Results of a secret shopper study in New York City indicate that state-licensed marijuana retailers were far more consistent about discouraging youth access to cannabis compared to illicit stores, with regulated outlets consistently verifying the age of would-be buyers as well as avoiding cartoon signage and products that appeal to young people.
The study, published this week in Pediatrics, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, looked at 37 retailers randomly selected from 870 across New York City (NYC), where illicit shops outnumber licensed stores. The sample included five medical dispensaries, seven adult-use retailers, 10 unlicensed storefronts and 15 smoke shops. All of the licensed retailers that were observed checked purchasers’ ID both before store entry and prior to purchase, the study found. Unregulated stores, by contrast, checked IDs before entry only 10 percent of the time, and verified ages before purchase less than half (48 percent) of the time.
“The findings of this study suggest that legalization in [New York State] was followed by the emergence of a large market of unlicensed retailers operating largely outside of state regulations, risking increased cannabis access and use by youth,” the new research says. “The rollout of legal dispensaries in NYS was slow due to efforts to prioritize entrepreneurs impacted by criminalization, restrictions on medical retailers entering the recreational market, and lawsuits; during this slow rollout, illegal retailers flourished.”
Across the U.S., research suggests that marijuana use by young people has generally fallen in states that legalize the drug for adults.
