Pubdate: Fri, 04 Jul 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: David Sack, Los Angeles Times
Page: A11

IT'S TIME TO START CHILD-PROOFING MARIJUANA

IN states where medical and recreational cannabis sales are allowed,
disquieting new trends and statistics are proving its unique dangers
for those most vulnerable to its effects: children.

One such statistic is a spike in calls to poison-control centers.
According to the National Poison Data System, calls about accidental
ingestion of marijuana in children 9 and younger more than tripled in
states that decriminalized marijuana before 2005. In states that
enacted legalization from 2005 to 2011, calls increased nearly 11.5
percent per year. Over the same period in states without
decriminalization laws, the call rate stayed the same. In the
decriminalized states, such calls were also more likely to result in
critical care admissions. Neurological effects were the most common.

These findings led the study's authors to recommend warning labels and
child-resistant packaging, especially for edible marijuana products
that resemble candy.

A University of Colorado study blamed the proliferation of these
drug-laced edibles, combined with relaxed marijuana laws, for a surge
in emergency room visits by children who had accidentally ingested
marijuana. "Before the marijuana boom these kinds of edibles were not
mass-produced and the amount of THC ingested was somewhat limited,"
said Dr. George Wang, lead study author, upon the report's release.
"But now we are seeing much higher strength marijuana."

Increased legalization also means easier access for adolescents. In a
study of Colorado teens in substance-abuse treatment centers, for
example, 74 percent said they had gotten marijuana from someone who
qualified for it medically. Researchers call it diversion.

Legalization may also be encouraging more kids to consider trying
marijuana. In a recent study of thousands of high school seniors, 10
percent of nonusers said they would try marijuana if the drug were
legal in their state. And of the students already using marijuana?
Eighteen percent said they would use more under legalization.

Whatever is intended by legalization, children seem to be hearing
this: Marijuana is no big deal. But especially for the young, nothing
could be further from the truth. Here's a review of marijuana's
negative effects on developing brains and bodies:

Marijuana damages developing brains. Adolescence is a particularly
vulnerable time for the brain, which continues developing well into
the 20s. Marijuana can disrupt the process, meaning the brain might
not form normally. At particular risk are chronic users. One study
found that teens who smoked marijuana daily for about three years
performed poorly on memory tasks - and this was two years after they
had stopped use. Memory-related structures in the brain appeared to
shrink and collapse inward, and the younger the smokers were when they
began chronic use, the more abnormally the brain regions were shaped.

Marijuana is linked to mental health problems. The National Institute
on Drug Abuse warns that there are now "sufficient data" to show that
for those predisposed to schizophrenia, marijuana may trigger its
onset and possibly intensify the symptoms. It has also been linked to
increased depression and suicidal thoughts.

Marijuana sets up kids for failure. We give children one overriding
task: to learn. Introducing a substance that slows reaction time,
distorts judgment and interferes with memory short-circuits that task.
In addition, the younger kids are when they try marijuana, the more
likely they are to become addicted (yes, marijuana can be addictive)
and the more likely they are to go on to use other drugs. One analysis
by Columbia University researchers found that teens who had used
marijuana at least once in the previous 30 days were almost 26 times
more likely than those who never used marijuana to try other drugs
such as cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, LSD or Ecstasy.

It may be too late to stem the rush toward legalization of
recreational marijuana use and the proliferation of products that
comes with it. Instead, focus on better ways to protect children,
combat the notion that marijuana is harmless and fund the much needed
additional research on medical uses for marijuana's chemical
components, such as the promising cannabidiol, which might prove
effective without producing a high. Controlled scientific studies,
after all, should be deciding marijuana's potential legitimacy as a
medicine.

Legal or not, for the most vulnerable among us - our kids - marijuana
is the opposite of no big deal.

Dr. David Sack is CEO of Elements Behavioral Health, a California
network of mental health and addiction treatment centers. He wrote
this for the Los Angeles Times.
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