Where medical marijuana is legal, adults are more likely to use the drug illegally and are at an increased risk of cannabis use disorder, according to a new study.
Researchers found that illegal use of marijuana and rates of cannabis use disorder rose to a greater extent in US states that adopted laws legalising marijuana for medical purposes than in states that didn’t adopt such laws.
The risks of medical marijuana laws are important to convey, said lead author Deborah Hasin, of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
“Just as the case for alcohol, not everybody who uses it is harmed, but there are some risks,” Ms Hasin told Reuters Health.
Previous research that focused on adolescents’ use of the drug in the wake of medical marijuana laws didn’t find an increase in that age group, she said.
“The laws may not be too relevant and salient to teenagers so we thought it was important to look at adults,” said Ms Hasin.
