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Medical Marijuana

Is This Where Your Teen Goes to Get High?   - A growing danger among teens today is the intentional abuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to get high. One cause of the problem is how easily teens can find them. These drugs are most likely already in your own home. Over half of teens who abuse prescription pain relievers report they get them for free from the homes of family or friends, or they take them from family or friends without asking.Most frightening, however, is that teens often don't recognize the dangers of prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse; they don't see it to be as harmful as illicit drug use. After all, these drugs are approved for medical use. But when taken without medical supervision, intentionally abused, or mixed with other drugs or alcohol, prescription medicines can be dangerous. Teens who decide to abuse prescription drugs run the risk of addiction, strokes, seizures, comas, and even death. Unfortunately, it's a growing trend. Teens are turning away from using street drugs to prescription medications to get high. New users of prescription drugs are actually catching up with new users of marijuana.

The use of marijuana for medical purposes has been legalized in eight States: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, Maine, Colorado, and Hawaii. The author discusses the extent of its’ use by surveying official patient registries, private patients’ groups, and physicians specializing in medical marijuana. At a minimum there are currently 35,000 people using marijuana for medical purposes in accordance with State laws. Five of the eight States operate an official registration program for medical marijuana users. The author estimates that approximately 3,400 patients are registered with these official programs.

California has the highest concentration of medical marijuana users, with an estimated 30,000 patient users, despite its’ lack of an official registry.

"A growing number of physicians are recommending marijuana for a wide variety of medical purposes, ranging from chronic pain to AIDS and cancer. However, Federal law bars doctors from prescribing this Schedule I drug, which discourages many doctors from even recommending it as an option for their patients."

Colorado and Nevada estimated that few of their doctors have experience with medical marijuana, perhaps as a result of fear of Federal punishment. On the other hand, a growing number of physicians in California have begun to specialize in medical cannabis treatment. However, patients continue to complain of the lack of physicians who have knowledge of cannabis treatments and are willing to recommend cannabis for their aliments. The author notes that the growing popularity of medical marijuana use and the wide range of conditions that are alleviated by marijuana refutes the current Schedule I classification of this drug.