A new study conducted at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public health has debunked a theory that recreational use among teens is increased due to medical marijuana.
The study’s findings have been published in the online journal Addiction.
According to the senior author on the study, Deborah Hasin, PhD, who is a professor of Epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School, “For now, there appears to be no basis for the argument that legalizing medical marijuana has increased teens’ use of the drug. However, we may find that the situation changes as commercialized markets for medical marijuana develop and expand, and as states legalize recreational marijuana use.”
Researchers studied and analyzed the results of eleven separate studies with some going back as far as 1991. The results came from large-scale surveys in the U.S. and were: Monitoring the Future; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; National Survey on Drug Use and Health; and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
According to the study’s findings, there were no significant changes, increases or decreases, occurred in adolescent recreational use following enactment of medical marijuana laws.
