New Study: “Medical Marijuana Laws Amplify Recreational Juvenile Marijuana Use”
Study also finds that alcohol consumption is a salient predictor of marijuana use
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — A new study (PDF here) in press published in the International Journal of Drug Policy found that medical marijuana laws “amplify” youth marijuana use. The study, which utilized the largest national sample of drug users available, utilized five measurement periods calibrated in two-year intervals (2002-03 to 2010-11).
Lisa Stolzenberg, Stewart J. D’Alessio, and Dustin Dariano of Floirda International University remarked in the study that “(our) research design is advantageous in that it affords us the ability not only to assess the effect of the implementation of medical marijuana laws on juvenile drug use, but also to consider other state-specific factors that may explain variation in drug use that cannot be accounted for using a single time series.”