Pubdate: Thu, 27 Mar 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Steve Blow

DON'T LET COLORADO'S POT EXPERIMENT DRAW IN KIDS

Colorado has legalized marijuana, and I'm glad. We need to try some 
new approaches to drug policy in this country, and if Colorado is 
willing to be the guinea pig, we should be grateful.

But here at home, we need to be careful that Colorado's experiment 
doesn't blur one very important fact.

Here, there and everywhere, teens should not be smoking marijuana.

Tina Clemmons is a prevention specialist for the Dallas Council on 
Alcohol and Drug Abuse. She has been hearing more and more parents 
dismiss concerns about their teens' drug use.

"They say, 'It's just marijuana.' "

Dr. David Atkinson, a local professor of psychiatry and an addiction 
specialist, hears much the same thing from teens themselves. "'It's 
only pot,' they say."

But both Clemmons and Atkinson strongly reject the argument.

"I'm frightened to death," Clemmons said. "Parents and young people 
are not aware of the consequences."

Now, please don't confuse this with the "reefer madness" hysteria of 
old. This is about scientific evidence, not scare tactics.

And the science is clear that marijuana is not safe for the 
still-developing brains of teens and even young adults.

Susan Foster is vice president and director of policy research at 
Columbia University's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. She 
put the matter in a way that jolted me.

"In most cases," she said, "addiction is a pediatric disease."

I think of runny noses and ear infections as the stuff of pediatrics. 
It's painful to think of addiction as also part of childhood medicine.

But Foster said, "Adolescence is the critical period for onset of 
addiction. That's because the brain is still developing and is more 
vulnerable to damage."

CASA Columbia has studied the link between addiction and age at first 
use of addictive substances - alcohol, tobacco and drugs, both legal 
and illegal.

"We see some startling information," Foster said. "Those who use 
addictive substances before age 15 are 61 times more likely to 
develop addiction than those who did not use until 21 or older."

Brain chemistry is complicated, she said, but this risk factor is 
clear. "Early use hikes your risk of addiction," she said. "The more 
time you can buy before first use, the lower the risk."

And addiction is not the only risk of early use. Daily use of 
marijuana among young people produces an average drop in IQ of 6 to 8 
points, said Atkinson, who is on the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

That's about the same as for children exposed to elevated lead levels, he said.

All three experts I talked to say they believe that relaxing 
marijuana laws in Colorado and elsewhere is prompting more marijuana 
use among teens. "Legalization sends a tacit message of approval," 
Atkinson said.

So it becomes more important than ever, they said, for parents to 
send a clear message of disapproval - for marijuana and all addictive 
substances. Clearly stating expectations actually works, studies show.

And though risk declines with age, Atkinson cautioned against framing 
the warning that way with teens. One of their greatest desires is to 
be treated as adults, he said, so a "You're still too young" message 
is ineffective.

Instead, he said, parents should give a concise, straightforward 
explanation of the scientific evidence of damage to developing 
brains. "Adolescents often do well with that type of knowledge," he 
said. "They feel they are being respected when they are taught the science."

No matter what a parent's history with marijuana may have been, that 
should not translate into acceptance with their own children, the 
experts said. "Kids will be kids" is not responsible parenting.

It will be interesting to see what Colorado's experiment in drug 
policy brings. But let's keep the experiment there, not in our homes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom