Medical marijuana proponents cite the potential medical benefits of marijuana (Hecht, 2012), the increased tax revenue to states from the medical marijuana industry (Cooper, 2012), potential reduction in traffic fatalities due to alcohol (Anderson and Rees, 2013), potential reduction in criminal activities and criminal justice costs (Warf, 2005; Single, 1989) and the relative safety of cannabis as compared to other substances (SAFER, 2012). Opponents of medical marijuana legalization raise a multitude of concerns including: medical marijuana may lead to increasing adolescent marijuana use (Joffe, 2004; Joffe and Yancy, 2004; Svrakic et al., 2012); medical marijuana may be diverted to adolescents (Thurstone et al., 2011; Salomonsen-Sautel et al., 2012; Thurstone et al., 2013) or may lead to toxic ingestions by children (Wang et al., 2011, 2013); adolescent exposure to marijuana is associated with subsequent psychosis (Moore et al., 2007) and decline in IQ (Meier et al., 2012); and that medical marijuana may negatively impact public health by increasing prevalence of addiction, crimes and motor vehicle accidents (HDFC, 2012).
