Over half (54 percent) of Wyoming residents now say they support allowing adults in Wyoming to legally possess marijuana for personal use. This continues the steady increase in support observed from 2014, 2016 and 2018, when support rose from 37 percent to 41 percent to 49 percent, respectively.

Looking across age groups, there is a clear pattern of younger age groups expressing more support for marijuana legalization. This support decreases as age increases — this observed pattern is a statistically significant trend.

There is popular support among younger Wyoming residents, with a majority of 18- to 24-year-olds (67 percent), 25- to 34-year-olds (74 percent), 35- to 44-year-olds (68 percent) and 55- to 64-year-olds (51 percent) supporting legalization. Support for legalization falls below a majority of those aged 45-55 (45 percent), 65-74 (40 percent) and 75-older (30 percent).

According to Rodney Wambeam, a senior research scientist at WYSAC, the support for recreational marijuana use reflects a decrease in the perceived risk or harm related to the drug.

“Despite the increasing dangers of marijuana use, such as addiction or drugged driving, young people in particular seem to view marijuana as a safe and natural alternative to alcohol or other illicit drugs,” Wambeam says.

As was the case in 2018, a large majority (85 percent) of Wyoming residents say they support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes if a doctor prescribes it. This has remained steady from 2018, when 86 percent reported that they support this.

Three-quarters of Wyoming residents (75 percent) believe that people convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana should not serve time in jail. This has increased from 69 percent in 2018 and from 66 percent in 2014.

“As laws regarding the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana change around the U.S., especially in nearby states, it’s not surprising to see attitudes in Wyoming change as well,” says Brian Harnisch, senior research scientist at WYSAC. “In all bordering states except Idaho, marijuana or medical marijuana has been legalized to some extent or decriminalized.”

The statewide survey was conducted Oct. 8-29, yielding 614 responses from randomly selected Wyoming citizens. The margin of error for the distribution of responses on any individual survey question is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Men and women from all age groups are represented, and all counties in Wyoming are proportionally represented in the survey sample. The final survey data have been weighted to reflect the actual population distribution in Wyoming on these key demographic characteristics.

Both landline and cellular telephone numbers were randomly generated for the study, resulting in 82 percent of completed surveys on cell phones. The survey is funded by WYSAC and UW’s School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies.

Complete survey results are available at: https://wysac.uwyo.edu/wysac/reports/View/6710.

This website aims to provide resources for prevention workers and other stakeholders throughout the lifecycles of prevention efforts.  It is modeled after the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), a five-step, cyclical process to help stakeholders understand and address issues of substance abuse and addiction in their communities. The SPF model includes the following components:

• Assessment – Using current data to understand local needs
• Capacity – Building partnerships and resources to have capacity to address prevention needs
• Planning – Understanding best practices related to these needs and how to effectively implement them
• Implementation – Delivering the best practices or programs selected in the previous step
• Evaluation – Taking a look at how practices were implemented and whether they led to the intended outcome

Regardless of what step a community is at in its efforts to prevent prescription drug abuse, this website will provide the information and resources they need to get started, or to enhance work that’s already being done.

Based on surveys of youth and adults, only small proportions of them reported having used stimulants in the past month, which has remained relatively stable over time. However, the number of admissions to treatment, methamphetamine-related arrests, and overdoses were rising. Ultimately, the report concludes that gathering more data about the risk factors related to stimulant use and misuse would bridge the knowledge gap between these divergent findings. It would also help policymakers and prevention professionals better target their support and interventions to address these concerns.

This report’s information is presented to allow the Wyoming government, community coalitions, and other stakeholders to choose and implement targeted strategies and solutions for prevention and treatment. To read the report in detail, see  https://bit.ly/wystim.  A condensed issue brief outlining the key findings of this report is found at https://bit.ly/short-wy-stim. For a one-page fact sheet highlighting key findings, go to https://bit.ly/wy-stim-fact.

This project is a part of the Wyoming State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) supported by the Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Division, with funds from the 2015 Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Sucess Grant by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

This documentary details the history of substance abuse prevention in Wyoming and how it led to a 40% decrease in underage drinking. It includes interviews with WYSAC as well as important state and local stakeholders in the prevention system.

It documents data showing the change in underage drinking, it; but, more importantly, it tells the story of how local coalitions worked with State and Federal funding to impact the problem. It provides context to more than 15 year of work by prevention professionals and local coalitions to keep Wyoming at the cutting edge of prevention.

Additionally, descriptive information about and external links to each data source are catalogued in the appendix. National data are presented here, as well as state and some local level data.

When possible, the state data are compared to the national data. WYSAC at the University of Wyoming completed this project as part of a contractual agreement with the Wyoming Department of Health, Public Health Division (WDH-PHD).

[button type=”success” size=”lg” link=”https://wysac.uwyo.edu/wysac/reports/View/6665″]Download the Report [PDF][/button]

In 2017, economists at WYSAC completed a study of the value of prevention in Wyoming. This research began in 2012 when WYSAC was able to estimate the societal cost of alcohol in Wyoming at $843 million in 2010. Researchers also knew than since the prevention of underage drinking began in 2001, Wyoming communities have contributed to a 40% decrease in past month alcohol use by teenagers.

Putting these together and using peer reviewed literature on delaying the onset of alcohol use, WYSAC estimates that, in 2014 alone, local efforts prevented 389 students from developing alcohol use disorders. This saves Wyoming $122 million over the lives of those individuals.

To read the full report go to https://wysac.uwyo.edu/wysac/reports/View/5556.