Pubdate: Mon, 16 Sep 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Sheila Polk
Note: Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County attorney and co-chairwoman of
MATForce, the Yavapai County Substance Abuse Coalition.

LET'S MAKE POT'S DANGERS CLEAR

Odds are you know someone with an addiction: 2.3 million people over 
the age of 12 sought substance/ alcohol treatment in 2011, according 
to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration. Add those not seeking or unable to afford treatment 
and the numbers escalate.

Marijuana dependence/ abuse is twice as prevalent as with other 
drugs: 4.2 million Americans (2011), nearly two-thirds of Arizona's 
population. Nationally, treatment admissions skyrocketed 21 percent 
(2000-10), with an average age of 25 and nearly three-quarters male. 
In Arizona, marijuana treatment has surpassed methamphetamine.

Marijuana withdrawal has the same symptoms as with other drugs - 
cravings, irritability, low self-confidence, despondency, depression 
and suicidal thoughts.

I see public opinion swaying toward marijuana legalization and 
scratch my head. Recovery is possible, but why mainstream a substance 
of addiction? One in 11 new users will become addicted - one in six 
who start as teens and up to one in two who smoke it daily.

As we strive for global competitiveness and lament poor school 
performance in comparison with our international peers, we must face 
the truth about pot. It is more crucial than ever to challenge the 
impression many teens have that marijuana is a benign, unfairly 
demonized substance.

Regular marijuana use jeopardizes a young person's chance of success 
- - in school and in life. The National Institute on Drug Abuse warns 
that habitual teen marijuana use is linked to a significant decrease 
in IQ of seven to eight points, not to mention school dropout or 
failure, future drug use and mental-health problems. An eight-point 
IQ drop is titanic, sinking a person of average intelligence into the 
lowest third of the range.

Nationally, one in 15 high school seniors are regular pot users. The 
2012 Arizona Youth Survey found that one in five of Arizona's 
high-school seniors used pot in the past 30 days and a 14.4 percent 
cumulative increase in past 30-day use since 2008 for Grades 8, 10 and 12.

Parents tell me of their pot using teens falling behind in school 
while insisting that marijuana is "medicine."

Unlike methamphetamine, heroin and the horrific synthetics ("bath 
salts" or "spice"), marijuana's harms are not readily apparent: no 
life threatening overdose or deterioration into a gaunt and ravaged 
figure. The effects are rather subtle: downward life trajectory, 
erosion of IQ, impaired cognitive development, mental-health issues, 
low education attainment and the escalation of delinquency. 
Disintegration over months or years is not easily identified nor does 
it garner headlines.

I see the harms - child abuse inflicted by the neglectful pot-smoking 
parent; traffic fatalities by the marijuana-impaired driver.

I see the subtle signs of destruction in the growing number of 
addicted young adults.

Our job as adults is to create an environment to fuel our kids' 
success. To that end, we must educate them and the voting public 
about the value of the brain and the damage of marijuana.

Already an uphill battle, the legalization movement feeds teens' 
perception that marijuana is safe. We can't sit passively by and 
watch this slow decline.

Marijuana harmless? Think again.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom