cannabisnews.com: Teen Use of Pot Can Lead To Dependency





Teen Use of Pot Can Lead To Dependency
Posted by CN Staff on May 09, 2008 at 05:38:04 PT
By Jennifer C. Kerr, The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Washington, D.C. --  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 year long 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."Complete Title: Feds: Teen Use of Pot Can Lead To Dependency, Mental IllnessNewshawk: The GCWSource: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Jennifer C. Kerr, The Associated PressPublished: May 9, 2008Copyright: 2008 The Associated Press CannabisNews ONDCP Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/ONDCP.shtml
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Comment #14 posted by The GCW on May 09, 2008 at 17:44:54 PT
depression ? suicide ?
What is Pee doing about this "endemic catastrophe"???Will Pee prohibit doctors, pharm drugs, depression?How about caging medical students because their activity "could" lead toward depression and suicide?-0-Medical know-how, access to drugs raises suicide risk for doctorsCHICAGO — There's a grim, rarely talked-about twist to all that medical know-how doctors learn to save lives: It makes them especially good at ending their own.An estimated 300 to 400 U.S. doctors kill themselves each year - a suicide rate thought to be higher than in the general population, although exact figures are hard to come by.Some doctors believe the stigma of mental illness is magnified in a profession that prides itself on stoicism and bravado. Many fear admitting psychiatric problems could be fatal to their careers, so they suffer in silence.And when the pain is too much, doctors have easy access to prescription drugs and a precise knowledge of both how the body works and the amount of a drug needed for an overdose to stop breathing and halt the heart."All physicians have access to neat, clean ways to commit suicide," said Dr. Robert Lehmberg, a Little Rock, Ark., surgeon who has battled depression and long considered suicide "an exit strategy if absolutely necessary."The American Medical Association has called physician suicide "an endemic catastrophe," and pledged two years ago to work to prevent the problem.CONY.http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jBFenMtiy633eGQ7tbTmk5S0ezTQ
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on May 09, 2008 at 09:32:21 PT
Thanks, Dongenero
But actually I'm pretty good, usually, at expressing my feelings and thoughts about any given situation without calling people names. It is so tempting though... just like hatred can be tempting.I have no problem with applicable terms like "Fascist", "Murderer", "Tyrant", "Lecher", "Liar", "Prevaricator", and such. They are all things I can say about someone with a clear conscience... if I believe it to be true. It's no different than saying "Pole vaulter", "Runner", "Horse back rider", "Poet", or "Writer"... if it's true to the best of my knowledge. Those terms terms are descriptive of someone's actual actions and not just a derogatory name calling episode.It's resorting to things like "Bastard", "Idiot", "Fool" and "Moron" that I feel that I'm better off avoiding. Although I have indulged, with little if any remorse, in saying "What a maroon". I haven't done that either in a long time. It's part of "Doing unto others as I would have done unto me."If I'm being a tyrant or I'm misled, somehow... tell me. But don't call me an "Idiot" or a "Fool". It just makes me mad.
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Comment #12 posted by dongenero on May 09, 2008 at 08:55:26 PT
hope
There is plenty to be angry about.Showing your emotion is nothing to be ashamed or apologetic about. It's being honest.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on May 09, 2008 at 08:36:49 PT
Hope
I wanted to check out that article to but it just shows a white page. Alltel has been shakey for a couple weeks now and I could call tec support but they won't know why some papers aren't working. Hopefully it will clear up today sometime.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on May 09, 2008 at 08:34:21 PT
Comment 6
Forgive me for resorting to name calling. It's against my conscience and religion to call people names...ie. Raca... fool... idiot... or as I did, this time, "bastard". Anger gets the best of me sometimes. I nearly always want to say it... but I usually control myself. It's just rather like indulging in a treat for myself that, ultimately, does more harm than good.I should have stated, "Wicked, conniving, evil, prohibitionist, cruel, overlording, punishing people depress me.Wicked, conniving, evil, prohibitionist, cruel, overlording, punishing people cause mental illness."
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on May 09, 2008 at 08:25:58 PT
Washington Post
Teen Marijuana Use Linked to Later Illnesshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050803004.html
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on May 09, 2008 at 07:59:59 PT
Dankhank
Thank you for the link. I only get a white page though. I can't get into a couple more papers today but as soon as I can I will check it out. Alltel is doing upgrades so that's probably why.
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Comment #7 posted by Dankhank on May 09, 2008 at 07:38:22 PT
more perfidity ...
it never ends ...http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/84515/
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on May 09, 2008 at 06:32:34 PT
Prohibition and harsh laws....
If cookies were against the law and someone somehow got to try a few and then have to really look at their prohibition and harsh laws and contrived consequences connected to their prohibition, and the danger the prohibition puts people in... you could definitely say "Cookies cause serious depression" and of course since depression is considered a mental illness... you could go even further and say, "Cookies cause mental illness".Wicked, conniving, evil, prohibitionist, cruel, overlording, punishing bastards depress me. Wicked, conniving, evil, prohibitionist, cruel, overlording, punishing, bastards cause mental illness.
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Comment #5 posted by potpal on May 09, 2008 at 06:09:27 PT
Oh boy
Propaganda, what we get for $10 billion a year. Same old blatant propaganda at that.Cannabis prohibition is a crime against humanity and John Walters is a criminal. 
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Comment #4 posted by observer on May 09, 2008 at 06:05:19 PT
No Harm in the Pot
''there's nothing harmless about marijuana.''
(White House, John Walters, ONDCP, DEA, FBI, FDA, NSA, KGB, GRU, NIDA, NKVD, Etc. Etc.)''... there was NO HARM IN THE POT.''
 2Kings 4:41, King James Version
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Comment #3 posted by runruff on May 09, 2008 at 06:00:59 PT:
John Walters.
He reminds me of my deceased Aunt, god bless her. He sees a boogieman behind every plant, er, ah, bush.How this guy can consistently come up with "studies that show" that are always in direct conflict with independent studies that show just the opposite? The bigger crime is he has the bully pulpit and the press will print all of his dribble without question.He is a very dangerous man!
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Comment #2 posted by observer on May 09, 2008 at 05:54:39 PT
analysis
[1]
Washington, D.C. -- 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 . 
(Sentence 1) re: "dependency", "dangerous", "Depression", "mental illness" - Prohibition propaganda rarely misses an opportunity to link crime, violence, and insanity with "drugs". The propagandist insinuates that prohibited drugs cause evil, and if it weren't for "drugs" bad things would not exist. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "can lead to" - Prohibition propagandists try to smear targeted drugs by announcing they are "gateways" to other truly wicked behavior. (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#4 ) re: "teens" - Drug war propaganda plays on parental fears for the well being of their kids. If drug users are not jailed, says the prohibitionist, then your children will surely suffer. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[2]
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 . 
(Sentence 2) re: "teen", "teens" - "Nothing can so excite an adult population as can anything which appears to threaten their own children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[4]
"This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."
(Sentence 4) re: "youthful" - "Since the Harrison Act of 1914, the user and the seller of illicit drugs have both been characterized as evil, criminal, insane, and always in search of new victims, the victims are characterized as young children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[5]
Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview . 
(Sentence 5) re: "can lead to" - Some drugs, claims the rhetoric of prohibition, are "gateways" to other, "harder" drugs. (Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#4 ) 
 
