Marijuana Use Spikes In Colorado

New research provided by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that Colorado has become the state with the second-highest number of users after it has been legalized. Officials noted that the study is the first of its kind to examine marijuana usage since legalization back in 2012.

"This is not surprising, given what's on on on the medical side," said Mark Kleiman, a University of California-Los Angeles professor on marijuana policies, via the Denver Post.

Yet Kleiman cautioned that the long-term impact of legalization would be hard to determine.

So far, findings have revealed that marijuana users were at 10.4 percent prior to legalization. However, they climbed to about 12.7 percent after the announcement. Now, it's estimated that about 530,000 of Colorado residents smoke or consume pot in some way at least once a month.

Colorado is not the only state to show an increase in marijuana use. There have also been a nationwide upward trend overall, from 7 to 12 percent.

"The fraction of people who are monthly users who are in fact daily users has gone way, way up," Kleiman concluded.

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