More adults are using cannabis since laws were introduced to legalize the drug, experts have revealed.

Meanwhile fewer teenagers are turning to the drug, there has been a decrease in marijuana-related arrests, but an increase in admissions for addiction treatment.

A team of scientists led by Dr Jane Maxwell from the University of Texas at Austin and Bruce Mendelson, of the Denver Office of Drug Strategy, reviewed data looking at how marijuana laws have affected rate of use of the drug.

As of June last year 23 states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.

Cannabis is legal of recreational use in Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and Colorado as well as the District of Columbia.

2016 will be a pivotal year for marijuana legalization in the US. Currently, half of the American population lives in a state where medical marijuana is legal and one-third (35%) live in a CBD-only state. Four states will vote on medical marijuana legalization in 2016, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri, and seven states will vote on adult use laws, including California, Arizona, and Nevada and Vermont. If all the proposed measures pass, 92% of Americans will live in a state that has passed a marijuana law, including 24% who will live in a state where adult use is legal.

That means Americans spent more on legal marijuana in 2015 than they did on some of the country’s most popular munchies, as reported by The Washington Post.

In fact, legal pot sales in the U.S. topped the combined sales of Doritos, Cheetos and FUNYUNS in 2015, which market research firm Euromonitor estimates totaled $4.9 billion.

Last year’s sales figures show the legal marijuana market jumped by 17 percent in the United States from 2014.

The report that legal marijuana sales have topped $5.4 billion in 2015, and is expected to reach $6.7 billion this year, has many pot prohibitionists questioning their allegiance to what amounts to a losing battle. It also has cash-flushed pot businesses scrambling to find a place to put their literal piles of cash.

The problem is that while states like Colorado, Oregon, and others have given the green light on marijuana legalization, the federal government still has it as a schedule one drug – right next to heroin and LSD. This means that federally insured banks can’t open accounts for local cannabis companies without serious risk of penalties.

Daren Grant biked to the Bloom Room dispensary in San Francisco on Monday to pick up some “Big Kahuna.” Instead, he walked out with two grams of “Carolina Cam Crush” and “Bronco Mile High.”

Grant, a 31-year-old waiter, considered what to do with his weed during the Feb. 7 football championship. Maybe every time a team scored, he said, he could take a bong hit of the corresponding strain. “I would definitely give it a toke,” he said.

As support toward the legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational uses rises, questions about the history and legitimacy of its prohibition are being brought to light. Though cannabis has been used by humans for almost 5,000 years, the past 80 years of its existence have been filled with controversy, crime and misinformation. Yet, the underlying intent behind the prohibition of cannabis — though hidden behind the guise of public safety — holds racist, xenophobic and disingenuous sentiments. As these intents become more integrated into public knowledge, the general attitudes — at least of Americans — toward cannabis have changed drastically.

Removing a two-year residency requirement to start a marijuana business is one of the proposed changes.

SALEM — Representatives from the marijuana industry came out in droves Tuesday to speak out on legislation to hone the state’s infant marijuana laws.

“This is going to be an ongoing process that probably goes on for several years, but I hope what you’re hearing is we are making a good faith effort to meet people’s needs,” said Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego, co-chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Marijuana Legalization.

The committee has moved a series of proposed changes to the law.

Paul discussed the matter with staff Wednesday morning and sent out a statement confirming the decision to drop out of the Republican presidential primary.

"It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," Paul said in the statement. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty."

Are rabbits in the grips of reefer madness ravaging the Utah countryside? No, they are not.

What’s the difference between a stoned rabbit and a not-stoned rabbit? The layhuman may not be keen to the symptoms, subtle as they are, exhibited by indoor varieties, but an expert in the wild - he can tell.

These are bunnies. But are they high bunnies?

Such was the effect in the Utah State Senate last March, when Drug Enforcement Administration agent and canna-buzzed rabbit connoisseur Matt Fairbanks offered his testimony to Senate Bill 259, a medical cannabis bill.