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   By ALAN MOZES HEALTHDAY February 23, 2018, 3:25 PM   
   Two medical marijuana myths debunked in new research   
      
   A budtender displays cannabis at the Higher Path medical marijuana   
   dispensary in Los Angeles, Calif., on Dec. 27, 2017.  GETTY   
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   Mention legalizing medical marijuana, and people often think two things:   
      
   This will prompt teens to think marijuana use is OK, and more will start   
   using it.   
   Legalizing marijuana will reduce the number of adults overdosing on opioids.   
   As it turns out, neither has proven to be true, according to new research.   
      
   Since medical marijuana first became legal in California in 1996, it's   
   been legalized across nearly three-fifths of the United States. However,   
   that's had virtually no impact on the rate of recreational marijuana use   
   among teens, a broad review of published studies has found.   
      
   "Several years ago, before the group of papers we [analyzed] started to   
   be published, people thought that medical marijuana laws would increase   
   teen marijuana use by 'sending the message' to teens that marijuana was   
   safe and acceptable to use," explained Deborah Hasin, the new study's   
   lead author.   
      
   However, she said, "it doesn't seem that teens were impacted much by   
   this -- perhaps because they didn't find the legalization of medical use   
   very relevant to them or didn't even know about the laws."   
      
      
   Hasin is a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's College of   
   Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.   
      
   The impact of marijuana legalization also has been minimal on the risk   
   for fatal overdosing among adult users of opioid pain medications, a   
   separate study team has found.   
      
   On the opioid link, American, Australian and British researchers found   
   little to suggest that increased access to medical marijuana as an   
   alternative way to manage chronic pain has led to any measurable drop in   
   deaths from opioid abuse.   
      
   In fact, lead author Wayne Hall warned that research suggesting any   
   substantive link between the two is "weak." He is a professor with the   
   Center for Youth Substance Abuse Research at the University of   
   Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.   
      
   Hall and his colleagues caution that "it is premature to recommend the   
   expansion of access to medical cannabis as a policy to reduce opioid   
   overdose risks in the United States and Canada."   
      
   Though the chances of overdosing on marijuana are low, the drug has been   
   shown to have only a "modest" effect for pain control, according to the   
   researchers.   
      
      
   "There are much better treatments [than marijuana] that have been shown   
   to reduce [opioid] overdose deaths that are not currently being widely   
   used in the U.S.A.," Hall said. "Foremost among these is   
   medication-assisted treatment, using methadone or buprenorphine."   
      
   Despite the findings of both research teams, legalizing medical   
   marijuana is not consequence-free, Hasin said.   
      
   "Passing laws legalizing marijuana use has some social benefits --   
   business and tax revenues, job creation, and reduction in unfair   
   race-based arrests," she said.   
      
   "And while not every marijuana user experiences harms, using marijuana   
   does have some risks, including withdrawal, addiction and increased   
   chances of vehicle crashes," Hasin said.   
      
   The results of both studies are published online Feb. 22 in the journal   
   Addiction.   
      
   Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, the marijuana information and   
   advocacy organization, said he was "hardly surprised by the results" of   
   the finding regarding use among youth.   
      
   Dozens of studies, he said, "affirm that regulating either adult   
   marijuana use or medical purposes is not associated with any significant   
   uptick in either youth use, access, problematic use or drug treatment   
   admissions.   
      
   "The data is clear and consistent on these issues, and those opining to   
   the contrary are either willfully ignorant or woefully ignorant of the   
   relevant science," Armentano said.   
      
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   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medical-marijuana-myths-debunked-in-new-study/   
      
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