Drugs, teens, pot are dangerous mix

[CB]

WASHINGTON (AP) —

Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.

A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

“Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years,” said John Walters, director of the office. “This is not just youthful experimentation that they’ll get over as we used to think in the past.”

Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.

For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.

The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot — 8 percent compared with 3 percent.

Experts who have worked with children say there’s nothing harmless about marijuana.

“I’ve seen many, many kids’ lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana,” said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. “It’s somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, biological. You can’t predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid.”

Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that advocates the decriminalization of marijuana, called the study “an absolutely dishonest report, deliberately confusing correlation with causation.”

“This very week the British government’s official scientific advisers on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are ’unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,’ such as depression, he said.

The drug control policy office analyzed about a dozen studies looking at marijuana use, including research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Overall, marijuana use among teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, down to about 2.3 million kids who used pot at least once a month, the drug control office said.

While the drop is encouraging, Walters appealed to parents to recognize signs of possible drug use and depression.

“It’s not something you look the other way about when your teen starts appearing careless about their grooming, withdrawing from the family, losing interest in daily activities,” Walters said. “Find out what’s wrong.”

[Cranky]

its got fuck all to do with the weed,,,should go check the kids water supply;)

or maybe its the cheese or that bacon butty????

:buttshake:buttshake:buttshake

[RedEyezzzzz]

Those assumptions have no scientific merit, sounds like incorrect assumptions based around a single result set.

"using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent"

Could it be that those 40% were already enroute to a mental disorder & they happened to smoke marijuana? Sounds like the same people who think video games lead to violence.

[Cranky]

its rubbin off :(

[Dawg]

Drugs, teens, pot are dangerous mix

lets see here....
started smokin herb at 13....all good no trouble just minded my own
20 started drinkin all down hill after that....
which one was worse :rolleyes:

[becky420]

same here dawg
started at 13 MELLOWED OUT! beer anyone? before 13 i was out of control..
by 18 started drinking two bottles of mr walker a DAY ( god i loved the black walker..)
got tickets ? i did
did i get all freaky? yes i get depressed when i DONT HAVE WEED..
do I drink? NOT ANY MORE I dont like the color of my skin the next day..anyone seen my liver?:)

[Dr.Smitty]

New Federal Report on Marijuana Use is Misleading, Groups Say

Tim King Salem-News.com
Is this a reaction to the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition?


Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - A new federal government report on the ill effects of marijuana on teens may be a last ditch effort to demonize the medical weed before it sees its own day of emancipation. As it stands, even the most hardcore marijuana legalization advocates do not support children using anything that causes intoxication.

This new report uses scare tactics and seems to regard medical facts as a meaningless burden, and they are enlisting the help of celebrities with big money and big media ties to drive their message home.

"Don't be fooled into thinking that pot is harmless," said Dr. Drew Pinksy, internist, addiction expert, and host of VH1's Celebrity Rehab. "Marijuana is an addictive drug. Teens who are already depressed and use marijuana may increase their odds of suffering from even more serious mental health problems."

But medical marijuana and pharmacology experts like Dr. Phil Leveque of Molalla, Oregon, who writes regularly for Salem-News.com, suggest that there is no truth to the statement and that most of those who ultimately suffer from mental illness already would have.

"One of the biggest claims from the federal government is that marijuana causes 'euphoria' and if anyone needs that explained to them, it means the opposite of depression," Leveque said.

He and most other advocates say kids should stay free and clear of marijuana use unless it is medically necessary, but it is a pussycat next to more deadly things like alcohol, prescription drugs, heroin and meth that potentially lead to death. Marijuana has no lethal quality; it can't kill a person. It seems like a waste of time to get people listening, and then only tell them the bad data on marijuana. It seems very irresponsible.

