Efforts to make certain drugs, including marijuana, more available and accessible to adults must not compromise the health and wellbeing of young people, who are uniquely vulnerable to the developmental, cognitive, emotional, and physical effects of marijuana and are already struggling with unprecedented mental health and substance-related challenges.

As state governments make changes to their marijuana laws and regulations, they should ensure that the regulatory environment around legalization makes protecting young people a priority.

Based on an extensive review of the marijuana, tobacco/nicotine, and alcohol research literatures, our report, Youth Protection Provisions Within Marijuana Liberalization Laws, outlines recommended provisions that can protect minors in the context of marijuana legalization.

Below are reports that outline for each state (that legalized marijuana for adult nonmedical use before October 2022) alignment and gaps between the youth protection provisions in their marijuana laws/regulations and these recommendations. These reports can be used to provide a state-specific snapshot of how each state is protecting youth in the context of marijuana legalization. They can help to identify specific gaps in a state’s marijuana laws/regulations that policymakers should prioritize filling to better ensure the protection of youth.

Each state report includes:

A brochure with the broad categories of recommended provisions and a description of alignment and gaps between the recommended provisions and each state’s current laws and regulations, by category
A chart cross-referencing the recommendation with the relevant state provision (and legal citation)

Youth Protection Provisions Within Marijuana Liberalization Laws: State Reports