Marijuana Use on Campus Grew as Legalization Spread

(Inside Higher Ed) Opponents and proponents of legalizing marijuana have long debated whether prohibiting or decriminalizing it would lead to increased usage of the drug by young people. The jury may still be out on who’s right, although some studies have shown that recreational cannabis use increased by 20 percent in states that legalized it.

Twenty-one states, along with Washington, D.C., and Guam, have legalized the sale, use and production of marijuana; 27 states have decriminalized it, and research data have shown an increase in cannabis use on college campuses across the country even as alcohol consumption has declined.

A recent study on the use of marijuana on college campuses in Texas found that nearly 40 percent of students use it and more than 26 percent have used it on their campuses. The study, which was conducted by a University of Texas at Austin doctoral student, used data from the UT Austin Tobacco Research Evaluation Team and surveyed 14,000 Texas college students at 19 institutions. Read more.