Teens who live in states where marijuana is legal for medical use have not seen a spike in usage of the drug by young people, despite fears that would occur, a newly updated analsyis released today shows. In fact, teen marijuana use has consistently declined in those states, and generally at higher rates than the national average.
  Mitch Earleywine, associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Albany, co-wrote the study. The report, which uses data from federal- and state-funded surveys on drug use, can be accessed at www.mpp.org/teens.
  “Opponents of medical use of marijuana regularly argue that such laws ‘send the wrong message to children,’ but there is just no sign of that effect in the data,” Earlywine said. He is a substance-abuse researcher and author “Understanding Marijuana,” published in 2002. “In every state for which there’s data, teen marijuana use has gone down since the medical marijuana law was passed, often a much larger decline than nationally.”
  The Democrat-led Assembly passed legislation last year that would allow use of medical marijuana, but the GOP-controlled Senate did not. The two houses have vastly different ways they would handle medical use of marijuana and haven’t been able to get close on an agreement.
  In California, which passed a medical marijuana law in 1996, marijuana use among ninth graders in the past 30 days (current use) declined 47 percent from 1995-96 to 2005-06. Other states with newer laws, including Vermont, Montana and Rhode Island, have had similar experiences.
  The release was put out by the Marijuana Policy Project, which believes marijuana use should be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol.
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