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Here is further evidence that marijuana use creates significant problems among users. This data targets teenagers smoking pot. Obviously there is no guarantee any one person will suffer these problems but the increased risk aspect cannot be denied
The NHSDA, currently conducted by SAMHSA, has provided estimates of the prevalence, consequences, and patterns of drug use and abuse in the United States periodically since 1971. It is the primary source of statistical information on the use of illegal drugs by the United States population age 12 and older.
Results: Characteristics of Past Year Marijuana Users Age 12-17
Self-reported Problem Behaviors Associated With Marijuana Use:
Withdrawal:
There was a strong correlation between the reporting of withdrawal items and the frequency of reported marijuana use. Those who used marijuana on 1-7 days a week in the past year were nearly twice as likely as non-users to report they refuse to talk (25% vs. 16%), they don’t have much energy (47% vs. 25%), and they are unhappy, sad or depressed (40% vs. 23%). Those who used marijuana at least monthly in the past year reported being more likely than nonusers to say they were secretive or kept things to themselves.
Somatic Complaints:
Those age 12 to 17 who used marijuana in the past year were more likely than nonusers to report feeling dizzy, overtired, and nauseous or sick . There appeared to be little correlation between frequency of marijuana use and certain reported somatic complaints with the more frequent users being as likely as less frequent users to report symptoms such as having headaches, rashes or other skin problems.
Anxiety/Depression:
Those who used marijuana at least once a month in the past year were nearly 3 times as likely as nonusers to say they think about killing themselves (24% vs. 8%). Those who used marijuana in the past year were more likely than nonusers to report that they deliberately try to hurt or kill themselves, feel lonely and that no one loves them, that other people are out to get them, and they are worthless and inferior. For some items, as the frequency of use increased, the percent of adolescents reporting these feelings also increased. For example, weekly users were more likely than less frequent users to feel "others are out to get me", "I am worthless or inferior" or "I am unhappy or sad".
Social Problems:
Those who used marijuana in the past year were more likely than nonusers to report that they do not get along with other kids and weekly users were nearly twice as likely as nonusers to report this (33% vs 19%) (see Table 6). The weekly users were less likely than nonusers to report they act too young for their age (27% vs. 36%), they prefer younger kids as friends (15% vs. 22%), and they get teased a lot (17% vs. 25%). However, weekly users were more likely than nonusers to say they are not liked by other kids (25% vs. 18%).
Thought Problems:
Last year marijuana users age 12 to 17 were more likely than nonusers to report four thought problems: "I can not get my mind off certain thoughts", "I repeat certain actions over and over", "I do things other people think are strange", and "I have thoughts people would think are strange" (Table 7). In addition, monthly or more often users were more likely than nonusers to say they see and hear things that other people think are not there.
Attention Problems:
Those who used marijuana in the past year were more likely than nonusers to report they have trouble concentrating (72% vs. 51%), they feel confused or in a fog (41% vs. 24%), they daydream a lot (68% vs. 52%), they act without stopping to think (63% vs. 44%), and their school work is poor (59% vs. 30%) (see Table 8). As before, the percent of those reporting attention problems generally increased with frequency of use.
Delinquent Behavior:
Differences of the greatest magnitude between users and nonusers were found in measures of delinquent behavior. Those who used marijuana weekly were 9 times as likely as nonusers to say they use alcohol or drugs for nonmedical purposes (76% vs. 8%), 6 times as likely to say they had run away from home (24% vs. 4%), nearly 6 times as likely to say they had cut classes or skipped school (60% vs. 11%), 5 times as likely to say they stole from places other than home (34% vs. 6%), and 3 times as likely to say they steal at home (17% vs. 5%). Moreover, a higher proportion of past year marijuana users reported these behaviors than did nonusers. Past year users were also more likely than nonusers to report they do not feel guilty after doing something they shouldn’t, they hang around with kids who get into trouble, and they lie and cheat. As noted elsewhere, the proportion saying these statements were somewhat, very or often true about them generally increased with frequency of marijuana use. For example, weekly marijuana users were about twice as likely as those who used fewer than 12 times in the past year to say they had run away from home or they had cut classes or skipped school in the past 6 months.
