In response to a state survey, teenage marijuana use has elevated throughout Colorado over the previous yr

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According to a recent survey by the state Department of Health and Environment that found schools in Pueblo and Denver had the highest rates in the state, marijuana use among teenagers rose from 2017 to 2019 in Colorado.

According to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, in 2019, 20.6 percent of Colorado college students over the age of 14 reported having used marijuana once or more in the past thirty days, while 51.4 percent said marijuana was easy for them to obtain. In 2017, 19.4 percent of kids in Colorado said they’d smoked weed in the past thirty days, but slightly more (53.5 percent) thought it was easy to get.

The survey was conducted every two years to monitor teenage drug and alcohol use, mental health, bullying, sexual activity and other problems in adolescents. Conducted in 2019 of 53,520 students at 195 of Colorado’s 805 middle and high schools, the survey is the CDPHE’s largest sample of drug and alcohol use habits of adolescents across the state.

In 2019, Pueblo had the highest rate of high school students admitting to using marijuana one or more times in the past thirty days: 27 percent, slightly above 2017 figures. Denver’s 25.5 percent, the second highest Rate among state school districts reflected a much larger increase; this percentage was 20.9 in 2017.

A 2019 study of students in Denver commissioned by the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses found that 17 percent admitted using marijuana at least once a month, but that survey included 13- and 14-year-olds, both of whom were relatively little Marijuana had usage rates in the Colorado Healthy Child Survey. The Denver poll interviewed about 1,000 students while the Denver portion of Healthy Kids Colorado polled over 1,900.

High schools in Adams (18 percent), Douglas (13.3 percent), Jefferson (19.5 percent), and Larimer (17.4 percent) counties all had marijuana use rates lower than the federal average in 2019, according to Healthy Kids Colorado while Arapahoe Counties (23.2 percent), Boulder and Broomfield Counties (22.6 percent), Weld Counties (20.9 percent), and El Paso Counties (21.5 percent) were all above.

According to the middle school portion of the 2019 state survey, 5.2 percent of middle school students admitted to using marijuana within the last thirty days, and 18.7 percent said they found marijuana easy to get; The 2017 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey had no specific data available for marijuana use in middle school.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 6.6 percent of eighth graders, 18.4 percent of tenth graders, and 22.3 percent of twelfth graders across the country reported using marijuana in the past thirty days.

The 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey also found that 29.6 percent of teenagers in Colorado had consumed at least one drink of alcohol in the past thirty days, just under 1 percent more than in 2017, while 6.9 percent admitted prescription pain relievers to use without a doctor’s prescription (this question was not asked in 2017).

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Thomas Mitchell has been a cannabis-related writer for Westword since 2014, covering sports, real estate, and general news for publications such as the Arizona Republic, Inman, and Fox Sports. He is currently the cannabis editor for westword.com.