cannabisnews.com: Pot Increasing Despite Stagnant Number of Tokers





Pot Increasing Despite Stagnant Number of Tokers
Posted by CN Staff on May 04, 2004 at 13:22:25 PT
By Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service
Source: SHNS
In a trend apparently caused by more potent pot, the prevalence of marijuana abuse or dependence among adults increased markedly through the 1990s, even though the percentage of people using the drug stayed about the same, according to a new government study.The increases were particularly notable among young black men and women and young Hispanic men.
"Overall, marijuana abuse or dependence rose by 22 percent between 1991-92 and 2001-02," said Dr. Wilson Compton, director of prevention research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and lead author of the study published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. "This means there were approximately 800,000 more adults in the United States with marijuana abuse or dependence at the end of the period."Across the adult population, about 4 percent were marijuana users during the past decade, but the prevalence of those with abuse problems rose from 1.2 percent to 1.5. percent.The criteria for abuse included failing to fulfill major obligations because of drug use, smoking pot in physically hazardous situations and having repeated legal problems because of drug use. Respondents were determined to be dependent if they needed increased amounts of the drug to achieve a high, spent a great deal of time obtaining, using or recovering from effects of the drug and gave up important aspects of life in favor of using marijuana."It is important to communicate that the increased potency of marijuana over the past decade may, in part, be responsible for increases in abuse and dependence among users," Compton and his colleagues noted.The study was based on results from two national substance abuse surveys, each of about 43,000 people over age 18, done 10 years apart, by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.While marijuana problems were considerably more common among whites a decade ago, this disparity had narrowed considerably by 2001-02. That was mainly because of increases of 224 percent among black men and women ages 18-29, from 1.4 percent with abuse problems to 4.5 percent, and a 148 percent among young Hispanic men (18-29) from 1.9 percent to 4.7 percent.The study is the first to measure long-term trends in marijuana abuse and dependence in this country using a diagnostic system developed by the American Psychiatric Association."Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance in the United States, and its use is associated with poor educational achievement, reduced workplace productivity, motor vehicle accidents and increased risk for use of other substances," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the drug abuse institute."The study suggests that we need to develop ways to monitor the continued rise in marijuana abuse and strengthen existing prevention and intervention efforts," Volkow said, "particularly new programs that specifically target African-American and Hispanic young adults."Complete Title: Pot Abuse Increasing Despite Stagnant Number of TokersOn the Net: http://www.jama.com/ & http://www.drugabuse.gov/ Source: SHNS (DC)Author: Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News ServicePublished: May 4, 2004Copyright: 2004 Script Howard News ServiceWebsite: http://www.shns.com/Contact: Bowman shns.com Related Articles:Making Pot Legal Does Not Boost Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18791.shtmlStudy Debunks Feds' Marijuana Claims http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18788.shtmlDutch Drug Policies Do Not Increase MJ Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18782.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by warhater on May 05, 2004 at 17:28:49 PT:
NIDA Credibility is Suspect
I know their work with MDA has been completely discredited. I saw it on Nightline. The lies they have spewed about cannabis are too numerious to mention. I suspect they reward researchers for findings they like, and punish them for anything else.I second the emotion on targeting of blacks and hispanics. Hasn't law enforcement targeted them enough? Or maybe she wants to put on some TV commericals in Spanish linking drug users to terrorists. One thing is certain, any program the US Government cooks up will just make things worse. They have a track record of maximizing harm. 
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Comment #12 posted by ron on May 05, 2004 at 08:12:08 PT
And furthermore...
"Programs that target young black and Hispanic adults are particularly needed" she said. Aren't the SWAT teams doing that already?
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Comment #11 posted by ron on May 05, 2004 at 08:04:31 PT
NIDA needs a new name!
Perhaps the Lysenko Institute for Abusive Research Scientists would be more descriptive of their work. The acronym might wake up the lazy presstitutes who've been regurgitating NIDA's garbage for years now.People who consider legal problems a criterion of drug abuse are propagandists - not scientists. 
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Comment #10 posted by Jose Melendez on May 05, 2004 at 04:49:40 PT
warhater
Re: Comment #5Great statistics, might also mean fewer are afraid of admitting pot use.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 21:41:13 PT
rchandar 
You make sense to me. 