Aggressive Behavior:
Past year marijuana users were more likely than nonusers to report all aggressive behaviors. For many items, the percentage reporting the behavior increased as frequency of use increased. Weekly users were nearly 4 times as likely as nonusers to report they physically attack people (26% vs. 7%), and 3 times as likely to report they destroy things that belong to others (22% vs. 7%), they threaten to hurt people (38% vs. 13%), and they get in many fights (37% vs. 14%). The weekly users were also twice as likely as nonusers to report they disobey at school (59% vs. 24%) and they destroy their own things (22% vs. 10%). On average, past year marijuana users, regardless of frequency of use, were twice as likely as nonusers to report they destroy things that belong to others, they disobey at school, they get in many fights, and they threaten to hurt people.
Criminal Behavior:
The NHSDA included questions about some past-year activities that may have been illegal. Adolescents age 12 to 17 who used marijuana in the past year were 3 or more times more likely than nonusers to report past-year involvement in these activities. Past year marijuana users were more likely than nonusers to report that in the past year, they were on probation, and they had 1) taken something from a store without paying, 2) purposely damaged property that wasn’t theirs, 3) driven under the influence of alcohol or drugs, 4) hurt someone enough to need a bandage, and 5) sold illegal drugs. As before, in most cases, the percentage reporting these behavioral problems increased with the frequency of marijuana use. In particular, weekly users of marijuana were more than 5 times as likely as those who used only 1 to 11 times in the past year to have driven under the influence of drugs (29% vs. 4%) or to have sold illegal drugs in the past year (29% vs. 6%). Weekly users were also 2-3 times more likely than those who used less often than monthly to be on probation (20% vs. 7%), to have driven under the influence of alcohol (20% vs. 9%), or to have purposely damaged property that was not theirs (35% vs. 18%).
Conclusion
This report shows that among those age 12-17, past year marijuana users were more likely than nonusers to report problem behaviors in the past 6 months. Further, for the majority of items measured, the more frequent the use, the more likely the youths were to report problem behaviors.
Click Here to read: Marijuana Sucks: Here Is Why, Part 1
References:
1)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1997a). Drug Abuse Series: H-3. Preliminary Estimates from the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, July 1997.
2)National Institute on Drug Abuse (1997). Press Release for the Monitoring the Future Study, The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, December 1997.
3)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1997b). 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Preliminary Tables (Unpublished). Office of Applied Studies, June 1997.
4)Schwartz, R.H., Gruenewald, P.J., Klitzner, M., and Fedio, P. (1989) Short-term memory impairment in cannabis-dependent adolescents. American J. of Diseases of the Child 1989; 143:1214-1219.
5)Tashkin, D.P., Coulson, A.H., Clark, V.A., et al. Respiratory system and lung function in habitual, heavy smokers of marijuana alone, smokers of marijuana and tobacco, smokers of tobacco alone, and nonsmokers. Am Rev Respir Dis 1987; 135:209-216.
6)National Institute on Drug Abuse (1995) Marijuana: Facts Parents Should know. Booklet NCADI #PHD712, GPO#017-024-01570-0.
7)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1998). Drug Abuse Series: H-5. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Main Findings 1996, Office of Applied Studies, May 1998.
8)Pope, HG Jr, Yurgelun-Todd,D. The residual cognitive effects of heavy marijuana use in college students. JAMA 1996 Feb 21; 275(7): 521-7.
9)Volkow, N.D., Ding, Y.-S., Fowler, J.S., & Wang, G.-J. 1996. Cocaine Addiction: Hypothesis Derived from Imaging Studies with PET. J. Addictive Diseases, 1996.
