Push for pot legalization sparks surge in smokers

The number of marijuana users has nearly doubled in the last three years, according to a new report released Monday. Thirteen percent of adults told Gallup they smoke marijuana, up from just 7 percent in 2013.

As legalization spreads, experts expect the number of users to continue to climb.

Four states—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington—and the District of Columbia allow recreational marijuana use. Half of all U.S. states allow for some use of medicinal marijuana. In November, five states will vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana and four will vote on allowing marijuana for medical use.

Gallup cited legalization as a likely explanation for the recent uptick in users. Residents of the West, home to all four states that have legal recreational use, are significantly more likely to say they smoke marijuana than residents in other regions.

The percent of Americans who report ever trying marijuana is up to 43 percent from 38 percent in 2016, a small jump compared to regular users. But the number has been steadily increasing since 1969, when it was only 4 percent.

Legalized medical marijuana leads to lower perceived risks and therefore higher usage, according to a new federal study released last month. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found residents of states with legalized medical marijuana were much less likely to say there was a “great risk of harm” with once-a-month usage. Results correlated with actual monthly usage, meaning people who think it is less harmful use it more often.

But regardless of the lower stigma surrounding usage, recent studies are also showing the social and medical ramifications of pot.

Rates of young children unintentionally exposed to marijuana in Colorado have increased by 150 percent since 2014, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Last weekend, marijuana-infused gummy candy at a birthday party in California sent 19 people, most of them teens and children, to the hospital, according to CNN.

Another recent study found even brief exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke can damage blood vessels and the heart. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, studied secondhand marijuana smoke in rats and found the effects on blood vessel function were similar to those of tobacco smoke exposure but lasted three times longer.

Researchers are also finding that because today’s marijuana is much more potent than even 10 years ago, health effects can be more severe. Ongoing research at King’s College London is finding frequent use of high-potency marijuana can bring about significant brain damage, interrupting communication between the brain’s hemispheres.

“This reflects a sliding scale where the more cannabis you smoke and the higher the potency, the worse the damage will be,” said Paola Dazzan, senior researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience at King’s College London. “There is an urgent need to educate health professionals, the public, and policymakers about the risks involved with cannabis use.”

In spite of this research, public opinion about drugs is shifting toward legalization, according to a Barna study released last week. Two in five adults now say they believe only hard drugs should be illegal, but recreational drugs, like marijuana, should be legal. This growing view is especially popular among the young, non-religious, and liberal. Evangelicals are more than twice as likely as the national average to believe all drugs should be illegal.