In 2012, Colorado legalized cannabis for recreational use for adults 21 and older. A new study examined whether (1) college student cannabis use, for those who are 21 years or older, would increase after recreational legalization, and (2) there would be a positive relation between the influence of cannabis legislation on out-of-State student’s decision to attend a Colorado university and their cannabis use. Participants (N = 5241) were undergraduate college students who completed a survey as part of a study on personality and health risk behaviors. As part of the survey, participants responded to a series of questions and questionnaires including the following. Cannabis use was assessed using the Risky Behavior Inventory (RBI), which included questions related to their engagement in a variety of health-risk behaviors. Participants also responded to questions related to their out-of-State vs. In-State student status and whether cannabis laws influenced their decision to attend school in Colorado. The authors used Pearson’s Chi-square, negative binomial regressions, and path analysis to examine the hypotheses mentioned previously. Results indicated that that before legalization, 43.5% of participants reported having tried cannabis, after legalization, 53.6% reported having tried cannabis (p < .001). Specifically, for participants under 21 years, 43.7% reported having tried cannabis pre-legalization, and 52.6% post-legalization (p < .001). For participants over 21, 40% reported having tried cannabis before legalization, this increased to 60.9% after legalization (p < .001). While being of legal age predicted higher past 30-day use than being underage, pre- and post-legalization did not predict such differences. With respect to the influence of cannabis laws on out-of- State student’s decision to attend a Colorado university and their cannabis use, significant relations between the variables were found. Moreover the reported influence of cannabis laws, on non-resident student’s decision to attend a Colorado college, positively predicted both past 30-day and lifetime use. In addition, both out-of-State students and legal-aged students, reported higher past 30-day use than their peers.
Take away: This study found that cannabis use increased for all students in the sample post-legalization, with the greatest increase for those over 21 years old. However, there were no differences in past 30-day use frequency between pre-post legalization.