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A brand new examine, led by researchers at Columbia College, suggests it’s straightforward for teens to buy hashish from unlicensed dispensaries in New York Metropolis, regardless of state legal guidelines that bar entry to leisure hashish to these underneath age 21.
The article, “Cannabis Access by Retailer Type in New York City,” was printed within the journal Pediatrics.
“Regulation to restrict access in this age group is based on evidence that cannabis affects working memory, brain development, and increases addiction risk when used at an early age,” says Ryan Sultán, an assistant professor of scientific psychiatry at Columbia College Vagelos Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons who research hashish use and senior creator of the examine.
“High-potency cannabis, which is much more prevalent today, has also been linked to adverse effects on physical and mental health in adolescents.”
New York State legalized leisure marijuana use in 2021 after establishing a medical marijuana program in 2014. The primary licensed leisure hashish retailers opened in late 2022. Licensed retailers are required to confirm that prospects are aged 21 or over.
“Overnight, the city went from having a few medical marijuana dispensaries to having a bunch of dispensaries that may or may not have been licensed,” Sultán says. “But what happens when you deregulate cannabis without a plan to prevent kids from having easy access?”
Secret shopper finds quick access for teenagers
To search out out, the researchers used Google Maps to create a listing of 840 hashish retailers—together with licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, licensed leisure marijuana dispensaries, unlicensed dispensaries, and smoke retailers—throughout the 5 boroughs. Of those, 19 had been licensed to promote hashish merchandise.
The staff despatched one in every of their analysis assistants, aged 22, posing as an underage hashish shopper, to go to a random number of 37 shops within the listing to search out out if age-verification, youth-oriented advertising and marketing methods, and details about product high quality differed by the kind of retail outlet.
The analysis assistant tried to buy hashish at 5 licensed medical dispensaries, seven licensed leisure dispensaries, 10 unlicensed dispensaries, and 15 smoke retailers (4 of which denied promoting hashish merchandise and had been faraway from the evaluation).
The procuring journeys revealed that unlicensed retailers usually have interaction in practices that may improve youth entry to hashish. They occasionally verified age, bought cheaper merchandise, and used youth-friendly advertising and marketing practices.
All licensed dispensaries verified the client’s age with a photograph ID earlier than allowing retailer entry, in contrast with 10% of unlicensed retailers.
“We also found that less than half of the unlicensed outlets verified age anywhere along the purchase journey, and most of these outlets also sold nicotine products, energy drinks, soda, and candy and used cartoon signage,” says Timothy Becker, a postdoctoral fellow within the Division of Psychiatry at Columbia and co-author of the examine.
Licensed hashish retailers had been additionally extra more likely to adhere to a New York state regulation that requires them to put up certificates of research describing the efficiency and high quality of their hashish merchandise. Certificates of research had been displayed extra usually at licensed dispensaries and in any respect licensed leisure dispensaries, although the efficiency of hashish merchandise had been related amongst all retail varieties.
“Though our findings may not be generalizable to other cities, they show that legalization of recreational cannabis creates a space for young people to purchase cannabis, creating the potential for harm as regulation struggles to keep up,” Sultán says.
Extra data:
Hashish Entry by Retailer Sort in New York Metropolis, Pediatrics (2025). DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-068669
Supplied by
Columbia College Irving Medical Heart
Quotation:
Unlicensed retailers present youths with quick access to hashish in New York Metropolis, examine reveals (2025, February 24)
retrieved 24 February 2025
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