Marijuana is not "Different Today"

Marijuana is a natural herb that is cultivated to have better potency. The herb is the same that it has always been, and the ability of people to grow it well and to learn about the agricultural significance has improved. In the 1970's most marijuana was sold under the name "commercial" and it all came from Mexico. In that country the male and female plants are not separated, and the result is a below average grade of marijuana packed with seeds.

When the government tries to suggest that marijuana is "different today", they are suggesting that a human process has changed marijuana into something it didn't used to be. This is scientifically impossible. No doubt far more money is invested in other types of ag research and so far fruit is about the same as it used to be; except maybe for the addition of human added poisons to increase its marketability.

But this study, like others that benefit the pharmaceutical companies that don't want to compete with marijuana as a medical product, is more of the same, "The potency of smoked marijuana has risen consistently over the past decades and higher potency translates into serious health consequences for teens."

They also stated, "Some studies show that higher potency marijuana may be contributing to an increase in the number of American teens seeking treatment for marijuana dependence."

Marijuana dependence? This in and of itself is extremely debatable. For the most part, doctors agree that marijuana is only mildly addicting and that relates to a mental addiction, not a physical addiction. One interesting fact always deleted from the federal studies is that for many years, marijuana was considered the best substance for getting people off hard drugs. Heroin addicts given marijuana, can kick their deadly habit.

Of course funding all of those taxpayer funded, court ordered "marijuana addiction" programs is another concern of the federal government. They make money from marijuana being illegal, plain and simple. The notion of "marijuana addiction" is very unique to the groups and agencies and courts that profit directly from it.

The new federal report suggests that marijuana use can cause a small percentage of users to consider "suicide." Perhaps if this is true, it is more based on the stigma that the federal government, fully in bed with the pharmaceutical groups, gives to marijuana.

"Gateway Theory"

It is not very different from the so-called "Gateway Theory" that marijuana leads to harder drugs. Many believe that the seed is planted by the theory, and that kids feel compelled to "move to harder drugs" because that is what the government and the D.A.R.E. officer told them would happen. It is a simple notion called "programming" that has undeniable impact on a person's mode of thinking, their overall knowledge, and ultimately their actions.

Those willing to face the truth on a daily basis know that half of what is wrong with people in this country is a result of adverse and negative programming.

It happens when clergy sexually abuse children and tell them they will go to hell if they ever talk to their families or police. It is the conditioning applied to people in Communist nations that makes them believe Americans and western countries are all evil, and it is the same poison given to Islamic fundamentalist radicals whose lives are entirely based on fear. Our government needs to give it up and move into the light of truth.

Marijuana may not be "great" to anyone except a medical patient who directly benefits from it, but it is a plant and a flower that God placed on the earth and it is entirely vain and ironic of our society to place what is probably the single most useful plant on the planet in an illegal criminal category with heroin and meth. It reflects our own ignorance as a nation.

Real Studies

The nation's second largest association of doctors, the American College of Physicians, stated in a report that marijuana has been smoked for its medicinal properties for centuries, and preclinical, clinical, and anecdotal reports suggest numerous potential medical uses for marijuana.

They confirm that the use of medical marijuana in treating HIV wasting and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting has been well documented, and they believe additional research is needed to clarify marijuana’s therapeutic properties and determine standard and optimal doses and routes of delivery.

Reports like this new one from the federal government do not help doctors learn the real facts about medical marijuana.

In fact, the oldest continuously published pediatric journal in the country, a Journal of the American Medical Association called the "Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine", released new information in November '07 (see: Study Shows Surprisingly Few Negative Impacts on Kids Who Use Marijuana) indicating that pot smoking teens tend to function at better levels than teens who also smoke tobacco, and better in some ways than kids who abstain from both.

The study, completed in Switzerland, did not have an obligation to demonize marijuana on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies as the U.S. seem to. The report should actually make parents feel much better about teens and marijuana. The study compared students who smoked both pot and cigarettes, with kids who smoke marijuana only.

The study revealed that those who use only cannabis were more socially driven, and showed no more psychosocial problems than those who had never taken either of the substances.

