Young adults who seek enrollment in state medical marijuana programs are often those who already use heavily rather than those with mental or physical issues that could be addressed by the drug.
«Making medical marijuana cards easy to obtain for vaguely defined mental or physical health conditions that are not supported by any research evidence has potential for those who use more heavily to claim need for a medical marijuana card solely to have easier access,» says lead author Eric R. Pedersen, Ph.D., of the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif.
These results have implications for states that have legalized medical marijuana or are considering such legislation. Policymakers, according to the authors, should «design medical marijuana programs in their states that allow card acquisition only for people with mental and physical health problems that have documented evidence of medicinal benefit.»
The researchers analyzed data from a long-term study of substance use prevention in California. Beginning in 2008, participants were followed from middle school through young adulthood. For the current investigation, the study contained data from 264 participants who were 18 to 20 years old in 2015 to 2017, when medical marijuana was legal in California but before outlets in that state were allowed to sell legal recreational marijuana beginning January 2018.
All participants had to have used marijuana at least once in the past month at the beginning of the study, but none had obtained a «medical marijuana card,» which would allow them to buy, possess and use marijuana. Both initially and one year later, they were asked about their marijuana use, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and physical health problems.
At the one-year follow-up, 19 percent of participants had sought out and received a medical marijuana card. Overall, men were 2.91 times as likely as women to have received a medical marijuana card at follow-up.
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Materials provided by Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.