Credit: AP /Jeff Chiu

In every state that’s considered legalizing marijuana for recreational use, one major question inevitably comes up. If marijuana is legal, are kids going to start using it more?

New data from the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey helps provide an answer to that question. The results from the 2016 survey, which was taken by more than 230,000 students, reveal that marijuana usage rates for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders have remained basically unchanged for the past decade.

Washington voters decided to legalize recreational marijuana use in 2012 and marijuana shops opened in 2014, yet the number of kids in those grades who reported marijuana use in the past 30 days remained steady throughout that time. In 2016, 6% of 8th graders reported past month use, 17% of 10th graders reported the same, and 26% of 12th graders said they used marijuana in the past 30 days.

Stores don’t seem to make pot any easier for kids to buy either, with 8th and 12th graders saying cannabis was just as […]