cannabisnews.com: Baby Boomers are Going To Pot Baby Boomers are Going To Pot Posted by CN Staff on May 04, 2004 at 22:26:52 PT By Becky W. Evans, Standard-Times Staff Writer Source: Standard-Times New Bedford -- As they reach their 50s and 60s, some baby boomers are dusting off their bongs, pipes and other pot-smoking paraphernalia. Habitual marijuana use among U.S. adults, particularly baby boomers and young minorities, increased over the past decade, according to a report published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. The rate of marijuana usage among adults ages 45 to 64 surged by 355 percent to about 0.04 of that population. The rise in marijuana use may be partly attributable to the increased potency, said Dr. Wilson Compton of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who conducted the study. The figures may also indicate that baby boomers "bring their bad habits with them into old age," he said. "Nothing has really changed. Baby boomers have been smoking pot most of their lives. They just go through phases," said P.A. of New Bedford. The 57-year-old, who did not want to be identified, said he occasionally smokes marijuana when he is bored or when he wants to "feel mellow." He disagreed that pot is more potent than it was 20 years ago, when he smoked before breakfast and on his way to work. "But it is definitely more expensive than when I was younger," he said. New Bedford resident A. Bonte said his mother, a Jimi Hendrix fan who started smoking pot in the 1960s, has "gone back to it" over the past four years. He said alcoholism is partly responsible for her recent flirtation with cannabis, but he also blames pop culture for creating an atmosphere that celebrates drugs. Hip-hop and rap artists who sing about drugs and fancy cars on MTV are "not good role models," said Mr. Bonte, who works with teenagers on a regular basis. Marijuana use among black and Hispanic adults between the ages of 18 and 29 has risen significantly over the past decade. The report showed marijuana use climbed about 220 percent among black men and women to 4.5 percent of that population and by almost 150 percent among Hispanic men, to 4.7 percent. "This study suggests that we need to develop ways to monitor the continued rise in marijuana abuse and dependence and strengthen existing prevention and intervention efforts," said Dr. Nora Volkow, the institute's director. Programs that target young black and Hispanic adults are particularly needed, she said. Increases in dependence among young minorities may reflect their growing assimilation into sectors of white society where marijuana use is more accepted, Dr. Compton said. Some aging baby boomers may be drawn back to pot because of its popularity with today's youths, said Chris Kelly, a New Bedford resident and the son of baby boomer parents who smoked pot during the 1970s. "Lots of older people are afraid to surrender their youth," he said. "They may be having a mid-life crisis." Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism contributed to the report. Material from The Associated Press was used in this report. This story appeared on Page A1 of The Standard-Times on May 5, 2004. Source: Standard-Times (MA)Author: Becky W. Evans, Standard-Times Staff WriterPublished: May 5, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Standard-TimesContact: letters s-t.comWebsite: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/Related Articles:Pot Increasing Despite Stagnant Number of Tokers http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18796.shtmlMaking Pot Legal Does Not Boost Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18791.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #25 posted by JustGetNby on May 05, 2004 at 14:59:12 PT Rebels E.J. Rebels are Rebels, like all of nature, they mellow with age. I enjoy the H#2ll out of your views, and your ability to express them. PEACE [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by Dankhank on May 05, 2004 at 14:22:15 PT Hey, It's 420 [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on May 05, 2004 at 12:03:30 PT ekim You are very welcome. [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by tokenitallup4162 on May 05, 2004 at 11:24:51 PT: babyboomer, I AM I can say this for sure. I take enough pain meds to stiffle a horse. toking helps! I have arthritis, toking helps!, most of all, I need viagra, but TOKING HELPS! [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by FoM on May 05, 2004 at 11:18:09 PT Rebels We are rebels and we'll never be any goodWe are rebels cause we never do what we shouldJust because we don't do what every body else doesDoesn't mean that we don't need love love love!PS: And the laws changed against cannabis. [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by E_Johnson on May 05, 2004 at 11:01:43 PT Maybe it's arthritis and Bush driving them to pot Bush is so extreme -- maybe he's turning the boomers back into rebels again. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by ekim on May 05, 2004 at 09:52:28 PT Physicians for Social Responsibility–Los Angeles http://www.gregpalast.com/ Book Tour: PSR Debate (Los Angeles) May 8, 2004 Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel 7000 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM Check the online calendar General Seating • $15 Reserved Seating • $50 Journalists • Free of chargeModerated by award-winning investigative journalist Michael Collins and Kate Lutz Presented by Physicians for Social Responsibility–Los Angeles • Cosponsored by The Network for Environmental Communication. For more information call (213) 386-4901 x112 or write lainfo psr.org Time: May 8, 2004 11:00 AM–2:30 PM Location: Los Angeles http://www.minorml.