Adolescent health brief
Adolescents' Use of Medical Marijuana: A Secondary Analysis of Monitoring the Future Data

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.04.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To examine adolescents' annual use of medical marijuana and determine if legal medical marijuana users are at lower risk for frequent marijuana use and other substance use when compared to adolescents who use diverted medical marijuana or from an illicit source.

Methods

Public access Monitoring the Future data were used for this secondary analysis. The total weighted sample size was 4394 12th graders.

Results

Users of medical marijuana and diverted medical marijuana had notable odds of using daily, using prescription drugs, and using illicit drugs among other substance use behaviors. Medical marijuana users had much higher odds of using medical marijuana because of being “hooked” when compared to diverted medical users and illicit users.

Conclusion

This study is the first to provide nationally representative data on three groups of adolescent marijuana users. Although most adolescents use illicit sources, more adolescents appear to be using diverted medical marijuana, than using medical marijuana legally.

Section snippets

Methods

In 2012 and 2013 MTF, questions were asked about medical marijuana on Form 1 with 12th graders, and these data were used for this study [10]. The total weighted sample size was 4,579 12th graders (2012: n = 2,367; 2013: n = 2,212). After respondents with missing data on past year marijuana use were excluded, the final weighted sample was 4,394 12th graders.

For the purposes of this study, the following four groups were created: (1) nonusers; (2) illicit users; (3) medical users; and (4) diverted

Results

We examined sample demographic characteristics and used binary logistic regression to compute adjusted odds ratios to determine risk of repeatedly using marijuana and using other types of substances among Groups 2–4.

Approximately, 1.1% of 12th graders indicated using medical marijuana from their own prescription during the past 12 months (Notably, 35% [n = 17] of these users also used from someone else's prescription). Six percent (6.1%) of the 12 graders indicated using medical marijuana from

Discussion

This study is the first to use national data drawing attention to adolescents' use of medical marijuana. These data indicate that the highest risk group is adolescents that use someone else's diverted medical marijuana, followed by medical marijuana users. To place these data in context, the diversion of medical marijuana was an uncommon activity, with only 4% of 12th graders reporting use from a diverted medical source. Our findings are in line with researchers who have reported little

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive for providing access to these data. C.J.B. conceptualized and designed the study and discussed the study design with all coauthors. C.J.B. interpreted the data provided by P.T.V., drafted the initial article and all drafts of the article, and approved the final article as submitted. P.T.V. analyzed and interpreted the data, reviewed and revised the article, and approved the final article as submitted. S.E.M.

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  • Associations of cannabis product source and subsequent cannabis use among adolescents

    2022, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
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    The current study provides the first prospective evidence that using a valid medical authorization card to purchase cannabis may be associated with increased risk for non-medical cannabis use persistence and escalation among adolescents. Past research in adult samples shows that having a medical card, purchasing cannabis from a medical dispensary, or even reporting use of cannabis for medical reasons is associated with more frequent consumption and use disorder (Boyd et al., 2015; D'Amico et al., 2020; Lankenau et al., 2019; Pedersen et al., 2019; Tucker et al., 2019; Wardell et al., 2021). Whether or not youth with medical authorization use cannabis for perceived therapeutic benefit, the great majority also use cannabis for non-medical purposes (Boyd et al., 2015; Tucker et al., 2019; Wardell et al., 2021).

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Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest or financial disclosures to report.

Disclaimer: The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Drug Abuse or the National Institutes of Health.

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