Lessons learned after three years of legalized, recreational marijuana: The Colorado experience

Tista S Ghosh; Daniel I Vigil; Ali Maffey; Rickey Tolliver; Mike Van Dyke; Leonardo Kattari; Heather Krug; Jack K Reed; Larry Wolk

doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.02.021

Lessons learned after three years of legalized, recreational marijuana: The Colorado experience

Prev Med. 2017 Nov:104:4-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.02.021. Epub 2017 Feb 21.

Authors

Tista S Ghosh¹, Daniel I Vigil², Ali Maffey³, Rickey Tolliver⁴, Mike Van Dyke⁵, Leonardo Kattari⁶, Heather Krug⁷, Jack K Reed⁸, Larry Wolk⁹

Affiliations

¹ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Laboratory Services Division, 8100 Lowry Boulevard, Denver, CO 80230, United States. Electronic address: Tista.ghosh@state.co.us.
² Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States. Electronic address: Daniel.vigil@state.co.us.
³ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States. Electronic address: Ali.maffey@state.co.us.
⁴ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States. Electronic address: Rickey.tolliver@state.co.us.
⁵ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States. Electronic address: Mike.vandyke@state.co.us.
⁶ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States. Electronic address: Leo.kattari@state.co.us.
⁷ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Laboratory Services Division, 8100 Lowry Boulevard, Denver, CO 80230, United States. Electronic address: Heather.krug@state.co.us.
⁸ Colorado Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, 700 Kipling Street, Suite 1000, Lakewood, CO 80215, United States. Electronic address: Jack.reed@state.co.us.
⁹ Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246, United States; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Laboratory Services Division, 8100 Lowry Boulevard, Denver, CO 80230, United States. Electronic address: Larry.wolk@state.co.us.

PMID: 28232101
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.02.021

Abstract

In November 2012 Colorado voters approved legalized recreational marijuana. On January 1, 2014 Colorado became the first state to allow legal sales of non-medical marijuana for adults over the age of 21. Since that time, the state has been monitoring potential impacts on population health. In this paper we present lessons learned in the first three years following legal sales of recreational marijuana. These lessons pertain to health behaviors and health outcomes, as well as to health policy issues. Our intent is to share these lessons with other states as they face the prospect of recreational marijuana legalization.

Keywords: Marijuana; Marijuana health behavior; Marijuana health policy; Marijuana legalization; Marijuana surveillance.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cannabis*
Colorado
Commerce
Health Impact Assessment*
Health Policy
Humans
Legislation, Drug*
Marijuana Smoking / legislation & jurisprudence*
Recreation*