ALBANY — New York lawmakers are preparing to consider legalizing marijuana just as a new federal study shows that high school students are vaping the drug with far greater frequency than they were two years ago.

The research, funded by the National Institutes for Health, found marijuana vaping among 12th graders has more than doubled over the past two years. The survey was conducted for the federal government by University of Michigan researchers.

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Clearly attracted

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The NIH reported that 20.8% of high school seniors reported vaping marijuana, with 10th-graders not far behind at 19.4%.

“Teens are clearly attracted to vaping products, which are often concentrated amounts of drugs disguised as electronic gadgets,” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement. “Their growing popularity threatens to undo years of progress protecting the health of adolescents in the U.S.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said he supports the legalizaton and regulation of adult-use marijuana, with a minimum purchase age set at 21 years of age. That is also the minimum age now in New York for the purchase of tobacco products.

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“Boggles my mind”

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Opponents of legalized weed pounced on the national survey to argue that New York leaders are sending the wrong signal to youth by advocating for an end to marijuana prohibition.

Kyle Belokopitsky, director of the New York State Parent Teacher Association, said the argument the New York law would stop youths less than 21 from getting marijuana “doesn’t hold weight with us.”

Noting Cuomo and some lawmakers backed a ban on flavored tobacco products because they are marketed at youth, Belokopitsky said, “It literally boggles my mind” they would support marijuana legalization.

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Greater potency

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Cuomo’s proposal, when introduced earlier this year, would allow marijuana to be sold in edible and smokeable form as well as concentrated THC oils — the active ingredient in pot — for vaping cartridges.

Colton Grace, spokesman for Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-legalization advocacy group, contended those calling for the legalizaton of marijuana are partly responsible for the higher usage rates by teenagers.

“The reason why people are thinking it is no longer harmful is all a result of the efforts for legalization and commercialization and the rhetoric around it,” Grace said.

He said strains of marijuana now being cultivated have far greater potency than varieties purchased on the streets by previous generations.

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Illicit market

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Legislation championed by Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, estimates the state could reap $456 million annually from taxes on legal marijuana sales.

Using the spelling for the drug in state law, her bill states: “Rather than curtailing youth marihuana usage, existing marihuana laws have led to an illicit market that has done little to address marihuana usage by minors.”

The state’s cannabis policies, according to the legislation, are “broken, unjust and outdated.”

“Existing marihuana laws have led to profligate spending of law enforcement resources, and discriminatory police practices that have perpetuated systematic racism and discrimination increasing the prison population with non-violent offenders,” the bill states.

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Wrong reasons

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Despite a push from Cuomo this year, marijuana legalization efforts were bottled up at the statehouse, but will be in play again come January.

In some upstate regions, lawmakers are cool to the legalization effort if not outright opposed.

Legalization, said Assemblyman Angelo Morinello, R-Niagara Falls, would pose challenges for efforts to keep cannabis out of the hands of those less than 21 years of age.

Morinello, a former city court judge, also questioned the suggestion that legal pot would yield a revenue bonanza for the state treasury.

“They want to legalize it for the wrong reasons,” he said.

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Highway safety

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Also voicing strong reservations was Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Plattsburgh.

He said he backed legislation this year that decriminalized the possession of less than two ounces of marijuana. But with the full legalization push, he noted police are concerned highway safety could be jeopardized due to difficulty in determining whether drivers are impaired by the drug.

The rising use of THC vapes among youth is another concern, Jones said. “We really need to take a look at this proposal very carefully.”

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Joe Mahoney covers the New York Capitol for CNHI’s newspapers, including the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh, which is part of a content-sharing agreement with the Enterprise.