Eric Holder Says Kids Won’t Be Able To Toke Up

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General Eric Holder said Wednesday that just because states are legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes doesn’t mean minors will be able to roll up a joint.

“People cannot buy alcohol I guess now until you’re age… age 21, but young people find ways to get alcohol because adults can have access to it,” Holder said before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I’m not sure that we will see the same thing here given what we have said with regard to our enforcement priorities.”

His comments came as Colorado and Washington state have been implementing new laws allowing recreational pot. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and under questioning, Holder defended the Obama administration’s stance in allowing the states to move forward with their laws while the feds work to make sure the drug doesn’t become available to minors or move across state lines.

“The distribution of marijuana to minors will… will entail a very vigorous federal response,” Holder said.

The Department of Justice is expected to unveil new guidelines that might help banks transact with legal marijuana companies, which are increasingly worried about the dangers of operating all-cash businesses.

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, a member of the committee, lamented President Barack Obama’s recent comments that marijuana isn’t more harmful than alcohol, saying he was “heartbroken” to hear Obama argue that states’ experiments in legalization should go forward. Sessions said the country had previously worked to“create a hostility to drug use” that shouldn’t recede.

“I think that the use of any drug is potentially harmful,” Holder said of Obama’s comments. “And included in that would be alcohol.”

Sessions was skeptical. “Well, Lady Gaga says she’s addicted to it and it’s not harmless,” he said.

Source: Time Magazine (US)
Author: Maya Rhodan
Published: January 29, 2014
Copyright: 2014 Time Inc.
Contact: letters@time.com
Website: http://www.time.com/time/

Feds Call Out CO in Releasing Study on Teen MJ Use

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Federal drug abuse officials called out Colorado by name Wednesday in releasing a new national survey of illicit drug use among teenagers, saying marijuana legalization efforts are clearly changing youth attitudes in a dangerous way.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy noted many teens report getting their marijuana from others with medical marijuana access. Past-month pot use by high schoolers jumped over five years, and perceived risk by teens is plummeting, said the annual report of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Colorado, Washington and other states heading toward legalization are conducting a “large social experiment (that) portends a very difficult time” for drug-abuse control, said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Legalization advocates, meanwhile, cited other statistics in the report showing the recent national trend in high school use of pot is flat.

The most recent three years of the survey show little change in self-reported use in the annual tally.

In 12th-graders, for example, use in the past month was 22.7 percent of respondents, little changed from 22.9 percent in 2012 or 22.6 percent in 2011. A similar flat trend held among 10th- and eighth-graders in those years.

The federal officials cited changes from 2008 to 2013 to make their point: Past-month use by 12th-graders nationally rose from 19.4 percent to 22.7 percent; among 10th-graders, use went from 13.8 percent to 18 percent.

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Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/S6C3cpEd

Source: Denver Post (CO)
Author: Michael Booth, The Denver Post
Published: December 18, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com

MJ Debate Catches Fire Among College Students

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Support for marijuana legalization has reached a new high — and young adults are fueling the flames.

A Gallup poll released Tuesday revealed a majority of adults back cannabis legalization for the first time since Gallup asked the question in 1969.

58% of the respondents supported the idea, but among 18- to 29-year-olds the figure jumps to 67%.

Michael Kenney, professor of international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, says supportive attitudes were inevitable among Millennials who came of age in the midst of the legalization debate.

“Every year, millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens are using cannabis,” Kenney says. “It’s not necessarily looked down on by young people. It’s no big whoop.”

Karilla Dyer, a junior at the University of Florida, meets very few people who haven’t tried the drug. Smoking should be considered a lifestyle choice, she says.

“If someone wants to smoke marijuana occasionally in a social setting or just to relax, it should not be more illegal than having a glass of wine,” the 21-year-old says. “Pot is not something that ruins lives.”

Currently, 20 states and Washington, D.C., allow smoked marijuana to be used for a variety of medical conditions. Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational use.

This is in stark contrast to the “just say no” mentality spearheaded by First Lady Nancy Reagan in the ’80s, says Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“The federal government and anti-marijuana crusaders have been exaggerating the harms for decades,” he says. “Young people are hearing more about marijuana and marijuana policy than ever before and realizing it’s less harmful than alcohol.”

Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Project Smart Approaches to Marijuana and author of Reefer Sanity, says not all college students are bowled over by health claims.

“Students really don’t want to jeopardize their future prospects,” he says. “Marijuana can cause problems in the classroom and job performance.”

Sabet also says Gallup’s poll doesn’t take into consideration how Americans feel about marijuana sales.

“I think students are wary of another industry like the tobacco industry, another corporate interest that is going to live off people’s addiction,” Sabet says.

But Carlan Loeb-Muth, 22, thinks the financial prospects are bolstering support.

“I feel the legalization would significantly help America’s economy,” the Georgia State University junior says. “A good chunk of the profits go towards taxes.”

Arguments for legalization cross party lines, says Alex Kreit, associate law professor at San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

He says decriminalizing marijuana benefits traditional right-leaning tenants like limited government and Democratic concerns like the racial disparity in drug-law enforcement.

“It makes me think that this issue especially has the potential to drive politicians,” he says. “Parties have an inherent interest in appealing to young people early, and there are compelling arguments on both sides in favor of reform.”

