The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws

Karen O’Keefe, Esq.,
Director of State Policies, Marijuana Policy Project

Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D.,
Professor of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

With assistance to this version or the original report from: Dan Riffle, Kate Zawidzki, and Bruce Mirken

First Version Released: September 7, 2005
Last Updated: June 2011

The debate over medical marijuana laws has included extensive discussion of whether such laws “send the wrong message to young people” and increase teen marijuana use. This is an updated version of the first report that analyzed all available data to determine the trends in teen marijuana use in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.

Nearly 15 years after the passage of the nation’s first state medical marijuana law, California’s Prop. 215, a considerable body of data shows that teens’ marijuana use has generally gone down following the passage of medical marijuana laws. Of the 13 states with effective medical marijuana laws with before-and-after data on teen marijuana use, only the two with the most recently enacted laws (Michigan and New Mexico) have indicated possible increases, both of which are modest and within confidence intervals. In Rhode Island, the data indicate teens’ lifetime marijuana may have slightly decreased while current use may have slightly increased, but those changes are also within confidence intervals. The 10 remaining states have all reported overall decreases — some of which are also within confidence intervals and some of which are significant. Generally, no state with an overall change outside of the confidence intervals saw an increase in teens’ marijuana use, strongly suggesting that enactment of state medical marijuana laws does not increase teen marijuana use.

DOJ Says Prosecuting State-Authorized Medical Marijuana Suppliers Is ‘Entirely Consistent’ With Not Prosecuting Them

By Jacob Sullum

As Mike Riggs noted on Thursday night, the Justice Department’s new medical marijuana memo (http://mapinc.org/url/YhTyZ7o4, PDF), confirms that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are reneging on their promises to respect state law. Under the policy described by Deputy Attorney General James Cole on Wednesday, “commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana” are fair game, even when they are explicitly authorized by state law. By contrast, in his October 2009 memo (PDF) to U.S. attorneys, Cole’s predecessor, David Ogden, instructed them that they “should not focus federal resources” on “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

By William J. Bennett, CNN Contributor

Editor’s note: William J. Bennett is the Washington fellow of the Claremont Institute. He was U.S. secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and was director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George H.W. Bush.

(CNN) — From certain precincts on the left, notably Barney Frank, to certain precincts on the right, notably the editorial page of National Review, we are witnessing a new push to end the so-called war on drugs and legalize drug use, starting with marijuana. Indeed, Ron Paul, Barney Frank’s co-sponsor in the latest legislative effort, said recently he would go so far as to legalize heroin.

It’s a bad idea. My friends at National Review begin their case by stating the illegalization of drugs has “curtailed personal freedom, created a violent black market and filled our prisons.” But the legalization of drugs, including marijuana, would exacerbate each of these problems.

The state made it easy with a website with helpful links to assist its deputized citizenry in identifying marijuana and signs of grow operations, reports Greg Campbell at dscriber.

“Did you know marijuana is being illegally grown in Utah?” the site, with a keen grasp of the obvious, ominously warns. “Have you ever been hiking or camping and seen what looks like an illegal marijuana growing operation? We have created this website to make it easier for people to report this illegal activity, so we can crack down and keep these illegal drugs out of our state and off our streets.”

Yeah, it seemed like a great idea. That is, until NORML posted a story about Utah’s misguided efforts. Within 24 hours, pot-friendly visitors flooded the site with fake tips.

This week, in observance of 4/20, we’re taking a look at the politics of pot in America. We kicked off yesterday with a quick overview of marijuana law reform efforts over the past twelve months. Today, we check in with a leading legalization advocate, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, for a take on the path ahead. Below, some highlights from our talk.