Pubdate: Tue, 27 Dec 2011
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2011 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.

GENERATION UP IN SMOKE?

Smoking pot is now more common among 10th graders in the U.S. than 
smoking cigarettes, and according to the latest federal government 
survey one out of every 15 high school students smokes marijuana on 
an almost daily basis. A quarter of the eighth, 10th and 12th graders 
surveyed reported using marijuana in the last year.

Think this uptick has anything to do with our government's 
increasingly lenient policies governing marijuana use?

Well, of course it does! "The upward trend in teens' abuse of 
marijuana corresponded to downward trends in their perception of 
risk," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which 
released the survey results.

The nation's drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske, told The New York Times 
that the increasing prevalence of medical marijuana was indeed a 
factor in the increase in non-medical marijuana use among teens.

Here in Massachusetts, of course, the push is on to approve medicinal 
marijuana. And voters in 2008 approved the decriminalization of 
possession of small amounts of pot. Those initiatives have hardly 
struck fear in the hearts of young pot smokers.

Pro-pot activists say that's just fine. They make the case that 
marijuana is no different from alcohol and its use should be 
legalized and regulated by the state.

But when its use grows in acceptance, its use clearly grows 
generally, at least among teens. Do we really want a generation of 
bloodshot-eyed 15-year-olds sitting through history class stoned?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom