Outlook Hazy: Legalization of Marijuana in Washington State and Effects on College Students

In November 2012, the State of Washington became one of two states in the U.S. to legalize marijuana (with Colorado) in a landmark decision. 

The initiative accomplished a number of key objectives for its proponents, including legalizing marijuana possession for individuals over age 21 and creating a new recreational marijuana market by allowing individuals to be licensed by the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB, which has since been renamed the Liquor and Cannabis Board) to grow, process, and sell marijuana in defined amounts.  As articulated in a presentation before the Spokane City Council, Blaine Stum (2015) noted that individuals over the age of 21 may possess one ounce of marijuana, 16 ounces of marijuana-infused product in solid form, or 72 ounces of marijuana infused-project in liquid form. 

Notably, the drafters of the initiative positioned I-502 as an opportunity to address the high costs of prohibiting marijuana, and a revenue-generator for the state, instead of a pro-marijuana campaign.  Voters in Washington appeared to mirror the disparity reflected in national voting trends, in which the northern and western counties in the state largely sided with the more liberal view supporting legalization, while those in the central and southern counties of the state voted against the drug’s legalization.

One of the most significant unknowns regarding the Washington state’s legalization of marijuana was how the federal government would respond.  Prior to the passage of I-502, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal departments responsible to prevent drug trafficking worked with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and penalize growers and medical marijuana dispensaries.  Proponents of legalization around the country, and especially in Washington and Colorado, crossed their fingers that the federal government would allow the state laws to stand unobstructed.  In August 2013, the federal government responded by outlining in an official memo from Deputy Attorney General James Cole, “The Department’s guidance… rests on its expectation that states and local governments that have enacted laws authorizing marijuana-related conduct will implement strong and effective regularly and enforcement systems that will address the threat those state laws could pose to public safety, public health and other law enforcement interests” (Stum, 2015).

The memo identified eight priorities by which the federal government would define whether to intervene in the future, including four principal concerns:

• Preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors.
• Preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs, etc.
• Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use.
• Preventing the diverse of marijuana from states where it is legal to states where it is not.

During the first week of marijuana sales, purchases totaled nearly $986,000 and have been rising due to increased access to retail locations.  As of March 2016, the WSLCB documents more than $2.8M in daily sales.  The chart below, accessed from the Washington State Liquor Control Board, shows the specific growth in sales within the last year.

From a college student development perspective, the effects have been notable.  Not unlike what we know from research about our students’ use and abuse of alcohol, now slightly more than 3 years since the legalization of marijuana in Washington state (albeit for those older than 21), our students appear arrive on our high school and college campuses with a defined history and pattern of marijuana use—in addition to a strong belief that marijuana presents little to no health risk. 

According to the Spokane Regional Health District, based on the findings from the state’s Healthy Youth Survey in 2014, approximately 18% of Washington state 10th graders reported using marijuana within the last 30 days and approximately 27% of 12th graders reported using within the last 30 days.  In terms of marijuana research regarding youth overall (6th-12th graders), Washington state teens “use marijuana more than tobacco, prescription drugs, and opiates” and most youth feel marijuana is “easy to get.”  As Linda Graham noted in a 2015 presentation to the Spokane City Council, of equal concern are other perceptions that these teens identified as factors in their use, which included adults’ and community attitudes that are “favorable toward use” and a “low perception of harm.” 

Among use by individuals aged 18-25, the survey found that almost half of those “young adults” reported that they had used marijuana within the last year.  Additionally, they were more likely to perceive no risk from regular marijuana use.

Our regional and state-based data appear supported by national research, which documents that the pattern of student usage continues into the college years.  According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment survey, 18% of college students indicated they had used marijuana within the last 30 days.  As further evidence of an increasing pattern of behavior, in September 2015, an ongoing study from the University of Michigan that researched approximately 1,500 full-time college students indicated that “daily or near-daily” marijuana use was reported by 5.9% of college students in 2014.  This is the highest rate since 1980 (the first year that complete data were available) and translates to approximately 1 in every 17 college students smoking marijuana at least 20 times per month.

Moreover, the research reflects evolving national views on marijuana usage.  According to a Pew Research poll from March 2015, 53% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, with 7 in 10 individuals reflecting a belief that alcohol poses a greater risk to personal health than marijuana.  (Pew Research Center, 2015)

These facts notwithstanding, the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989 prohibits the use or sale of marijuana on college campuses.  So effectively all higher education institutions that accept federal funding maintain a ban on the drug (regardless of the user’s age).  As a result, through our student conduct and student disciplinary processes, we are often faced with a need to hold students accountable to a very different set of behavioral standards than the normative standards that exist outside our academic communities.   While we are experienced in dealing with these disparities as it relates to educational matters, this scenario places an additional responsibility on colleges and universities to educate students regarding the potential health risks and academic implications of usage, for a drug that is increasingly considered by society as relatively benign.

In terms of implications for policy, both at the institutional and state level, it seems clear that we are still charting the territory.  However, as a result of three years of experience since the legalization of marijuana in Washington state, the following takeaways are evident:

• The development of drug-legalization policies for individuals beyond the ages of 21 must anticipate and prepare for correlated perceptions of, and use by, minors; given this, a significant percentage of revenues generated from legalization should be directed toward youth education and usage prevention.
• Education policymakers must work closely with state policymakers in developing or evolving drug legalization rules, recognizing the constraints that colleges and universities face due to federal requirements and the important role schools play in youth education and prevention.
• From a higher education leadership perspective, we should consider how best to communicate apparent “disconnects” between institutional and state/federal rules and address these through both educational programming and policy.

Beyond the lessons above, it is evident that we are still early in our learning curve regarding the mid- to long-term implications of marijuana legalization on our students in Washington state.  What seems clear is that colleges and universities must serve as an important source for continued research to understand the effects of marijuana use and its correlation with key college student success factors, including persistence, retention, and time-to-degree.  Beyond that, the current outlook remains hazy.