"Medical" Marijuana

Finally, a doctor speaks out on the medical marijuana issue, which is spreading like wildfire across Colorado and other states. Dr. Christian Thurstone, who is a board-certified child/adolescent and addictions psychiatrist and medical director of an adolescent substance abuse treatment program in Denver, speaks out today in the Denver Post. Dr. Thurston shoots down the lie that medical marijuana is being pushed for "end-stage illnesses." 70 percent of the licenses being issued in Colorado are going to young people in the demographic most likely to have addictions. He points out that marijuana is a highly addictive drug for teenagers. "When they're high, these young people make poor choices that lead to unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, school dropouts, and car accidents that harm innocent people." The medicinal value of smoked marijuana "has hardly been studied in controlled trials."