Pubdate: Sun, 07 Sep 2014
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2014 The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/submit/
Website: http://tbo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Jerome Stockfish, Tribune staff
Section: Metro
Page: 1
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)

TEENS AT CENTER OF POT DEBATE

Both Sides On Amendment 2 Counter With Surveys, Data

TAMPA - With voters set to determine the fate of medical marijuana in 
Florida this fall, attention is centering on a group that wasn't 
supposed to play much of a role in the debate: teenagers.

The subject of adolescent smokers is something of a double-edged 
sword in the great pot debate as studies show that on the one hand 
the teenage brain, which is still developing dramatically, is 
considered to be particularly vulnerable to excessive marijuana use.

Many experts say that abuse of marijuana during adolescence can have 
lifetime consequences in the ability to solve problems, for memory 
and for critical thinking in general.

But on the other hand, there is little evidence that teenage 
marijuana use increases when medical or recreational pot is 
legalized; in fact, one study showed high school students' use of pot 
declined in Colorado after that state pioneered recreational use.

On Nov. 4, voters will decide whether to join 23 states and the 
District of Columbia in approving comprehensive public medical 
marijuana programs via Amendment 2.

Florida is one of 11 states that has approved a non-euphoric strain 
of cannabis in limited situations, but the November ballot would be 
for the real deal.

The prospect worries a lot of people. And a lot of that worry is 
reflected in the imagery employed by the Don't Let Florida Go to Pot 
group, whose home page displays a photo of a youngster in a hoodie 
lighting a joint, or the Vote No on 2 campaign, whose Facebook page 
is headed "Let's Keep Our Children Safe" and includes photos of a 
stoned-looking girl and a young man lighting up.

"The simple fact is this: If Amendment 2 is adopted, pot is going to 
be much more accessible, specifically for the teenage population, as 
they will be able to get a recommendation from a pot doc and legally 
obtain pot without parental consent," said Sarah Bascom, spokeswoman 
for Vote No on 2.

"Studies that point to the dangers of pot smoking are numerous and 
scary, especially scary for parents when looking at the teenage 
population. If we legalize pot now, there could be untold 
consequences down the road, and legalization of pot is simply not a 
road that Florida should go down."

That position is bolstered by a December 2013 study from Northwestern 
University's Feinberg School of Medicine, which concluded that teens 
who smoked a lot of pot had abnormal changes in their brain 
structures related to working memory, which predicts weak academic 
performance and impaired everyday functioning, and did poorly on 
memory-related tasks.

Researchers from the University of Montreal reviewed more than 120 
studies on cannabis and the adolescent brain and concluded this 
population was particularly at risk of developing addictive behaviors 
and suffering other long-term negative effects. More of the same came 
from a University of Maryland study.

Adolescence is a sensitive time for brain development, said Matthew 
J. Smith, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences who took 
part in the Northwestern study.

"Our data suggests that marijuana abuse occurring during adolescence 
might contribute to abnormalities in the brain during adulthood that 
are directly related to poor memory," Smith said. "This relationship 
was observed after an extended period of abstinence from marijuana" - 
two and a half years, he said.

Smith said researchers are careful to use the word "might" because 
their data is cross-sectional - a snapshot in time, rather than a 
longitudinal data gathered over several periods of time.

"However, our data also suggest that an earlier age cannabis abuse 
begins, the more severe the cannabis-related abnormalities become, 
which supports a causal hypothesis for future studies," Smith said.

In its literature, the No on 2 group cites what it calls a "teenager 
loophole" in the constitutional amendment, with no age limit or 
parental notification requirement, and youngsters able to obtain pot 
on the basis of school-related stress.

That raises the question: If Floridians approve Amendment 2, will the 
state be enabling a new stoned, cognitively impaired generation?

The response from academia is no.

In a paper this year, the Journal of Adolescent Health reported that 
there was no statistically significant difference in adolescent 
marijuana use before and after legalization in states that had done so.

Data released last month by the Colorado Department of Public Health 
and Environment indicated that marijuana use among high school 
students is actually declining in the first state to legalize recreational use.

The state's Healthy Kids Colorado survey showed that 25 percent of 
high school students said they toked within the past month in 2009; 
that number fell to 20 percent last year. The number admitting to 
ever having used marijuana dropped from 45 percent in 2009 to 37 
percent last year.

Both of those numbers from 2013 are lower than the national average.

"There is no compelling evidence that medical marijuana has any 
detrimental impact on teen or adolescent usage rates overall," said 
Ben Pollara, campaign manager for United for Care, the chief advocate 
for Amendment 2.

"This is typical of the opposition to this amendment - it's trying to 
change the conversation from medical marijuana to something other 
than medical marijuana. The voters get that, but the opposition 
doesn't get that, so they're running this 1980s-1990s 'This is Your 
Brain on Drugs' campaign.

"I don't think their message is getting through, and part of that is 
because their message has nothing to do with the issue at hand."

As with any hotly debated issue, both sides have counter-arguments, 
counter-surveys and counter-data.

No on 2's Bascom points to a National Institute on Drug Abuse report 
that demonstrates when the perceived threat of pot smoking is 
decreased the use of pot increases, and to numbers from the National 
Survey on Drug Use and Health that show medical marijuana states 
dominating the top of a ranking of past-month marijuana users aged 12 to 17.

Even statewide polls on voters' thoughts on Amendment 2 are all over 
the place. A Quinnipiac University poll in May put support at 88 
percent. Last week, a Bay News 9/Tampa Bay Times/UF Bob Graham survey 
registered support at 57 percent - not enough to clear the 60 percent 
threshold for constitutional amendments in Florida.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom