Pubdate: Fri, 06 Apr 2012
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2012 The Billings Gazette
Contact: http://billingsgazette.com/app/contact/?contact=letter
Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author: Cindy Uken

'This comes as no surprise'

POLICE: 'GOOFY' LAWS CONTRIBUTE TO SPIKE IN MARIJUANA USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Montana ranks ninth among the top 17 states for marijuana use among
teens, which is predictable, according to local law enforcement
officials who blame the state's "goofy" and "convoluted" marijuana
laws.

"This comes as no surprise," said Billings Deputy Police Chief Tim
O'Connell. "We are definitely seeing an increase in the schools, and
it's definitely related to bad legislation. We can thank the passage
of legalizing marijuana. The laws aren't clear."

O'Connell said school resource officers are keenly aware of the
growing problem and are battling it through education and
enforcement.

Kristin Lundgren, director of Impact, a United Way of Yellowstone
County program that works to curb underage drinking, said there is no
"crisis of increased youth drug and alcohol use."

"We did see an increase in eighth-grade use as reported in 2010
surveys, and we also saw teens were saying that marijuana is less
risky and not harmful to your health," she said. "We also have lots of
anecdotal reports from School Resource Officers and school principals
of increased incidents with marijuana in the schools."

Montana voters approved medical marijuana by initiative in 2004. The
state, which in 2009 had fewer than 4,000 medical marijuana patients,
now has 11,993 on the Montana Marijuana Program registry. Of those,
1,778 are in Yellowstone County. Growth and sale of the drug have
become a burgeoning business in the state. The law allows qualified
patients and their caregivers to grow and/or possess a restricted
number of marijuana plants.

The latest revelation about increased marijuana usage among Montana
teens comes with the release of a study published in the Archives of
General Psychiatry. The study, which looked at a representative sample
of 10,123 teens between ages 13 to 18, shows that by the time most
teens reach late adolescence, most of them have consumed alcohol and
abused illicit substances.

Researchers asked the teens in person about their drinking and drug
habits. The results showed that 78 percent of U.S. teens had drank
alcohol, and 47 percent said they had consumed 12 drinks or more in
the past year. When it came to drug use, 81 percent of teens said they
had the opportunity to use illicit substances, with 42.5 percent
saying they actually tried them.

In a twist not usually associated with risk-behavior studies,
researchers compared teens' current usage with lifetime estimates of
alcohol and illicit substance abuse. Fifteen percent of the teens met
the criteria for lifetime alcohol abuse, and 16 percent could be
categorized as drug abusers.

It's the second time in about 16 months that the issue of marijuana
use among teens has come to the forefront. Last December, the rate of
eighth-graders saying they had used an illicit drug jumped to 16
percent, up from 14.5 percent, with daily marijuana use up in all
grades surveyed, according to the 2010 Monitoring of the Future Survey.

According to that survey, the decline in cigarette use accompanied by
the increases in marijuana use put marijuana ahead of cigarette
smoking. In 2010, 21.4 percent of high school seniors had used
marijuana in the past 30 days, while 19.2 percent smoked cigarettes.

Chris Simpson, a school resource officer at Skyview High, said at the
time that marijuana use is a problem throughout the school district
and the community. The mixed message about the legalization of
marijuana for medical purposes is a large part of the problem, he said.

Youths seeking a high will sometimes steal marijuana from those
possessing a medical marijuana card. Students have told school
resource officers how much easier it is to obtain pot since the
passing of the medical marijuana law.

The state Department of Public Health and Human Services has
acknowledged that marijuana is making a strong comeback among high
schoolers.

The 2010 Montana Prevention Needs Assessment suggests that marijuana
use rises as the parental acceptability increases. Perceived peer
acceptability of marijuana use also plays a role.

"Availability and access to drugs, alcohol and marijuana, is the
number-one way kids get substances," said Vicki Turner, director of
the DPHHS Prevention Resource Center. "The more it is available, the
more likely they are to use. If family and friends use and the
substance is available, youth are more likely to use, regardless of
the substance."
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