Massachusetts Youth and Marijuana

May 4, 2012 by Stacy Carruth

Many people who work in substance abuse prevention are really concerned about the increase in youth marijuana use across the state.  Currently, past 30 day use of marijuana for Massachusetts high school students is 30% higher than the rest of the country.  What is also troubling is that there are currently a couple of bills at the Statehouse which aim to allow “medical” marijuana use in Massachusetts.  In states where “medical” marijuana has been approved, only a tiny fraction (less than 5%) of card holders have medical conditions such as cancer, or glaucoma.  I feel that passage of these bills would increase access for youth, and could also result in changes in social norms leading youth to think that smoking marijuana is socially acceptable.  In other states that have passed “medical” marijuana bills, they have found that youth drug use rates are twice that of other states.  We can’t afford this in Massachusetts.  There’s a new group called the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance which has formed to address substance abuse issues, and they are currently working on preventing the “medical” marijuana bills from passing.  Here’s a link to their website:  http://www.mapreventionalliance.org/