John Schulenberg says that Americans’ increasing acceptance of marijuana use and its growing availability have fueled a 30-year high in use among young adults aged 19 to 22. And this is a problem in terms of daily use, says Schulenberg, because “the scientific evidence is pretty clear that this gets in the way of things, and it can be associated with, if not contributing to, a decline in mental health.” The analysis of 2017 Montoring the Future study data also found that high school graduates who did not enroll full-time in two- or four-year colleges regularly used marijuana at a rate that was almost 3 times higher than that of college-enrolled young adults (13.2% vs. 4.4%). Schulenberg is particularly concerned about continuous heavy use among college-age people, which he says increases the likelihood that “their health and wellness and happiness are probably not as high as those who do not use or do not continue to use.”

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