Why Youth Cannabis Use Declines in Legal Markets
In this episode of Trade To Black, presented by Flowhub, hosts Shadd Dales and Anthony Varrell break down one of the most important — and often misunderstood — debates in U.S. cannabis policy: youth access, regulation, and what the data actually shows. Kyle Sherman, CEO of Flowhub, joins the show to unpack what lawmakers often miss when discussing youth access.
The conversation begins in Massachusetts, where state officials rejected a challenge to roll back marijuana legalization following allegations of deceptive petitioning tactics. The core of the challenge was based on the claim that voters were misled when signing the petition to get the initiative on the ballot. Many residents reportedly said they didn’t fully understand what they were supporting.
Recent polling revealed that nearly half of voters who signed anti-legalization petitions felt misled, raising serious questions about how cannabis policy debates are framed and decided at the ballot level. Despite concerns, Massachusetts’ adult-use market is thriving.
While opponents of legalization frequently claim regulated cannabis leads to higher youth usage, real-world data from states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California shows the opposite — youth usage declines in regulated markets. Flowhub CEO Kyle Sherman, detailed how their retail software, including an ID scanner app, has intercepted millions of fake IDs—evidence that regulation works. Kyle stressed that illicit dealers don’t verify age, but regulated stores do, which has contributed to lower cannabis access among teens.
Kyle explains why this happens at a systems level. This isn’t theory or philosophy — it’s infrastructure. From mandatory ID scanning and POS hard stops to audit trails, transaction logging, and compliance logic baked directly into retail software, regulated cannabis operates with safeguards the illicit market simply cannot replicate.
Discussion then explored inconsistencies across states. Sherman noted that budtenders in Florida often know little about operations in California, where the market is more open and lifestyle-driven. He emphasized that consumer education and standardization are lacking. The Flowhub team is documenting this in their Great American Dispensary Tour, now two episodes in on YouTube.
Hear the whole conversation when you tune into the podcast.
