The Illinois General Assembly recently passed a marijuana legalization bill on May 26, making Illinois the 11th state to legalize the drug for recreational adult use.

Consumers 21 and older will be able to buy marijuana products from licensed vendors starting Jan 1, 2020.  On Aug. 27, however, the Naperville’s City Council voted in a 6:3 split against having recreational dispensaries in Naperville. The age requirement and the ban in Naperville could make it harder for students to get their hands on marijuana products, but far from impossible.

In the past, products like alcohol have been used and abused by students, even with the age requirement. Data from the Illinois Youth Survey for DuPage County says underage drinking is an issue for 21% of DuPage high school sophomores. Among high school seniors, 40% of them reported drinking alcohol in the last 30 days. This issue on underage drinking has caused some school districts to wonder if recreational marijuana would create similar issues.

Naperville Central principal Bill Wiesbrook believes that the age regulation on marijuana will be enough to keep high school students from using it. 

“I believe that there are caveats around this law very similar to alcohol, because even though marijuana will be legal like alcohol, it’s still going to be illegal to a 17 year old,” Wiesbrook said.  

One of Central’s deans, who asked not to be named, said that the school policy regarding marijuana will not change, and that the consequences will still remain the same. 

“We aren’t planning to do anything different, since it’ll still be illegal for our students to possess it on school property,” the dean said. “The school consequences would still be the same as, well, as the legal consequences.” 

There have also been other school districts that have had to deal with legalization of marijuana as well, like in California. Recreational marijauna was made legal for California is 2018, set up with same age restriction. The California School Boards Association (CSBA) were worried about two things: increased access and difficult detection. 

About half of the California Delegate Assembly attendees reported that, after legalization, students had greater access to marijuana and that this resulted in increased use by both parents and students. Some of the delegates reported that young children came to school smelling of marijuana because parents smoked it near them, according to the CSBA. California delegates reported challenges identifying marijuana baked into everyday lunchbox items or used in vaping devices that look like pens. The legalization has especially affected high schools. Several delegates said 911 calls increased due to students ingesting edible marijuana at school and not understanding the potency, the CSBA said.