Marijuana in Washington After Legalization: Jennifer Bailey to Study Use in Teens, Young Adults, and Parents

SDRG Assistant Director Jennifer Bailey, PhD, has received five years of funding to research the long-term impact of legalizing nonmedical cannabis, which is now available in 18 states. Current studies only extend three years, at most, beyond legalization, although it may take many years for the full impact of legalization to manifest. This new study will extend the research timeframe to 12 years after legalization.

The primary aims are to understand the evolving impact of legalization on marijuana use as well as on alcohol and nicotine use (with or without marijuana), and to understand whether the consequences of marijuana use change following legalization. This study continues the Seattle Social Development Project – The Intergenerational Project (SSDG-TIP), which examined the effect of legalization on marijuana use by youth and parents. Seven years of pre-legalization data (2002-2011) and three years of post-legalization data from parents and youth (2015-2017) are already available, and three years of new data will be added (2022-2024), to be collected by SDRG’s Survey Research Division. The study will compare marijuana and other drug use, before and after legalization, from adolescence into the 20s and 30s, and, for parents, into the 40s.