As far as marijuana leading to harder drugs, the authors of the study say an accurate listing of the problems actually fall in a different order, and that cancer related illnesses suffered by cigarette smokers are the biggest risk of all.

The government report suggests that "Not only are adolescents at greater risk for drug abuse, but they may suffer more consequences," said Nora D. Volkow, M. D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "There is also some evidence that in vulnerable teens-because of genetic factors-the abuse of marijuana can trigger a schizophreniform disorder."

Misleading Statements

Groups involved in marijuana laws and policy say the report is misleading. U.S. News and World Report quoted Bruce Mirken, director of communications at The Marijuana Policy Project, saying "We agree that kids shouldn't smoke marijuana, but we simply have to be honest to teens and parents. This report [is] deliberately confusing correlation with causation."

The Washington-based group Mirken represents intends to remove criminal penalties for marijuana use and make medical marijuana available to seriously ill patients with doctor's approval.

"This very week the British government's official scientific advisors on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are 'unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,' such as depression." Mirken also questions the lack of warning about alcohol's relationship to depression, which is completely left out of their new report.

"Data linking alcohol to depression is much stronger and alcohol use by teens is greater than marijuana use," he notes.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have each been clear that they do not see marijuana as a problem in our society that requires federal money and intervention and incarceration. Perhaps this new federal report represents the death throes of a movement that began in the 1930's as an effort to remove hemp rope from the commercial marketplace.

Hemp, the industrial marijuana plant, provides the strongest natural fiber known to man. Dow Chemicals, Dupont and the Hearst Newspaper chain were the biggest foes of marijuana at the time. They funded the movie "Reefer Madness." Today the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture addictive "prescription drugs" are enlisting the federal government's help to produce more fiction presented as fact.

The list of marijuana opponents is different in this century, but the corporate spirit of greed that made it illegal in the first place is alive and well.

[Dawg]

Dr. Drew Pinksy
I really dislike this guy. He has been found wrong on a lot of advice...even when he was on the stupid MTV show that took teen call in's years back. I don't trust anything he has to say (even before this article)...never have never will. I think he's incompetent and has no business being a celebrety dr.. Just my 2 cents

[sombro]

The problem is that over and above discovering new truths, up to 90% of all studies are sponsored by a benefactor that would like the results of the study to agree with their particular point of view. Most studies are not objective therefore the results of said studies are useless.

I think teenagers are getting more depressed because it's harder and harder to sift through the bullshit they are fed in order to find the truth.

[Dawg]

Excellent reply Sombro. :cool:
Yep When I was a kid...Drinking, partying, and toking some herb was a period of mine and many others in my generations way of growing up. But, it did have its cost. Lost a few friends in the storm. (not 1 by pot, all of em alcohol)
But to get to my point. We didn't have kids blasting others it was settled fist n cuffs. Kid got into trouble they were carted off to juvi. Or just put on probation and had the parents put the lock down on us. We fought fist n cuffs, then cracked a brew or sparked a spliff and all was cool. Music was about basically being free...yes even the 80's-90's generation music in a much harsher way said the same as the 60's.
Now we have cops raiding schools, very violent music, a whole "ganster is cool" philosophy. Parents scared to punish there kids...DARE teaching our kids to turn there parents in, kids going to adult prisons, laws enacted that torch a kids future, Pressures everywhere....and we wonder why our youth is starting to snap. Weed n beer have been around....but how come it's escalating not getting better? Look at how our society has turned in just the last 20 yrs. That says it all right there. We are not free...just a prison of rules (and I am not an anarchist, but too many rules does create anarchy) IMO
-end rant

edit:
Don't forget ALL the new anti-depressants...Possible Adverse Side effects go from suicide to compulsive gambling....and we are shoveling this crap in to our youth. and abused youth still goes unnoticed and not dealt with just swept under the rug. just a side note