Teenagers tend to abuse marijuana more often if they live in a state where it is legal for medical use. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), ten of the 15 states with the highest percentage of teenagers who admit to smoking marijuana within the last 30 days are states where marijuana is legal.

• Marijuana is the most widely abused illicit drug.
• A national survey by the Department of Health and Human Resources found that 60 percent of the seven million Americans who use illegal drugs abuse marijuana.
• The use of marijuana keeps increasing among teenagers, even as their cigarette use decreases, according to a 2009 NIDA study.

Many experts believe that more teenagers are abusing prescription drugs because they think these drugs are safer than street drugs. If marijuana is legalized as a prescription drug, teenagers may believe it is safe to use, too.

Some studies have shown that the human brain does not completely develop until after age 21, and that the abuse of alcohol and other drugs in adolescence may cause permanent brain damage.

Labels: marijuana, medical marijuana, legal drugs

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

Marijuana will be legal for medical reasons in Washington state in late 2010, making it the 14th state, along with the District of Columbia, to legalize the drug in certain circumstances. More than a dozen other states, including Arizona and South Dakota, will consider similar measures this year. California could become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes in November 2010.

California was the first state to approve the medical use of marijuana in 1996, but since then, a number of issues have arisen about who is qualified to access "medical marijuana" and how the drug is distributed. Hundreds of medical marijuana clinics in Los Angeles have been told to shut down unless they meet stricter guidelines for dispensing the drug.

Since these new laws have been passed, recreational marijuana use among teens has increased for the first time after decades of declining drug use. According to government studies, teenagers believe that since marijuana is a safe medical drug, it is also safe to use recreationally. However, some studies indicate marijuana can affect young people more adversely because the human brain is still developing until age 25 years old.
 

Labels: marijuana, medical marijuana

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments