Teen Marijuana Use Declines After Legalization; New Study Finds

• WASHINGTON – It turns out that when teens are legally allowed to use marijuana, they smoke it less.

A new study found that in states where recreational marijuana is legal usage dropped among teens.

There was an eight-percent decline in teens using marijuana over the last 30 days and a nine-percent decline for those who used it 10 times in the last 30 days.

Experts say more research is needed to determine why this association was present. They didn’t find link with medical marijuana usage.

The study was published Monday in the Medical Journal JAMA Pediatrics.

It analyzed data from 1993 to 2007, including about 1.4 million high school students in the United States.