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Drugs - Marijuana Dangers

The Dangers of Marijuana
Devastating Families

The Current "Scene"
Today's popular culture and the increased access to information means that children are vulnerable to messages that promote marijuana as a harmless drug instead of a dangerous one. By becoming familiar with the current facts regarding marijuana, the messages promoted in popular culture and the practices of pro-marijuana advocates, parents can better protect their families.

  • Marijuana use is often promoted in popular culture through songs, magazines, and goods with pro-marijuana messages. In popular music such as Tom Petty's song, You Don't Know How It Feels (lyrics - Let's get to the point, Let's roll another joint...), marijuana use is openly promoted.
  • Pro-marijuana magazines such as High Times proudly market ways to help users test clean and grow marijuana, including advertisements for marijuana seeds, marijuana growing equipment and drug paraphernalia.
  • While the Internet offers kids many opportunities for learning, constructive entertainment, and personal growth, it is also teaming with sites where marijuana use is praised and marijuana dangers are denied. Some of these sites, which blatantly promote marijuana use, include: midweststoners.com, stonernet.com, weedmart.com, and cannabistore.com, among thousands of other sites. Parents, concerned about the risks their kids face online, should educate themselves and their children about how to use the Internet safely. Parents can visit http://www.getnetwise.org for software programs they can use to block unsuitable web sites and monitor usage.
  • Movies, including ones rated PG such as Never Been Kissed, show marijuana use as harmless or beneficial. In this movie, the anxious, uptight main character cuts loose for the first time, dancing seductively and achieving new popularity, under the influence of hashish brownies. (1)
  • Pro-marijuana goods are marketed by local and national retailers, from t-shirts with pro-marijuana messages to hemp necklace-making supplies at craft stores.

Consequence
Heavy or long-term marijuana use impairs thought and behavior; users perceive that they are thinking clearly, but objectively are impairing their memory and decreasing their interest in conventional achievement and capacity for social interaction.

  • During the past decade, kids have started using marijuana at younger ages. Research shows that the younger a person is when they start using marijuana, the greater the number and severity of problems they will experience. (2) The percent of Illinois 8th graders who used marijuana in the past year increased from 9% in 1990 to 22.8% in 1997. (3)

Especially Dangerous For Teens
The drug impairs short-term memory, ability to concentrate, and motor skills at a time when these are particularly important to children developing and learning in school. Marijuana stunts the intellectual, emotional and psychological development of adolescents. There are more teens and children in treatment for marijuana than for any other substance, including alcohol. (4)

Gateway Drug
A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, using marijuana, alcohol, or any other illegal drug is virtually certain never to do so. (4) Nearly all users of other illegal drugs used marijuana first. Children who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than non-users. (5) One study showed that 20% of people who used marijuana 3 to10 times went on to use cocaine. (6)

Damage To Infants
Prenatal marijuana use is associated with increased premature birth. (7) Toddlers exposed to prenatal marijuana were found to have a lower IQ compared to children who were not exposed (8), and their sleep patterns were impaired causing more awake time. Sleep deprivation is frequently associated with emotional and behavioral difficulties and reduced attention span. (9)

The Power Of Parents
Parents have great power in influencing the choices of their children. Parents should be encouraged to make drug use by their children unlikely. Parents can:

  • Make clear rules against drugs and enforce them with consistency.
  • Serve as a positive role model.
  • Monitor their children's activities and guide children away from risky situations and negative peer influence.
  • Establish and maintain good communication with their children.
  • Appreciate a child's individuality and express appreciation for positive behavior.
  • Help children deal with peer pressure and media messages that may trivialize drug use.

References

  1. Medved, M. "Hollywood Again Makes Drug Use Seem Hip, Sexy." USA Today. Oct. 4, 1999.
  2. SAMHSA. "Teen marijuana users report psychosocial problems." SAMHSA News. pp. 2-4. Summer, 1998.
  3. Chestnut Health Systems. "Illinois Youth Study on Substance Abuse: Comparing 1993, 1995, and 1997 Results." p. C-4. 1999.
  4. Califano, Joseph A., Jr. "Non-Medical Marijuana: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette?" Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. July 1999.
  5. Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Oct. 27, 1994.
  6. Kleber, H. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 49:2 (Suppl); pp. 3-6. 1988.
  7. Cornelius, et al. Pediatrics. 95:738-743.
  8. Day, et al. Neurotoxicology and Teratology. 16:169-175. 1994.
  9. Dahl, et al. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 149:145-150. 1995.

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