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A Look at Who Uses Medical Marijuana

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Any new studies on medical marijuana are interesting because we only are recently coming out of the dark ages, a decades long moratorium on marijuana research. A recent study conducted at University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), focused on the demographics of those with medical marijuana cards. Primarily, this study was concerned with residents from the state of California.

The findings were very interesting and shed light on who is actually using medical cannabis. Of all marijuana card holders in California, 73% are male, with 62% being white. Craig Reinarman, the professor in charge of conducting this research, compared his findings with U.S. Census data. He found that cannabis users are “on average somewhat younger, report slightly more years of formal education and are more often employed than the general population.”

Some of these findings likely confirmed stereotypes while much of the data certainly defies other long held beliefs. For one, it is interesting to note that California marijuana card holders are more likely to be employed. Additionally, this study shed light on why marijuana is being used. While some believe it only to have social value, the study breaks down the ailments that card holders are treating with cannabis. The most common issue being treated with marijuana was neck/back pain. Other prominent conditions being treated were sleep disorders, anxiety/depression, muscle spasms, and arthritis. One statistic that was uncovered in the research was very telling. Of all card holders, 80% said they had tried prescription medication first. After they did not find desired results and treatment, they turned to medical marijuana.

More research is expected to be done in this area. It would be interesting to see if other states produce similar data. Marijuana research is still rubbing the crust out of its eyes after a long hibernation, but we’ll stay tuned for more up to date research.

For more information on the UCSC report, go to:

MercuryNews.com | UCSC report: Who uses medical marijuana and for what ailments?


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