Driven By Facts: Cannabis Public Health Data Sets The Standard In Maryland
The Maryland Department of Health has introduced the Cannabis Public Health Data Dashboard, a tool designed to track the impacts of adult-use cannabis legalization, which took effect in July 2023.
This new resource provides data-driven insights into trends such as emergency department visits, youth cannabis use, poison center calls and utilization of substance use services.
The goal is to aid public health officials in developing targeted interventions and policies based on real-time data. The new dashboard adds to the already published Medical and Adult-Use Cannabis Data Dashboard, which features monthly updated data for sales, volumes, plants and other indicators.
In this article, we dive into the facts shared by these public dashboards that set the cannabis statistics standard high.
1. Youth Cannabis Use Declines Following Legalization
Contrary to concerns that legalization might increase youth cannabis consumption, the dashboard shows a decline in usage among Maryland’s younger population following legalization.
Middle school cannabis use dropped from 9% in 2012-13 to 4.6% in the 2022-23 school year. High school students also reported decreased usage, falling from 35.9% a decade ago to 23% in the most recent survey.