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by Dankhank on May 05, 2004 at 09:06:09 PT again ........... one more time .......... register ... [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by Dankhank on May 05, 2004 at 08:57:47 PT me too ... As another citizen of the Conch Republic, I say, right on!! send potential voters to my site to register ... register to vote!!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by Jose Melendez on May 05, 2004 at 08:40:27 PT PRIME TARGETS!? "Barthwell said marijuana users are among the program's prime targets."How DARE she! That's it, the gloves are off, ma'am: THIS is what they think of "targets." - - - The show "Merci pour l'info" (Thanks for the news) obtained the footage, seen by an AFP correspondent, from a "European working as a subcontractor for the US army" who left Iraq two weeks ago. The man claims to have hidden the tape, dated December 1, 2003 and filmed at an unidentified location in Iraq, at the US base where he lived and worked. The three-and-a-half minutes of footage were taken from the helicopter firing at the three individuals, who were considered by the US military to be suspicious. Conversations between the helicopter pilot, the sharpshooter and their commanding officer -- who had a video link and is giving orders in real time -- can be heard on the tape. The footage shows how the three men were killed one after the other. After the deaths of his two companions, the third attempted to hide under a truck, but was hit by helicopter gunfire. "Got the guy right here," says the sharpshooter, as the wounded man is seen crawling on the ground. "Good. Fire. Hit him," replies the officer.http://drudgereport.comJob security: ONDCP, the antitrust. "Because parents who get weed from their own kids are likely to smoke higher quality marijuana, less often and at lower cost, may actually interact and laugh with their kids, instead of worrying they will narc you out, or trade their Ritalin for beer and cigarette money."http://rxpot.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by fearfull on May 05, 2004 at 08:34:32 PT That explanes it... I am now getting twice as high as I was 10 years ago!So I must be getting about 100 times higher that in the 70's. No wonder I can't function, cant hold a job, and why I rob street beggars for a "fix". A good friend of mine always used to say, "yeah, I tried pot once, but the stems & seeds got caught in my nose." [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by goneposthole on May 05, 2004 at 08:17:25 PT wishin' and hopin' The gov. would finally get the message. But, they won't and never will."Hope we grow up before we're old."- Loudon Wainwright IIIMore prophetic than it reads. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by RasAric on May 05, 2004 at 08:02:41 PT DR. NORA VOLKOW IS A DISGRACE... "This study suggests that we need to develop ways to monitor the continued rise in marijuana abuse and dependence and strengthen existing prevention and intervention efforts," said Dr. Nora Volkow, the institute's director. Programs that target young black and Hispanic adults are particularly needed, she said. I DISAGREE. THIS STUDY SUGGESTS, TO ME, THAT WE NEED TO TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT WHAT WE ARE BECOMING AS A SOCIETY AND START RESPECTING PEOPLE'S DECISIONS EVEN IF WE DONT AGREE WITH THEM. I SMOKE POT AND I AM DAMN SURE NOT GOING TO BE SUBMITTING TO ANY OF THESE QUIZES OR TESTS...ENOUGH OF THE MONITORING, TESTING, AND PROGRAMMING!! JUST SAY NO.ERIC KNUDSEN [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by ekim on May 05, 2004 at 07:50:33 PT thanks FoM for this site allowing all to post where are the writers that cover what Barthwell is saying. Why no story on how this new Federal Initiative will be implemented and where and by who. Greg Palast was on C-Span this morning. He said send him any thing you think important so i will be sending him the story below. http://www.gregpalast.com one more thing --Dick Cowan has big news at Http://www.marijuananews.com http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread18746.shtmlAlthough her marijuana stance clearly drew the most attention, Barthwell also spoke with lawmakers about the administration's of methadone to treat heroin addiction and a new federal initiative to identify non-addicted drug users - so-called recreational users - and get them off drugs before they either become addicted or convince non-users to try drugs for the first time. Barthwell said marijuana users are among the program's prime targets. http://www.mmdetroit.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by RasAric on May 05, 2004 at 07:47:43 PT BEAUTIFUL!!!!! This is without a doubt one my favorite articles related to the crumbling of the prohibitionists long standing crime against American Citizens. