Study: Pot dispensaries don’t increase teen drug use
Jun 19, 2012, 8:55 AM | Updated: 10:20 am
New research, analyzing multiple studies of teenage
behavior suggests it’s wrong to blame legal, medical
marijuana dispensaries for an increase in teen drug use.
“Teen drug use is going up from 2005 to 2011,”
concedes Benjamin Hansen PhD, an assistant professor of
economics at the University of Oregon. “However, we find
no evidence that it’s related to a state’s passage of a
medical marijuana law,” he concluded.
Hansen, and researchers at the University of
Colorado Denver and Montana State University, analyzed
four different surveys of teen drug use. The research
found that marijuana use among teens actually declined in
some states after the legalization of medical marijuana.
“This result is important given that the federal
government has recently intensified its efforts to close
medical marijuana dispensaries,” wrote Hansen.
While it’s probably true that there is a social
market for cigarettes and you might think that
distribution of medical marijuana might work the same way,
Hansen says it’s not supported by the data.
Seventeen states, including Washington plus the
District of Columbia, now have laws allowing marijuana
prescriptions.
