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Pot Shops Don’t Boost Teen Drug Use, Study Says

In the never-ending battle over medical marijuana, the latest flashpoints include a myth-busting study, a popular singer and legal twists in several states.

On the academic front, economists from the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Oregon and Montana State University issued a report saying medical marijuana dispensaries don’t boost teen pot use. After analyzing data from 1993 to 2009, a time frame in which 13 states decriminalized medicinal weed, the researchers concluded that “legalization of medical marijuana was not accompanied by increases in the use of marijuana or other substances such as alcohol and cocaine among high school students.”