Adolescents' Use of Medical Marijuana: A Secondary Analysis of Monitoring the Future Data

PurposeTo examine adolescents' annual use of medical marijuana and determine if legal medical marijuana users are at lower risk for frequent marijuana use and other substance use when compared to adolescents who use diverted medical marijuana or from an illicit source.MethodsPublic access Monitoring the Future data were used for this secondary analysis. The total weighted sample size was 4394 12th graders.ResultsUsers of medical marijuana and diverted medical marijuana had notable odds of using daily, using prescription drugs, and using illicit drugs among other substance use behaviors. Medical marijuana users had much higher odds of using medical marijuana because of being “hooked” when compared to diverted medical users and illicit users.ConclusionThis study is the first to provide nationally representative data on three groups of adolescent marijuana users. Although most adolescents use illicit sources, more adolescents appear to be using diverted medical marijuana, than using medical marijuana legally.