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RainDog

(28,784 posts)
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:12 PM Dec 2013

U.S. teens smoke more marijuana, but back off other drugs -survey

Source: Reuters

Dec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. teenagers are smoking more marijuana, but backing away from other harmful drugs and doing less binge drinking, according to a report from federal health researchers released Wednesday.

Easier access to marijuana provided by new state laws allowing the drug for medical treatment may be a factor, according to the report from the National Institutes of Health.

"We should be extremely concerned," said Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The growing use parallels an increase in the potency of marijuana, so the drug can be even more harmful to developing brains than in the past, she added.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/12/18/usa-marijuana-teenagers-survey-idINL2N0JX1CG20131218



I can only post 4 graphs here, but, from the start, the NIDA makes assumptions not in evidence that the greater potency of hybrid strains of cannabis means people smoke more of more dangerous product. The reverse is true because it takes less plant material to obtain the desired result.

I posted in the Drug Policy Forum, yesterday, that this report was forthcoming today and we should watch to see how the NIDA spins this to support continued drug laws. They do this later in the article by noting more teens are smoking as legalization and liberalization of laws make it easier for teens to obtain cannabis.

But here's another reality.

Teens are using the least harmful substance to alter consciousness. Tobacco and alcohol are both far, far more addictive and have far, far worse side effects than cannabis. In places where cannabis has been made legal, traffic fatalities are down, and those looking at this stat conjecture that the move from alcohol to cannabis makes the streets safer for all of us.

Regulation of cannabis, like alcohol, will help to control access. It won't remove it, just as teens have access to alcohol now, but regulation will provide information to consumers about the level of THC, the presence of pesticides, etc.

Ahead of this report, all the major news outlets ran a story that conjectured cannabis altered the brain - but there was no meaning behind this alteration, fwiw - but, again, that was the scare story in advance of this latest study released.

It's interesting to see propaganda in action.

The cannabis legalization issue is rife with propaganda - and misinformation, sometimes on both sides. But the overwhelming amount of misinformation has come from the very sources one would expect to provide helpful information, not misleading rhetoric to support prohibition that the majority of Americans don't support.

The good news is that teens are smoking fewer cigarettes and drinking less alcohol. Good news.

31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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U.S. teens smoke more marijuana, but back off other drugs -survey (Original Post) RainDog Dec 2013 OP
LOL! Politicalboi Dec 2013 #1
I had a couple nice nugs sitting in a plastic film can Dr Hobbitstein Dec 2013 #4
Good buddy! skamaria Dec 2013 #21
As I and others here have noted RainDog Dec 2013 #6
damn sure was better here in SC too. wildbilln864 Dec 2013 #24
'we want kids to go back to bringe drinking!' Garion_55 Dec 2013 #2
LOL RainDog Dec 2013 #8
lol, my first though too. Bradical79 Dec 2013 #10
The same old Mexican shwag from the 60s is still widely available... Dr Hobbitstein Dec 2013 #3
This bunk that "it's more potent now" is bullshit. Politicalboi Dec 2013 #7
LOL. Imported shit? tridim Dec 2013 #12
Modern strains are great for what they are... Dr Hobbitstein Dec 2013 #18
I agree 100% hollowdweller Dec 2013 #26
If you've ever watched Strain Hunters RainDog Dec 2013 #9
Indoor grow is NOT new. Dr Hobbitstein Dec 2013 #19
Yes, but Reagan turned indoor grows into the norm RainDog Dec 2013 #20
NIDA can bite me and yeah, what you said! mountain grammy Dec 2013 #5
Teens just don't buy the hype that taking a bong hit is going to mean a lifetime at McD's XemaSab Dec 2013 #11
sad RainDog Dec 2013 #17
"We should be extremely concerned," said Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dopers_Greed Dec 2013 #13
I note: Volkow is the Mexico-born granddaughter of Leon Trotsky (!) KurtNYC Dec 2013 #14
great links and info RainDog Dec 2013 #15
she also controls the cannabis available for scientific and medical studies RainDog Dec 2013 #16
Aaaand the NYTimes serves up the propaganda RainDog Dec 2013 #22
Melanie Dreher longitudinal study RainDog Dec 2013 #23
thank youfor this RainDog. n/t wildbilln864 Dec 2013 #25
I visited Orr High school in chicago to help tape a Q&A last month Kurovski Dec 2013 #27
Use of all illegal (and some legal) drugs are down for teens RainDog Dec 2013 #28
Of course it's propaganda... PyroManic Dec 2013 #29
It would be so much better RainDog Dec 2013 #31
K&R DeSwiss Dec 2013 #30
 

Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
1. LOL!
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:19 PM
Dec 2013

"The growing use parallels an increase in the potency of marijuana, so the drug can be even more harmful to developing brains than in the past, she added.'

