Cannabis Law Group's Medical Marijuana Legal Blog
CDC: Increased Marijuana Access Linked to Lower Teen Use Rates
Contrary to all the fears hyped by anti-marijuana advocates, statewide marijuana laws that allow for legal access – both medicinal and recreational – are not associated with increased teen use. In fact, according to the most recent research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the opposite is true. 
The CDC just released its latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which monitors six different types of health risk behaviors that cause or contribute to death and disability among teens and young adults. One of those is alcohol and other drugs.
What they found was that the percentage of teens who had ever used marijuana had increased significantly – from 31 percent to 47 percent – from 1991 to 1991. If you’ll recall, 1997 was the year California approved marijuana as medicine, and there was a great deal of fear that California’s law and those adopted in other states would prompt an even bigger spike. But that didn’t happen because from 1997 to 2015, there was a decrease from 47 percent to 38 percent. Specifically when we look at 2013 to 2015, which is when states started passing recreational marijuana laws, the prevalence of teens who used marijuana nationally dropped from 40 percent to 38 percent. Continue reading
However, according to a recent news feature from 
In the District of Columbia, recreational marijuana is legal to use and buy, but thanks to a congressional amendment to a recent budget measure, is illegal to sell. This was allowed to happen because Congress has much more control over the federal district than it does over a state despite a decades old decision to all for home rule in the city. As a result of it being illegal to sell marijuana, it is also illegal to hold what Congress calls a marijuana party or event. This makes things a bit complicated for those trying to get into the marijuana industry, but there are some ways around the prohibition. 
According to a recent news feature from 
While on the one hand this is a good thing, as real life evidence might not line up with FDA clinical trial requirements, there are some legitimate concerns about safety. There are also other issues that arise as a result of the fact that marijuana is a also a plant – a plant that is grown on a farm like corn, or wheat, or tomatoes. 
The first thing to understand is that marijuana, which is a plant that people consume, is classified as kitniyot, which includes other grains like corn, rice and beans. These foods are generally prohibited during Passover, as the dietary restrictions are much different and stricter than they are during the rest of the year. 
In other words, there are those that believe people who use medical marijuana are a bunch of potheads who move slowly and have the munchies. When an athlete tests positive for marijuana in the Olympics, he or she result is disqualified and there is a possibility of medals that have already been awarded could be stripped. When this happens, as it has in past, many joke that marijuana is clearly not a performance enhancer, so it should be allowed.