Increasing Marijuana Use in High School Is Reported

[YankeeFan]

It's only going to get worse if/as more states change their laws:

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

The report raises concerns that the relaxation of restrictions on marijuana, which can now be sold legally in 20 states and the District of Columbia, has been influencing use of the drug among teenagers. Health officials are concerned by the steady increase and point to what they say is a growing body of evidence that adolescent brains, which are still developing, are susceptible to subtle changes caused by marijuana.

“The acceptance of medical marijuana in multiple states leads to the sense that if it’s used for medicinal purposes, then it can’t be harmful,” said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which issued the report. “This survey has shown very consistently that the greater the number of kids that perceive marijuana as risky, the less that smoke it.” Starting early next year, recreational marijuana use will also be legal in Colorado and Washington.

Experts debate the extent to which heavy marijuana use may cause lasting detriment to the brain. But Dr. Volkow said that one way marijuana might affect cognitive function in adolescents was by disrupting the normal development of white matter through which cells in the brain communicate.

http://nyti.ms/JFWwPH

 

[Dick Whitman]

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Young people are also the fastest growing sector of coffee drinkers.

 

[Stoney]

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

If this indicates that high schoolers have begun replacing alcohol with marijuana, then that is a good thing. Not bad.

 

[YankeeFan]

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

If this indicates that high schoolers have begun replacing alcohol with marijuana, then that is a good thing. Not bad.

Would you like to back up that statement, Stone(r)y?

 

[Big Circus]

Stoney

 

[Boom_70]

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

If this indicates that high schoolers have begun replacing alcohol with marijuana, then that is a good thing. Not bad.

But it will lead to use of stronger narcotics. I learned that from Joe Friday
on Dragnet.

 

[The Big Ragu]

 

[Stoney]

A new federal report shows that the percentage of American high school students who smoke marijuana is slowly rising, while the use of alcohol and almost every other drug is falling.

If this indicates that high schoolers have begun replacing alcohol with marijuana, then that is a good thing. Not bad.

Would you like to back up that statement, Stone(r)y?

Just common sense. Compared to alcohol, marijuana is by nature less dangerous, less physiologically addictive, destroys far fewer lives, and is less likely to cause mayhem, menace and/or death.

The only thing significantly worse about marijuana compared to alcohol is its current legal status, which is illogical and rapidly changing.

We'd be best off with high schoolers that do no drugs. But, if forced into a "choice of drugs" scenario, and setting aside the legality issues, a high schooler is doing less damage and posing lesser risk by smoking weed than guzzling booze.

 

[Bob Cook]

Considering that outer suburbs in Chicago are scrambling to figure out how to deal with a spike in heroin use -- particularly among high schoolers -- they'd probably appreciate it if students turned to weed. They'd be unmotivated, but they wouldn't be dead.

http://napervillemagazine.com/2012/09/heroin-highway-napervilles-crusade-against-an-addictive-and-deadly-drug/

 

[YankeeFan]

But, if forced into a "choice of drugs" scenario, and setting aside the legality issues, a high schooler is doing less damage and posing lesser risk by smoking weed than guzzling booze.

What about at "moderate" levels?

Alcohol is easily processed by the body, is water soluble, and you **** it out. Marijuana is fat soluble, and stays in the body longer:

Marijuana is different from most other drugs in that it is fat soluble rather than water soluble. This allows the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) to be more readily stored in the body. On the contrary, water soluble chemicals are eliminated from the body much more easily. In other words THC is stored in the body's fat cells.

The human organs that contain the most fat (and therefore store the most THC), are the brain and reproductive organs (ovaries or testicles). The storage of THC in these organs has significant consequences for both men and women.

http://adcaps.wsu.edu/drugs101/marijuana-effects/

It's particularly bad for the developing brain:

Experts debate the extent to which heavy marijuana use may cause lasting detriment to the brain. But Dr. Volkow said that one way marijuana might affect cognitive function in adolescents was by disrupting the normal development of white matter through which cells in the brain communicate.

http://nyti.ms/JFWwPH

It also has all the negative consequences as traditional cigarets.

If you had the choice between allowing your 18-year-old son to have a glass of wine each night with dinner, or to smoke one joint after dinner, which would you choose?

 

[Dick Whitman]

The relevant choice is not between a joint and a glass of wine. It's between a joint and, say, four or five glasses of wine. Or 7-8 beers.

 

[YankeeFan]

The relevant choice is not between a joint and a glass of wine. It's between a joint and, say, four or five glasses of wine. Or 7-8 beers.

If we're using 7-8 beers as the baseline, why would we use one joint?

And, certainly binge drinking is an issue, but almost by definition, binge drinkers are rarely daily drinkers, especially high school & college aged drinkers. They tend to celebrate the weekend by getting drunk.

Marijuana users are more likely to be daily users. And, the amount they smoke is dictated by the amount they have.

 

[Boom_70]

It will steel your woman and then rob your head

 

[Dick Whitman]

The relevant choice is not between a joint and a glass of wine. It's between a joint and, say, four or five glasses of wine. Or 7-8 beers.

If we're using 7-8 beers as the baseline, why would we use one joint?

And, certainly binge drinking is an issue, but almost by definition, binge drinkers are rarely daily drinkers, especially high school & college aged drinkers. They tend to celebrate the weekend by getting drunk.

Marijuana users are more likely to be daily users. And, the amount they smoke is dictated by the amount they have.

Because you drink 7-8 beers to get drunk, just like you smoke one joint to get high. You drink one glass of wine because it's food.

