Lets Talk About Pot!

Marijuana is common used drug by Americans, and has been found to be very prevalent to high schoolers especially in 12^th grade. 82 percent of seniors say that it is very easy to find marijuana and know who to go to, in order to fulfill the crave. When adolescence use Marijuana, there are outcomes that are not necessarily the best. For instance, an increase in car accidents had been due to using and also health issues that will forever change one’s life. However, it is known to also benefit one’s health in some cases therefore, a total of sixteen states have legalized the use of medical marijuana. The controversy that is found in different states and Americans, is that the legalization of the drug will send a message or cause an increase in the use to teenagers.

In 2010, The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services created a survey for 8^th, 10^th, and 12^th graders that calculated substance abuse in the youth. The survey was given by the teachers at school however each school district would decide whether or not parental consent was necessary. The questions that were asked ranged from how easy it is to access marijuana, how frequently one uses the substance, and also ones gender and age. 17,482 students participated in the results of the study and a third of them answered saying that they had used marijuana before.

In 2011, 30,036 patients used marijuana for medical use. Out of the 30,036 patients the average age of use was found to be 41 years old. The votes to legalized medical marijuana were very high due to such research.

The conclusions however of this study is that it isn’t really the medical marijuana that effects the youth to use marijuana, but the environment of which they are in also affects the use. The study was only taken in Montana therefore, the other 49 states may have different results. The limitation to this study, is that the survey was taken in different counties with different geographic units also, since the survey was not mandatory the participation rate was not high along with if students did not choose to come to school that day, they too did not have a say in the study. These factors should be taken account for in the next study.

Abstract

Friese, B., & Grube, J. W. (2013). Legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use among youths. Drugs: Education, Prevention & Policy, 20(1), 33-39.