{"id":46368,"date":"2019-07-12T16:46:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T16:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/"},"modified":"2019-07-12T16:46:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T16:46:02","slug":"the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/","title":{"rendered":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study seeking to quantify the opinions of substance abuse specialists on cannabis discovered overwhelming support for federal medical marijuana legalization, despite persistent concerns about the plant\u2019s potential for abuse.<\/p>\n

Published last week in the Journal of Substance Abuse<\/em><\/u><\/a> and first reported by Marijuana Moment<\/em><\/u><\/a>, the Towson University study found that more than 71% of the 966 participating substance use clinicians supported medical marijuana legalization, with 61% saying that they know someone who has used cannabis for addiction recovery treatment.<\/p>\n

But while substance abuse professionals overwhelmingly support legalization, the same group expressed serious skepticism about proselytizing the plant too much. The respondents noted worries about whether medical marijuana has potential for improper use, and if encouraging pot use to recovering addicts would be \u201ctrading one addiction for another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile most participants agreed that medical marijuana should be legalized and that its \u2018responsible\u2019 use was \u2018safe,’\u201d the study concluded, \u201cthey also believed that it is often abused and has not been studied adequately.\u201d<\/p>\n

As medical marijuana legalization continues to spread across the US, a number of states have added opioid use disorder<\/u><\/a> and other addiction related ailments as qualifying conditions, with some recovery facilities welcoming cannabis as a tool to help wean users off hard narcotics. And while early studies of legal weed states<\/u><\/a> have shown encouraging correlations<\/u><\/a> when it comes to decreased hard drug use, a dearth of longitudinal clinical research has curtailed any concrete conclusions.<\/p>\n

On the front lines of America\u2019s opioid epidemic, drug addiction specialists are in a unique place to influence the future of substance abuse treatment and harm reduction. It is encouraging to see those clinicians stand behind medical cannabis, even if that support comes with a healthy dose of nuance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese mixed attitudes may actually reflect a healthy skepticism,\u201d the Towson researchers wrote<\/u><\/a>. \u201cThat is, if the current trends continue, addictions treatment professionals may be poised to both accept medical marijuana legalization and to handle any associated negative consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow Zach Harris on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most of the substance abuse clinicians surveyed in a Towson University study agreed that medical marijuana should be legal, but they did not leave out reservations about potential abuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3036],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most of the substance abuse clinicians surveyed in a Towson University study agreed that medical marijuana should be legal, but they did not leave out reservations about potential abuse.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merry Jane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1118\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MJ Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MJ Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"MJ Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b\"},\"headline\":\"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\"},\"wordCount\":340,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\",\"name\":\"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg\",\"width\":1118,\"height\":920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\",\"name\":\"Merry Jane\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Merry Jane\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png\",\"width\":956,\"height\":88,\"caption\":\"Merry Jane\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b\",\"name\":\"MJ Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MJ Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/author\/mj-staff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane","og_description":"Most of the substance abuse clinicians surveyed in a Towson University study agreed that medical marijuana should be legal, but they did not leave out reservations about potential abuse.","og_url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/","og_site_name":"Merry Jane","article_published_time":"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1118,"height":920,"url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MJ Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MJ Staff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/"},"author":{"name":"MJ Staff","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b"},"headline":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization","datePublished":"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/"},"wordCount":340,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg","articleSection":["NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/","name":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization - Merry Jane","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg","datePublished":"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-07-12T16:46:02+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1562951041239_addictionspecialistssupportMMJ__SQUARE.jpg","width":1118,"height":920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/the-majority-of-us-addiction-specialists-support-medical-marijuana-legalization\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Majority of US Addiction Specialists Support Medical Marijuana Legalization"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/","name":"Merry Jane","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization","name":"Merry Jane","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png","width":956,"height":88,"caption":"Merry Jane"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b","name":"MJ Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MJ Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/author\/mj-staff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}