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 mathewww
Lurker.
Registered: 10/17/07
Posts: 388
Loc: Seattle, Earth.
Last seen: 5 hours, 48 minutes
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 Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness
#8383570 - 05/09/08 10:38 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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By JENNIFER C. KERR – 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.
A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the office. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."
Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.
For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.
The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot — 8 percent compared with 3 percent.
Experts who have worked with children say there's nothing harmless about marijuana.
"I've seen many, many kids' lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana," said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. "It's somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, biological. You can't predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid."
Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that advocates the decriminalization of marijuana, called the study "an absolutely dishonest report, deliberately confusing correlation with causation."
"This very week the British government's official scientific advisers on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are 'unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,' such as depression, he said.
The drug control policy office analyzed about a dozen studies looking at marijuana use, including research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Overall, marijuana use among teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, down to about 2.3 million kids who used pot at least once a month, the drug control office said.
While the drop is encouraging, Walters appealed to parents to recognize signs of possible drug use and depression.
"It's not something you look the other way about when your teen starts appearing careless about their grooming, withdrawing from the family, losing interest in daily activities," Walters said. "Find out what's wrong."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hKEIHiNPWqU4UFeWtHY4Tru2_K-wD90IFGJ80
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 OrgoneConclusion
Snake Killer
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 7,380
Loc: In Battle
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: mathewww]
#8383614 - 05/09/08 10:49 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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Prison leads to happy thoughts?
And adult freedom to choose as laid out in the US Constitution leads to what?
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Thesaurus: a reference book that gives alternate names for dinosaurs.
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todesengel
Eater of Days
Registered: 08/04/05
Posts: 433
Last seen: 9 days, 9 hours
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: OrgoneConclusion]
#8383702 - 05/09/08 11:13 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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I feel like a god to have beaten such odds...
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johnm214
Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 6,517
Loc: Americas
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: todesengel]
#8383757 - 05/09/08 11:26 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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I think marijuana can definatly lead to mental illness, but not in the way most people presume.
Mental illness is only qualified as such when it signifigantly impacts someone's life. A depressed dude who smokes pot is probably less likely to go out and puruse normal life functioning.
Someone who smokes pot all the time and stays at home is more likely to develop problems in their life that would allow for a diagnosis of mental illness.
Either way, orgone correctly frames the question, which is, given this as fact, does it help to lock people in jail and convict them of crimes? I think the answer is unquestionably no.
The only way it could be yes, I submit, is if the deterrent effect of such sanctions stops others from indulging in marijuana. I submit this is not a proper role of government, and is just as socialist as the economical activites the "tough on (some) crime" politicians are usually opposed to.
When you take from one, whether liberty or money, to aid another, that is socialism no matter what. It is paradoxical that the same politicians most vigourously prosecuting the war on drugs are generally very opposed to socialism.
Further, I don't think the evidence bears out the fact that drug use is signifigantly tied to the activites of the justice system, but we need not reach this.
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fushock
re-un-colorblinded
Registered: 10/14/07
Posts: 352
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: mathewww]
#8383896 - 05/10/08 12:01 AM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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Does that mean non teens are in the clear? Sweet!
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Mush 4 Brains
Stranger
Registered: 12/19/07
Posts: 286
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: fushock]
#8383938 - 05/10/08 12:18 AM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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teen use of pot leads to fines and imprisonment not much else... just about everyone quits eventually most ppl say it just gets old. The thing about certain drugs like these is they should be a spice on life not the life.
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bonnahoo
A Friend
Registered: 03/06/06
Posts: 79
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: Mush 4 Brains]
#8385102 - 05/10/08 12:24 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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We all know that public safety/health isn't REALLY why cannabis is illegal (otherwise alcohol and tobacco would be at the top of the banned list) but they sure do TRY to make it seem that way
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 16,333
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 15 hours, 19 minutes
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: bonnahoo]
#8386289 - 05/10/08 05:42 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot — 8 percent compared with 3 percent.
Another way to read this...
The report also cited research that showed that teens who are feeling depressed were more than twice as likely to smoke marijuana blah blah blah...
I hate these implied causality fallacies they keep reporting as fact.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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archetype
Registered: 03/16/07
Posts: 276
Loc: Missouri
Last seen: 23 days, 18 hours
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Re: Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness [Re: Seuss]
#8386519 - 05/10/08 06:43 PM (5 months, 3 days ago) |
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I used to go out and dick around with friends around town all the time. Then i started smoking pot and now i'm afraid to go out my front door because i get harassed by town police because they know i smoke and want to catch me holding. So, the system has fucked me over because the only safe place i can chill and chief is at home where it's safe. All because i choose to enjoy the effects of a burning, harmless weed that relaxes me and makes me not want to feel down about life.
And it's strange that marijuana use is down. Everywhere i look, everyone i know is starting to try it because i told them it's harmless and fun. Now they understand. The truth will eventually succeed.
Now i've got to go roll up a blunt. 
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All keystrokes performed on this user's account are completely random and are not to be taken seriously.
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