The issue of medical marijuana has been a heated debate across the country for a long time. Now,
medical marijuana sales are slated to begin in Arizona in April. Fifteen states and Washington, D.C. have implemented medical marijuana programs.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, as well as the Monitoring the Future survey from the University of Michigan, have both discovered increases in teenagers using marijuana. The belief is that the passage of medical marijuana laws have fueled a false perception that the
drug is not harmful or addictive.
"The basic rule with any drug is if the drug becomes more available in the society, there will be more use of the drug," said Thomas Crowley, a University of Colorado psychiatry professor and director of the university's Division of Substance Dependence. "And as use expands, there will be more people who have problems with the drug."
The numbers of teenagers using marijuana has increased and in Colorado, more teenagers are receiving
treatment for marijuana addiction since the state legalized medicinal use of the drug. At the Denver Health Medical Center, treatment referrals have tripled over the past year, with 83 percent of teenagers that use marijuana every day reporting that they got the drug from someone using it for medical reasons.
