ArticleJournal of studies on alcohol and drugs2018
Changes in Marijuana Use Across the 2012 Washington State Recreational Legalization: Is Retrospective Assessment of Use Before Legalization More Accurate?
Article in Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Association Between Marijuana Use and Myocardial Infarction, Asthma, and Depression in Racial and Sexual Minorities: BRFSS 2016-2022.AJPM focus · 2025Article
- Cannabis retail store density and county-level mortality from injury in the state of Washington from 2009-2020.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2025Article
- Missouri College Students' Intentions Towards Initiating or Changing Cannabis Use in a Shifting Legal Landscape.Cannabis (Albuquerque, N.M.) · 2025Article
- Life-course Accumulated Cannabis Use and Recent Cannabis-related Problems in the Washington Panel Survey.Addictive behaviors · 2024Article
- Higher Concentration of Marijuana Dispensaries in Neighborhoods with More Disadvantage Following Legalization in Washington.Research square · 2023Article
- Characteristics of the Washington cannabis market from 2014 to 2016.Journal of cannabis research · 2022Article
- Estimating Usual Grams per Day of Marijuana Use from Purchases.Addiction research & theory · 2022Article
- Cannabis Vaping Among Youth and Young Adults: a Scoping Review.Current addiction reports · 2022Article
- GEOGRAPHICAL ACCESS TO RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA.Contemporary economic policy · 2021Article
- Cannabis use while trying to conceive: a prospective cohort study evaluating associations with fecundability, live birth and pregnancy loss.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Male Preconception Marijuana Use and Spontaneous Abortion: A Prospective Cohort Study.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2021Article
- Assessing the public health impacts of legalizing recreational cannabis use: the US experience.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2020Article
- Thermographic detection and quantification of THC in oral fluid at unprecedented low concentrations.Biomedical optics express · 2020Article
- Washington's privatization of liquor: effects on household alcohol purchases from Initiative 1183.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2020Article
- Subgroup trends in alcohol and cannabis co-use and related harms during the rollout of recreational cannabis legalization in Washington state.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- Spirits purchasing and marijuana use behaviors of risky drinkers in the state of Washington from 2014 to 2016.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Article
- Extending the Harm to Others Paradigm: Comparing Marijuana- and Alcohol-Attributed Harms in Washington State.Journal of psychoactive drugsArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in marijuana use prevalence and user characteristics across the 2012 recreational legalization in Washington State. Differences in change estimates between retrospective and contemporaneous pre-legalization measures are compared and considered in relation to potential social acceptability and illegality effects on reporting.
methodFour representative surveys of the Washington State population 18 years and older were conducted by telephone, two in 2014 and two in 2015, which are combined by year for analyses (N = 3,451). Respondents reported their current past-year use frequency and retrospective frequency of use in 2012 before the election in which legalization was passed. They also provided demographic information and details of alcohol use, including simultaneous use with marijuana.
resultsA small and not statistically significant increase of 1.2 percentage points in past-year use prevalence, from 24.3% (22.3-26.5) to 25.6% (23.6-27.6), was found when combining the surveys. No statistically significant change was found in the prevalence of simultaneous use with alcohol, which decreased from 12.9% (11.3-14.7) to 12.6% (11.0-14.4). In contrast, estimates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate substantially increased prevalence, from 15.5% (13.8-17.3) in 2010-2012 to 19.1% (16.9-21.4) in 2013-2014, although this change is not statistically significant. Other findings of interest from the Washington State surveys include new users after legalization tending to be older, White, and moderate drinkers who do not use marijuana simultaneously with alcohol.
conclusionsA retrospective pre-legalization measure showed only a small increase in marijuana use prevalence in contrast to larger changes found in prospectively assessed use in the NSDUH. Changes in the social acceptability and legal status of marijuana after legalization may have increased reporting of pre-legalization use compared with concurrent assessments.
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