Serious Mental Problems in Teens Using Pot

[StevieB]

Report Warns on Serious Mental Problems in Teens Using Pot:

Marijuana is one of the world’s most commonly used illegal drugs. There are approximately 300 million users worldwide and 28 million users in the United States alone.

Marijuana comes from a plant called “Cannabis sativa.” The chemical found in this plant that produces the altered states of consciousness is called “delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol” or “THC.” Whether smoked as a cigarette, or cooked into baked goods like brownies or cookies or brewed like a tea, marijuana use causes: relaxation, reduced coordination, reduced blood pressure, sleepiness, disruption in attention, an altered sense of time and space. In high doses, marijuana can also cause hallucinations, delusions, impaired memory and disorientation.

Now, according to a new White House Office of National Drug Control Policy report, teens using marijuana put themselves at higher risk for serious mental problems including worsening depression, schizophrenia, anxiety and suicide.

The report, called Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows “Self-Medicating” Could Actually Make Things Worse, sustains that teens using marijuana increase their risk of developing a mental disorder by 40 percent. Teens who use marijuana at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who don’t use the drug.

However, the most consistent finding of the report was that using marijuana to alleviate the symptoms of depression puts teenagers at a high risk of becoming addicted to pot and increases their chances to develop mental health problems, such as an advanced form of depression, anxiety, as well as suicide.

Nearly 2 million teens felt depressed over the past year, data showed and depressed teens were more than twice as likely as others to have used marijuana during that period.

Marijuana is not the answer when feeling depressed. People’s thinking that they can run away from depression by smoking pot are making a big mistake and worsen their situation, sustains John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy. Their only solution to feel better is to seek medical help.

Marijuana among American teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, which is encouraging. According to the report, above 2.3 million children currently use marijuana at least once a month.

More teens could escape serious health problems if they received the necessary support from their parents or psychologists. In fact, parents are urged to recognize any sign indicating their children are using marijuana and try to seek help for it.

Immediate help could save children from becoming addicted to other drugs. Long term studies of high-school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana.

For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs.

To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Further research is needed to predict who will be at greatest risk.

What do you expect from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy?

It's not like they're going to put out a report that says 'This shit's great! Smoke up everybody!"

[Danny Montez]

we have this over here atm. cannabis has just been raised back to being a class b drug. but even the group that was researching it found that to stop one case of schizophrenia they would have to stop 5000 people from taking it.

[thebigother]

What a load of hewey. I'll give a more in depth responce later.

For one, they didnt do their home work by failing to mention that Marijuana not only comes from cannabis sativa, but cannabis indica as well. What they also fail to mention is that most perscribed anti depressants such as prozac, zoloft, rispiridol, xanax, etc. can sometimes cause more harm than good. They can cause anxiety,headaches, nausea, as well as "temporary sexual dysfunction. I dont know about you, but if I could not be able to perform sexualy; I would be one depressed guy. Not to mention the number of cases in which teenagers commited suicide while on anti depressants. Now I am not saying that the antidepressants drove them to kill themselves, but no one can deny the drugs did'nt do a damn thing to help them either. One of the main reasons the government is cracking down so hard on marijuana is because they have no patent, no taxation(each state does have marijuana tax stamps but it is self incriminating to purchase one from the local courthouse) and they have not way of controlling the distribution of it. Pharmacutical drugs on the other hand. can be taxed, can be sold under different names, and anyone with a bit of power or a few judges in their pocket can get a nice fat check for making decisions swing in favor of these large drug companies. Just like these anti marijuana commercials that seem to have no true meaning or substance in which to base grounds for criminalizing almost half the citizens in the US for the simple act of ingesting marijuana in the privacy of their own home. Check the facts ladies and gentlemen. This is another war on the American people. another war on those who cant bring big bucks to the corporations and banks that really run the U.S. Thanks StevieB for this podium in which to speak from!

www.norml.org

http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabi..._medical.shtml

www.thecompassionclub.org

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6668 --- check out the state marijuana stamps

abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=333966

youhavealawyer.com/side-effects/antidepressants-paxil-prosac-zoloft...

www.depression.com/common_side_effects.html

sulcus.berkeley.edu/mcb/165_001/papers/manuscripts/_684.html

[Johnny Running Shoes]

Please, sing with me....lol...."Marijuana...marijuana....lsd...lsd....scientists make it....teachers take it....why can't we?...why can't we?"

[ChrisJones]

I never understood why this plant became illegal in the US(and wannabe countries in their sad attempts at replicating our culture..which well....anyways...). Especially considering the miserable effects of alcohol.

[KidoftheBlackHole]

Didn't some congressmen lobby to make it illegal because they said the communists would use it to take over the country? I think it was something akin to that. I may be wrong though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_h..._United_States

In a nutshell, there are international treaties that declare it as a dangerous drug. In 1937, they passed a law to tax the production of marijuana in the US, and set some criminal penalties for recreational use. By 1969, the law was found unconstitituional because by applying for a tax license you were incriminating yourself for possession (in violation of the fifth amendment), so the tax was dropped and the criminal violations were rolled into the anti-drug laws that were passed at the time.

It's a bit more convoluted, but that's it in 50 words or less.

Marijuana is known to invoke anxiety in certain people, and in fact cause panic attacks in some cases, and of course it is a depressant, and long term can cause or increase depressive episodes. For a regular pot smoker that has never had any of these problems, I can see how it would all appear to be bullshit, but it really isn't.