10)Bourden, H., Rae, D., Narrow, W., Manderscheid, R., and Regier, D., National Prevalence and Treatment of Mental and Addictive Disorders, Mental Health, United States, Center for Mental Health Services, DHHS Pub. No. (SMA)92-1942 (1992).
11)Kandel, D.B., Johnson, J.G., Bird, H.R., Canino, G., Goodman, S.H., Lahey, B.B., Regier, D.A., and Schwab-Stone, M. Psychiatric Disorders Associated with Substance Use Among Children and Adolescents: Findings from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 1997, 25(2), pp. 121-132.
12)Kessler, R.C., Nelson, C.B., McGongle, K.A., Edlund, M.J., Frank, R.G., and Leaf, P.J., The Epidemiology of Co-occurring Addictive and Mental Disorders in the National ComorbiditySurvey: Implications for Prevention and Service Utilization. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 66:17-31 (1996).
13)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1996). Advance Report 15. Mental Health Estimates from the 1994 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, July 1996.
14)Crowley, T (1998). Troubled Teens Risk Rapid Dependence on Marijuana. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 50:1.
15)Achenbach, T.M., (1991) Manual for the youth Self-Report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.
16)Harrell, A.V., Kapsak, K.A., Cisin, I.H., and Wirtz, P.W. (1986). The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use Data: The Accuracy of Responses on Confidential Self-Administered Answer Sheets. Prepared for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Contract Number 271-85-8305.
17)Turner, C.F., Lessler, J.T., and Gfroerer, J.C. (1992). Survey Measurement of Drug Use: Methodological Studies. National Institute on Drug Abuse. DHHS Pub. No. (ADM) 92-1929.
18)Gfroerer, J.C. (1997). Prevalence of youth substance use: the impact of methodological differences between two national surveys. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 47 (1997) 19-30.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Surprised you were not ambushed by the pro-marijuana crowd on these statistics. However, it is hard to dispute the statistics. ds
One of the greatest problems with marijuana, or any chemical use is the person experimenting with them don’t a clue about whether they will become full-blown addicts.
That’s not to say marijuana, cig’s, or alcohol are gateway substances, but the person just doesn’t know if they’ll end up like I did. A certain percentage go on to become hard-core addicts, and it is a crap-shoot figuring out who it will be.
There are of course people more susceptible than others, but no one can be certain on who will move into the abyss of addiction.
Obviously Marijuana is a drug and like ALL drugs it has side effects.
I believe we should stop the war on drugs (as it currently exists) and start using education. You see most youth in this country think Pot is safe. Why? Well because most grown ups in this country think pots safe.
Here’s the kicker….it largely is. The American government has lied and used propaganda to criminalize it’s usage while the same senators that made the laws go home and enjoy a fine scotch every night.
The reality is Marijuana does have some serious long term side effect, just like all drugs. However the war on drugs infringes on the rights of people. If I want to smoke pot I have the right. It comes from a seed and grows from the ground…I’ll be damned if any government will tell me I can or cannot use a plat put here by god.
But I stop short of saying that pot is harmless. It does cause harm…probably less than Alcohol and certainly less than most prescription pain killers.
So what we need is an honest drug policy. We need to educate the kids on the “real” dangers about drug use, but we need to do it honestly.
Yes kids Marijuana will get you high, yes it will reduce anxiety, yes you’ll have a greater sense of well begin. HOWEVER, you are likely to be less financially motivated than your peers who don’t smoke, you will probably have more compassion, you will suffer short term memory loss, and exesisve use will have such an effect on your short term memory that you can’t have normal conversations.
BUT ALL THESE EFFECTS go away if you stop consuming pot for a period of time. So kids pot won’t kill you, and it won’t ruin your life. However those that don’t use marijuana will have an advantage in the real world when it comes to learning, socializing, holding down jobs etc.
Why can’t we just cut through the bashing and start calling it like it is.
Pot is no more harmful than Alcohol. Both of these substances are drugs and can cause problems for serious users.
