Although the country has seen a wave of cannabis reform sweep through its states for the past few years, not everyone is a fan of legal weed. Opponents have claimed that legalizing cannabis would increase drug abuse among the youth and lead to a boost in criminal activity. However, most studies have found that not to be the case, with legal cannabis markets helping people deal with issues such as chronic pain, creating thousands of job opportunities and providing states with millions of dollars in tax revenue.
A new study has found that cannabis use in legal markets has not had a negative effect on army recruits. The Rand Corp study found that despite more states allowing cannabis use, there was little evidence that soldiers coming from such states had negative recruitment outcomes. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after studying regular enlistments for the Army from 2001–2012 and comparing the contracts with Army personnel records up to 2018.
By comparing these two sets of data, the researchers from Rand were able to follow recruits over the years as they progressed in the military. Instead of regular cannabis use before recruitment resulting in worse career outcomes, they found that in some cases, the legalization of cannabis coincided with improved career outcomes for recruits. This means that recruits coming from states that have allowed cannabis use have a reduced likelihood of dropping out before completing their first term, being removed due to their entry-level performance, or failing a physical or medical test.
While 15% of Army recruits in 2001 came from states that allowed medical cannabis, more than half of the 2018 recruits came from states with legal medical cannabis markets while 19% were from states that allowed recreational cannabis use. However, the researchers say that the datasets they used are still incomplete, especially since most states have only recently started to update how they police cannabis.
For instance, the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that close to 40% of 18-year-olds have used cannabis at least once in their lives and 20% consumed cannabis in the past month. But from 2001–2018, only 2.5 % of regular Army accessions had a recorded history of cannabis use. Also called a “documented history of marijuana,” this term refers to any and all past encounters with cannabis, including arrests and convictions for using or selling the substance as well as self-confessed cannabis use while being enlisted.
The researchers advise the Army not to lump recruits with only a documented history of marijuana together with recruits who have cannabis-related misconduct offenses on their records.
As more research comes to light dispelling many of the misconceptions around marijuana, savvy companies are poised for explosive growth in the coming years. One such company is Grapefruit USA Inc. (OTCQB: GPFT), which specializes in manufacturing and distributing premium cannabis products in California.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Grapefruit USA Inc. (OTCQB: GPFT) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://cnw.fm/GPFT
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