 

[Stoney]

If you had the choice between allowing your 18-year-old son to have a glass of wine each night with dinner, or to smoke one joint after dinner, which would you choose?

This question is utterly irrelevant to this issue in the real world.

When real world American high schoolers drink, they don't just "have a glass of wine with dinner", instead they drink in pursuit of intoxication. They do it to get drunk, and if not for the drunk, then they'd have no interest in doing it. Anyone who doesn't understand that must've spent their high school and college aged years in a cave.

 

[YankeeFan]

If you had the choice between allowing your 18-year-old son to have a glass of wine each night with dinner, or to smoke one joint after dinner, which would you choose?

This question is utterly irrelevant to this issue in the real world.

When real world American high schoolers drink, they don't just "have a glass of wine with dinner", instead they drink in pursuit of intoxication. They do it to get drunk, and if not for the drunk, then they'd have no interest in doing it. Anyone who doesn't understand that must've spent their high school and college aged years in a cave.

So, you'd let your son drink a glass of wine, but not smoke a joint, right?

That tells us which one you think is more dangerous.

You said it was "a good thing" if teens "replaced" alcohol with marijuana. But, now you want to pretend that teens who would drink alcohol to excess, would use marijuana in moderation?

That's absurd.

And, I'm fine with the idea that teens drink to get drunk. But, "drunk" is harder to hide from parents and teachers. Teens who drink, get drunk on the weekends, when their parents aren't around.

And, you only get drunk once a day.

Marijuana smokes get high daily. And they often do it multiple times a day.

 

[Dick Whitman]

If you had the choice between allowing your 18-year-old son to have a glass of wine each night with dinner, or to smoke one joint after dinner, which would you choose?

This question is utterly irrelevant to this issue in the real world.

When real world American high schoolers drink, they don't just "have a glass of wine with dinner", instead they drink in pursuit of intoxication. They do it to get drunk, and if not for the drunk, then they'd have no interest in doing it. Anyone who doesn't understand that must've spent their high school and college aged years in a cave.

So, you'd let your son drink a glass of wine, but not smoke a joint, right?

That tells us which one you think is more dangerous.

You said it was "a good thing" if teens "replaced" alcohol with marijuana. But, now you want to pretend that teens who would drink alcohol to excess, would use marijuana in moderation?

That's absurd.

No, I think he's saying that he'd prefer they smoke marijuana to excess rather than drink alcohol to excess, given the choice.

 

[Stoney]

Jesus Christ, YF, what a pile of dishonest strawman reasoning that last response is.

So, you'd let your son drink a glass of wine, but not smoke a joint, right?

That tells us which one you think is more dangerous.

I never said any ******* such thing. And it "tells us" no such thing. Instead the question simply has no real relevance because it's an invalid comparison of an intoxicating quantity of one substance vs. a non-intoxicating quantity of another. Apples to oranges.

You said it was "a good thing" if teens "replaced" alcohol with marijuana. But, now you want to pretend that teens who would drink alcohol to excess, would use marijuana in moderation?

What bull****. I'm not "pretending" a damn thing. I don't think teens are inclined to use either substance in "moderation",instead you were the one who introduced the preposterous "glass of wine" notion suggesting that one would merely be used by teens in moderation.

I've no illusions. Doesn't matter if it's alcohol or weed, if high schoolers are using it, it's for the same basic purpose of getting their buzz on. And, if they must do that with one or the other, it's safer for both them and society if it's via weed instead of booze.

Teens who drink, get drunk on the weekends, when their parents aren't around.

And, you only get drunk once a day.

Marijuana smokes get high daily. And they often do it multiple times a day.

Bull****. There are plenty of marijuana smokers who only do it occasionally. There are plenty of boozehounds who drink every day. There are no hard and fast rules for that sort of thing (although it IS scientifically established that alcohol is far more physiologically addictive and harder for one who's become dependent to quit), these statements are just speculative self-serving BS.

 

[YankeeFan]

No, I think he's saying that he'd prefer they smoke marijuana to excess rather than drink alcohol to excess, given the choice.

Then he should back that up.

Marijuana is "safer" in some people's minds because you can't kill yourself via overdose.

But, I'm not sure why anyone thinks smoking marijuana in excess is a better choice than drinking to excess -- especially for teens.

And, let's not pretend that teens are judicious in the amount of marijuana they smoke. They smoke what they have.

Smoking daily, and more, is not rare:

Another important factor to consider is that people develop tolerance to marijuana, so experienced users usually consume more than occasional users. Plus, most of the people who use marijuana regularly really like it, and consequently they use a lot of it. Some of them use a bit too much, some of them indeed have dependency and abuse issues, but then on the other hand, many individuals who use a lot of marijuana have no such issues and simply like the effects of the drug. Many individuals also actually use marijuana for medical reasons, such as to remedy chronic pain, and need to use the drug frequently. Regardless of the reasons for use, there is a lot of evidence that many frequent users of marijuana consume a lot of it.


For example, in a 1993 study by Stephens, Roffman and Simpson nearly 50% of the sample of frequent marijuana users recruited for the study used marijuana four times or more per day. In another 1994 study by Stephens, Roffman and Simpson a sample of near-daily users of marijuana averaged marijuana use of about four times per day. A 1997 study by Chen, Kandel, and Davis based on NSDUH survey data reports daily marijuana consumption in the range or one, two, three and four or more, with about 25% of daily users reporting use of three or more joints per day.

http://www.hightimes.com/read/cannabis-column-how-much-pot-do-americans-consume

If you start as a teen, and develop a tolerance, you need to smoke more and more, while your brain is still developing.

That's bad.