Association between medical marijuana legalization and sources of obtaining marijuana among adults in the United States

ABSTRACT

Background

Medical marijuana legalization (MML) has become more prevalent in the United States. This study examined the association between medical marijuana legalization and sources of obtaining marijuana among adults in the United States.

Methods

Adult participants (age $\ge$18) from the 2018 wave of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) were analyzed (n = 42,669, weighted N = 247,247,786). We used two multinomial regression models to estimate the association. The first model controlled for sociodemographic variables, and the second model additionally included an interaction effect of participants’ race with MML.

Results

In the first model, participants residing in states with MML were positively associated with reporting lifetime marijuana use (but did not use in the past 12 months), buying marijuana, receiving marijuana for free or sharing with others, and growing marijuana on their own (all p < .01). With the interaction of participants’ race, nonwhites residing in states with MML were negatively associated with reporting lifetime marijuana use and receiving marijuana for free or sharing marijuana with others (all p < .05).

Conclusion

Policy makers should be aware of the sources of obtaining marijuana in the states with legalization of medical marijuana.

KEYWORDS:

• Medical marijuana legalization
• marijuana policy
• sources of obtaining marijuana
• the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors did not receive any funding sources in terms of this present research and/or authorship.