Can Medical Marijuana Promote Illegal Use?
Illegal marijuana use and reported cases of addiction have increased more rapidly in US states that passed laws to introduce medical marijuana compared to those that did not. This is according to new research to be published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
At the beginning of the 1990s, medicinal marijuana was illegal in all US states. Compare this to the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century when more than a third of Americans lived in a state that legalises medicinal marijuana. At this time, fewer also viewed the drug as potentially dangerous.
The lead author of the study comments: "Medical marijuana laws may benefit some with medical problems. However, changing state laws -- medical or recreational -- may also have adverse public health consequences, including cannabis use disorders.”