Ensuring the Protection of Youth in State Marijuana Legalization Efforts

This session will focus on how states legalizing marijuana for recreational use can design their laws to best protect youth. While opinions on legalization may vary, nearly everyone agrees that it is important to prevent youth use and harms. To help inform states, as well as the public when in a position to vote on drug reform, about how to best protect youth in the context of such efforts, we conducted an analysis of state legalization laws and existing research on the effectiveness of provisions to protect youth (e.g., provisions that govern product composition, packaging and labeling, advertising and marketing, locations of sale and use, age restrictions, prevention funding, monitoring and reporting, etc.). We will present findings from a landscape review of youth-related provisions in states’ marijuana legalization laws; a literature review of research on risk and protective factors for youth marijuana use and the extent to which policies and regulations aimed at curbing exposure, access, and appeal of marijuana (or nicotine and alcohol when research specific to marijuana is not available) are effective in protecting youth; and recommended provisions for states to include in their marijuana legalization laws to better protect youth, based on the landscape review and literature review.