Colorado Cannabis Retailers Don’t Sell To Minors, Study Finds

When demonizing marijuana legalization, one of the biggest fears prohibitionists often speak of is making the drug more available to children. As it turns out, regulating the use of recreational marijuana and requiring an ID of someone 21+ to purchase, similar to alcohol, works pretty well. A recent study in the Journal of Studies of Alcohol and Drugs reveals that the compliance of Colorado marijuana businesses not selling to minors was potentially higher than even alcohol retailers. The compliance was tested by a small team investigating a dispensary's likelihood to check for ID of potentially underage customers. Officials conclude that minors may not be buying marijuana from retailers, but that more research should be done to determine if minors are having 21+ adults purchasing the drug for them. 

Cannabis shops in Colorado are not selling to underage individuals, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Studies of Alcohol and Drugs. In Colorado it is illegal for minors under the age of 21 to use, purchase, or possess marijuana. With the risk of losing a license to sell cannabis, 19 out of 20 retailers evaluated in this study did not sell cannabis to individuals who failed to identify themselves as being 21 years or older.

In addition, the study concluded that the rate of compliance to underage marijuana laws was potentially higher than that of retailers selling alcohol.

“This is an entirely new market and I don’t think we know yet how it may evolve and what kind of products or promotions might appear in the near future,” Dr. Saltz wrote. “For some time, research on marijuana/cannabis was difficult, so we’re playing a bit of “catch up” at this point.”