School principals fear recreational cannabis sales will lead to increased marijuana use among students

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Ohio moves toward recreational marijuana sales, school leaders are concerned about increased use among students, according to a recent study from Ohio State University.

Ohio school principals said the upcoming sale of adult recreational marijuana could negatively impact student behavior and academic performance and make commuting to school less safe, among other issues, the study found.

The study comes as the Ohio Department of Cannabis Control reviews applications for dispensaries, growers, processors and testing labs to begin selling to adults 21 and older. Excitement about starting sales in mid-June or early July has been dampened. The division is not committing to accepting or rejecting applications until Sept. 7.

LEARN MORE: It’s been 3 weeks since the state asked for applications for recreational marijuana. Why aren’t any dispensaries open?

Last November, voters legalized recreational marijuana. OSU’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center surveyed school principals in December and January. It distributed 1,707 questionnaires and received 216 responses: 69 from elementary school principals, 24 from middle school principals, 82 from high school or high school principals, 40 from different grade levels and one unidentified school. The responses came from large and small schools and a mix of rural, suburban and urban settings. Nearly two-thirds of the students came from traditional public schools, about one in five from private schools and the rest from charter and vocational schools.

OSU’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center notes that research over the past decade suggests marijuana use among high school students has declined nationwide, even as the number of states legalizing cannabis has increased. Even in states with high levels of use, such as Colorado and California, youth marijuana use is declining.

Yet Ohio school principals perceived the impact of marijuana legalization as follows:

-55% think that this will have a negative impact on students’ behavior at school;

-54% believe that marijuana use among students will increase;

-52% believe that marijuana will have a negative impact on academic performance;

-33% believe that legalizing marijuana will increase the use of other prohibited substances among students;

-26% said it would increase the school dropout rate.

Fifty-five percent of principals believe that legalizing marijuana will make traveling to school less safe for their students. And 57% believe that legalizing marijuana will negatively impact staff’s ability to detect non-smokable marijuana products, such as edibles.

Currently, marijuana is already a concern, some principals said in the survey: 46% said marijuana use outside of school was currently a problem, while 29% expressed the same concern about use at school.

When Isolating responses from high school principals, concern was greater: 79% said marijuana use off campus was problematic and 57% said it was problematic on campus.

Interestingly, marijuana sales in schools – whether by students or non-students – were not considered a major concern by principals at any level: only 13% agreed that student pot sales at school were a problem; 3% agreed that non-student pot sales at school were a problem.

Eighty-one percent of high school principals and 55% of middle school principals said they were likely to increase prevention education in response to marijuana legalization in Ohio.

Under the law passed by voters last year, a quarter of the special 10% tax on marijuana sales will go into a substance abuse and addiction fund, which will support the work of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to reduce opioid addiction and addiction and fund addiction research. That could include efforts to prevent marijuana use among young people.

Several bills under consideration would change how the 10 percent special tax is distributed, including House Bill 341, which would direct 19.4 percent of the tax to a state fund for drug prevention and control and another 19.4 percent to fund drug recovery services and the state’s 24-hour toll-free helpline at 1-800-720-9616.

The bill, however, has not been considered, despite being introduced just weeks after the proposed law was passed in last year’s election.

OSU researchers concluded that youth marijuana use needs to be monitored as Ohio moves toward adult-use marijuana sales.

“Ohio’s adult marijuana legalization program is just getting underway, so it will be some time before data on the impact on youth use are available,” they wrote. “Given research from other states and the concerns expressed in our survey by school principals across Ohio, policymakers and researchers should not only track youth use but also pay attention to the impact of marijuana legalization on the state’s schools.”

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Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com.