Marijuana Policy Project

This article examines the subjective impact of medical cannabis on the use of both licit and illicit substances via self-report from 404 medical cannabis patients recruited from four dispensaries in British Columbia, Canada. A 44-question survey was used to anonymously gather data on the self-reported impact of medical cannabis on the use of other substances. Over 41% state that they use cannabis as a substitute for alcohol, 36.1% use cannabis as a substitute for illicit substances, and 67.8% use cannabis as a substitute for prescription drugs. The three main reasons cited for cannabis-related substitution are “less withdrawal,” “fewer side-effects,” and “better symptom management.”

Using data from the national and state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys and other government sponsored data collections, researchers from the Universities of Washington, Oregon, and Colorado at Denver found no association between medical marijuana laws and increased teen marijuana use. They concluded, "[o]ur results are not consistent with the hypothesis that legalization leads to increased use of marijuana by teenagers."

Applying the "routine activities theory" of crime, this NIDA-funded study used data from 95 census tracts in Sacramento to analyze two types of crime (violent and property) in areas with varying concentrations of dispensaries. Results indicated that while factors traditionally understood to lead to increased crime ��� large percentages of land zoned for commercial rather than residential use, a high percentage of one-person households, the presence of highway ramps, a higher percentage of the population being ages 15-24 ��� were positively associated with crime in those areas, the density of medical marijuana dispensaries was not associated with violent or property crime rates. In their conclusion, the researchers theorize that measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras) may increase guardianship, thus deterring crime.