Fewer soldiers are testing positive for marijuana in two states where recreational use of the drug is legal, an Army study of the issue obtained by The Gazette has found.
The change in Washington and Colorado, where legal pot is available near large Army bases, is small. But it’s the reverse of what military leaders said would happen in Colorado Springs with marijuana legalization.
“With one minor exception, the data is trending downwards, though it remains relatively flat and the changes are statistically insignificant,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Justin Platt wrote in an email from the Pentagon.
Pot in the general population: Colorado ranks No. 2 in U.S. for monthly marijuana use
In Colorado, the rate of positive drug tests for marijuana dropped to .47 percent in the fiscal year that ended Oct. 1. That is down from .79 percent in the same time period two years earlier, before recreational marijuana sales were legal. The number of positive marijuana tests at Fort Carson dropped to 422 from 725 over that span.
Army brass said the drop is more of a sign of how the Army is handling legalization than soldiers being suddenly less likely to smoke marijuana.
Read more about the Army study on pot at Gazette.com.
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