Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2012
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Roger Roffman
Note: Roger Roffman is a professor emeritus of social work at the
University of Washington, a sponsor of Initiative 502, and author of
the forthcoming "A Marijuana Memoir."

WHAT PARENTS SHOULD SAY TO TEENS ABOUT I-502 AND MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

THE voters have approved Initiative 502. A year from now, once
licenses have begun to be issued to growers and sellers, it will be
legal for those 21 or older to purchase up to one ounce of marijuana.

Today, an estimated 20 percent of 10th-graders and 26 percent of
12th-graders in our state have used pot at least once in the prior
month. No one can say with certainty whether the new law will have an
effect on youth.

Nonetheless, this historic vote is a reminder of how important it is
for parents to discuss marijuana with their children.

Fortunately, help is on the way. It's the kind of help that has been
missing while we've relied on and been disappointed by an ineffective
prohibition approach to protect young people from the drug.

Substantial tax revenues generated from the legal sale of marijuana to
adults will be earmarked for public education about marijuana,
education based on science rather than ideology.

Today, far too many people - young and old - are misinformed about
marijuana's effects, both negative and positive, on health and behavior.

These new revenues will also make it possible for us to use proven
approaches to youth substance-abuse prevention in geographic and
demographically diverse communities across our state.

Researchers have learned a great deal about the knowledge, skills and
support needed to help young people negotiate their way around detours
due to alcohol, marijuana and other drug abuse. It's time we
adequately funded them.

We'll see other ways in which these new revenues will contribute to
greater safety and health in our communities.

For example, new funds will be devoted to evaluating the new law's
impact on behavior. With this data, the pricing and taxing of
marijuana can be adjusted to maximally undercut the black market and
maximally deter youth access to marijuana.

We'll see a new marijuana help line created and funding will become
available to help with the cost of treatment for those who need it.

In the meantime, conversations between parents and children about
marijuana are key. Several months ago, during the Initiative 502
campaign, a dad came to see me. He had heard that I conduct research
on marijuana.

He wanted to talk about his 15-year-old son. The dad wasn't that
surprised his son had tried pot with some friends, but when the son
insisted everyone was getting high and it's "no big deal," the dad
knew he needed to update what he had learned about marijuana 30 years
earlier.

I told him that his son finding out what getting high is like said
something about his curiosity and sense of adventure. Marijuana is out
there and people his age know how to get it. Of course he's curious.

I also said there's lots of misinformation about pot in the media and
on the Internet. For example, some do not acknowledge that many who
smoke pot do it safely, out of fear that it will send the wrong
message to teens.

Others erroneously insist that marijuana is harmless, safer than
aspirin. These people don't know what they're talking about.

So, what's true about pot? Here's a pretty good website for teens to
answer that question: http://drugabuse.gov/MarijBroch/teens/. For
parents, here's another: http://drugabuse.gov/MarijBroch/parents/.

I told the dad that for teenagers the risks include spiraling downhill
at school and getting trapped on an emotional roller coaster much
hairier than what's already pretty hairy for teens. There's more.
Teens who use pot regularly are more likely to use other illegal
drugs, to become dependent and to experience emotional problems.

When the dad asked for advice, I encouraged him to say, clearly and
unambiguously, that he wanted his son not to use marijuana at this
stage in his life. Maybe later, but not now.

I encouraged him to remember to listen and to be interested in his
son's views. Don't try to wrap this up in just one conversation, I
said. Let him know how important it is to you that he learns
problem-solving and coping skills during his teen years that he'll
need for the rest of his life, skills that he will miss learning if
he's stoned much of the time.

Finally, let him know that turning down pot might be hard. Tell him
you'll support him in every way you know how in taking on that challenge.

There's a booklet written for parents that can help them prepare for
this conversation. Authored by Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum, it's titled
"Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs." The
booklet can be downloaded at no cost from the Drug Policy Alliance website.
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MAP posted-by: Matt