Study: Medical marijuana not boosting teen use

SMOKE SIGNALS: Dr. Ester Choo, a researcher on substance abuse, says about 20 percent of high school students have used marijuana in the past month, about half of the lifetime use rate. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
SMOKE SIGNALS: Dr. Ester Choo, a researcher on substance abuse, says about 20 percent of high school students have used marijuana in the past month, about half of the lifetime use rate. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Over the past few years 21 states have adopted laws allowing medical use of marijuana, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Seven more states are considering such legislation. Those changes to the once-taboo drug’s legal status have sparked concerns among parents and physicians that the new laws could lead to an increase in the number of teens using it.
That hasn’t happened, according to Dr. Esther Choo, a researcher on substance abuse and an emergency-room physician at Rhode Island Hospital. She is also an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.
Choo is part of a team that’s been studying the social impact of medical-marijuana laws. After reviewing years of survey data from 10 states, the researchers concluded there’s been no increase in the number of teenage marijuana users in recent years.

PBN: Let’s be clear, this study focused on medical marijuana, not legalization, is that correct?
CHOO: That’s right, this only involved the legalization of medical marijuana. The laws in Colorado and Washington state regarding legalization of recreational marijuana are still so new there’s been no time to measure their impact.

PBN: What was the purpose of this study?
CHOO: With the new medical-marijuana laws in so many states, there have been concerns that the image would change, and the availability as well. The public perception has been that it would become more acceptable, and more young people would be using it. We wanted to find out if that actually happened.

PBN: How did you do this study? Did you survey teens?
CHOO: We used the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, which is designed by the Centers for Disease Control and administered to high school students by the states. We looked at five states that had medical-marijuana laws, and made sure we had two cycles of survey data, from before and after the laws changed. Then we paired each state with a neighboring state that did not allow medical marijuana. We looked for states with borders that actually touched, so that we’d have a reasonable comparison group. We did an analysis that tried to isolate the effect of the laws. In none of the five pairings did we find that medical-marijuana laws lead to increased use among high school students.

PBN: How many high school students are actually using marijuana?
CHOO: About 20 percent have used it in the past month. As a substance abused by high schoolers, it’s second only to alcohol. It’s very common among students, but lifetime use is much higher, about 40 percent of the population.

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PBN: With more states considering medical-marijuana laws, I imagine this report is being passed around among legislators and lobbyists around the county.
CHOO: That would seem to be the case. People have responded in various ways. Some think we’re saying there’s no harm in marijuana use, but that’s not the case. We’re really just saying there’s been no increase in use among youths as a result of these laws.

PBN: Are there in fact risks?
CHOO: There’s a lot of data showing it has an effect on the developing brain.

PBN: You’ve said you were interested in studying this issue in part because you are a parent yourself.
CHOO: I have three young children. They’re going to be in high school someday and I’d like to have information to help steer them away from alcohol and drug abuse.

PBN: You must also have concerns about drug use because of the accident victims you treat as an emergency-room physician.
CHOO: Definitely. In the ER we see the worst consequences of all sorts of drug use, from alcohol to marijuana, to marijuana laced with other substances. So I see both sides of the marijuana issue pretty clearly.

PBN: With the push for medical marijuana, we’re seeing it touted as a beneficial treatment for scores of ailments. When can marijuana actually provide people with some relief?
CHOO: People are using it for a lot of chronic illnesses that involve nausea, vomiting and wasting, and for chronic pain, too. Those symptoms are common to a lot of illnesses, so I think that’s why it has this image as a cure-all.

PBN: In the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a lot of concern that alcohol and tobacco companies were using advertising mascots that appealed to kids, such as Joe Camel and Bud Light’s Spuds McKenzie. Should that past history raise concerns that if marijuana is legalized, companies will launch similar advertising campaigns aimed at young people?
CHOO: It would be interesting to see how that evolves in the marketplace. It feels funny to think that it might be marketed with advertising campaigns. I really don’t know.

PBN: Finally, tell us how this study is being presented to your colleagues.
CHOO: It’s been published in The Journal of Adolescent Health. And in June there will be a conference in Puerto Rico, the College of Problems of Drug Dependency. We’ll be making a presentation there. •

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