Medical marijuana laws have no effect on the likelihood a young person will smoke pot, according to a new report. The study, published by the American Journal of Public Health and conducted by researchers at the University of Florida's College of Medicine, culled data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) comparing the rates of marijuana use among young people living in Delaware, Michigan, Montana and Rhode Island. Researchers looked at whether exposure to medical marijuana laws increased a subject's likelihood of engaging in marijuana use. [continues 340 words]
I'm going to take a controversial stance and assert that marijuana shouldn't be legalized. As a college student, that puts me in a very detested minority and sets me up for perhaps four years of campus castigation. Sure, I may have ruffled a few feathers with my articles on abortion and gun control, but decrying the ganja in a public forum? That's heresy that will critically tarnish my collegiate stature, maybe indefinitely. I might as well be standing outside the Social Science building shouting "Coffee sucks!" over a megaphone, this is a popularity-killing target if there ever was one. [continues 731 words]
