As states legalize recreational marijuana use for adults, they must prioritize protecting kids

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of marijuana products for medical use, and 24 of those have legalized it for adult recreational use. As states establish their legal marijuana markets, their main priority — before addressing concerns around tax revenue, social equity issues, illegal markets, or anything else — should be ensuring that young people are protected from exposure to marijuana and can’t access it.

But implementing strong and comprehensive protections for children is not the norm in many states that have legalized recreational marijuana use.

Evidence from research and lessons learned from state and local government policies have demonstrated what works to protect kids from legal and commercialized addictive products like tobacco and alcohol, and how lapses in protection have failed to keep kids out of harm’s way of new and emerging products such as nicotine vapes. But states generally aren’t heeding those lessons for marijuana.

A growing body of research links marijuana legalization to problems among young people, including increased marijuana use, lower perceptions of marijuana’s risks, and some serious physical and mental health problems. Reports to poison control centers of kids consuming products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, are on the rise; the largest increase in such reports in recent years is due to intentional ingestion of marijuana edibles among adolescents. Youth-appealing advertising and marketing that contribute to the normalization and appeal of marijuana use among young people is par for the course when it comes to legal marijuana.

Recent national data demonstrate that about 1 in 5 people ages 12 to 20 (“underage” youths) reported using marijuana in 2022, and new research shows clinicians are voicing concern about marijuana legalization’s effects on young people. They cite more use of high-potency marijuana products and its adverse mental and physical effects, younger ages of starting use, greater use among kids trying to self-medicate mental health symptoms, and generally more permissiveness around adolescent use.

Partnership to End Addiction, the organization we work for, recently published a report that identified evidence-based recommendations for legislative and regulatory measures to help protect young people in states that have legalized marijuana. The report outlines the research supporting nearly 30 recommendations, presents findings from a nationally representative survey demonstrating strong public support for most of these recommendations, and documents relevant state provisions that align — or don’t align — with the recommendations.

We know firsthand how important these protections are. As states legalize marijuana, more and more parents who contact our professional helpline services are concerned about easy access to an ever-growing range of high-THC-content products that come in edibles, vapes, and other forms that kids find easy to consume and easy to hide from adults — not to mention easy to become addicted to.

Among the key state provisions proven to protect youths from legalized marijuana are requiring individuals to be 21 or older to buy, use, grow, process, or transport it or to obtain a marijuana retail license; requiring retailers to check identification for age verification for sales; and requiring that marijuana packaging, labeling, and advertising not appeal to youths.

Youth-protecting provisions should also prohibit the following: marijuana products resembling food or candy; flavored marijuana products; marijuana businesses operating or advertising within 500 feet of locations where minors often congregate; home growing operations that are visible to the public; marijuana use in public areas and private vehicles; and online sales and home delivery.

A national survey of adult registered voters that Partnership to End Addiction conducted found that the majority of adults across demographic groups support measures aimed at protecting youths from marijuana.

Yet despite strong research and public support for these recommendations, too many of them have not been widely adopted by the states that have legalized marijuana for adult recreational use. Our analysis of laws and regulations in the 19 states that had legalized adult non-medical use as of October 2022, when we completed our research, found that:

• 15 states prohibit products that resemble food or candy;
• 12 require a minimum age of 21 for employment in the marijuana industry;
• 12 prohibit the operation of marijuana retail businesses within at least 500 feet from where minors often congregate;
• 12 prohibit the use of marijuana in a private vehicle;
• 11 prohibit home growing of marijuana that is visible to the public;
• 10 restrict marijuana advertisements within at least 500 feet from where minors often congregate;
• only 4 prohibit or restrict the manufacture and sale of flavored products, which are known to appeal to youths;
• and no state prohibits vapes or edible products, which are also especially appealing to youths.

Very few states prohibit marijuana retailers from selling branded merchandise or sponsoring events, both of which can attract youths. Only three states prohibit online sales, and five prohibit home delivery, both of which increase the risk of exposure, access, and use by minors. While 13 states prohibit advertisements depicting individuals under age 21, no states prohibit the depiction of individuals under 35, as recommended in our report based on a well-thought-out settlement with Juul, the nicotine vaping company, whose marketing efforts have been blamed in large part for the youth vaping epidemic.

While all states prohibit sales of marijuana to those under 21 and nearly all in some way prohibit packaging and advertising targeted to young people, states’ laws and provisions vary greatly, with some including much stronger and more thorough protections than others. Inconsistent or inequitable enforcement can significantly undermine the effectiveness of protective provisions.

Tobacco and alcohol regulations have been somewhat successful in preventing young people from smoking and drinking alcohol, but powerful industry influence has limited their effectiveness, as evidenced by the recent youth vaping epidemic and ubiquitous advertising of flavored and youth-appealing alcoholic beverages. So, policymakers must prioritize strong enforcement of provisions protecting youths from marijuana. In legalizing marijuana and building a new market, states have a unique opportunity, and a pressing responsibility, to create a system that does not repeat past mistakes.

Efforts to make certain drugs more available and accessible to the adult public must not compromise the health and well-being of young people, who are already struggling with unprecedented mental health and substance-related challenges. Policymakers should adopt — and effectively enforce — protective provisions for kids caught in the crosshairs of the unbridled commercialization of legal marijuana products.

Linda Richter, Ph.D., is the senior vice president of prevention, research, and analysis at Partnership to End Addiction, where Robyn Oster is senior research associate and Lindsey Vuolo, J.D., M.P.H., is the vice president of health law and policy.