n

While the governor’s acknowledgement of the 10-year anniversary did cover community investments and comprehensive reforms, he did not specifically address under-age cannabis use or access to drugs.<\/p>\n

“California has cleared records, seized illegal product, and built a legal market that works. As our work continues, we\u2019re focused on strengthening that legal market so it can compete and succeed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, CA \u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom was among state officials who celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the legalization…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-296236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}