VISIT STATE HEALTH COMPARE
Publication
Hest, Robert
Planalp, Colin
Stewart, Andrea
New Brief from SHADAC and UMN Cannabis Research Center: Using the Minnesota Student Survey to understand cannabis use and perceptions among high school students
As of 2023, Minnesota legalized cannabis for non-medical use by adults, becoming one of the now 24 states with such policies. Minnesota’s cannabis legislation limits legal cannabis use to adults aged 21 and older, similar to other states’ legislation for cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol use as well.
Despite the legislation prescribing this age restriction, many policymakers and other stakeholders are concerned with the impact legalized cannabis could have on public health in general and on youth populations, specifically.
“As cannabis policy continues to develop in Minnesota, and once legal sales of cannabis begin, it will be crucial to study youth cannabis use and to use those findings to fine-tune the state’s approach to minimize public health risks for youth,” says SHADAC and Cannabis Research Center (CRC) researcher Colin Planalp.
Commercial sales of legal cannabis in Minnesota have not yet begun, and they are not expected until 2025. However, the Cannabis Research Center (CRC) and SHADAC — both centers housed at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health — have already begun work to understand potential effects this legislation could have on youth. In fact, researchers purposefully wanted to start research and use data from before the beginning of commercial sales in order to provide key baseline evidence on cannabis use and perceptions among youth.
Thus, in their newest brief, researchers from the CRC and SHADAC used data from the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) to study youth experiences with and perceptions of cannabis and other substances prior to legalization. This brief specifically looks at:
- Self-reported cannabis use
- Differences between demographic groups’ cannabis use
- Perceived prevalence of cannabis use by peers
You can read the brief in full here or by clicking the image to the right.
Interested in Minnesota cannabis policy? Want to learn more about the potential public health implications of cannabis use and legalization? Check out some of SHADAC and the CRC’s other collaborative pieces:
