cannabisnews.com: Drug Study: Marijuana Use Holding Steady





Drug Study: Marijuana Use Holding Steady
Posted by FoM on March 30, 2000 at 15:34:16 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: Detroit Free Press
The popularity of illicit drugs waxes and wanes -- except for marijuana. The incidence of marijuana use has changed little over the past few decades, said Dr. Lloyd Johnston, who conducts the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study at the Institute for Social Research. 
The long-term survey, which has helped direct national substance-abuse policies and funding, follows people beginning in middle school, some for decades. Marijuana is the most popular of all illicit drugs among young people, Johnston told The Ann Arbor News for an article Thursday. Usage hit a peak about a decade ago and has remained steady since then. "For a while, the drug issue just wasn't on the national map. It fell off the screen about the time of the buildup for the Gulf War. News coverage of the drug issue in general just plummeted," the researcher said. "Congress was allocating less money for prevention efforts in the schools, and parents were talking to their kids less about the issue." Now, he said, parents are encouraged to talk to their children about drugs and drug prevention programs are on the rise in schools. The issue of whether marijuana use leads to other substance abuse remains unresolved but most people who smoke the weed probably do not progress to other drugs. Still, "the vast majority of people who use (drugs) first used marijuana," Johnston said. In the 1960s and '70s, marijuana generally contained about 1-2 percent of its active ingredient, THC, said Mike Marek, a substance-abuse counselor, now director of clinical services at the HIV/AIDS Resource Center. Now, THC content commonly is up to 12-14 percent, he said. "People begin to use a drug and build tolerance to that drug. It takes more of the drug to get the same effect," said Marek. This Saturday marks the 29th annual Hash Bash on the university campus in Ann Arbor. Johnston doesn't see the Hash Bash an indicator of drug use. "To some degree, I think the Hash Bash is just a long-term ritual struggle between youth and authority, which is age-old," he said. "Marijuana has always been the favorite ground on which to challenge legitimacy of adults' rules and limitations." Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP) Published: March 30, 2000Copyright © 2000 Detroit Free Press Inc.Related Articles & Web Site:Ann Arbor Hashbashhttp://www.hashbash.com/ Annual Hash Bash Draws Differing Points of View http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5236.shtmlSurvey: Youths' Drug Use Declininghttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5240.shtmlMarijuana Persists as Substance Abuse Issue http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5237.shtmlCannabisNews Articles On Surveys:http://www.ussc.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+surveyhttp://www.google.com/search?num=10&q=cannabisnews+survey++site:www.cannabisnews.com 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on March 30, 2000 at 19:57:11 PT
You're Welcome Bryan
You're welcome Bryan,I'm glad that you were able to find the information that you needed.Peace, FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by Bryan Paden on March 30, 2000 at 19:44:44 PT:
weed
i would like to thank you for all the info I had to do a report on physical effects of marijuana and I found a lot of things on here that helped me out a lot
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