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Comment #8 posted by rchandar on May 04, 2004 at 21:02:55 PT:
higher use rate, dependency
you're right--no it isn't. they're just upset that people aren't getting poisoned from schwag and rethinking their ideas. people getting more bang for their buck, what the hell's wrong with that?but it definitely isn't true. that would mean that hydroponic technology had improved a lot; it hasn't. seeds haven't improved that much, either. and cultivation? when it's illegal, the stats don't really tell us anything other than there were a lot of plants seized.grass was the number one cash crop in the 80s; it's dropped to number three.--rchandar
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 20:52:36 PT
warhater
Thank you for your comment. I really have a terrible time with statistics. I really don't believe that pot is more powerful now then it ever was. 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 20:16:22 PT
If You Would Like To Read The Report
I went ahead put the pdf file on my What's New Page so it can be accessed fairly easily. Here it is.The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy:Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco in PDFhttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/amsterdam.pdf
What's New in Drug Policy Reform
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Comment #5 posted by warhater on May 04, 2004 at 20:06:17 PT:
Let's Do the Math
Okay so in a survey of 40,000 people the prevalence of marijuana abuse "climbed" from 1.2% to 1.5%. What does this mean in terms of the 43,000 person survey.43,000 x 1.2/100 = 516 people surveyed in '91-'92 were deamed abusers43,000 x 1.5/100 = 645 people surveyed in '01-'02 were deamed abusersSo out of 43,000 people surveyed 129 more people were deamed abusers in '01-'02. Of course the goverment immediately spins this into a problem caused by more potent cannabis. It could easily be a coincidence. In any given random sample of 43,000 Americans the number of abusers will vary. It is not that hard to pick up an extra 129 abusers between 43,000 person samples.The high potency argument is the NIDA's war cry. It really does not make much sense, especially when we are talking about the last 10 years. There was plenty of kind bud going around in the early 1990's. I just don't believe that potency has increased that much.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 19:37:32 PT
Commonsense
You could very well be right. I'm not good at figuring out what they are trying to say with these statistics. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.
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Comment #3 posted by Commonsense on May 04, 2004 at 19:25:46 PT:
FoM
"It seems like many of the baby boomers are returning to the days of fun and freedom from way back in the 60s and 70s."I don't think that's really what's going on. What's happening is that the baby boomers are starting to occupy a much larger part of the 45 to 65 year old age category. Most people seem to catagorize those born between 1946 and 1964 as "baby boomers." In 1992, the oldest boomers were only 46. By 2002, the oldest boomers were 56. A relatively small percentage of these people still smoke pot. According to the 2002 National Study on Drug Abuse and Health, only a tiny fraction of those over 65 had even tried pot, 5.7% compared to 19.2% of those between 60 and 64, and 46.1% of those between 50 and 54. You can find the detailed numbers for marijuana use by age here: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda/2k2nsduh/html/Sect1peTabs1to110A.htm#tab1.20bA good thing about these numbers is that we are coming to a time where significant numbers of older people will have tried pot. This is good because older people are more likely to vote and more likely to sit on juries than younger people. As the senior citizens who are afraid of marijuana are replaced by those who have smoked it themselves, we'll probably start to see juries that are less likely to hammer people for marijuana crimes, and hopefully, we'll see the laws change.For the index of all the 2002 NSDUH illicit drug use tables, look here: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nhsda/2k2nsduh/html/LOTSect1pe.htm#TopOfPage
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 17:48:18 PT
Check This Out!
It seems like many of the baby boomers are returning to the days of fun and freedom from way back in the 60s and 70s.***Among all adults ages 45 to 64, the rate increased by 355 percent, to about 0.4 percent of that population. 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 04, 2004 at 13:38:41 PT
Related Article by The Associated Press
Marijuana Abuse is Up Among U.S. Adults; Pot's Higher Potency is Cited as One ReasonBy Associated PressTuesday, May 4, 2004CHICAGO - Habitual marijuana use increased among U.S. adults over the past decade, particularly among young minorities and baby boomers, government figures show. 
   The prevalence of marijuana abuse or dependence climbed from 1.2 percent of adults in 1991-92 to 1.5 percent in 2001-02, or an estimated 3 million adults 18 and over. 
   That represents an increase of 22 percent, or 800,000 people, according to data from two nationally representative surveys that each queried more than 40,000 adults. 
   Among 18- to 29-year-olds, the rate or abuse or dependence remained stable among whites but surged by about 220 percent among black men and women, to 4.5 percent of that population, and by almost 150 percent among Hispanic men, to 4.7 percent. 
    Among all adults ages 45 to 64, the rate increased by 355 percent, to about 0.4 percent of that population. 
    The report, published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, was led by Dr. Wilson Compton of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who said the rise in dependence was probably due at least partly to increases in the potency of pot over the past decade. 
    Also, the figures may indicate that baby boomers “bring their bad habits with them into old age,” he said. 
    The researchers said adults were considered marijuana abusers if repeated use of the drug hurt their ability to function at work, in school or in social situations, or created drug-related legal problems. 
    Drug users were considered dependent if they experienced increased tolerance of marijuana, used it compulsively and continued using it despite drug-related physical or psychological problems. 
    Overall use of the drug - that is, casual use and habitual use - remained stable at around 4 percent, or more than 6 million adults. 
    “This study suggests that we need to develop ways to monitor the continued rise in marijuana abuse and dependence and strengthen existing prevention and intervention efforts,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, the institute's director. Programs that target young black and Hispanic adults are particularly needed, she said. 
    Increases in dependence among young minorities may reflect their growing assimilation into sectors of white society where marijuana use is more accepted, Compton said. 
    Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism contributed to the report. Copyright 2004 Associated Press
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