Such bullshit. Pot 30 years ago was better than the shit they have today. I was there, I know. Show me ANY weed today that you can smell doubled bagged and I'll buy it. Show me any weed that makes your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth. Or any weed that can give you such red eyes you can hardly keep them open. It doesn't exists anymore. But we're told this new crap is so much stronger. Bullshit! My tolerance has nothing to do with the strong smell it once had, and the resin that used to drip off joints.

Good to see more teens smoking weed rather than fucking themselves up with booze.

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
4. I had a couple nice nugs sitting in a plastic film can
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:26 PM
Dec 2013

in my garage about a month ago. A buddy brought it by. Before I even had a chance to smoke any, my entire house reeked of it. It was a wonderfully, skunky smell... Just over a gram, and it clogged my bowl with resin twice before it was gone.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
6. As I and others here have noted
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:29 PM
Dec 2013

your claim does not match current reality.

Also, groups that are pro-legalization have been using gas chromatography to measure the level of THC in various hybrid strains and, yes, there are many strains now that have higher levels of THC than would have been considered the norm thirty years ago.

One way this is demonstrated, btw, is by the creation of a strain specifically for children who suffer from a form of epilepsy. CBD, not THC, is the useful component of cannabis that halts or reduces seizures. When parents went looking for high CBD strains, they were hard to find because cannabis plants produce CBD and THC in adverse proportion. The greater the THC, iow, the lower the CBD. Someone is now cultivating cannabis with low THC/high CBD just for the purpose of helping children with epilepsy.

CBD does have calming effects, but not the psychotropic high that people experience from THC - so, contrary to your anecdotal experience, the reality is that there are many strains of cannabis produced and consumed that contain higher levels of THC than the average cannabis in the past - they were bred specifically for the purpose of increasing THC levels.

Cannabis, of course, isn't just one thing - there are three species. Ruderalis has little to no psychotropic effect but Sativa and Indica have specific effects. Most plants that are grown indoors for consumption are hybrids of these two species.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
8. LOL
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:33 PM
Dec 2013

Also, the use of over-the-counter drugs, used illegally, such as Vicodin, is down - while the use of stimulants, such as Adderall, are up.

Cannabis is much, much healthier than Vicodin as a recreational drug. You can overdose on Vicodin, which contains a synthetic opiod, but not cannabis.

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
3. The same old Mexican shwag from the 60s is still widely available...
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:20 PM
Dec 2013

...and easier and cheaper to come by than the "good stuff".

This bunk that "it's more potent now" is bullshit. There have always been small growers, taking care of their plants properly, which will increase potency (ie, stripping out male plants so the females are unpollinated, proper nutrients, proper drying and curing time). The best pot I EVER smoked was Bangladesh Sativa. I got the seeds from an Australian guy. He had been growing that particular strain, unadulterated, since the 1960s (and this was an old land strain, not a cross bred hybrid). I planted, grew, and harvested my own crop. Better than any medicinal I've picked up via Colorado or California. Long lasting high.

And dangerous? Yeah. Pot's real dangerous, alright.

 

Politicalboi

(15,189 posts)
7. This bunk that "it's more potent now" is bullshit.
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:29 PM
Dec 2013

Finally someone who agrees with me. Back in the day where we only had 4 choices, Skunk, Thai, Hawaiian, Mexican. The bud you could stick to a wall, and it would stay there. The bud that made your baggie stick together. That's the "Bomb". Not this shit today. That's why I'm hoping we legalize and we can get imported shit from countries that know how to grow "good" weed.

tridim

(45,358 posts)
12. LOL. Imported shit?
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 05:16 PM
Dec 2013


Apparently you've never had better than Mexican brick weed if you describe modern strains as non-sticky and "shit". Wow.

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
18. Modern strains are great for what they are...
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 07:08 PM
Dec 2013

A custom tailored strain. But have you ever had thai stick? Or a good land strain? Trust me. Modern strains have NOTHING on that.

And I've tried damn near everything.

 

hollowdweller

(4,229 posts)
26. I agree 100%
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 12:02 AM
Dec 2013

I don't know about legal states, but to me so much of the current stuff is all about smell and look.

I can remember back in the day Columbian that was easily as good as the best stuff now. It just didn't look or smell as good.

Maybe it's just because there's so little pure sativa nowdays. I remember the first indica I ran into and it was knockout. Now I think something has been lost in the hybridization.

However the average hash now is 10 times better than the average back in the 70's.



RainDog

(28,784 posts)
9. If you've ever watched Strain Hunters
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:46 PM
Dec 2013

Strain Hunters are a group in the Netherlands that make documentaries about their searches for landraces of cannabis strains.

They're part of a seed company and have often won awards at the Cannabis Cup for their cannabis hybrids. They demonstrate how people in the high mountains of Afghanistan created hashish rolled off their hands, how small villagers in various places produce hash blocks that are sold to European dealers, mostly, and they help these farmers to maintain their lands with these non-hybrid strains of cannabis.

No doubt there were very good strains of cannabis available in the past, but not to the degree that these same are now available with the advent of hybrid, indoor-grown cannabis in the U.S. and Europe. The reason, btw, for these higher THC strain is because Reagan began spraying poison on marijuana grown in Mexico. Our drug warriors poisoned the ground water for all people living below these fields yet had no impact upon the cultivation of cannabis itself - the growers moved inside and the Pacific Northwest and Amsterdam became the centers of a new industry devoted to high-potency hybrid cannabis.

Michael Pollan wrote a great story about this long ago. http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/how-pot-has-grown/

 

Dr Hobbitstein

(6,568 posts)
19. Indoor grow is NOT new.
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 07:13 PM
Dec 2013

They've been doing that since the 60s as well. Like I said before, the techniques have ALWAYS been there.

I've tried the stuff from the Cali and Colorado dispensaries (have friends in both states). And while it was potent as all hell, it didn't hold a candle to Bangladesh Sativa.

I will say, however, my favorite strain is a modern one, however it may be extinct at this point: White Rino. It was a hybrid of White Widow and an unknown Indica strain. Heady as all hell. With a wonderful body buzz. I used to take a couple one hits of it a day, and I'd end up stoned all day. But a very functional, happy high. Just gliding through the world.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
20. Yes, but Reagan turned indoor grows into the norm
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 07:40 PM
Dec 2013

and made "sea of green" the standard for marijuana production in the U.S. and Europe. Interestingly, 1% of America's energy consumption, so I read, is for indoor cultivation of cannabis.

Some people think that outdoor cultivation creates better strains, especially compared to hydroponically-grown cannabis. I liken it to tomatoes. Nothing beats a homegrown tomato. Dirt is a wonderful thing.

From what I've read - I haven't been there etc, a lot of the northern CA production includes outdoor.

I think that hybrids, which are so much of the norm now for commercial sales, sacrifice properties of indica and sativa for the benefit of size of the plant for growing. So, no doubt pure sativa or indica would have different effects, and different strains of the same would, too.

I've known people with dispensary cards, etc. too and the stuff stank to high heaven, though some also smelled like citrus, was sticky, with little colored strands, from white to orange to red, and glittery-looking white or clear crystals, and, though I cannot speak about my personal experience since I'm not one of those people with access, I was informed these were all high quality.

When cannabis is legal, I can see a market, like the micro-beer industry, that will have special local strains and also imports from other nations from landraces in particular regions.

I'd much rather have people in Afghanistan growing cannabis than poppies for heroin. Last I read up on this, a lot of farmers there had switched to cannabis. The European market for hash is stronger than that in the U.S., also from what I read, and these farmers were creating hashish for that market.

And, as far as this new study goes in relation to all this - before this year, through the aughts, up to 2009, cannabis use among teenagers fell. So, with cannabis legal, medically, since 1996, the sky did not fall for teenagers and cannabis use.

