COM 0193.096 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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A Reseazch on the effects of mazijuana decriminalization has tended to find either W no relationship or a weak positive relationship between marijuana decriminalization and drug use. Johnston, O'Malley, and Bachman (1981) use data from Monitoring the Future, an annual survey of U. S. high school seniors, to see whether there were difference over time in marijuana use between states that decriminalized and those that did not. They found little difference. Thies and Register (1993) use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth between 1984 and 1988 to analyze differences in use of alcohol, marijuana and cocaine among states who decriminalized and those that did not. They also find little evidence of any effect. In addition DiNardo and Lemieux (1992) find no effect of decriminalization on use. Some studies have found a correlation between decriminalization and use. Model (1993) finds a statistically significant and positive result from decriminalization, but because he used hospital emergency room drug mentions these results are difficult to interpret. It might simply reflect attitudes on the part of the population in decriminalized states towazd drug use, which could correlate with the establishment of decriminalization. Other studies that relied on cross-state variation in decriminalization status using recent data and showing a positive and statistically significant effect were Saffer and Chaloupka (1999); Chaloupka et al (1999); and Chaloupka, Grossman and Taurus (1999). Again these are difficult to interpret because they used a measure that assumed decriminalized state laws were identical and fundamentally different from criminalized states. The measure used could also reflect attitudes on the part of the population towards drug use. Pacula, Chriqui and King (2003) found that attitudes on the part of the population r. towards drug use could play a role. They included actual legal dimensions such as penalties and found that these did not diminish the association between decriminalization and recent use. They conclude that their results tend to indicate that attitudes toward drug ~ use simply tended to be more tolerant in decriminalized states leading to the positive association found in some studies between decriminalization and marijuana use. In other words, decriminalization did not cause increased drug use, but that it existed "r independently of the decriminalization statutes. They also demonstrate the extent to which non-decriminalized states have reduced penalties associated with possession of ~ small amounts of marijuana as early as 1989, and call into question the interpretation of r 13