Pubdate: Thu, 14 Feb 2013
Source: Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, PA)
Copyright: 2013 The Standard-Speaker
Contact:  http://www.standardspeaker.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1085
Author: Doyle Heffley
Note: Heffley, a Republican, represents Pennsylvania's 122nd 
Legislative District.

MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IS DANGEROUS TO PA.'S YOUTH

Pennsylvania's drug-induced deaths rank higher than the national 
average. In fact, a few years ago, more than 1,800 residents of 
Pennsylvania died as a direct consequence of drug use, compared to 
the number of Pennsylvanians who died from motor vehicle accidents 
(1,604) and firearms (1,325) in that same year.

In Carbon County alone, there's been a sharp increase in drug 
overdose-related deaths since 1996. In 2007, four adults died of drug 
overdoses in our county. That figure spiked significantly in 2010, 
when 18 county residents, including one person under the age of 21, 
died of drug overdoses.

With marijuana being the second most abused drug in Pennsylvania, I 
can't help but wonder why some state lawmakers are pushing 
legislation to legalize recreational use of this gateway drug.

State Rep. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery), in his recent 
opinion-editorial, "Legalize Marijuana: We're Locking Up 
Pennsylvanians for No Reason at Great Cost," said the only crime 
committed by those who smoke marijuana is "smoking a plant which 
makes them feel giddy," and that the perception of marijuana being a 
gateway drug is false. Well, here are the facts. A 2012 Yale 
University study, which appears online in the Journal of Adolescent 
Health, showed that alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana were associated 
with an increased likelihood of prescription drug abuse in men ages 
18 to 25. In women of that age, marijuana use was also linked with a 
higher likelihood of prescription drug abuse.

More specifically, the Yale researchers focused on a sample of more 
than 55,000 18- to 25-year-olds. Of those, about 12 percent reported 
that they were abusing prescription opioids. Of the group abusing 
these drugs, more than 34 percent had used marijuana. Among both men 
and women, those who had used marijuana were 2.5 times more likely 
than those their age who abstained to later dabble in prescription drugs.

Perhaps it's a mere coincidence that the most abused drug in 
Pennsylvania is heroine? After all, the increase in prescription drug 
abuse is fueling a rise in heroin addiction, according to a recent 
NBC News report. A growing number of young people who start abusing 
expensive prescription drugs are switching to heroin, which is 
cheaper and easier to buy.

According to Pennsylvania's most recent "Youth Survey Report" 
results, nearly 20 percent of students in grades six, eight, 10, 12 
across the Commonwealth admitted to using marijuana at least once in 
their lifetimes. More than 5 percent of those students also admitted 
to abusing painkillers.

Marijuana legalization brings questions to the minds of parents and 
causes confusion for our children. Frighteningly, it can also cause 
the misperception that marijuana is not a harmful drug.

Studies have shown that teen marijuana use can aggravate depression 
and affect the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is not fully 
developed in teens. The list of negative affects is long, but that 
message can be challenged in the minds of our youth with marijuana 
legalization.

It is important that parents in Carbon County and the entire state 
keep talking to their kids about the harmful effects of marijuana and 
educate themselves on marijuana facts.

I am hosting a free Carbon County Drug and Alcohol Awareness Expo on 
April 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lehighton Area High School, for 
parents and educators to gather more information on substance abuse.

Keep the message straight with the youth across the Commonwealth: 
Despite talks of legalization, marijuana is still a dangerous drug.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom