Study: No Increase In Problematic Cannabis Use By Young People Following Changes In Marijuana’s Legal Status

by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director. Yet another study has once again affirmed that the regulation of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes is not associated with increases in problematic cannabis use by young people. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, federal investigators from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration evaluated marijuana use rates among young people (ages 12 to…

Obama Acknowledges Cannabis To Be Less Harmful Than Booze

Washington, DC: Consuming cannabis is less harmful to the individual than is drinking alcohol, US President Barack Obama acknowledged this week in an interview with The New Yorker. Responding to questions regarding the public's growing support in favor of legalizing the plant, the President stated: "As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice. ... I…

First legal pot sales in Colorado – and the sky did not fall. Here’s why it’s just a matter of time before pot becomes legal everywhere.

The benefits, and common sense, point to cannabis prohibition becoming a thing of the past. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Yellowj January 2, 2014  | Tens of thousands of people throughout the nation today will buy cannabis. The difference is that in Colorado, these transactions will be legal, regulated and taxed. The product will be of known quality and potency, and the cannabis seller will not be a blackmarket dealer, but rather…