Pubdate: Fri, 08 Apr 2005
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Fri, 08 Apr 2005
Copyright: 2005 The Cincinnati Enquirer
Contact:  http://enquirer.com/today/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/86
Author: Jane Prendergast, Enquirer staff writer
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG CZAR CALLS POT A DANGER TO KIDS

WALNUT HILLS - President Bush's drug czar wants parents and kids to know: 
Marijuana is as serious a drug as any other.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, visited Cincinnati on Thursday as part of his push to convince 
Americans that marijuana isn't a "soft" drug. Too many young people start 
smoking marijuana because they think it's harmless, he said.

"The single biggest enemy is cynicism," he said in a speech at First Step 
Home, a substance-abuse treatment shelter for women in Walnut Hills. "We 
have to pay attention. We have to correct misinformation. This is not a joke."

Though marijuana is not as toxic as cocaine or heroin, and doesn't cause 
overdose or death, the drug is increasingly the primary cause nationwide of 
admissions to substance-abuse treatment facilities, he said. In 2002, about 
130 people of every 100,000 who were 12 or older sought help for marijuana 
abuse. That was up by 162 percent from a decade earlier.

The White House thinks it's crucial to get its message to pre-teens because 
studies show people are much less likely to become dependent on drugs after 
19, Walter said. He called marijuana abuse a "pediatric-onset disease."

Walters said he supports confidential, non-punitive drug testing for 
teenagers as a way to get them help. About 140 schools across the country 
are doing that now, he said.

To parents, he advised: "You have to be concerned about this before you 
think you have to be concerned about this. Tell (your children) what you 
care about."

The First Step Home started in 1993. Executive Director Margo Spence said 
the facility is the only licensed treatment option in Hamilton County that 
allows children to live there with their mothers.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom