According to a new study of the relationship between medical marijuana and teen marijuana use shows no evidence that the former increases the latter.

Using the government’s own Youth Risky Behavior Survey (YRBS) for the years 1993 through 2009, the study saw no correlation between states legalizing medical marijuana and teens using the plant.

"There is anecdotal evidence that medical marijuana is finding its way into the hands of teenagers, but there's no statistical evidence that legalization increases the probability of use," said Daniel I. Rees, a professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver, who co-authored the study along with Benjamin Hansen, assistant professor of economics at the University of Oregon and D. Mark Anderson, assistant professor of economics at Montana State University.

While many studies show that marijuana use is on the rise among teens, there are many things more likely to attribute to that than taking some marijuana out of the hands of drug dealers and into the hands of registered businesses and caregivers. In fact, even in states where medical marijuana is legal, a large black market still thrives because most marijuana users don’t qualify medically.

Common sense tells you that the more you regulate a product, the less likely teens are to get it. Alcohol and tobacco are prime examples. The government has no control over the black market - as much as they like to pretend they do – and drug dealers have no incentive to check I.D. because they are already breaking the law. But a liquor store will check I.D. because they want to keep their liquor license and keep making money legally.

Another contributing factor to a rise in teen use could be education about how much safer marijuana is than any other recreational substance. Maybe teens have more information because anything can be looked up on the internet.

Source: http://medicalxpress.com