Youth marijuana use in Rhode Island declined significantly in 2022 compared to two years earlier, even as legalization went into effect and COVID-related social isolation restrictions were lifted, according to a recent state study.
The Rhode Island Student Survey from the state’s Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) asked more than 20,000 high school students in 23 districts about substance use trends and other social issues.
Several national surveys have identified recent drops in teen cannabis use even as more states enact legalization. It’s a trend that’s been observed over the past decade, but experts have said that the precipitous declines that were seen in 2020 and 2021 were partly attributable to social isolation amid lockdown orders from the coronavirus pandemic.
With that, one might expect to see a slight bounce back in marijuana consumption as students transitioned back to in-person learning last year. Yet the new Rhode Island data shows a “statistically significant decrease” in the use of cannabis, alcohol and e-cigarettes among high school students.
Past 30-day use of marijuana stood at 15 percent last year, compared to 17.2 percent in 2020, according to the survey, which BHDDH conducts every other year in partnership with
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