Legalization advocates have been crying foul since SAM Director Kevin Sabet quoted directly from a report by Seattle Schools saying that 39% of kids who used marijuana received their drug from a medical marijuana dispensary.
It’s not so strange that some advocates responded that way – after all, the first bit of data released showed a number that was around 9.4%. What they did not notice (we didn’t at first either, to be fair) is that 9.4% was the figure for ALL students; not the subset of students WHO USED marijuana in the past month.
We did some digging, including talking to the researchers who put together the report. Here’s what we found
This question asked by the survey was:
During the past 30 days, did you use marijuana that came from a medical marijuana dispensary?
A. I did not use marijuana during the past 30 days
B. Yes
C. No
D. Not sure
Here are the detailed response tables from that question, directly from the researchers:
“We get the 39% by only looking at the subset of kids that did use marijuana. When you remove the 75.5% of kids that did not use in the past 30 days, and only look at those that did, then 39% of users say their marijuana came from a dispensary.
Seattle-King County Public Health ran the initial analysis…Here is their analysis:
Used marijuana from dispensary:
Yes: 38.5%
No: 37.6%
Not sure: 23.9%
The analysis done by Seattle-King County Public Health will apparently be online soon. Their analysis was done using the YRBS data and therefore does not appear with the YRBS data that is currently posted. SPS just released the data and has been dealing with a flurry of media inquiries about the data.
A caveat to remember: 39% does not mean that 39% of kids who use marijuana reported buying it from a dispensary. It means that 39% of kids who use say that the marijuana originally came from a dispensary. Some of them may have bought it, some of them may have gotten it from a friend with a marijuana authorization, some of them may have gotten it from a parent who uses marijuana medicinally, etc. This question is not all about direct access from a dispensary. This is also about diversion of medical marijuana.”
So there you have it folks. No need for all the vitriol and ad hominem attacks. Now, the next question is, “is the 39% number a good thing or bad thing?” That’s a debate worth having.