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Jose Melendez on May 05, 2004 at 07:44:49 PT CNN, JAMA, historical and Congressional testimony see also: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/05/04/marijuana.adults.ap/flashback: remember Joyce Nalepka?http://www.ourdrugfreekids.org/marijuana%20connection.htmShe's awful quiet about the 1,000,000 to 20K annual death ratio, or the fact that marijuana use contributes to zero of those deaths, unless you count deaths associated with the unconstitutional and antitrust fraud known as cannabis prohibition.from: http://www.lex18.com/Global/story.asp?S=1839573" While the number of people smoking marijuana hasn't changed much in the past 10 years, the number of people getting hooked on the drug has increased dramatically, especially among minority groups.That's the conclusion of a new study in the May 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. And the researchers suspect the increasing potency of marijuana may be to blame for the rise in dependence."The quick answer is, we don't know for sure why there's been an increase, but we think it can partly be explained by the potency of marijuana -- marijuana is about twice as potent now as it was 10 years ago," said study author Dr. Wilson Compton, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's division of epidemiology, services and prevention research."from: http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/news/detail.jhtml?itemname=p0429046.3rw0""The results of our study show that use of marijuana remained stable in 2001-2002 compared to 1991-1992; however, there were significant increases in marijuana abuse or dependence, especially in certain minority subgroups," says Dr. Compton. "Overall, marijuana abuse or dependence rose by 22 percent from 1991-1992 to 2001-2002. This means that there were approximately 800,000 more adults in the United States with marijuana abuse or dependence in 2001-2002. Furthermore, marijuana abuse or dependence was more common among Whites than among minorities in 1991-1992, but by 2001-2002 the differences in abuse and dependence rates among the different ethnic groups had narrowed considerably. This change was due to increases of 224 percent among young African-American men and women aged 18-29, and 148 percent among young Hispanic men aged 18- 29."The increase in potency of marijuana over the last decade may be partly responsible for the drug's increased abuse and dependence, particularly since marijuana use patterns have not changed over this period. However, no single factor can account entirely for the increases seen in minority populations, the authors report. Numerous cultural, psychosocial, economic, and lifestyle factors likely play roles."from: http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=332An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association of 1 May 1937 advised that "the proposed Federal venture into the interstate control of cannabis hardly seems to be justified by experience . . . After more than twenty years of Federal effort and the expenditure of millions of dollars, the opium and cocaine habits are still widespread."fropm: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/112099/opi_1120990026.shtmlDr. Lester Grinspoon, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, has written about the war on marijuana in the New England Journal of Medicine and in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He also has written on the subject in two books, ''Marijuana Reconsidered'' and ''Marijuana, The Forbidden Medicine.'' Of the war on weed, Grinspoon has said, ''Since I started my work on marijuana in 1967, more than 10 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges in the United States. This is just extraordinary when you consider that cannabis imposes less harm on the individual and on society than either alcohol or tobacco.''from google's cache of: www.smokingparadise.net/News/obvious.html"What will occur in America soon is already occurring in the United Kingdom. The taxes are so high that, in addition to a growing smuggling problem, the country is now being inundated with shoddy cigarettes made in China. The United States experienced something similar during alcohol prohibition. It was called "bathtub gin". Prohibition doesn't work. High taxes don't work. Anti-tobacco making government policy really doesn't work."see also: http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/04/14/wcig14.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/04/14/ixworld.htmlEspecially, see: http://www.house.gov/judiciary/jenk0615.htm"ECSTASY" AND OTHER CLUB DRUGS STATEMENT BY PHILIP JENKINS DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIESPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITYJune 15, 2000"The dreadful bathtub gin of that era was a direct consequence of the illegal status of the substance. Ditto for Al Capone and his like: alcohol did not CAUSE such figures; rather, they were permitted to arise and flourish solely and entirely because alcohol was illegal."Drug war is crime.Any questions? - - - As a dual citizen (U.S. and Conch Republic), I look forward to celebrating our nation's independence in a public and notorious manner to the fullest of my abilities, this July 4th and 5th, without harassment:http://rxpot.com/cannabisnews/voteJose.htmlI'm pushing to get 3,000 voters registered.Wage peace, and thanks!Yes! You can help, here: http://dvdeland.com/donate [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by OverwhelmSam on May 05, 2004 at 07:19:02 PT Oh yes. That's it. Funny how no gets too excited if you drink a beer, but if you smoke a doobie, there must be a problem or reason for this phenomena. Or maybe, just maybe, people prefer in lieu of alcohol or other drugs. