cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Backers Cite New Study 





Marijuana Backers Cite New Study 
Posted by CN Staff on August 22, 2004 at 07:46:34 PT
By Allison Farrell, Gazette State Bureau 
Source: Billings Gazette
Helena -- A new California study showing that use of marijuana by teenagers has dropped since a medical marijuana law was adopted there in 1996 proves that the permissive laws don't foster youth pot use, Montana marijuana advocates said Friday. The new study, released this week by the state of California, reports that the number of ninth-graders using marijuana dropped 45 percent over the past eight years.
When California's medical marijuana law was passed in 1996, 34.2 percent of ninth-graders reported using marijuana within six months of the survey. But this year, 18.8 percent of ninth-graders reported using the drug within six months of the survey. "What I think may be happening is young people start to see that marijuana is for sick people and it's not something that should be used lightly," said Paul Befumo, treasurer of the Montana Policy Project of Montana. At the very least, Befumo said, the study shows medical marijuana laws don't increase the rate of teen pot use. Activists from the Marijuana Policy Project of Montana raised more than enough signatures - about 25,000 - to get their medical marijuana initiative placed on the general election ballot this November. Montanans will be asked to vote on Initiative 148, a proposed new law that would protect medical marijuana patients, their doctors and their caregivers from arrest and prosecution. But critics of the proposed law have said that medical marijuana laws are the first step toward drug reregulation, and called the initiative a "law enforcement nightmare." Roger Curtiss, an addiction counselor for Anaconda-Deer Lodge counties and opponent of the initiative, points to data recently released by the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University that shows children and teens are three times likelier to be in treatment for marijuana use than for alcohol use. And they are six times likelier to be in treatment for marijuana use than for all other illegal drugs combined, he said. Curtiss also said marijuana is a so-called "gateway drug," which means people who use marijuana have less inhibitions about using other, more serious, drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Advocates of the proposed law, however, said the new California study buoys their causes. "In California, which has the oldest medical marijuana law on the books, teen use is actually dropping," Befumo said. Bruce Mirkin, the director of the Marijuana Policy Project based in Washington, D.C., and parent organization to the Montana effort, said the new study would "put to rest the myth that medical marijuana laws send the wrong message to children." "Frankly, it never made any sense that kids would think a drug is cool because cancer or AIDS patients use it to keep from vomiting," Mirkin said.Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)Author:  Allison Farrell, Gazette State BureauPublished: August 22, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Billings GazetteContact: speakup billingsgazette.comWebsite: http://www.billingsgazette.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Montana Careshttp://montanacares.org/Medical Marijuana Initiative Draws Debate http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19263.shtmlPot To The Peoplehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18810.shtmlMarijuana Initiative Clears Early Hurdle http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18706.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by mamawillie on August 22, 2004 at 15:00:14 PT
Eric
That's a really good point.
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Comment #5 posted by CorvallisEric on August 22, 2004 at 13:12:14 PT
Supreme Court
Mamawillie (comment #2) says:The courts are our only way right now. Let's say a prayer, meditate, think positive vibes.. whatever you do.. that the Supreme Court will tear down the wall of oppression by re-defining the limits of the commerce clause......................Those for whom Kerry is not good enough need to realize that if nothing else matters about this election, the upcoming appointments to the Supreme Court will determine a whole lot about our future. Kerry's appointments won't be perfect. Bush, on the other hand, can be relied on to methodically advance the neo-con drive toward corporate world domination. There are at least two Justices who have wanted to retire for some time now (Rehnquist and O'Connor) and all but Clarence Thomas are over 70 (not sure about the number).
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 22, 2004 at 12:55:16 PT
A Laugh from The New York Times About College
STUDYING: Someone will convince you, late in your college career, that if you smoke pot while you study you will latently remember everything, and all you need to do is smoke pot again before you take the test, because all the information you unconsciously absorbed will reappear in your conscious mind. This is a half-truth. It is possible you will not recall anything of consequence about the Teapot Dome scandal, but you will totally remember why Neil Young is awesome. Complete Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/books/review/22KLOSTER.html?pagewanted=2
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Comment #3 posted by dididadadidit on August 22, 2004 at 12:52:03 PT
Lower Teenage Use Where MedMJ Legal. So What?
In letters to my Rethugnican house member urging support for the Rohrbacher/Hinchey amendment (denying funds to persecute med users, doctors and providers in states allowing med use by state law) the past two years, I was sure to point out the teen usage rate in the Netherlands was about half that in the U.S. In the Netherlands, not only was cannabis a legally prescribed drug, but subsidized by the govt there as all their prescription drugs.Don't matter. She still exercised typical Repig "compassion" and voted no both years, citing, in direct contradiction to my Netherlands observations, that it'd send the wrong message to the childrun. Sort'a like if you say there are WMD in Iraq and Iraquis flew the planes on 9/11 enough times, and don't forget, ever more loudly, it will somehow become the truth.There is no medicinal value to cannabis. There is no medicinal value to cannabis. There is no medicinal value to cannabis. There is no medicinal value to cannabis.See how easy it is? Aren’t you convinced? No? Unpatriotic traitor. Ve haf a nice reeducation camp being prepared for you, swine!Cheers?
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Comment #2 posted by mamawillie on August 22, 2004 at 11:47:16 PT
Creating their own statistics
The government decides to crack down on marijuana over other, more harmful, addicting substances-- over not to mention other things like CRIME and RAPE etc. They decide pot users need to be arrested. So they arrest them. The number of arrests swells and the courts get overwhelmed. A large amount of the jail populations are simple marijuana users. So the courts decide they need to handle the swells by disbursing people to substance abuse programs. These programs now have money freely flowing in, even though their counselors KNOW FOR A FACT that marijuana is not addictive. But, hey, they get better job benefits as well as job security and perhaps nice tasty raises. So now we have the pointless approach of putting people in drug treatment programs who are NOT ADDICTED to anything. And then the government uses the statistics to "prove" that marijuana is harmful.How *pathetic* *obvious* and *totally nuts* this is!The "War on Drugs" is so misguided and so far gone from reality that I hold out hope that it will blow up in the faces of all these people, hanging on it like flees on a dying body-- trying to suck the last drops of blood from it before they jump off and on to something else.The courts are our only way right now. Let's say a prayer, meditate, think positive vibes.. whatever you do.. that the Supreme Court will tear down the wall of oppression by re-defining the limits of the commerce clause......................
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Comment #1 posted by Golden Lung on August 22, 2004 at 08:24:57 PT
Chicken Soup for the Pessimistic Bastard
   The government resisting the benefits because its a "gateway" drug is much like a sick child resisting chicken noodle soup because the broth looks like pee. Man, that was a hard analogy to make. We have a suffering economy and if they we just legalize marijuana so companies can sell it, wow, Economy would skyrocket. Except the government is also the bully or a neglectant parent who denies the sick child the chicken noodle soup. It makes my stomach hurt.
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