{"id":9309,"date":"2014-03-27T12:17:36","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T12:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=9309"},"modified":"2014-03-27T12:17:46","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T12:17:46","slug":"dont-let-colorados-pot-experiment-draw-in-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2014\/03\/dont-let-colorados-pot-experiment-draw-in-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t let Colorado’s pot experiment draw in teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colorado has legalized marijuana, and I\u2019m glad. We need to try some new approaches to drug policy in this country, and if Colorado is willing to be the guinea pig, we should be grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here at home, we need to be careful that Colorado\u2019s experiment doesn\u2019t blur one very important fact. Here, there and everywhere, teens should not be smoking marijuana.<\/p>\n

Tina Clemmons is a prevention specialist for the Dallas Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. She has been hearing more and more parents dismiss concerns about their teens\u2019 drug use.\u00a0 \u201cThey say, \u2018It\u2019s just marijuana.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. David Atkinson, a local professor of psychiatry and an addiction specialist, hears much the same thing from teens themselves. \u201c \u2018It\u2019s only pot,\u2019 they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

But both Clemmons and Atkinson strongly reject the argument. \u201cI\u2019m frightened to death,\u201d Clemmons said. \u201cParents and young people are not aware of the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, please don\u2019t confuse this with the \u201creefer madness\u201d hysteria of old. This is about scientific evidence, not scare tactics.\u00a0 And the science is clear that marijuana is not safe for the still-developing brains of teens and even young adults.<\/p>\n

Susan Foster is vice president and director of policy research at Columbia University\u2019s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. She put the matter in a way that jolted me.\u00a0 \u201cIn most cases,\u201d she said, \u201caddiction is a pediatric disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think of runny noses and ear infections as the stuff of pediatrics. It\u2019s painful to think of addiction as also part of childhood medicine.\u00a0 But Foster said, \u201cAdolescence is the critical period for onset of addiction. That\u2019s because the brain is still developing and is more vulnerable to damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

CASAColumbia has studied the link between addiction and age at first use of addictive substances \u2014 alcohol, tobacco and drugs, both legal and illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see some startling information,\u201d Foster said. \u201cThose who use addictive substances before age 15 are 6 1\/2 times more likely to develop addiction than those who did not use until 21 or older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brain chemistry is complicated, she said, but this risk factor is clear. \u201cEarly use hikes your risk of addiction,\u201d she said. \u201cThe more time you can buy before first use, the lower the risk.\u201d\u00a0 And addiction is not the only risk of early use. Daily use of marijuana among young people produces an average drop in IQ of 6 to 8 points, said Atkinson, who is on the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center.\u00a0 That\u2019s about the same as for children exposed to elevated lead levels, he said.<\/p>\n

All three experts I talked to say they believe that relaxing marijuana laws in Colorado and elsewhere is prompting more marijuana use among teens. \u201cLegalization sends a tacit message of approval,\u201d Atkinson said.\u00a0 So it becomes more important than ever, they said, for parents to send a clear message of disapproval \u2014 for marijuana and all addictive substances. Clearly stating expectations actually works, studies show.<\/p>\n

And though risk declines with age, Atkinson cautioned against framing the warning that way with teens. One of their greatest desires is to be treated as adults, he said, so a \u201cYou\u2019re still too young\u201d message is ineffective.<\/p>\n

Instead, he said, parents should give a concise, straightforward explanation of the scientific evidence of damage to developing brains. \u201cAdolescents often do well with that type of knowledge,\u201d he said. \u201cThey feel they are being respected when they are taught the science.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter what a parent\u2019s history with marijuana may have been, that should not translate into acceptance with their own children, the experts said. \u201cKids will be kids\u201d is not responsible parenting.\u00a0\u00a0 It will be interesting to see what Colorado\u2019s experiment in drug policy brings. But let\u2019s keep the experiment there, not in our homes.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0 www.dallasnews.com<\/a> 26th<\/sup> March 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado has legalized marijuana, and I\u2019m glad. We need to try some new approaches to drug policy in this country, and if Colorado is willing to be the guinea pig, we should be grateful. But here at home, we need to be careful that Colorado\u2019s experiment doesn\u2019t blur one very important fact. Here, there and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}