In the aftermath of Colorado’s disorganized experiment with medical marijuana, questions have arisen about whether it is getting into the hands of teenagers and how it is affecting their attitudes about the drug.
It would be a public service, we think, for researchers to look into what we see as the potential spillover effect of a burgeoning medical marijuana industry. Such information would be useful given what seems to be a softening of attitudes toward marijuana legalization.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, recently said he plans to propose a change in federal law that would decriminalize marijuana so states could be free to treat medical marijuana as they see fit. Such a move would remove the conflict that states experience as they have tried to allow marijuana for medical uses.
That medical marijuana is legal at the state level but illegal at the federal level has been cause for consternation, even though the Obama administration has publicly stated it will not interfere with pot programs operating legally under state rules.
Still, we believe it’s important to establish whether Colorado’s medical marijuana system is directly affecting use among teenagers. Anecdotally, there seems to be evidence to support posing the question.
In a Denver Post story by John Ingold, a doctor who runs a substance abuse clinic at Denver Health Medical Center said he has seen a nexus. Christian Thurstone said substance abuse referrals for marijuana have tripled since mid-2009, which is when the state’s medical marijuana system spiraled out of control with dispensaries popping up overnight like mushrooms.
Thurstone surveyed the 76 teens in his program and found 60 knew someone with a medical marijuana card, and 37 said they obtained marijuana from someone with a card.
Furthermore, those young people who got marijuana from a medical marijuana cardholder were more likely to be frequent users. Thurstone told The Post he intends to apply for federal funding to study the issue further, and we think that’s a good idea.
There isn’t much research out there examining the potential link between state medical marijuana programs and marijuana use in general, particularly in different age brackets.
While The Post has supported legalization, we don’t support legal use for children. Our objections include the fact that there are serious questions about the detrimental effects marijuana has on developing adolescent minds.
We have long thought the federal government should sponsor more and better research into the efficacy of marijuana in treating a variety of medical conditions, but it also would be a service for Thurstone and others to look carefully at how Colorado’s evolving medical marijuana system is contributing — or not — to use among adolescents.
Such research would be an invaluable addition to public policy debate concerning the legal use of marijuana.
