Pubdate: Sat, 11 Aug 2012
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

LEAKS SEEN IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA REGULATION

Nearly three-quarters of teens in two metro-area substance-abuse
treatment programs said they have used medical marijuana bought or
grown for someone else, according to a new study by researchers at the
University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Only one of the 122 teens in the study who admitted to using medical
marijuana was an approved patient. The findings hint that the leaking
of medical marijuana from the legal state system to illegal users may
be common in Colorado.

"The results from this study suggest that medical marijuana diversion
is a serious concern," the authors conclude in their report, published
last month in the Journal medical marijuana A young man held a sign
for a medical marijuana dispensary on North Federal Boulevard. (Denver
Post file photo) of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The study looked at 164 teens ages 14 to 18 who were in one of two
treatment programs in the metro area. Most of those teens were in the
programs after being sent there by social services or the
juvenile-justice system, though some had self-admitted to the
programs. All of the teens admitted to using marijuana at least once
in their lives.

In surveys conducted of the teens, researchers asked whether the teens
had ever used somebody else's medical marijuana and, if so, how often.
Seventy-four percent of the teens said they had, with a median
frequency of 50 times.

The researchers said the teens who did report having used another's
medical marijuana were more likely to have started regular marijuana
use earlier, to use marijuana more frequently and to have more
symptoms of marijuana dependency than other marijuana users in the
study.

Stacy Salomonsen-Sautel, the study's lead author, said more research
is needed to figure out why. Did medical marijuana use worsen the
teens' substance use? Or is it the other way around?

"It could be that the kids who had more abuse and dependence symptoms
were looking for more marijuana and came across medical marijuana,"
she said.

The study also can't say where the medical marijuana came from -
patients, growers or dispensaries - or whether it actually was legal
medical marijuana, since its status was reported only by the teens.

But Salomonsen-Sautel said the study raises questions about how
airtight Colorado's medical-marijuana system is.

"The current system is not adequately guarding against diversion to
adolescents," she said.

It is illegal for licensed patients or legal marijuana providers to
divert marijuana into the illicit market - or even provide it to
unlicensed friends. Mark Salley, spokesman for the Colorado health
department, which maintains the medical-marijuana patient registry,
said people caught diverting marijuana can face criminal charges and
have their patient cards revoked.

The new study adds an extra flavor to an already-complex stew of
research on medical marijuana and youths in Colorado.

Some studies have suggested that teen use of marijuana rose and
perceptions of harm dropped at the beginning of the state's
medical-marijuana boom.

But that is contradicted by a recent study from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention that found use by Colorado
high-schoolers dropped in 2011 compared with 2009 and is below the
national average. About 22 percent of Colorado high school students
reported using marijuana during the previous 30 days in 2011, nearly 3
percentage points lower than in 2009.

The same study found that about 17 percent of Colorado high school
students reported in 2011 being offered, sold or given illegal drugs
at school - a 5-percentage-point decrease from 2009.

"I really think, at the end of the day, teen marijuana use is a
serious issue, but Colorado is on the right path and the numbers are
going down," said Brian Vicente of the marijuana-reform advocacy
group Sensible Colorado.

Mike Elliott, the executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry
Group, said the regulation of Colorado's medical-marijuana businesses
has worked to deny teens access to marijuana.

"These statistics demonstrate that Colorado's medical-marijuana
regulatory framework is giving the state, localities and school
districts the tools they need to keep marijuana out of our schools,"
Elliott said.

But, earlier this month, a group of drug investigators released a
report documenting more than 70 instances of purportedly legal medical
marijuana being diverted into the black market.

Tom Gorman, the director of that group, the Rocky Mountain High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, said the new study seems to confirm
his group's finding.

"It doesn't surprise me," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt