After four years of working in this industry, I can say with confidence that a regulated cannabis market will not harm our children; it will actually protect them. Five years after Colorado legalized cannabis, young people are not using marijuana any more than they were before it became legal. The number of Colorado high school students reporting they’ve tried marijuana has remained unchanged since 2005, while the number of students trying marijuana before age 13 declined significantly, from 9.2% in 2015 to 6.5% in 2017.