Despite the increased support for legalization, young adult marijuana use has decreased, according to poll data.

Millennials reported smoking less than their parents, with Gallup reporting 36% admitted to trying weed compared to 56% of youths in the late ’70s and ’80s.

Joey McGuire, a senior at Minnesota’s Winona State University, says even for students who don’t smoke, current laws reflect a troubling limitation of personal freedoms.

“The government is designed to protect us from each other and should have no rights deciding what we can or cannot do for ourselves,” the 21-year-old says. “I should be able to make any decision for myself as long as it doesn’t negatively affect others.”

Tvert says in some ways, young adult attitudes toward marijuana legalization mirror their feelings about marriage equality.

In March, a joint Washington Post-ABC survey put same-sex marriage approval rates at 70% among Millennials — 3% above the weed approval rate.

“The same reason a heterosexual person might support marriage equality is why someone who doesn’t smoke might support legalization,” he says. “They recognize it’s the right thing to do.”

Source: USA Today (US)
Author: Shayna Posses, USA Today
Published: October 25, 2013
Copyright: 2013 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Contact: editor@usatoday.com
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/

Teen marijuana use Common because of Canadian Drug Policy

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The high rate of marijuana use among Canada’s youth is a by-product of strict drug control, pot activist and BC Green Party candidate Jodie Emery said.

Canada has the highest rate of cannabis use among young people in developed countries, according to a recent report by UNICEF. In Canada, 28 per cent of kids aged 11, 13 and 15 reported having used cannabis in the last 12 months. The data comes from a 2009-2010 World Health Organization (WHO) survey of 29 developed countries.

Canada also had the highest rates of youth marijuana use in a similar WHO survey conducted eight years prior, but the rate has gone down from 40 per cent to 28 per cent. While the situation may have improved, young people continue to use cannabis at a very high rate, despite laws against it.

In the Netherlands, a country known for its relaxed drug policy, only 17 per cent of youth said they used cannabis. Emery said that this actually makes sense.

“In countries with more liberal drug laws, the use of marijuana and other drugs is lower,” she said, a view that corresponds to the report’s findings.

Emery argued that the legalization and regulation of drugs help control the substance and keep it out of the hands of young people. When drugs are illegal, they’re controlled by criminal organizations, and gangs “give it to anyone who wants it,” she said. Further, these gangs make money off of prohibited drugs, so Emery asserts that politicians who support prohibition are in fact supporting gangs.

The health impacts of marijuana use are limited, and Emery says it’s no worse than alcohol, but a criminal record due to drug possession can have a life-long impact.

“The law causes more harm to young people than does the substance itself, Emery stated. “That needs to change.”

Emery makes it clear that she doesn’t condone marijuana use among children, and cited a report that suggested 16 could be an appropriate minimum age for marijuana use. The 2002 report, from a special committee to the Canadian Senate, recommended the legalization and regulation of marijuana. It said cannabis laws should only prohibit what causes demonstrable harm to others: illegal trafficking, impaired driving, and selling it to people under the age of sixteen.

Last November, a poll by Forum Research found that 65 per cent of Canadians support the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana. And yet, marijuana remains banned, with an exception for medical use.

Emery and many other proponents of legalization suggest that Canada follow the example of Washington state, which voted in November to legalize marijuana. The state will be regulating the sale of marijuana, while banning sales to young people, in the same way that alcohol is regulated.

Source: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/life/health/teen-marijuana-use-common-because-canadian-drug-policy-says-pot-activist

Author: Chris Lane

Alcohol Not Marijuana Triggers Drug Abuse in Teenagers

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If you want your kids to stay away from drugs, then you might want to keep teenagers off alcohol because a new study says that long term drug abuse is likely to occur due to alcohol, not marijuana, use.

The present study included data on more than 14,500 high-school students from 120 schools across U.S. The data was obtained from Monitoring the Future study.

Researchers analyzed the data to find out what substances were being tried by students. They checked for use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, amphetamines, tranquilizers and other narcotics. Alcohol was the first substance to be tried by students, the results showed.

“By recognizing the important predictive role of alcohol and delaying initiation of alcohol use, school officials and public health leaders can positively impact the progression of substance use. I am confident in our findings and the clear implications they have for school-based prevention programs. By delaying and/or preventing the use of alcohol, these programs can indirectly reduce the rate of use of other substances,” Adam Barry, an assistant professor and researcher in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida.

“These findings add further credence to the literature identifying alcohol as the gateway drug to other substance use,” Barry said.

Estimates from major surveys in U.S say that by age 17 most teenagers, between 59 percent and 71 percent, had consumed alcohol, 31 percent to 44 percent had tried cannabis, and 4 percent to 6 percent had tried cocaine, in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Researchers say that parents should prevent teenagers from drinking. Alcohol is commonly available and isn’t considered as taboo as other substances but many studies have shown that alcohol abuse in early years can make teenagers more likely to abuse other drugs.

The study doesn’t clearly define how drug abuse actually starts but it does provide some idea about a good intervention program to keep children from becoming long-term drug abusers.

“Parents should know that a strict, zero-tolerance policy at home is best. Increasing alcohol-specific rules and decreasing availability will help prevent an adolescent’s alcohol use. The longer that alcohol initiation is delayed, the more likely that other drug or substance use will be delayed or prevented as well,” he said.