Yes, That was completely right. Drug takes many things from human life but give nothing. And a addiction in early age, this is really unexpected. Every guardian should be caution about that.
Thanks!
Thanks for the post.
In response to the comment….man, I’ve been saying education is the key to a lot of this! Thanks for putting it out there again!
You have no idea….My friend at http:spiritualriver.com has posted anti-marijuana articles and his comments run almost all ‘pro’ use.
Bill
“Pot is no more harmful than Alcohol. ”
I agree with you on that, and the high they give you is often short-lived, followed by extreme drowsiness and weakness. In fact, while you may feel a “high” after inhaling these drugs, in reality you are getting weaker within the body. You just don’t know it until it is too late.
IMO caffeine addiction is way better than these stuff.
‘It comes from a seed and grows from the ground”
The government simply uses the “addiction” as an excuse to make more money, because it knows it can (the government would tell the media that it is doing all these to stop the drug addiction, but I doubt that is true).
Well, I can speak from experience, mine and that of my friends. Chronic, regular use of marijuana disrupts the normal hormone balance in the body, and almost universally makes the user prone to MORE anxiety, not less. That’s because after years of use, it begins to stimulate a cortisol release in the body after a single inhalation. Cortisol is our “fight or flight” hormone, and is highly disruptive to normal body functions.
Also, Central Serous Retinopathy and similar retinal damage occurs in a surprisingly high percentage of pot users. It’s often permanent. It’s blindness like you get with macular degeneration…
My friend was a regular user since high school, until he found out the herb was the reason he was having panic attacks. Puking his guts out when company was coming over. Cortisol, again.
Worse than the physical effects suffered by the actual user are the damaged social skills that affect the user’s family, friends, and even strangers. I’m not talking about driving poorly, although that one’s obvious. I’m talking about neglecting one’s role in the community, resenting real life obligations and trying always to escape what everyone else can handle with no problem.
Marijuana sucks. I love it, I’m addicted to it, and it sucks. Period.
I don’t think all of those accusations about Marijuana are necessarily true. How many case studies were there and how many people were involved?
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nice information I like it thank you.
Marihuana, weed.. I’m not saying those things are healthy for your body, but I’d rather take that stuff than getting addicted to hard drugs like coke and heroine. That seems way more damaging to your body.
How true. Denial of any associated problems or side effects is the first thing that pot users ( POT HEADS ) like to argue.
I have to laugh when I hear the POT HEADS argue their case for the advocation of liberal pot consumption while trying to convince the world the crap is OK to smoke and then using themselves as examples of perfectly OK behaviour.
Look at me. I smoke pot all the time and I am perfectly normal….by pot head standards and the pot heads I associate with.
Real upstanding, model, law abiding citizens that we would all want to emulate while joining their POT HEAD mentality and their erroneous personalities.
Is this the future generation and mentality that will run our Governments and influence our societies with pot head logic??
Their message says: Let US speed all that we want, WE speed safely!
It is not the drug itself that I loath. It is the POT HEAD logic that I love to loath and I really do despise their personalities and their over blown sense of entitlement and the attitude and mentality that pot heads have.
They talk as if the world should simply accept all the problems associated with thier pot smoking behaviour and pot head habits and all the negative ramifications of pot consumption that is perpetrated by its on going comsumption.
As if the cruel world is persecuting them and we should sympathise with their life style habits and embrace the pot heads and their logic.
I see all the more problems ahead and I dont feel comfortable with a world full of pot heads rallying to a perverted cause that suits their pot head consuming mentality……but does not consider all the negative ramifications that the non drug users have to tolerate.
Excellent article by Mr. Urell. Youngsters who read this article shall benefit a lot from this article. I always knew that drugs have an adverse effect on the mind and the nervous system. But with such high percentage, Marijuana should be completely banned for the betterment of the human beings. The cultivation is higher is South Africa and California. The cultivation reduces gradually towards west.