[TKDietz]

"Other than the 1988 University of Alaska survey? Other than the fact that the people closest to the problem, the Alaskan voter, believed the survey and went to the polls to make marijuana illegal again?"

The survey didn't show that use had doubled. Apparently the survey results showed use that was almost double that of the national average for persons 12 to 17. The national average for 12 to 17 year olds in 1988 when the University of Alaska did their survey was 5.4%, so I'm guessing that use in Alaska for that demographic must have been 10% or higher. Unfortunately, (and suspiciously I might add) the University of Alaska survey is not available online or in print form so that it can be had through inter-library loan. Anyway, to say that use doubled in Alaska you would have to know the use statistics from before the 1988 survey. You can't produce those numbers. All you can say is that according to what you have read somewhere about some survey the University of Alaska performed in 1988 that was compared to national government statistics for past month use of people 12 through 17, Alaskan teens were apparently using marijuana at almost twice the 5.4% national rate in 1988.

[robertpaulsen]

"The survey didn't show that use had doubled."

Did I say that? (seriously). Marijuana use was double, not had doubled.

The 1988 University of Alaska survey reported that the percentage of Alaskan teens using marijuana was double the national average.

I don't know that the survey covered 12 to 17 -- it could have been 13 to 19. Or 16 to 19. I don't know that they compared it to SAMHSA. Was SAMHSA the only data source out there?