 
[6]
For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said . 
(Sentence 6) re: - Drugs, the prohibitionist explains, are a wicked bane on modern man. Why if not for the noble drug war (i.e. jailing drug users), exclaims the propagandist, then people will run amok, and violence, death, psychosis, and plague shall cover the land. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "marijuana increases the risk of developing mental" - Classic 'Reefer madness' claims cannabis causes (violent) mental illness. 
 
 
[7]
And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a year long period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said . 
(Sentence 7) re: "teens" - Prohibitionist propaganda continually whips up parental fear, invoking lurid images of children corrupted by drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[8]
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 . 
(Sentence 8) re: "addicted" - It is prohibition, claim prohibitionists, that saves people from drug crazed, whacked out, high flying drug users. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "teens" - Being a prohibitionist means you can never shed too many crocodile tears for the "children". (As you lustily jail or kill their parents for using drugs.) (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[9]
Experts who have worked with children say there's nothing harmless about marijuana . 
(Sentence 9) re: "children" - "The inflaming of this fear about the fate of our own children [makes] it difficult if not impossible for most Americans to take a careful and reasoned look at our drug policies."[W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[10]
"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 . 
(Sentence 10) re: "kids" - Prohibitionists play on parental fears by exaggerating the dangers to children of drugs. Adults must be jailed (reason prohibitionists), because kids might be corrupted with drugs. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[13]
You can't predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid."
(Sentence 13) re: "kid" - "Chemicals have long been inextricably linked in prohibitionist literature with the ... corruption of young people." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[14]
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 . 
(Sentence 14) re: "Substance Abuse", "marijuana use", "Abuse" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) 
 
 
[15]
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 . 
(Sentence 15) re: "marijuana use" - "This strategy equates the use and abuse of drugs and implies that it is impossible to use the particular drug or drugs in question without physical, mental, and moral deterioration." [W.White,1979] (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) re: "kids", "teens" - Prohibitionists forever claim that children are corrupted by drugs, and this is why adult users must be punished harshly. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
[16]
While the drop is encouraging, Walters appealed to parents to recognize signs of possible drug use and depression . 
(Sentence 16) re: "depression" - The rhetoric of prohibition asserts that insanity, crime, and violence are caused by drugs, or are controlled by prohibition. (Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme2.htm#2 ) re: "drug use" - Prohibitionists try to hammer in the idea that 'all use is abuse.' The rhetoric of prohibition needs to deny that many people can use currently illegal drugs without abusing them. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme4.htm#alluseisabuse ) 
 
 
[17]
"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 . 
(Sentence 17) re: "teen" - "Since the Harrison Act of 1914, the user and the seller of illicit drugs have both been characterized as evil, criminal, insane, and always in search of new victims, the victims are characterized as young children." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pg/propaganda/theme5.htm#5 ) 
 
 
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Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on May 09, 2008 at 05:51:32 PT:
Booze is the answer.
Those kids should just get drunk. Then they'd be happy happy happy all the time, just like all boozers. (end sarcasm.)
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