Marijuana decriminalization amd legalization was billed in part based on the notion that it wasn’t going to change people’s behavior, just decriminalize existing activity. At least in DC, it’s led to a noticeable uptick in marijuana use. You can smell it in the streets in many parts of the city, including in office buildings. It’s sad to see Germany go down the same road.
> it’s led to a noticeable uptick in marijuana use It'd be interesting to know if that coincided with a reduction in use of other, more destructive drugs such as alcohol.
"These data show no clear relationship between marijuana legalization and alcohol use. Alcohol use increased more than the national trend in Washington (1 percentage point more), Massachusetts (2.3 percentage points), California (1.9 percentage points), and Oregon (1.2 percentage points) but decreased in Colorado (–0.75 percentage points), Maine (–1.4 percentage points), Alaska (–1.1 percentage points), and Nevada (–1.8 percentage points)."
Interesting to see that the data doesn't reflect what I anecdotally have noticed among my friend group: a near-universal pivot from alcohol to cannabis for 50-80% of occasions. Some 100%. That said, my friend group's demographics probably play a part in this.