Pubdate: Fri, 12 Jul 2013
Source: Youth Today (US)
Copyright: 2013, American Youth Work Center
Contact:  http://www.youthtoday.org/youthtoday/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2521
Note: All letters must include the author's name, job description or 
other connection to the youth work field, and phone number or e-mail address.
Author: James Swift

MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS DON'T INCREASE ADOLESCENT USE, STUDY SAYS

Medical marijuana laws have no effect on the likelihood a young 
person will smoke pot, according to a new report.

The study, published by the American Journal of Public Health and 
conducted by researchers at the University of Florida's College of 
Medicine, culled data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey 
(YRBS) comparing the rates of marijuana use among young people living 
in Delaware, Michigan, Montana and Rhode Island. Researchers looked 
at whether exposure to medical marijuana laws increased a subject's 
likelihood of engaging in marijuana use.

"We compared people who lived in states with active medical marijuana 
laws to people living in states that had not yet, but would 
eventually pass a medical marijuana law in the future," lead 
researcher Dr. Sarah Landsman told Youth Today. "We wanted to know if 
living in a state with a medical marijuana law influenced the number 
of adolescents that used marijuana [and] we also wanted to know if 
adolescents who used marijuana might use it more frequently if they 
lived in a state with a medical marijuana law."

However, over the course of the eight-year study, only two 
significant effects were detected, Landsman said.

Montana's medical marijuana law took effect in 2004, Landsman said. 
If medical marijuana laws caused an increase in either adolescent 
marijuana use or the frequency of marijuana use, the number of young 
people in Montana who used marijuana should have increased. In fact, 
the opposite is true -- marijuana use among youth decreased during 
the years of the study, 2003 to 2009. Further, Delaware, a state with 
a similar population to Montana that did not enact a medical 
marijuana law until 2011, consistently had a larger number of daily 
adolescent marijuana users than Montana over the course of the study.

"This is the exact opposite of what we would have expected if the 
medical marijuana laws were increasing teen recreational marijuana 
use, and it directly contradicts the other significant effect," Landsman said.

The report said that in terms of self-reported prevalence or 
frequency there is no clear pattern demonstrating a link between 
medical marijuana law exposure and young people's marijuana use.

"Previous studies have clearly demonstrated that adolescent marijuana 
use is associated with injuries, emergency room visits, justice 
system involvement, and mental health and academic problems," 
Landsman said. "Thus, it is heartening that this study provides some 
early evidence that medical marijuana laws, so far, do not appear to 
have increased the number of adolescent marijuana users or how 
frequently they use marijuana in the states studied."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom