Posted on 05/03/2005 2:39:48 PM PDT by MisterRepublican
WASHINGTON — Youngsters who use marijuana are more likely to develop serious mental health problems, the government said Tuesday. A private group said law enforcement increasingly is targeting people who smoke and deal the drug.
Past medical studies have linked marijuana with a greater incidence of mental disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. But questions remain about whether people who smoke marijuana at a young age are already predisposed to mental disorders, or whether the drug caused those disorders.
Government officials say recent research makes a stronger case that smoking marijuana is itself a causal agent in psychiatric symptoms, particularly schizophrenia.
"A growing body of evidence now demonstrates that smoking marijuana can increase the risk of serious mental health problems," said John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.
Administration officials pointed to a handful of studies to make their case. One, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found adult marijuana smokers who first began using the drug before age 12 were twice as likely to have suffered a serious mental illness in the past year as those who began smoking after 18.
The ratio was 21 percent to 10.5 percent. Those who first started as teens also were at significantly higher risk.
Also Tuesday, The Sentencing Project released a report that found the government's "war on drugs" has become the "war on drug" as police agencies increasingly target marijuana.
Begun in the 1980s, the war on drugs was aimed at stopping large-scale narcotics traffickers, particularly those selling cocaine. But since 1990 more of the focus has been on catching users and low-level dealers. And more often than ever, the drug targeted is marijuana, according to the group, a national nonprofit organization that works on judicial reform and favors alternatives to jail.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
/sarcasm and humor
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
The additional frightening thing is that the medication used to deal with the resulting symptoms are worse than the afflictions.
I was (am) skeptical of the report but have yet to ask for the supporting documentation.
If the person reporting it is any indicator, it is indeed a serious problem.
Just go ahead and assume everything John Walters says is a lie.
Man, no wonder people want to get high.
The government also seems to think illegal immigration isn't a problem.
Stay skeptical. The guy had problems before, believe me.
I'd like to know the data source. When I filled out drug sureys in middle school I always said that I used heroin 5 times per day, etc. I can't imagine I was the only one. If the study is based solely on what the kids say they did, then I put a lot of doubt in it.
Is it your contention that pot is ALWAYS destructive but that alcohol is only SOMETIMES destructive. My theory is that we have 2000 years of culture that tells us how to deal with alcohol, but it is still a huge problem for us.
WOW....drugs change brain chemistry?...
and not necessarily for the better?
who knew?
That's why they call it 'dope'.
"Past medical studies have linked marijuana with a greater incidence of mental disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. But questions remain about whether people who smoke marijuana at a young age are already predisposed to mental disorders, or whether the drug caused those disorders."
They key word is "linked." You could also link gum chewing to smokers. You could link beans with rude behavior.
gum-chewing to lung cancer would be a better analogy
I have found that people who are depressed "self-medicate" with marijuana. Did the study take into account that perhaps depressed people self medicate?
On the surface, the WOD is indeed insanity -- at best, a cure worse than the disease.
But let's dig deeper -- the federal, state and municipal governments know exactly what they are doing, and why. By continuously stoking the propaganda machine against some drugs, they are able to vindicate enormous expenditures on their various bureaucracies, perpetuate a draconian web of laws that can be used to selectively punish any dissenters, all the while expand their authority in ever-widening circles.
If I was in their shoes, with their lust for power and lack of ethics, it's what I would do.
This cannot be true because Bill Clinton said he did not inhale and he`s the biggest psychopath out of all the `Rats. Oh wait, that`s not true, Hitlery is the champion.
"Uh-oh, here we go again, the pothead department of FR is going to jump all over this. It just has to be more propaganda to promote the War on Drugs..."
A far worse problem is meth.
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