{"id":3355,"date":"2022-08-30T12:48:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T02:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/cannabis-legalization-increases-consumption-and-all-the-attending-harms\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T12:45:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T01:45:31","slug":"cannabis-legalization-increases-consumption-and-all-the-attending-harms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/cannabis-legalization-increases-consumption-and-all-the-attending-harms\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannabis Legalization Increases Consumption and all the Attending Harms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Latest research out of the United States and it’s ever unravelling ‘legalization experiment’ continues to confirm what was predicted by any objective researcher<\/p>\n

Cannabis + Legalization = Greater Recreational Use (a 20% increase no less!) <\/em><\/span>This may not just translate into a 20% increase in harms – it may do exponentially more, when you consider the layering impact of physical, mental and genetic harms of this highly engineered substance!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on cannabis use: a longitudinal discordant twin study<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First published: 24 August 2022  <\/a>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/add.16016<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

ABSTRACT:<\/em><\/strong> To estimate the effect of recreational legalization on cannabis use frequency and sources of variance across legal environments.<\/p>\n

Design: <\/em>Longitudinal discordant twin and gene\u2013environment interaction models in twins recruited from birth records and assessed prospectively.<\/p>\n

Setting: <\/em>The United States, including states with different recreational cannabis policies before and after 2014, when recreational cannabis was first legalized.<\/p>\n

Participants: <\/em>Two longitudinal, prospectively assessed samples of American twins aged 24\u201347 (n<\/em> =\u20091425 in legal states, n<\/em> =\u20091996 in illegal states), including 111 monozygotic pairs discordant for residence.<\/p>\n

Measurements: <\/em>Current cannabis use frequency (measured continuously and ordinally) was the primary outcome, and the predictor was recreational status of cannabis (legal\/illegal) in the participant\u2019s state of residence at the time of assessment. Covariates include age, sex and cannabis use frequency prior to 2014.<\/p>\n

Findings: <\/em>Accounting for pre-2014 use, residents of legal states used cannabis more frequently than residents of illegal states (b<\/em> =\u20090.21, P<\/em> =\u20098.08 \u00d7 10\u22125<\/sup>). Comparing 111 pairs of monozygotic twins discordant for residence confirmed the effect (b<\/em> =\u20090.18, P<\/em> =\u20090.014). There was inconclusive evidence for genetic influences on cannabis use frequency that were specific to the legal environment [\u03c72<\/sup> = 2.9 \u00d7 10\u22129<\/sup>, degrees of freedom (d.f.)\u2009= 1, P<\/em> >\u20090.999]. Existing genetic influences were moderated by the legal environment, as the genetic correlation between marijuana use before and after legalization was lower in states that legalized (rgenetic<\/sub><\/em> = 0.24) compared with states that did not (rgenetic<\/sub><\/em> = 0.78, Pdifference<\/sub><\/em> = 0.016).<\/p>\n

Conclusions: <\/em><\/strong>In the United States, there appears to be a\u2009~\u200920% average increase in cannabis use frequency attributable to recreational legalization, consistent across increasingly rigorous designs. In addition, the heritability of cannabis use frequency appears to be moderated by legalization. (source <\/strong>https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/add.16016<\/a>)<\/p>\n

We here at the Dalgarno Institute are no longer bewildered by the ignoring by policy makers of this disturbing and mounting evidence. The revisted ‘Reefer Madness’<\/em> <\/a>as part of its new iteration, embraces the ‘smokescreen’<\/strong><\/em><\/a> of pro-pot propaganda, that any ‘minor negative outcomes, are not only insigificant, but will be remedied in the future, we don’t doubt!’ <\/em><\/p>\n

The replication of Big Tobacco playbook is crystal clear, but now the populace is not being cleverly misinformed – no, now with all the history and data we have in play – they chose, it seems, to be willfully ignorant. That is the key factor to 1) an unfettered #addiction for #profit #cannabisindustry having its way in our culture; but more concerningly 2) an absolute #publichealth disaster for the immediate, but shockingly, future generations. <\/p>\n

Further reading<\/p>\n