A study by US Drug Test Centers shows 8 percent of Louisianans admit to using marijuana within the last month, a 30 percent increase since 2015.
CEO Dr. Jonathan Baktari said that gives the state the 29th highest rate of use amongst adults. He says judging by results in other states that number would rise should Louisiana legalize weed.
“You definitely see an increased usage I think because some of the stigma of marijuana use is removed, along with increased access,” said Baktari.
Legislation is up for consideration this year that would put statewide legalization up to a vote of the people.
But Baktari said there is no clear correlation between legalization and increased youth usage of pot. He says of the 16 states with legal weed eight saw youth use increase, eight saw it decrease.
“We definitely see it in adults, but the interesting thing is the youth we don’t see it so much in, it is pretty much flat or slightly above, slightly below,” said Baktari.
Nevada saw the largest increase in regular youth use after legalization at 21 percent, while Arizona saw the largest decrease at 27 percent.
Baktari said the fiscal impact of legalization is moderately impactful. Most moderately sized states generated an extra 100 to 400 million dollars a year in revenue.
“Yes, 300 to 400 million dollars is a lot of money but I mean for most states it’s not like there is going to be tons and tons of extra funds around for a lot of new programs,” said Baktari.
The study uses numbers from the US Department of Health and analysis from the Tax Foundation.
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