Decriminalized is not legalized. Or did you think it means the same thing?
"Northern aboriginal communities have always had higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse than the national average"
So Alaskan teens are "northern aboriginals"? And teens from Texas are what, southern aboriginals?
According to the 2000 SAMHSA survey, the national teen (12-17) average was 7.24%. Use by Alaskan teen aboriginals was 8.65%.
However, use by Colorado teen aboriginals was 10.8%, Delaware teen aboriginals was 11.89%, and Massachusetts teen aboriginals was 12.35%.
Please take your racist and biased article from "cannabisculture.com" and stick it.
"The 1988 usage numbers are self-reported, meaning that after 13 years of decriminalization more Alaskan teenagers felt comfortable discussing their cannabis use than teenagers in more prohibitive states."
You DO think decriminalization is the same as legalization. Marijuana use (by adults, at home, less than 4 ounces) was LEGALIZED in Alaska. No arrest, no charge, no trial, no penalty, no record, no stigma. Legal.
Still illegal for teens, however, so why they would feel any more comfortable discussing it is a mystery to me. And all the surveys are, by definition, self-reported. You ask a teen, anonymously of course, if he has smoked marijuana at least once in the last 30 days and he says yes or no.
But all teens lie, right? Lie when they say they use it, or lie when they say they don't? Tell me which one, cryptical.
So you don't disagree with this statement. Thanks for playing.