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by BigDawg on May 05, 2004 at 07:11:50 PT I love it "The figures may also indicate that baby boomers 'bring their bad habits with them into old age,' he said."Cannabis is SOOOOOOO bad for ya.... that you live to a ripe old age. LOLHow pathetic can their arguments get? [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on May 05, 2004 at 07:02:40 PT: Petard has a very valid point I know of many Boomers who have been life-long tokers from their late 'Teens on. That this is becoming a 'matter of concern' is only one more instance of just how desperate our opponents have become in light of our successes; they feel they must cast a wider and more inclusive net to catch more victims to justify their efforts...and their paychecks.But has been pointed out before, now the antis are chasing after habitual VOTERS. Voters with little patience anymore for official chicanery; they've had one taste of the political future with the AARP furore about the head of AARP being in bed with the more reactionary Republicans and going against the best interests of the organization's members. Specifically by pushing for the so-called Medicare reform bill which turned out to be riddled with officially sanctioned LIES about it's efficacy through and through. Said Boomers already know about the lies told about cannabis; to try to bamboozle them will be a major political blowback.Of course, that has never stopped an anti before. You can place all the "Danger! Quicksand!" signs all along the path to the pit, and the fools still charge forward. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Dark Star on May 05, 2004 at 06:49:41 PT Reinarman Study Available Online http://www.mapinc.org/lib/limited.pdfRead it. See the myths crumble. Send to congress critters and journalists. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Petard on May 05, 2004 at 06:28:08 PT Perhaps... Baby Boomers never actually put it away, just kept it hidden from the ever-increasingly intrusive govt. and private industry butt sniffing dogs and urine tasters? Now that the Boomers are retiring and and don't feel the need to hide in order to live free and/or hold a job they can now thumb their noses at Big Bro and come out of the closet. Perhaps they only sipped martinis at those "social" business functions because the good ol' boy network encouraged and accepted drunken driving and frowned upon sparking up? Now that they are no longer required to drink alcohol to socialize with clients and bosses they can enjoy their relaxant of their own choice instead. This doesn't even take into account they might want to keep their kids from using MJ and getting caught by the urine tasters in their foolish youth so the Boomer parents didn't want to set the example and have the kid either get a tarnished record or limit their lifetime earning potential, much less have little Jr. or Missy say "Well oxifer my Mommy and Daddy say it's OK" and have little Jr. or Missy get raised by foster parents.Perhaps MJ users will be having a "coming out" party similar to the Gay Community as some have suggested. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Jose Melendez on May 05, 2004 at 04:55:59 PT operation fastlink may have been retribution They are so busy fighting us, they barely have time to pay attention to their own pending prison time:http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0404/043004lb.htmsee also: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=UTF-8&q=ashcroft+sibel+edmonds [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on May 05, 2004 at 04:40:32 PT: The screamingly obvious reason Arthritis.Think about it, folks. I am of the generation that is supposedly returning to it's cannabis roots. And I was not a toker until my 31st year. Never touched it through adolescence or young adulthood. Yet I tried it, for medicinal reasons, because either nothing else worked...or nothing else worked AS SAFELY. And have since discovered its' benefits in other medicinal roles connected with the process of becoming an 'old f**t'.Think of all those commercials you see on The Tube of (impossibly) handsomely aging folks complaining of 'aches and pains' in all those Big Pharma product touting ads. Then think of the breathlessly-fast rundown at the end of the blurb where the voice-over races through all the nasty side-effects someone taking it could experience.So, what's the worst side effect one could have from cannabis? It could be summed up in one word: JAIL.To someone who suffers from the various problems associated with aging, cannabis is a highly useful tool to ameliorate those conditions. And has been mentioned here, they already know the truth about cannabis, and having grown up during Watergate, are not so likely to believe any government pronouncements uncritically.Certainly not as much as the government wishes they would.This is no shallow, vain attempt to recapture lost youth; this is a purely utilitarian move by people who know what works - and what works *safely* - and are using it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by billos on May 05, 2004 at 03:28:10 PT: This must really torque off................... the anti's......Bush and Ashcroft will be looking for monies to build geriatric prisons for there are many boomers that need to go to the prison........... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on May 05, 2004 at 01:09:54 PT It's more likely to be mid life arthritis Midlife crisis, my Aunt Fanny. It hurts to be an aging boomer.Maybe the cannabinoid receptors start wearing out when we get old, now that's a thought. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment