cannabisnews.com: Baby Boomers Still Getting High

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  Baby Boomers Still Getting High

Posted by CN Staff on August 19, 2009 at 10:39:10 PT
By Reuters 
Source: Reuters 

Washington, D.C. -- Middle aged baby boomers are still turning on to illegal drugs forty years after Woodstock, doubling the rates of illicit drug use by the previous generation, according to a government study released on Wednesday.The rates of people aged 50 to 59 who admit to using illicit drugs in the past year nearly doubled from 5.1 percent in 2002 to 9.4 percent in 2007 while rates among all other age groups are the same or decreasing, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.
"These findings show that many in the Woodstock generation continue to use illicit drugs as they age," said SAMHSA Acting Administrator Eric Broderick. "This continued use poses medical risks to these individuals and is likely to put further strains on the nation's healthcare system -- highlighting the value of preventing drug use from ever starting."Baby boomers are the post World War II generation born between 1946 and 1964. The data used in the study came from various surveys including 16,656 men and women participating in the 2002 through 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. Click -- http://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20090819/2k7Results.pdf -- to read the full report.The study surveyed use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants and prescription drugs used non-medically.At the other end of the age spectrum, the rate for those aged 18-25 who admitted to using illicit drugs was relatively unchanged at 19.7 percent, from 19.8 percent the previous year and 20.2 percent in 2002.Teenagers also appear to be partaking less frequently, with the rate of drug use among 12 to 17-year-olds falling to 9.5 percent from 11.6 percent in 2002. Among that group, marijuana was the drug of choice, used by 6.7 percent in that age range.About 100 million Americans have tried marijuana at least once, according to government estimates. While marijuana use in the United States is illegal, a handful of states have approved its use for medical purposes.President Barack Obama, who described youthful marijuana and cocaine use in his autobiography, appointed "drug czar" Gil Kerlikowske in May. Kerlikowske plans to spend more money on treating addiction and scale down the "war on drugs" rhetoric.But don't expect the White House to consider legalizing marijuana. "The discussion about legalization is not a part of the president's vocabulary under any circumstances and it's not a part of mine," Kerlikowske said in a telephone interview with Reuters in June.Source: Reuters (Wire)Published: August 18, 2009Copyright: 2009 Thomson ReutersCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml

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Comment #12 posted by museman on August 20, 2009 at 13:21:07 PT
Other headlines
"Republicans still passing gas."or"Economically, and material challenged journalists still stooping to ideological slander.""War on drugs still rages, despite all logic and reason.""Vietnam was a just war, and we shoulda nuked 'em while we had the chance!""911 was not an inside job.""Hey! I'm an authority, see my 'publication?'"LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #11 posted by Sam Adams on August 20, 2009 at 08:14:19 PT
nice smear piece Reuters
Still waiting for the headline"World War II generation still getting drunk & beating their wives" because they did more of both those things than the "boomers"
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Comment #10 posted by runruff on August 19, 2009 at 19:52:02 PT

Federal concerns?
Baby boomers did not invent the party, we took it a new level!The last time this many people got together to party, Rome got sacked!
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 18:37:34 PT

John Tyler 
Cocaine wasn't a part of the Woodstock Generation I don't think either. It seemed to be a Disco Drug not a Peace, Love and Understanding substance like Cannabis. I remember an anti drug commerical that made a lot of sense to me. You see a man in a suit and tie and he had a brief case and he said something like I do more coke to make more money so I can do more coke to make more money while he walked in a circle that kept going faster.
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Comment #8 posted by John Tyler on August 19, 2009 at 18:06:23 PT

the Woodstock persuasion
The baby boomers that got way into cocaine were most likely not of the Woodstock persuasion. Coke was preferred by the high-energy business types, or overworked show business type who needed a lot of energy just to make the next show. It is suspected that Nixon let coke into the country in the 70’s to try to wreck the hippie image and to fuel his Drug War.  (for some reason, the idea of hippies just drove Nixon crazy, and he hated them) The majority of hipsters did not buy into it, preferring instead their tried and true psychedelics. As Nat King Cole sang, “I get no kick from cocaine, and mere alcohol didn’t thrill me at all.” In any case this is a poorly researched article, just a waste of ink and paper. 
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Comment #7 posted by Storm Crow on August 19, 2009 at 15:27:02 PT

Here's a good article! 
http://www.examiner.com/x-17593-NORML-Examiner~y2009m8d16-14-states-seek-to-legalize-medical-marijuana14 states seek to legalize medical marijuana
August 16, 11:54 AMNORML ExaminerAngela MacdonaldThere’s no time like now to get involved in getting medical marijuana legalized around the United States. Chronic pain is chronic pain, cancer is cancer, and those suffering in Virginia are no different than those suffering in Oregon.Currently, 14 states are actively working toward some sort of resolution to the atrocity forced upon its sick, injured, and dying. Below is a list of those states, and links to more information on what is being done to improve the lives of the citizens of this country. If your state is on the list, don’t forget to get involved in whatever way you can. (snipped)
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 11:39:54 PT

Sinsemilla Jones 
Yup it's half empty for them and for us our cup is half full.
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Comment #5 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on August 19, 2009 at 11:18:08 PT

a handful of states?
"...a handful of states have approved its use for medical purposes."If 13 is a handful, I could hold over half the 50 states in just my 2 hands!Funny, I've yet to read, "Over a quarter of the nation has legalized medical marijuana!"
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 11:15:52 PT

My 2 Cents
When will they start forcing treatment on people who consume alcohol? That's a killer intoxicant. Cannabis has never killed anyone and the Woodstock generation has lived long enough to be walking proof of that.
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Comment #3 posted by observer on August 19, 2009 at 11:00:12 PT

doublethink on legalization
"This continued use poses medical risks to these individuals and is likely to put further strains on the nation's healthcare system -- highlighting the value of preventing drug use from ever starting."This silly report conflates cannabis with heroin and inhalants to whip up fear over buzzwords "strains on the nation's healthcare system" with the propaganda payload of "preventing drug use".The more cannabis people use the fewer "strains on the nation's healthcare system" there will be as cannabis promotes good health. There will be savings in cancer treatment, for example, as fewer people actually get it when they take cannabis. Doublethink Drug Czar Kerlikowske: "The discussion about legalization is not a part of the president's vocabulary under any circumstances and it's not a part of mine"I'd have to say this is a textbook example of "doublethink".Doublethink:

"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth" -- Orwell, 1984

http://drugnewsbot.org
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Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on August 19, 2009 at 10:45:32 PT

Thanks Reuters for all your nefarious work!
Brainwashing Reuters (from the Nazi era) says: getting high bad, marijuana very bad. Getting drunk, stupid and violent, good!
Legalize All Drugs!
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 19, 2009 at 10:42:27 PT

Just My Thoughts
I haven't met anyone from what I like to call the Woodstock generation that would consider doing cocaine. A heart attack could easily happen. I think maybe people might do now and then Mushrooms but it is really Cannabis that would be used for medical purposes.
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