Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness
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May 9, 7:00 AM (ET)
By JENNIFER C. KERR
(AP) A young woman rides on the hands of people in the crowd as they dance and listen to music at the...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.
A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed - 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the office. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."
Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.
For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.
The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot - 8 percent compared with 3 percent.
Experts who have worked with children say there's nothing harmless about marijuana.
"I've seen many, many kids' lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana," said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. "It's somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, biological. You can't predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid."
The drug control policy office analyzed about a dozen studies looking at marijuana use, including research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Overall, marijuana use among teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, down to about 2.3 million kids who used pot at least once a month, the drug control office said.
While the drop is encouraging, Walters appealed to parents to recognize signs of possible drug use and depression.
"It's not something you look the other way about when your teen starts appearing careless about their grooming, withdrawing from the family, losing interest in daily activities," Walters said. "Find out what's wrong."
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I am certainly for choice in pot decisions. I think you can substitute alcohol for pot and neither the article nor the supporting study would change. The only difference is that alcohol is regulated and taxed.
That said, I will have to say that the very vast majority of folks that I know who actively smoke pot, from friends in the 60s-70s through many of my programmer friends now, I can see how it has taken its toll. There are a higher number of suicides due to depression. There are a number who just drop out. A couple of very smart ones have come to live on the street.
So in a very unscientific, yet very broad based sampling that cuts through a pretty wide socio-economic cross-section, I have seen what kind of damage long term pot use can do. I guess the telling result is that I can COUNT the folks that it HASN'T negatively affected, either their health or career.
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A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy . . .
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Reasons for teens getting depressed or suicidal:
being picked on in school.
ostracized by peers.
just being different (beliefs/social views).
NOT having a stable or understanding home life.
parents who abuse (physically, emotionally, sexually)
organic conditions: i.e. schizophrenia, clinical depression, bipolar.
statistically speaking, weed doesn't contribute to violent crimes.
Alcohol is a contributing factor in a majority of assaults/ domestic violence/ auto crashes,
Raises medical costs to treat liver and heart disease as well as stomach cancer.
need more?
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The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them
The fact's say different than the fear mongering, but the Media forget about evidence-based policy and go with their gut instincts and selling papers.
As for the Government, John Kenneth Galbraith said it all “It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.”
I am certainly for choice in pot decisions. I think you can substitute alcohol for pot and neither the article nor the supporting study would change. The only difference is that alcohol is regulated and taxed.
That said, I will have to say that the very vast majority of folks that I know who actively smoke pot, from friends in the 60s-70s through many of my programmer friends now, I can see how it has taken its toll. There are a higher number of suicides due to depression. There are a number who just drop out. A couple of very smart ones have come to live on the street.
So in a very unscientific, yet very broad based sampling that cuts through a pretty wide socio-economic cross-section, I have seen what kind of damage long term pot use can do. I guess the telling result is that I can COUNT the folks that it HASN'T negatively affected, either their health or career.
are you sure that pot is the cause of all these issues in your friends? no other drugs? i just don't believe that pot causes all this by itself. i think depression maybe exasperated their pot smoking or other drug intake, not the other way around. that's been my experience.
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