Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jun 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10

STUDY: MEDICAL POT LAWS DON'T BOOST TOKING

In Fact, Fewer 8th-Graders in States With Such Laws Smoke Marijuana

NEW YORK (AP) - Medical marijuana laws don't trigger an increase in 
teen pot smoking, a new study concludes.

Some opponents have said that legalizing the medicinal use of 
marijuana could tell young people that smoking pot is no big deal, 
and encourage them to experiment.

Pot smoking by teens has been increasing and earlier research has 
shown that fewer of them see marijuana as risky. But the new study 
suggests that medical marijuana laws are not the reason, with no 
significant increase in 21 states with medical marijuana laws.

"Our findings provide the strongest evidence to date that marijuana 
use by teenagers does not increase after a state legalizes medical 
marijuana," lead author Deborah Hasin, a researcher at Columbia 
University in New York, said in a statement.

The study is based on an ongoing government-funded survey of 8th-, 
10th- and 12th-graders that asks about marijuana use in the previous 
month. The researchers reviewed responses from more than 1 million 
students in 48 states, from 1991 through 2014.

They found that marijuana use tended to be higher already in states 
that went on to adopt medical marijuana laws, but there was no 
additional spike after the law was passed.

In fact, the researchers saw a decline in marijuana use by 
8th-graders in those states, perhaps because the laws caused 
8th-graders to be less likely to think of pot as a recreational drug, 
they said. Or it's possible some parents worked harder to stop kids 
from trying it, they added.
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