Colorado releases report on impact of cannabis legalization

Colorado has just released a new report that sheds light on the impact of cannabis legalization in the state, nearly eight years later that voters approved a historic measure to end the ban.

The report, published this month, provides a wide range of data detailing how legalization has affected law enforcement and cannabis use among Colorado residents. For example, the report indicates that between 2012—when Colorado voters approved the amendment legalizing the sale and possession of cannabis—and 2019, «cannabis-related complaints decreased by 55 % between 2012 and 2019, falling from 9,925 to 4,489.»

Cannabis-related arrests decreased by 68 % between 2012 and 2019, falling from 13,225 to 4,290. However, the arrest rate for Black people (160 per 100,000) was always more than double than that of whites (76 per 100,000).

Colorado voters made history in 2012 when they passed Amendment 64, which legalized the recreational use of cannabis in the state. The vote made Colorado the first state to embrace legalization, along with Washington, which passed its own legalization measure at the polls that same year. Since then, a growing number of states and cities have followed suit, and there are signs that that federal legalization is in the works.

Higher but healthier consumption

The report also noted a significant spike in cannabis use among adults. «In 2019, 19.0 % of adults reported having used marijuana in the past 30 days,» the report states, «compared with 13.4 % in 2014, representing a significant increase.»

This consumption is particularly high among men in Colorado: «Men have significantly higher consumption over the past 30 days (22.9 %) than women (15.1 %),» according to the report.

The highest rate of use over the past 30 days was recorded among adults aged 26 to 34, nearly 30 % of whom reported using marijuana during that period. This age group outpaces adults aged 18 to 25 (28.8 %) and those aged 35 to 64 (17.3 %). Only about 9 percent of adults aged 65 and older reported using marijuana in the past 30 days, although the report noted that the usage rate for this group has more than tripled since 2014.

In addition, the report provided an overview of how Coloradans consume their weed. «The percentage of users who reported smoking cannabis flower decreased from 87.2% in 2016 to 76.1% in 2019. This contrasts with increases in consumption via food and drink (from 35.2% in 2016 to 43% in 2019), vaping (from 22.9% in 2016 to 32% in 2019), and dabbing (from 16.8 percent in 2016 to 19.6 percent in 2019) ,« according to the report.

Young People Unaffected by Legalization

The report drew on data from the survey Healthy Kids Colorado, based on a sample of 46,537 high school students and 6,983 middle school students in 2019, as well as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, based on a sample of 447 respondents in 2018–19, to analyze the impact on young people. The findings showed very little change.

«The results [of the survey Healthy Kids Colorado] do not indicate any significant changes »in cannabis use over the past 30 days between 2013 (19.7 %) and 2019 (20.6 %)," the study states.

«Furthermore, in 2019, consumption rates were no different from the national 30-day usage rates reported by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2019, 20.6 % of high school students in Colorado reported having used cannabis in the past 30 days, compared with 21.7 % of high school students nationwide who reported this behavior.»

Arrests of minors for cannabis decreased by 37 % between 2012 and 2019, according to the report. The report also highlighted «a significant increase in the rate of cannabis-related emergency room visits during the era of medical cannabis legalization, rising from 617.7 in 2011 to 1,039.5 in 2014.»