Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jan 2005
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright: 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Contact:  http://www.telegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/509
Note: only publishes letters from state residents.
Author: Anna Shen

QUESTIONING MARIJUANA MYTHS

Evidence Contradicts No-Big-Deal Attitude Toward Teens Smoking Pot

Jay  and Hope Jones are like many parents who work hard to provide for 
their three  children. They sent their kids to private schools near Los 
Angeles, wanting to  ensure their entry into the finest universities. The 
Joneses also wanted to  protect their kids from some of the problems 
associated with the teen-age years  -- mainly, access to illegal and 
recreational drugs.

About 1 years ago, when their oldest son, Eric, was a freshman in high 
school, Jones heard her son on the phone with a friend. She sensed 
something was odd about the conversation.

"If I didn't know better,"  she remembers turning to her husband 
and  saying, "that was a drug deal going on."

They confronted Eric, but he adamantly denied it.

Jones considered herself an involved parent -- always checking where her 
children were going, calling other parents and enforcing rules. She was a 
stay-at-home mother and if her kids had parties at home, she constantly 
checked  to make sure they were staying out of trouble.

She thought she knew all the signs of drug abuse. But when Eric became 
withdrawn and moody, her husband dismissed his behavior. "Jay told me 
that  'kids will be kids,' " she recalled.

Things got worse and four years ago, then -year-old Eric was kicked out of 
the house. His parents told him that when he was ready for help, to 
let  them know.

Three months later, Eric came home and told his parents he thought he had a 
problem. He checked into rehab for 3 days and came out sober. It was then 
that the Joneses discovered that Eric had been smoking pot since seventh 
grade, and that his younger brother, Doug, and sister, Melissa, had soon 
followed. As  it turned out, all three of them had dealt drugs under their 
parents' noses.

Jones wishes she had seen the signs earlier. Misconceptions 
surrounding  pot, she said, are part of the problem. The popular consensus 
is that marijuana is harmless, especially since it is used for medicinal 
purposes. Besides, some of today's parents are children of the '6s, when 
drug use was more in vogue.

"The younger people begin using marijuana, especially before age 1, the 
likelier they are to become addicted to an addictive substance,"  said 
Dr.  Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer at the Hazelden Foundation, a 
recovery  clinic in Minnesota with centers in Chicago, New York and Oregon.

"Their  addiction is both physiological and psychological."

The brain is still developing -- emotionally, cognitively, intellectually, 
spiritually, Seppala said.

"Studies on the brain have shown that pot use alters the hippocampus and 
affects short-term memory,"  he said. "As an adolescent, there are 
remarkable experiences that contribute to growth ... these need to be set 
down into memory -- and pot use stops this."

He said that youths who smoke pot become numb to their feelings during an 
important developmental time of life. Marijuana can also lead to arrested 
emotional development -- for example, a -year-old who began smoking at age 
13 will relate to society with an eighth grade point of view, he said.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, does 
not agree that one can become physically addicted to cannabis sativa, the 
medical name of marijuana.

"Government research to date indicates that marijuana is not physically 
addictive, and that psychiatrists describe chronic marijuana use as causing 
mild psychological dependence,"  said Allen St. Pierre, executive director 
of NORML. He said the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 
Disorders, which is published by the American Psychiatric Association and 
covers all mental health disorders, classifies marijuana use as the same 
psychological condition for compulsive video game users.

However, NORML does agree that pot use, like drinking alcohol, is not for 
the underage.

"Arguably, alcohol is consumed legally at age 1 because the brain of  the 
youth has reached full development,"  said St. Pierre. "One can argue 
before  a young person reaches full brain development in their early s, 
they should not use or have legal access to marijuana."

The Jones family has had a remarkable turnaround, but it has not been easy.

With counseling and 1-step programs, Jones says all her children are 
back  on the right track. Eric is sober. He is an English major at 
California State University at Northridge with one year to go. Doug, now 1, 
is also sober and studying at a local community college and working in his 
dad's business. Melissa, , is in the studying to be a firefighter and holds 
two jobs.

Below are some questions and answers surrounding marijuana and youth:

Question: Is marijuana widely used among teens?

Answer: Every day, almost 5, American youth ages 1 to 17 try  marijuana for 
the first time, and more than one out of  students in high  school smoke 
marijuana on school property, according to the White House Office  of 
National Drug Control Policy. An estimated 5.6 million Americans age 1 
or  older reported problems with illicit drug use in the past year, and 
more than   million met diagnostic criteria for dependence on 
marijuana/hashish, according  to the 1 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Q: Since "kids will be kids," isn't experimenting with marijuana harmless?

A: While some kids may use pot once in a while and not all pot  smokers 
become drug addicts, "marijuana use, no matter how innocently it 
may  begin, is a slippery slope,"  said Carol Falkowski, director of 
research  communications of the Hazelden Foundation and author of 
"Dangerous Drugs: An  Easy-to-Use Reference for Parents and 
Professionals"  (Hazelden Publishing,  $16.95).

Q: Is marijuana addictive?

A: There is a disagreement as to whether pot smoking leads to addiction or 
use of other drugs. The Hazeldon Foundation believes that marijuana  itself 
can be addictive, physically and psychologically. However, NORML does 
not  agree, citing studies that compare marijuana users with compulsive 
video-game players.

Q: Has marijuana become more potent?

A: With improvements in technology and more advanced growing techniques, 
today's marijuana is twice as strong as it was in the mid-198s,  according 
to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The 
government  believes this potency can hasten the progression from abuse to 
dependence.  NORML, however, believes the increase in marijuana's strength 
is miniscule and  that smoking pot alone is not harmful. St. Pierre said 
that "the percent  increase is insignificant -- from 3.5 to 5.5 percent. 
With this there are no accompanying physical or mental health issues 
relating to more potent marijuana."

Q: Is marijuana harmful to young people?

A: Getting high impairs judgment, and that can lead to risky 
decision-making. Getting high can also contribute to general apathy, 
irresponsible behavior and risky choices, some authorities say. And teens 
who  use drugs are five times more likely to have sex than teens who do not

use  drugs, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance 
Abuse at  Columbia University. Marijuana affects motivation and can also 
lead to  significant health, social, learning and behavioral problems at a 
critical time  in a young persona8TMs development. And, according to a 
study by the Research  Triangle Institute, teens who use marijuana are 
twice as likely to drop out of high school than those who don't.

Q: Does marijuana lead to use of harsher drugs?

A: There are two points of view. The White House Office of  National Drug 
Control Policy says research shows that adolescent marijuana users  are 
three times more likely to end up drug dependent than adult users. They 
also  say that the earlier kids start using marijuana, the more likely they 
are to  become adults who are dependent on drugs. But NORML's findings are 
that only a fraction of pot smokers go on to use harder drugs, "and an even 
smaller faction  will go on to have an abusive relationship with other 
drugs,"  St. Pierre  said.

Q: Is there anything that can be done to stop kids from  experimenting with 
marijuana?

A: Yes. "Research tells us that parents' attitudes about marijuana 
influence their child's decisions about illicit drug use,"  said John  P. 
Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control 
Policy.  But some parents miss the boat, he said, thinking that smoking 
marijuana is  merely experimentation when actually it's setting the 
groundwork for the  future.

As role models, parents need to stay involved and informed. Keep up with 
what the kids are doing and set limits with clear rules and consequences.
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MAP posted-by: Beth