marijuana experiment – MJNews Network

COLORADO: Marijuana may have a reputation as a “gateway” to other drugs, but new research shows that the reason a teenager uses marijuana in the first place is an important factor in whether that person also uses other drugs.

And it turns out that when a teen’s reason for smoking pot is “to experiment,” he or she is less likely to use other drugs.

Researchers analyzed survey results from more than 6,000 high school seniors in the United States who all said they had used marijuana in the past year. The surveys also asked students questions about whether they used alcohol, as well as drugs such as crack, heroin, powder cocaine and hallucinogens.

The researchers found that the teens who said they used marijuana to experiment were less likely to say theyhad used any other drugs, compared with teens who used marijuana for other reasons, such as out of boredom or to increase the effects of other drugs.

COLORADO: Don’t worry about a federal lawsuit. But do worry tax rates. Those are among the many lessons Colorado and Washington have to share from the front lines of America’s marijuana experiment.

LESSON ONE: DON’T BE TIMID

Public officials in the pioneering marijuana states were flat-footed when voters made pot legal.

At first waiting for a possible federal lawsuit, then trying to figure out how to monitor and tax a product that had never been fully regulated anywhere in the world, the states spent many months coming up with rules for how the drug should be grown, sold and consumed.

The delays were understandable. But they led to one of the biggest disappointments of the marijuana markets — lower-than-hoped tax collections.