Nonsense About Medical Marijuana and Teens
A new survey showing, among other things, a slight uptick in teen marijuana use, got considerable press yesterday and today. A widely-circulated Associated Press story, along with many other reports, included this claim: “The increase of teens smoking pot is partly because the national debate over medical use of marijuana can make the drugs seem safer to teenagers, researchers said.”
Baloney. [Read more →]
December 15, 2009 53 Comments
More High School Seniors Smoke Marijuana Than Cigarettes
The federal government just released the latest ‘Monitoring the Future’ survey of teen drug use, and the results do not bode well for current policies. More high school seniors report smoking marijuana in the past 30 days than smoked cigarettes: 20.6 percent vs. 20.1 percent. And marijuana use is up (albeit in the same general range it’s been in for several years) while teen cigarette smoking continues to decline, and has dropped markedly since the early ‘90s.
Regulation of tobacco, combined with solid educational campaigns, has clearly cut youth access to cigarettes. It’s time for officials to take off their blinders and apply those same proven policies to marijuana.
Oh, and just in case someone tries to blame medical marijuana laws for the rise in teen marijuana use, use by teens has actually gone down in the medical marijuana states.
December 14, 2009 36 Comments
Pain.com Invites MPP to Weigh In On Medical Marijuana
Check out this point/counterpoint on medical marijuana on the new medical Web site, Pain.com. They tell us that as of this morning it was the most popular item on the site.
December 11, 2009 33 Comments
MPP’s Aaron Houston on CNN’s “Situation Room” Today
MPP’s Aaron Houston will be interviewed on CNN’s “The Situation Room” today regarding progress toward lifting the “Barr amendment,” which has blocked Washington D.C. from implementing its medical marijuana law passed by voters in 1998. The show airs at 6 p.m. Eastern time, 3 p.m. Pacific.
Bear in mind that TV news schedules are always subject to last-minute change if there’s breaking news, but they are pre-taping the interview even as I post this.
December 10, 2009 6 Comments
Is Medical Marijuana a Performance-Enhancing Drug?
Not by any rational standard, but the folks who run the Iditarod, Alaska’s famous sled-dog race, seem to think so. Yikes.
December 8, 2009 26 Comments
