Poll Finds 36% of Adults Support Medical Marijuana for Children

A new national poll finds while 63 percent of Americans say their state should allow adults to use medical marijuana, only 36 percent say children should be allowed to use it.

The poll, conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, found 80 percent of respondents said adults should not be allowed to use medical marijuana in front of children, HealthDay reports.

“We found that while most people support state laws that permit medical marijuana use among adults, the story is dramatically different for children,” said Poll Director Dr. Matthew Davis. “Medical marijuana is a controversial subject when we’re talking about kids,” he said in a university news release.

“Our findings suggest that not only is the public concerned about the use of medical marijuana among children, but that the majority of Americans worry that even exposure to it may be harmful to kids’ health. As is typical with anything involving health, the public’s standards are much higher when it comes to protecting children’s health,” Davis noted.

Supporters of medical marijuana say it can be a safe and effective treatment for symptoms of diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy and glaucoma, the article notes.

The researchers said there has been little research into the safety and effectiveness of treating children with medical marijuana. “Research also indicates that the brains and nervous systems of children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to adverse effects of marijuana use, a concern raised by the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,” the researchers stated.