California, whose initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use drew national headlines this year, is notoriously tolerant of a drug considered an evil weed in some parts of the country, the Los Angeles Times notes in this editorial. But is our lax attitude creating a school system full of Jeff Spicolis, the iconic California stoner from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”? R. Gil Kerlikowske, the Obama administration’s drug czar, suspects that it is. After an annual survey of teen drug use nationwide found that marijuana smoking is on the rise among eighth- through 12th-graders, Kerlikowske attributed [...]
WASHINGTON — America’s teens are using more marijuana and less alcohol, according to an annual government study of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders across the country. Some 6.1 percent of high-school seniors reported using marijuana this year, up from 5.2 percent in 2009, according to the Monitoring the Future survey released by the National Institutes of Health. Marijuana use by 10th-graders climbed from 2.8 percent to 3.3 percent, and for eighth-grade students it edged up from 1.0 percent to 1.2 percent, the Associated Press reports in the Sacramento Bee. “These high rates of marijuana use during [...]
I’m sorta glad that I delayed posting anything sooner about new research showing long-term cannabis use in youth can be linked to psychosis later in life. This well-written article arrives courtesy of L.A. Times Health and Science Editor Tami Dennis; careful reading is recommended. ================ Early, and then continued, use of marijuana does seem to be associated with an increased risk of psychosis and hallucinations, but allow us to quell some incipient panic. Caveats, after all, are our specialty. Previous studies had found a link (not necessarily a cause or effect) between cannabis use and [...]
UPDATE: Members of the Nevada Joint Union High School district unanimously approved a resolution to oppose marijuana dispensaries. Board members passed the resolution Wednesday in anticipation of a debate by the Grass Valley City Council sometime early this year, according to this story in The Union. ==================== High school leaders in Nevada County will consider opposing a medical marijuana dispensary in Grass Valley, The Union reports here. Staff for the Nevada Joint Union High School District cited the negative impact on local youth from the sanctioned sale of medical marijuana in the resolution that goes [...]
Jan 022010
Dr. Lynn Ponton, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, offers a medical perspective in this excerpt from a guest column published by the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s my medicine, Doc,” said 18-year-old Jonathan, when I asked him why he was smoking marijuana every day. Surprised that any physician would prescribe marijuana for the anxious, depressed and disorganized adolescent sitting in my psychiatric office, I asked him where he had obtained the prescription. “A doc just like you. I heard about her from a friend. Anyone over 18 can get [...]
Canadian teenagers are among the largest consumers of cannabis worldwide, according to this press release posted on Science Daily. The damaging effects of this illicit drug on young brains are worse than originally thought, according to new research by Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a psychiatric researcher from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. The new study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, suggests that daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause depression and anxiety, and have an irreversible long-term effect on the brain. “We wanted to know what happens in the brains of [...]
Smoking marijuana is becoming even more popular among U.S. teens and they have cut down on smoking cigarettes, binge drinking and using methamphetamine, according to a federal survey released Monday. The Associated Press story was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle, whose Web version can be found here. The AP reports that more teens also are getting high on prescription pain pills and attention-deficit drugs, according to eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders surveyed by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “The increase of teens smoking pot is partly because the [...]
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