More Seek Help For Marijuana Addiction

Fort Wayne.com ^ | Mar. 4, 2005 | Kevin Freking

[MisterRepublican]

WASHINGTON - The admission rate for those who seek treatment for marijuana use nearly tripled between 1992 and 2002, according to the latest data compiled by the federal government.

The numbers released Friday reflect a growing use of marijuana in the 1990s and an increase in the potency of marijuana, said Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"This report makes clear what people in the public health community have known for years, which is marijuana is a much more dangerous drug than many Americans realize," Riley said. "This report is a wake up call for parents that marijuana is not a soft drug. It's a much bigger part of the addiction problem than is generally understood."

The study on treatment rates was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which estimated that 41 states experienced an increase in the number of people who sought treatment for marijuana use during the decade studied.

[A CA Guy]

Those that worship here in their religion of pot have the zeal of an addict or dealer. Probably just old hippies though.

[rhombus]

Cheap shot. You can do better than name-calling.

[A CA Guy]

I figure the pro-pot movement that we find among the advocates here to mostly be from the libertarian cult and the rest I figure to be old hippies or kids that grew up on a commune.

In a time when most people are into health, it is odd that some still want to be self medicated, and when some try to bring the Constitution in to justify their problems, all I can do is laugh at them with the rest of conservatives.

[ravingnutter]

ROTFLMAO...everyone knows that people under the influence of pot are too paranoid to commit crimes. More likely they were under the influence of harder drugs.

[headsonpikes]

Here is the archetype of the New Totalitarian American - a new creature similar in most respects to New Soviet Man.

Among this Koolaid-guzzling 'Progressive American' camp, the Father/Mother Government is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful.

Pitiful, really.

[ravingnutter]

Here's a good question for you...if we aren't suppose to smoke pot, then why do we come pre-wired with Cannabinoid Receptors?

[Phocion]

Why are the health effects of marijuana relevant to its legal status?

Frequent use of alcohol, cigarettes, and junk food is also unhealthy. They might not be wise to use, but should they be banned? Lack of exercise is also unhealthy. Should the state mandate a certain amount of exercise per week? Lack of sleep is also unhealthy. Perhaps we ought to set an 8 hour a night minimum, and spend billions of dollars enforcing it and locking up sleep offenders. I read that masturbation can relieve stress and help people fall asleep. Maybe the government ought to enforce a daily dose of masturbation for health.

And why is it so laughable to bring the Constitution into such discussions? Is there a part giving the federal government authority to regulate what chemicals people put in their bodies, and I'm just missing it? If so, why'd they need to amend the Constitution to ban alcohol?

[gdani]

Those that worship here in their religion of pot have the zeal of an addict or dealer. Probably just old hippies though

Someone on one of these endless pot threads once theorized that you're actually for marijuana legalization & that you are just trying to make WOD-types look bad through your nonsensical posts.

That theory is starting to gain ground with me.

[TKDietz]

"The study on treatment rates was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which estimated that 41 states experienced an increase in the number of people who sought treatment for marijuana use during the decade studied."

That's really not an honest statement of the facts. Almost all of the marijuana treatment is court ordered or at least done to please the court or an employer. People caught for possession of marijuana where I live are always ordered into a marijuana treatment program, which really only consists of a few classes. Parents are often drug tested when their children end up in juvenile court and if positive they are often ordered into treatment. You often see something similar in custody or visitation cases where one side demands drug tests in court and parents are either ordered to complete treatment or they go through it to please the court to improve chances of favorable rulings. I've seen a lot of people check themselves into treatment on their own volition because of drugs or alcohol but I've never known anyone who has checked themselves into treatment for marijuana alone unless they had no real choice in the matter, although I'm sure it sometimes happens.

We are obviously getting some spin here from the ONDCP and maybe even SAMHSA. I also suspect that what is probably really going on here is that a lot of these people checked themselves into treatment due to poly substance abuse problems, but for the purposes of this little propaganda effort they are only mentioning the marijuana and not the other drugs. The government spins and plays with these numbers so much it's hard to believe anything they put out.

I'm not in any way arguing marijuana is harmless, or that it can't be difficult for people who get into the habit of smoking it to leave it alone. I'm just pointing out some obvious spin in this article.

[ravingnutter]

I figure the pro-pot movement that we find among the advocates here to mostly be from the libertarian cult and the rest I figure to be old hippies or kids that grew up on a commune.

Whoa...you are sure are making sweeping assumptions about people that you don't even know. I could just as easily say that your opinion may have been slanted by your mother's bias due to her experiences working with the drug culture, which she instilled in you. It happens...my grandmother was afraid of horses because one trampled one of her daughters to death. I grew up with that fear as well, because she instilled that fear in me while I was growing up. You would make a more convincing argument if you would stick to facts rather than trying to dismiss smokers as slackers and criminals. In my experience, they are neither, not even close.

[Know your rights]

You can do better than name-calling.

Doesn't look like he can.

[Know your rights]

the pot was laced with Mercury and could easily have been distributed to anyone.

Another good argument for legalizing and regulating pot. Thanks!

[Tribune7]

There are people who can get addicted to all kinds of things, including caffeine.

Caffeine is very, very addicting.

[TKDietz]

"Super high THC all the time."

From your link:

"According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse Marijuana Potency Monitoring Program, the average THC level of samples from Hawaii has decreased from 11.9 percent in 1998 and 11.1 percent in 1999 to 6.2 percent in 2000. Despite this decrease, cannabis cultivated in Hawaii still yields marijuana with THC levels that exceed the national average (4.92%)."

So you are saying that 6.2% is super high potency? That's barely over the national average in 2000. It's nowhere close to the 25% super weed the government is always harping about, which obviously must make up an exceedingly low percentage of the market if it truly exists because according to government numbers the average pot on the streets is far weaker than that.

[rhombus]

and when some try to bring the Constitution in to justify their problems, all I can do is laugh at them with the rest of conservatives.

If you call yourself a conservative and laugh at those who base the role of government on the Constitution, you are as ill-informed about conservatism as you are about marijuana. You may be a Republican sir, but you are no conservative.

[CSM]

"The admission rate for those who seek treatment for marijuana use nearly tripled between 1992 and 2002, according to the latest data compiled by the federal government."

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the CJ system sentencing offenders to substance abuse treatment. Blind sentencing guidelines have done a lot to line the pockets of campaign supporters of certain Judges.

[rhombus]

Blind sentencing guidelines have done a lot to line the pockets of campaign supporters of certain Judges.

And they keep up a steady revenue stream for Gov't through fines and lawyers through defense pleas.

[CSM]

" figure the pro-pot movement that we find among the advocates here to mostly be from the libertarian cult and the rest I figure to be old hippies or kids that grew up on a commune.

In a time when most people are into health, it is odd that some still want to be self medicated, and when some try to bring the Constitution in to justify their problems, all I can do is laugh at them with the rest of conservatives."

---

I wonder what Rush would have to say about your brand of conservatism. Me thinks you are another righteous republican that doesn't understand that true conservatism means protecting personal liberty. This means that some people will chose to live in a manner that you might not approve, but their ability to do so allows you to live as you chose.

You would prefer to destroy that liberty, just to ensure that everyone lives by your rules. The RR is just as damaging as the loony left, you just take different paths to fascism and tyranny.

[alisasny]

Pot is not the drug of choice among those in inpatient rehab or outpatient. They may use it but it is the least of their problems which are opiates, alcohol or cocaine abuse. Also many are forced into treatment by CPS or legal troubles.

[A CA Guy]

If you need the freedom to self medicate for your brand of liberty, you've got disturbingly BIG PROBLEMS.