Medical Marijuana Does Not Lead to Increased Use Among Youth

November 4, 2011
By Michael Hayne


Surprise, Surprise. After much ballyhooed postulating from right-wing moralists and myopic government officials, the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode Island in 2006 did not increase its use among teenagers, according to research presented at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Exposition on Wednesday.

Led by Rhode Island Hospital physician, Eric Choo, the study directly belied the unscientific and unfounded claims of White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske’s that medical marijuana was to blame for the increase in marijuana use among teenagers. Kerlikowske’s ignorance and forceful intervention is pretty strange considering that he use to be Chief of Police in Seattle, a town famed for its fairly liberal mentality. He must be getting paid extra to lie by Attorney General Eric Holder.

“If young people don’t really perceive that [marijuana] is dangerous or of any concern, it usually means there’ll be an uptick in the number of kids who are using. And sure enough, in 2009, that’s exactly what we did see,” Kerlikowske told ABC News Radio last year.

The recent study came after much analysis of 32,570 students from Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts, apparently using a self-report survey called the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System. Also, the study included surveys completed between 1997 and 2009.



While more and more people have warmed up to medical marijuana and states are seeing it as a legitimate medicine, only 16 states allow its use. In other ward, the big pharmaceutical pimps are ensuring their whores in Congress keep pushing their unsafe product.

In comparing the trends in adolescent marijuana use between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the researchers found there were absolutely no significant differences in marijuana use between the state that had legalized medical marijuana and the state that had not. Again, major shock!

“Our study did not find increases in adolescent marijuana use related to Rhode Island’s 2006 legalization of medical marijuana,” Choo said. “However, additional research may follow future trends as medical marijuana in Rhode Island and other states becomes more widely used.”

Michael is a comedian/VO artist/Columnist extraordinaire, who co-wrote an award-nominated comedy, wrote for NY Times Laugh Lines, guest-blogged for Joe Biden, and writes a column for MSNBC.com affiliated Cagle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Seriously, follow him or he’ll send you photos of Rush Limbaugh bending over in a thong.