I would imagine, however, when cannabis is made legal, there will be an uptick in use temporarily, but that will, again, fall.


mountain grammy

(26,553 posts)
5. NIDA can bite me and yeah, what you said!
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 04:27 PM
Dec 2013

The proof is in the reality of millions of Americans like me and my husband who have been smoking pot since we were teens. We've lived our lives and raised our kids and paid our taxes and our bills and have money set aside for retirement and know for a fact the anti marijuana bullshit is just that, bullshit!

XemaSab

(60,212 posts)
11. Teens just don't buy the hype that taking a bong hit is going to mean a lifetime at McD's
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 05:06 PM
Dec 2013

They know they're going to wind up at McD's anyway, so why not get a little toasty before the swing shift starts?

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
17. sad
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 06:25 PM
Dec 2013

but sometimes true.

however, Richard Branson seemed to do okay with the more than occasional bong hit, too...and computer programmers, and most every other field of work these days, tho programmers especially.

Dopers_Greed

(2,640 posts)
13. "We should be extremely concerned," said Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 05:21 PM
Dec 2013

You can't have it both ways. So what'll it be? I'd rather have more pot-smoking than meth use. But that's just me.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
15. great links and info
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 06:12 PM
Dec 2013

Life is full of ironies.

One good thing Volkow has done is to help move public perception of drug addiction (not talking about cannabis so much here) from a view of moral failing to a physical/psychological approach to help those with addictive behaviors.

I hope, with the improved cultivation methods, seed options, etc. that the NIDA is creating better product for those few still grandfathered into the Federal medical marijuana program (which Bush Sr. stopped, btw.)

fwiw - medical marijuana was legal even after the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, tho not often cited, until 1970, when Nixon created the current War on Drugs that scheduled cannabis as a substance having no medical value, despite 5000 years of use for the same. Soon after, NORML began legal action to return medical status to marijuana, and worked to do so for 22 years.

Volkow controls the marijuana that's use for the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Study.

via wiki-

The origins of the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Study program began after Robert Randall brought a lawsuit (Randall v. U.S)[2] against the Food and Drug Administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health, Education & Welfare. Randall, afflicted with glaucoma,[2] had successfully used the Common Law doctrine of necessity to argue against charges of marijuana cultivation because it was deemed a medical necessity (U.S. v. Randall). On November 24, 1976, federal Judge James Washington ruled:

While blindness was shown by competent medical testimony to be the otherwise inevitable result of the defendant's disease, no adverse effects from the smoking of marijuana have been demonstrated...Medical evidence suggests that the medical prohibition is not well-founded.[3][4]


The criminal charges against Randall were dropped, and following a petition (May 1976) filed by Randall, federal agencies began providing him with FDA-approved access to government supplies of medical marijuana, becoming the first American to receive marijuana for the treatment of a medical disorder. Randall went public with his victory and shortly after the government tried to prevent his legal access to marijuana. This led to the 1978 lawsuit where Randall was represented pro bono publico by law firm Steptoe & Johnson. Twenty-four hours after filing the suit, the federal agencies requested an out-of-court settlement which resulted in Randall gaining prescriptive access to marijuana through a federal pharmacy near his home.

The settlement in Randall v. U.S. became the legal basis for the FDA's Compassionate IND program.[2] Initially only available to patients afflicted by marijuana-responsive disorders and orphan drugs, the concept was expanded to include HIV-positive patients in the mid-1980s. Due to the growing number of AIDS patients throughout the late 1980s and the resulting numbers of patients who joined the Compassionate IND program, the George H. W. Bush administration closed the program down in 1992. At its peak, the program had thirty active patients.


Reagan ramped up the WoD and moved from being pro-legalization to anti in order to appeal to the religious right and the counter-culture haters. Prior to that he supported legal cannabis, interestingly.

Bush Sr. stopped the federal medical marijuana program at the height of the AIDS crisis - when patients could have so benefited from the palliative properties of marijuana in relation to cancer and other illnesses.

But because conservatives and, at that time especially, Republicans made it impossible to legally obtain cannabis for medical use, activists in California began supplying medical marijuana to AIDS patients in hospitals in CA.

So, when Bush Sr. stopped the medical marijuana program, state-based medical marijuana programs began, first illegally, then legally. The federal program ran from 1988 to 1992. California voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996.

Now there are 20 states, and DC, with medical marijuana laws, and, of course, two states with completely legal (at the state level) cannabis.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
16. she also controls the cannabis available for scientific and medical studies
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 06:19 PM
Dec 2013

Last edited Thu Dec 19, 2013, 03:37 AM - Edit history (1)

And the federal govt. has routinely made it impossible to obtain cannabis through their program for studies.

Interestingly, tho, Raphael Mechoulam, at Hebrew University, spoke at a conference on medical cannabis, held in the U.S., and noted that the U.S. regularly supplies cannabis for research elsewhere. He's the guy who first isolated the structure of and synthesized THC in 1970.

Maybe she gets a better price if she sells to foreign nations, especially since the U.S. tries to keep other nations from cultivating marijuana via the U.N. Single Convention on Drugs.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
22. Aaaand the NYTimes serves up the propaganda
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 09:56 PM
Dec 2013
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/growing-marijuana-use-among-teenagers-spurs-concerns/?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=HL_IMU_20131218&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1385874000000&bicmet=1388638800000&fblinkge0&_r=0

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

The report raises concerns that the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, which can now be sold legally in 20 states and the District of Columbia, has been influencing use of the drug among teenagers. Health officials are concerned by the steady increase and point to what they say is a growing body of evidence that adolescent brains, which are still developing, are susceptible to subtle changes caused by marijuana.

“The acceptance of medical marijuana in multiple states leads to the sense that if it’s used for medicinal purposes, then it can’t be harmful,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which issued the report. “This survey has shown very consistently that the greater the number of kids that perceive marijuana as risky, the less that smoke it.” Starting early next year, recreational marijuana use will also be legal in Colorado and Washington.

Experts debate the extent to which heavy marijuana use may cause lasting detriment to the brain. But Dr. Volkow said that one way marijuana might affect cognitive function in adolescents was by disrupting the normal development of white matter through which cells in the brain communicate.


I also think it's worthwhile to note that the NIDA will only support/fund research that shows harm from marijuana use.

But what about that growing evidence? Earlier this week, this research made the news: heavy cannabis using teenagers showed changes in the thalmus, mostly. Therefore, according to the NIDA, legal cannabis for adults should be opposed. However, the scientists didn't find the same conclusion that the NIDA did (for today's report). Here's what the scientists had to say -

Smith stressed that it does not prove cause-and-effect, and neither did the PNAS study. The differences in brain geography in Smith’s study could have existed before the young people used weed — it’s possible that their brain differences made them more likely to smoke pot in the first place.

“It’s chicken-and-egg,” explained Donald Dougherty, vice-chair for research and the Wurzbach Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

“We can identify certain differences, mainly in impulse control, related to the onset of substance use,” Dougherty said. “But the key thing is that we do not know what impact drug use has on normal development. It may be that differences at the beginning leads to drug use, then drug use also impacts normal development. We can’t tease these things out.”

Dougherty found the study “very interesting” but agreed with Smith that “there are lots of unanswered questions.” Ideally, researchers would follow children from a time before they ever started using, through a period of use, and into adult years to track brain and cognition changes.


http://www.nbcnews.com/health/teen-pot-use-could-hurt-brain-memory-new-research-suggests-2D11741988

The research had a small sample size, and had no "baseline" brain images to compare - to see if brains in those who heavily used marijuana were altered prior to use.

In 2011, another study with more subjects, that compared alcohol and marijuana with before and after scans over an 18-month period, found that marijuana had no impact upon white matter in the brain, while alcohol did. They also had no "before" brain scans to compare. But they indicated that alcohol created measurable changes related to the same brain regions as the study released this week, while cannabis did not.

Researchers scanned the brains of 92 adolescents, ages 16 to 20, before and after an 18-month period. During that year and a half, half of the teens -- who already had extensive alcohol and marijuana-use histories -- continued to use marijuana and alcohol in varying amounts. The other half abstained or kept consumption minimal, as they had throughout adolescence.

The before-and-after brain scans of the teens consuming typically five or more drinks at least twice a week showed reduced white matter brain tissue health, study co-author Susan Tapert, neuroscientist at University of California, San Diego, told HuffPost. This may mean declines in memory, attention, and decision-making into later adolescence and adulthood, she said.

However, the level of marijuana use -- up to nine times a week during the 18 months -- was not linked to a change in brain tissue health. The researchers did not test performance; they only looked at brain scans.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/teens-marijuana-brain-tissue-alcohol_n_2331779.html

...and yet alcohol is legal for adults.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
23. Melanie Dreher longitudinal study
Wed Dec 18, 2013, 10:04 PM
Dec 2013

Another interesting research project that was done decades ago concerned the use of cannabis by pregnant women in Jamaica. The nurse PhD, Melanie Dreher, now a Dean, who did the research found no harm for children in their physical or mental well being, and found those children actually scored higher on the Brazelton Scale, the highly recognized neonatal behavioral assessment that evaluates behavior.

Her research was published in 1991.

When her outcomes did not support the drug warrior propaganda, she was unable to get funding sponsors for further research. Here's a presentation that discusses both the research and the problems she had after the results did not conform.



Kurovski

(34,655 posts)
27. I visited Orr High school in chicago to help tape a Q&A last month
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 12:28 AM
Dec 2013

and in a chat with a guidance counselor, we learned that drugs had fallen out of favor with the students, almost a generational thing. They were interested in technology, and in affording it.

they saw too many adults screw it up easily on drugs.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
28. Use of all illegal (and some legal) drugs are down for teens
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 04:14 AM
Dec 2013

with the exception of cannabis. According to the NIDA, cannabis usage among teens has not been this high since the 1980s.

The survey reported that 39.5% of 12th-graders see regular marijuana use as harmful; that’s down from 44.1% last year, and lower than the rates from the last two decades. Those numbers are troubling to the institute because previous survey data shows an association between “softening attitudes and increased use of marijuana,” the agency said.

“Our issue around marijuana is a gradual undermining of social disapproval and a perceived harmfulness” of its use," (Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health) said in an interview.


http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sn-pot-teens-20131218,0,4063336.story#axzz2nrkyfIgL

A study in May, done by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, showed that only 26% of students surveyed agreed with the statement “In my school, most teens don’t smoke marijuana,” though 37 percent said the same in 2008. The May survey noted 71 percent of teens say they have friends who use marijuana regularly, up from 64 percent in 2008.

So, yes, it looks like drugs have fallen out of favor, but herb has not.

However, I would expect to see something like this as cannabis is first legalized because of the novelty. Then it will be boring and a lot of people will stop - and people generally stop or greatly reduce consumption when they have kids and find employment with greater responsibilities.

One argument for legalization is to make cannabis "boring" by mainstreaming it.

PyroManic

(2 posts)
29. Of course it's propaganda...
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 04:37 AM
Dec 2013

The majority is quite aware, however it's the minority of prohibitionists who continue to impede progress.

While all in all the recreational use of cannabis is quite safe in comparison to the legal alternatives of depressants the aforementioned group would never care to entertain the mainstream legalization.

RainDog

(28,784 posts)
31. It would be so much better
Thu Dec 19, 2013, 02:37 PM
Dec 2013

imo, it would be so much better to approach this issue within the realms of reality.

The American people want marijuana legalized. The more people learn about the history of prohibition of marijuana, and the positive medical benefits for some, the more people want to stop putting people into jail over possession or sale of the same - and this still happens. People are serving prison sentences for simple possession because of three strikes laws. For possession of something safer than an aspirin.

For a long time now more than 70% of the American population has supported legal medical cannabis. Across all demographic categories, political beliefs, religious beliefs... what issue gets this sort of overwhelming support in spite of decades of misleading propaganda? Not too many. And this year a majority indicated they favored complete legality for cannabis.

The govt. offices tasked with creating policy do themselves no favors to continue reefer madness talk because they undermine people's faith in their trustworthiness on other topics too.

The insistence that cannabis is a schedule I, with no medical value, is preposterous. This should change immediately because it's such an obvious lie. But it's a lie that creates jobs for those who want to control adult behavior and use teenagers as an excuse.

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