Pubdate: Mon, 01 Sep 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Authors: Maria L. La Ganga and Jenny Deam

LEGAL MARIJUANA: WHAT DO YOU TELL YOUR KIDS?

In the First Year of a 'Grand Experiment,' Parents Feel They're In an 
Awkward Spot.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - Laurie Ritchie prides herself on being an 
open-minded parent. She voted in favor of legalizing marijuana two 
years ago. She started talking to her daughters about drug use around 
the same time. She hasn't stopped. Jordan Stead

Now that recreational pot is legal in Colorado and Washington state 
for people 21 and older, "it's everywhere," the 53-year-old said. 
Even on her patio in this Denver suburb, where her husband sneaks an 
occasional smoke.

But Ritchie is aghast at the thought that her sixth-grader and her 
high school freshman might stumble upon their father puffing away on 
a joint - or worse, that he would openly smoke pot in front of them.

"I don't know why I feel like this," she said, flustered. "It's 
probably because [legalization] is so new. There's still some kind of 
a lingering stigma."

Legal recreational pot hit store shelves on Jan. 1 in Colorado and 
July 8 in Washington state, followed by deep family confusion. In the 
first year of what some describe as a grand social experiment, 
talking about pot and using it have never been more complicated for parents.

As soon as places like Seattle's Cannabis City and Dank Colorado in 
Denver began peddling bud, bongs and a good buzz, "Just say no" 
stopped working.

Children's Hospital Colorado and Seattle Children's Hospital have 
seen an uptick this year in the number of children arriving at their 
emergency departments after accidentally ingesting marijuana. The 
Washington Poison Center received more calls about kids and pot in 
the first nine months of 2014 than it did in all of the prior year.

The University of Washington's Social Development Research Group and 
Seattle Children's together handed out more than 60,000 copies of "A 
Parent's Guide to Preventing Underage Marijuana Use" in less than six 
months - and that doesn't count Internet downloads.

Dr. Leslie Walker, chief of the division of adolescent medicine at 
Seattle Children's, can't keep up with requests for presentations on 
how to talk to kids about pot and its impact on the developing teen brain.

"There's a huge need, and parents are beginning to wonder, 'What do I 
tell my kids?' " Walker said. "We're in this funny spot. We can 
either be a beacon of how to do this well or an example of what not 
to do. I'm not sure what side we're going to be on."

Nothing better captures the new world of legalized marijuana than the 
snapshot taken on opening day at Cannabis City, the first of 21 
retail stores planned for Seattle. The third person to buy bud there 
was none other than Pete Holmes, Seattle city attorney.

Voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia face ballot 
measures in November about whether to legalize party pot. Advocates 
predict legalization could sweep the nation in the same way same-sex 
marriage did.

"It's so chic right now," said Kelly Kerby, a drug and alcohol 
intervention specialist at Eckstein Middle School in northeast 
Seattle. "If you're not pro-marijuana in Seattle right now, you're 
the enemy. There's something wrong with you."

In 2006, a community coalition was formed to battle underage drinking 
in the upper-middle-class neighborhood where Kerby now works. Four 
years later, that group of parents, school administrators, police and 
healthcare providers began dealing with a jump in marijuana use by kids.

The reasons are spelled out in the state's biennial Healthy Youth 
Survey. Between 2006 and 2012, the percentage of Eckstein 
eighthgraders who said they had used pot in the previous month had 
more than doubled, from 4% to 10%. At nearby Roosevelt High School, 
pot use rose during the same period from 18% to 27% for the 
10th-graders surveyed.

During that time, the city of Seattle began licensing medical 
marijuana dispensaries, and the campaign to legalize recreational 
marijuana ramped up. Now, Kerby said, the controlled substance 
Eckstein Middle School students are most often found with is marijuana.

"Legalization made an already bad problem worse," she said. "We're 
taking something and we're making it legal and that means it's OK."

Cherylynne Crowther's daughter is entering Eckstein Middle School 
this semester. Crowther said she began talking to her 11-year-old 
about smoking, drinking and sex when Athena was in first grade.

Pot conversations began two years later, when medical marijuana 
dispensaries began popping up and the family drove by the green cross 
establishments.

"It's a challenge to explain what marijuana does and why anyone wants 
to do it," Crowther said. "Why would someone alter their minds?"

Crowther, a 49-year-old media consultant, also struggles with how to 
warn Athena about accepting treats from kids at school now that 
marijuana edibles are becoming available. And she wonders how she 
will ask other parents if they keep pot at home - and if it's locked up.

"This is all a grand experiment," Crowther said. "I just don't want 
my kids, or anybody's kids, to be the lab rats."

One of the most pressing concerns since legalization in Colorado has 
been with edible products, because of their misunderstood potency and 
how easily children can mistake them for regular treats.

Since stores began to open in January, 13 children - most of them 
toddlers - have wound up in the emergency room at Children's Hospital 
Colorado after accidentally ingesting marijuana.

Most cases involved edibles; seven of the 13 had to be transferred to 
the intensive care unit, said Dr. George Sam Wang. Some of the young 
patients, he said, were just a little sleepy. Others needed breathing tubes.

In April, two 10-year-olds were caught selling marijuana to 
classmates on the playground in Greeley, Colo. One fourth-grader sold 
leaf marijuana, the other a pot-laced candy bar. The two children, 
who were suspended, had swiped the marijuana from a grandparent's stash.

"Come on, people, secure your weed," said John Gates, the safety and 
security director at Greeley-Evans School District 6. He opposed 
legalization for fear that more contraband would wind up in the 
schools. "My worst fears were realized."

The question, of course, is how parents can best talk about pot and 
handle it in their homes. Most experts warn that marijuana, like 
alcohol and prescription drugs, should be locked away. They suggest 
that parents talk about pot early and often, rather than having a 
stilted, one-time conversation.

They warn parents never to lie about their own marijuana use.

Cheryl Shuman, the California-based executive director of Moms for 
Marijuana, an advocacy group for legalization and education, has been 
using medical marijuana for nearly two decades.

Not long after her daughters had taken the Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education program at their schools, Shuman's youngest caught her 
smoking on the patio. She remembers wondering whether she should try 
to hide it or confess. She chose confession.

"My daughter said, 'Mom, I knew you were smoking. I could smell it. I 
just wanted to see if you would lie to me,' " Shuman said. Now 
adults, neither of Shuman's daughters use marijuana.

Recently, she said, she has heard of some parents letting their older 
teenagers use marijuana openly.

"I would never advocate recreational use for anyone under 21," she 
said. Still, "we all know kids are going to try it. As a parent, if I 
had to choose if my child used anything - prescription drugs, 
marijuana, alcohol - I would feel safer if they chose marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom