Pubdate: Mon, 06 May 2013
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2013 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Dave Neese

WEED IN THE GARDEN STATE

Eighteen states, including New Jersey, plus Washington, D.C., have 
legalized marijuana for medical use. Two states, Washington and 
Colorado, have legalized it for recreational use - although "weed" 
remains illegal under federal law.

Meanwhile, across the land, advocates such as New Jersey's "Weedman" 
advocate for coast-to-coast legalization. Advocates say marijuana's 
not addictive and studies generally have concluded it's not a 
"gateway drug" to harder stuff like heroin.

But hold on. Even as New Jersey is crafting regulations to 
accommodate medicinal reefer, the state's Division of Mental Health 
and Addiction Services lists it as a major problematic drug.

A 2010 estimate of "Treatment Need" for New Jersey cites an annual 
demand for treatment of 116,000 marijuana cases. That figure topped a 
cited need for 74,000 heroin and 46,440 cocaine treatments. (The need 
for alcohol treatments came in first, at 582,594.)

In 2012, there were 12,437 treatment admissions for marijuana cases 
in New Jersey, including 627 in Mercer County, according to figures 
compiled by the state's Substance Abuse Monitoring System. That was 
16 percent of all admissions for substance abuse treatment, including alcohol.

Human Services Department spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy says research 
indicates that marijuana IS addictive in some cases - for about 9 
percent of all pot smokers. And among those who start using marijuana 
at a young age, the addiction risk is "closer to 17 percent, one in 
six," she says.

"Frequent marijuana smokers may build up a tolerance that can lead 
users to consume stronger drugs to achieve the same high," she adds. 
"For some it can be considered a gateway to other drugs and for 
others it may not."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom