Change in Colorado Cannabis Consumption & the State which Smokes the Most Pot

Not yet a year ago Colorado became the first state in America to legalize recreational marijuana and barring a few legal hiccups as well as a small collection of unusual stories propped up by the conservatives things have gone on as usual.

Interestingly, while studies have shown that cannabis use in young people exclusively has declined another slightly older but still relevant poll has shown use in general has gone up.

According to a survey conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health about one out of every eight Coloradans above the age of twelve has affirmatively responded to having in used marijuana in the past in the previous month. Previous data circa 2011-2012 has put use in the state to being about ten point four percent to twelve point seven percent, a twenty-two percent increase, according to recent data from the previous survey circa 2012-2013.

One of the researchers involved in the study was however a bit reticent to draw any major conclusions from this find. “This is not surprising, given what’s going on on the medical side [in Colorado],” stated Mark Kleiman, a doctorate from UCLA who studies cannabis policy. Kleiman continued “I don’t think this tells us about the long-term impacts of legalization.”

So surprise of the century cannabis use goes higher in Colorado, however this state does not have the highest amount of cannabis use in the Union. In fact, Colorado only places seventh in terms of cannabis consumption in the United States according to this data, and the state which ranks first will surprise you.

According to both the NSDUH the state which consumes the most cannabis is actually the tiny east coast state of Rhode Island and this has been the case for quite some time, but only relatively speaking. While Colorado has always been ranked highly on these lists, even before legalization of course, other states have been ranked higher.

For example, according to a Policy Mic article published in the fall of 2013 Rhode Island ranked only seventh, Colorado third, while Vermont was the runner-up and Alaska ranked first. The recent NSDUH study didn’t mention the specific reasons as to why Rhode Island was first, but this does show that legalization doesn’t necessarily impact the rate at which a region consumes cannabis.