Objective: Studies have documented greater risk for heavy marijuana use and consequences among adolescents and young adults who have acquired medical marijuana cards. With the cards, they are enrolled in their state's medical marijuana program and granted access to medical marijuana dispensaries. It is unknown, however, what factors influence young people to acquire medical marijuana cards, such as whether they seek out medical marijuana cards for the mental and physical health concerns that marijuana is targeted to address or whether they seek out medical marijuana cards solely because they are heavier users.
Method: There were 264 participants (54% female) in the current study, which used longitudinal data (Time 1 and Time 2, 1 year later) to compare young adult marijuana users who did not have a medical marijuana card at either time point (n = 215) with marijuana users who reported acquiring a medical marijuana card by Time 2 (n = 49; 19% of the sample). We used logistic regression to predict participants' acquisition of a medical marijuana card at Time 2 from Time 1 demographic factors, mental health symptoms of anxiety and depression, reports of poor physical health and symptoms, and frequency of use.
Results: Analyses indicated that young adults who were male (odds ratio = 2.91) and who reported more frequent marijuana use (odds ratio = 1.07) were at greater odds of acquiring a medical marijuana card over the study period. None of the mental or physical health concerns predicted card acquisition.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that more frequent use, not necessarily mental and physical health concerns, is a main influence on medical marijuana card acquisition.