Researcher at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis examined data on drug use collected from young people over a 12-year span, aged between 12 and 17. The found that the number of adolescents who had problems related to marijuana – such as becoming dependent or other issues – declined by 24% from 2002 to 2013.

Over the same period, kids reported fewer instances of marijuana use in 2013 than in 2002. This cause the rate to fall by 10%.

These drops were accompanied by reductions in behavioral problems, including fighting, property crimes and selling drugs. The researchers found that the two trends are connected. As children became less likely to engage in problematic behavior, they also became less likely to have problems with marijuana.

Richard A. Grucza, PHD, an associate profession of psychiatry and the study’s first author, explained that those behavioral problems often are signs of childhood psychiatric disorders.

“We were surprised to see substantial declines in marijuana use and abuse,” he said. “We don’t know how legalization is affecting young marijuana users, but it could be that many kids with behavioral problems are more likely to get treatment earlier in childhood, making them less likely to turn to pot during adolescence. But whatever is happening with these behavioral issues, it seems to be outweighing any effects of marijuana decriminalization.”

The new study is published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The data was gathered as part of a confidential, computerized study called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. It surveys young people from difference, racial, ethnic, income and ideological backgrounds in all 50 states about their drug use, abuse and dependence.

In 2002, over 16% of those aged between 12 and 17 reported using marijuana during the previous year. That number fell to just below 14% by 2013. Also, the percentage of young people with marijuana-use disorders declined from around 4% to about 3% over the period.

At the same time, the number of kids in the study who reported having serious behavioral problems – such as getting onto fights, stealing, selling drugs or bringing weapons to school – also declined over the 12-year study period.

“Other research shows that psychiatric disorders earlier in childhood are strong predictors of marijuana use later on,” Grucza said. “So it’s likely that if these disruptive behaviors are recognized earlier in life, we may be able to deliver therapies that will help prevent marijuana problems — and possibly problems with alcohol and other drugs, too.”

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What’s the concern?

Some midwives recommend occasional marijuana use during pregnancy to treat morning sickness or decrease anxiety. After all, eating healthy foods to gain weight and staying stress–free are essential to having a healthy pregnancy.

Since the active drug in cannabis, THC, changes a number of processes in the adult body – from heart rate to brain function – it’s reasonable to think that it might affect a growing baby. Some research has shown that when marijuana is used by pregnant women, THC may cross the placenta and enter a fetus’s bloodstream.

Researchers are ultimately unsure of the exact effects of THC on a growing baby. The challenge with many studies on marijuana use is that they rely on questionnaires. If women are worried their answers may not be anonymous, they might deny smoking pot when in fact, they did. Researchers have also repeatedly noted that women who smoke pot during pregnancy often also smoke cigarettes. This complicated the statistics, since any negative effects on their children could be cause by tobacco and not marijuana use.

Hardly any evidence of birth defects

A  study in 2014 that examined for than 20,000 U.S. birth records from 1997 through 2005 found that the odds of a baby being born with anencephaly, a type of neural tube defect that causes serious brain malformation, were almost doubled among babies born to mothers who reported smoking marijuana. However, many other studies, including one that analyzed more than 12,000 U.S birth records in the 1980s, have found no statistical link between pot smoking and any birth defects. In general, health care practitioners agree that marijuana doesn’t directly cause physical birth defects.

Some studies have shown more conclusively that daily or weekly marijuana use may make your pregnancy more high-risk. For example, a 2011 Australian study of almost 25,000 women concluded that babies born to mothers who used marijuana were twice as likely to end up in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) compared to other babies. And a review of 24 studies looking at marijuana use during pregnancy found that pot use during pregnancy makes baby 77 percent more likely to be underweight at birth.

What about long-term effects? A few studies have found that after 3 years of age, children born to marijuana-smoking mothers score slightly differently on cognitive and behavioral tests compared with other babies. A decade-long Canadian study found that at 4 years old, children born to mothers who used marijuana on a daily basis during pregnancy scored lower on memory tests, though there was no impact on overall intelligence scores. At age 10, kids had a slightly increased risk of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity.

Scientists who have turned to mice to understand the effects of THC on development showed in early 2014 that developing mice exposed to THC had altered connections between cells in their brain. They think this could explain why exposure to THC during pregnancy can leave children with lasting cognitive and memory changes.

what all of this means for you:

Is it okay to use marijuana during pregnancy? Like many decisions, it comes down to weighing the pros and cons. While it doesn’t appear that marijuana causes birth defects, there may be a chance it could make you go into labor early or possible even affect your child’s brain development. The reality is, it’s virtually impossible to design a reliable study to test the effects of marijuana during pregnancy, simply because a normal person won’t play with a baby’s life like that. We might never have definitive research pinpointing any short- or long-term effects of prenatal pot use on fetal development.

For these reasons, in 2015 the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a new policy statement urging pregnant and breastfeeding women to avoid using marijuana. All of which means to be on the safe side, you’re best avoiding pot while you’re expecting.

If you’re looking for alternate ways to treat morning sickness, ask your health care provider for suggestions — there are natural remedies safer than marijuana and FDA-approved drugs. Depending on the nature of your anxiety, your doctor can recommend a combination of therapy and, if necessary, medication that’s safe for you and your baby.

If you do use marijuana during pregnancy, make sure you still visit the doctor regularly. Never skip appointments because you’re worried about revealing your drug use; your doctor should be your partner in ensuring your baby’s health. Getting proper prenatal care — which also means being honest with your practitioner about how often you use — is the best way to ensure your baby gets the best start to life possible.

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The state released a report on Monday detailing changes in everything from cannabis arrests to tax collections to calls to Poison Control. Surveys given to middle-schoolers and high-schoolers indicate that marijuana use among youth didn’t rise significantly following the 2012 vote.

Among high school students, use went from 23% in 2005 to about 20% in 2004. Similarly, there was no significant change in use by kids younger than 13 in recent years.

According to a national survey, Colorado youth were much more likely than children in other states to use marijuana, both before and after legalization.

About 13 percent of Colorado minors 12-17 in 2014 had used marijuana in the last 30 days, the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health said. That compared with about 7 percent of minors the same ages nationwide.

Youth marijuana arrests in Colorado rose 5% between 2012 and 2014, from 3,235 to 3m400. The report cited a huge increase in cannabis arrests in schools, which rose by 34% between 2012 and 2014.

While usage of the drug did not increase significantly among children, it jumped quite a bit among adults.

Relying on data from the national drug use survey, Colorado reported that nearly a third of Coloradans aged between 18 and 25 in 2015 had used cannabis in the last 30 days, a rise of about 5% from the year before recreational use was legalized.

The survey showed a similar increase in adults over the age of 26. Past 30-day marijuana use went from 7.6% in 2012 to 12.4% in 2014.

The report comes three years after lawmakers ordered the state Department of Public Safety to start tracking law enforcement activity related to cannabis. A major argument of pro-legalization activists was that regulated markets would result in fewer arrests, making it possible for police to focus on what some considered to be more serious crimes.

The statistics showed a marked drop in arrests, ut that legalization has not solved the racial disparities in enforcement that drug-policy reformers had hoped to end. Colorado police departments have struggled to standardize their marijuana data-collection systems, making more granular conclusions problematic.

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