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Current use of marijuana by those between the ages of 12 to 17 has remained largely unchanged over the past decade, while young people’s self-reported consumption of alcohol and cigarettes has fallen to record lows, according to federal data compiled by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

According to SAMHSA’s 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the percentage of respondents ages 12 to 17 who reported past-month use of marijuana remained steady from 7.6 percent in 2004 to 7.4 percent in 2014. By contrast, teens’ use of tobacco, cigarettes, and alcohol fell dramatically during this same period. Over the past ten years, adolescents’ use of tobacco fell from 14.4 percent to 7 percent, their use of cigarettes fell from 11.9 percent to 4.9 percent, and their use of alcohol fell from 17.6 percent to 11.5 percent. Binge drinking by young people fell from 11.1 percent in 2004 to 6.1 percent in 2014.

Self-reported marijuana use by older respondents, particularly among those age 26 and older has increased in recent years. By contrast, since 2012, when voters in Colorado and Washington decided to permit the commercial production and sale of cannabis to adults, youth marijuana use in the past 30 days is virtually unchanged (7.2 percent in 2012, 7.4 percent in 2014).

Of all estimated past-month illicit drug consumers, 82 percent are users of marijuana, the survey reported.

Read More:http://www.theweedblog.com/teen-marijuana-use-is-flat-while-use-of-alcohol-and-cigarettes-at-record-lows/

In upper Northwest Washington, marijuana buds the size of zucchinis hang drying in a room once reserved for yoga. In the Shaw neighborhood, pot grown in a converted closet sits meticulously trimmed, weighed and sealed in jars. Elsewhere, from Georgetown to Capitol Hill to Congress Heights, seven-leafed weeds are flowering in bedrooms, back yards and window boxes.

Welcome to the first crop of legal pot in the nation’s capital — where residents may grow and possess marijuana but are still forbidden to sell it.

In recent weeks, a small army of mostly novice gardeners who took up growing when the District legalized marijuana in February have begun to roll, pack and smoke the joints, bongs and bowls of their labor. By one estimate, they have collectively grown upward of 100 pounds with a street value north of a ­half-million dollars — far more than most of these amateur cultivators are likely to consume on their own.

Read More:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/first-legal-harvest-of-marijuana-fueling-gray-market-for-pot-in-us-capital/2015/09/12/9961891e-50cb-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html?tid=themost_item_6

The current state of medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan reminds me a lot of how things were in Oregon before the Oregon Legislature passed medical marijuana dispensary regulations in 2013. Medical marijuana dispensaries have existed for quite awhile now in Michigan, just as they did in Oregon well before 2013. Medical marijuana dispensaries are here to stay in Michigan, which is something that city leaders in Detroit seem to be recognizing because it sounds like they are drafting rules to regulate such establishments. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

Detroit officials are finalizing a draft of proposed regulations on the city’s dispensaries, which continue to pop up like dandelions even though they are technically illegal under state law.

Councilman James Tate said he’s putting final touches on an ordinance to govern the city’s growing number of unregulated dispensaries amid concerns that the businesses are fostering violence and engaging in unscrupulous activities.

Proposed regulations in an early draft would require dispensaries to become licensed by the city and locate at least 2,000 feet away from a school, daycare, city recreation center, library or museum. They would also have to be at least 1,000 feet from other dispensaries. 

Read More:http://www.theweedblog.com/detroit-is-drafting-medical-marijuana-dispensary-regulations/

After countless drafts and negotiations, California lawmakers announced on Thursday that they had finally reached an agreement on the regulatory structure for the state’s nearly two-decade old medical marijuana industry.

Some of the more trustworthy reports indicate that this concession between both chambers and Governor Jerry Brown was achieved through the passing of a few pieces of legislation: Senate Bill 643, Assembly Bill 266 and Assembly Bill 246. 

Essentially, the rules would force medical marijuana businesses to obtain licenses on the state and local level, while also lending to the creation of the Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation, a department that would team up with other state agencies to govern and watchdog every aspect of the program from cultivation to retail sale.

Read More:http://www.hightimes.com/read/california-finally-reaches-agreement-medical-marijuana-rules

Mesa, AZ: Patients with legal access to medical marijuana reduce their consumption of conventional pharmaceuticals, according to a demographic review of patient characteristics published online in theJournal of Psychoactive Drugs.

Investigators affiliated with the Medical Marijuana Research Institute in Mesa surveyed responses from 367 state-qualified patients recruited from four Arizona medical cannabis dispensaries. Respondents were more likely to be male, in their mid-40s, and daily consumers of cannabis.

Respondents most often reported using cannabis therapeutically to treat symptoms of chronic pain, muscle spasms, nausea, anxiety, arthritis, depression, headaches, insomnia, and stress. Patients typically said that cannabis provided "a lot of relief" or "almost complete relief" of their symptoms and that its efficacy was greater than that of more conventional medications.

Patients also reported reducing their use of pharmaceuticals. Over 70 percent of respondents reported using other medications "a little less frequently" or "much less frequently" for 24 of the 42 conditions specified. Over 90 percent of those who reported consuming cannabis to mitigate symptoms of nausea, headache, muscle spasms, fibromyalgia, bowel distress, and chronic pain acknowledged using pharmaceuticals less frequently once they had initiated cannabis therapy.

Read More:http://norml.org/news/2015/09/10/study-patients-replace-prescription-drugs-with-cannabis