cannabisnews.com: Programs Introduced To Reduce Teen MJ Addiction





Programs Introduced To Reduce Teen MJ Addiction
Posted by FoM on September 17, 2000 at 19:35:06 PT
From Christy Feig, CNN Medical Senior Producer 
Source: CNN.com 
Washington (CNN) -- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) introduced five new programs for treating marijuana addiction in adolescents at the kickoff of its Recovery Month 2000 on Thursday. Researchers said the new programs are more effective than current outpatient treatment plans. "While no treatment is a magic bullet, each is associated with better results than existing treatments," said Michael Dennis, one of the researchers who designed the programs. 
National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey was on hand for the event. He called for $2.6 billion in additional spending The programs were designed to work in outpatient treatment facilities. The five programs vary in length (6 to 14 weeks), mode (individual, group, and family) and a planned number of sessions (5 to 23) and cost. The programs are: 1. Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT5) is a five-session treatment with two private sessions to motivate the adolescent to change and three group sessions on marijuana refusal skills, increasing social support for abstinence and relapse prevention 2. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 7 (CBT7) is a treatment designed to follow MET/CBT5 and provide additional group sessions on other common topics including problem solving, dealing with anger and criticism, coping with cravings and relapse, and depression management. 3. The Family Support Network (FSN) is a treatment designed to supplement MET/CBT or other types of treatment with additional support for families such as home visits and parent education meetings. 4. The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA) is composed of 14 private sessions with the adolescent and/or the adolescents concerned other that focus on learning alternative skills to cope with problems and to change the environmental issues related to continued substance abuse. 5. Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) - integrates substance abuse treatment into 12 weeks of family-focused treatment (plus other phone and case management contact) that involves working with the adolescents and their families on family roles and other problems areas. The researchers have followed up the 600 participants at 3 months and 6 months after completion. They are currently beginning 9 and 12-month follow-ups. The rate of any use decreased by 31 percent between the 3 months before and directly after treatment. These are better than results in all prior studies of adolescent outpatient treatment in community settings. Improvements were also seen in terms of decreased involvement with the criminal justice system; decreased attention, family, and school problems; and decreased illegal activity, fighting or violence. The five types of treatment range from $105 to $244 per adolescent, per week, which experts say is sustainable under current funding levels. McCaffrey said 85 percent of people behind bars have chronic drug or alcohol problems. While the recent household drug survey showed use was down, it also showed there was a 45-percent rise in treatment admission. McCaffrey said, "As encouraging as these numbers are ... it seems to us we need to increase by 2.6 billion by 2007." NewsHawk: ObserverPubdate: 07 Sep 2000Source: CNN.com (US Web)Author: Christy Feig, CNN Medical Senior ProducerCopyright: 2000 Cable News Network, Inc.Contact: cnn.feedback cnn.comFeedback: http://cnn.com/feedback/Website: http://www.cnn.com/Forum: http://community.cnn.com/Related Articles:20% Say They Used Drugs With a Parenthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6807.shtmlDrug Use Back Up for Youth http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6146.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by freedom fighter on September 18, 2000 at 16:14:32 PT
no difference
Nazi did the same thing with Jews. They are going too far now.
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Comment #9 posted by zion on September 18, 2000 at 15:26:57 PT
More personal experiences
I believe that different people react in different ways to different substances. So for some, alcohol will produce dependency that can adversely affect the person's life. For others, marijuana will produce dependency that can adversely affect their lives. For still others, excessive food or sex will produce dependency that can adversely affect their lives. It's really immaterial if the dependency is physical or psychological. What matters is the excess and how it deeply it affects the dependent person's life.Here's my experience:I am a person who grew up with both alcohol and cannabis readily available (actually cannabis was more readily available in my younger teen years). When I became of adult age, I used society's drug of choice, alcohol, exclusively and frequently. My body chemisty/genetic predispositions/social conditions all contributed to a disaster that resulted in terminal-stage alcoholism (their diagnosis, not mine) by the time I was 22. I've been homeless, gave plasma for cigarette and beer money, and been about as bottom as it can get. I had been through family interventions, 12-step programs and always returned to the six-pack. There were _years_ that went by when I was not sober for a full day.I still enjoyed the occasional marijuana toke, though. Whenever I would partake of the herb, it would help me to shake out of the alcohol fog, and recognize the waste of my life and the futility of trying to master liquor. I knew long before I resolved to quit that I was beating my head against a wall, and only killing myself. Marijuana helped me to recognize this. It also helped me to resolve to do something about it.So, I've been sober for about 15 years. Marijuana helped me through it, and it didn't take over my life like alcohol did, and it made me a "productive member of society". It has quite beneficial properties which facilitate insight - looking at the world in a different light, which can spawn creativity in music, poetry, science and spirituality. I can, with good conscience, recommend it to everyone.Now, I've had friends throughout the years who react differently to alcohol than I do. They seem to be able to get a little drunk and it doesn't take over their life, they can stop without having to chug everything in sight until they're rip-roaring puking drunk. That's fine, more power to them. That's not me, and I'm comfortable with it. I've also had friends that would buy a bag of weed and go through it in an evening. Not just one time, but every time. If they had it, they smoked it until it was gone. It created bad fallout in their lives. I could never relate to that. Cannabis did not affect me the same way.So, the point I'm trying to convey is that different people react differently to different substances. And I really do believe that some people are out there that really, truly have a dependency on marijuana. For them, I don't think they should use it, just like for me, I can't use alcohol.Don't get me wrong, I am not supporting Field Marshall McCaffrey's latest political law enforcement grandstanding. I see it as the indoctrination program to increase funding that it is, obvious by the call for _billions_ more in federal spending. But I do think that not everything is cut and dry with respect to chemical dependency. I just wish that the government would remove the politics from the issue, treat addiction for the medical problem that it is, and restore the liberty that made this country great which the war on drugs has decimated.
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Comment #8 posted by MikeEEEEE on September 18, 2000 at 06:59:11 PT
The Devil
If there was a devil he would seem compassionate on the surface but still adhere to making people suffer.
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Comment #7 posted by Dan B on September 18, 2000 at 02:50:49 PT:
Part II: What McCaffrey Wants to Do to You
Here is my take on this "therapy" system:1. Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (MET/CBT5) is a five-session treatment with two private sessions to motivate the adolescent to change and three group sessions on marijuana refusal skills, increasing social support for abstinence and relapse prevention In other words, the first two sessions are geared toward forcing the adolescent to accept the views of the establishment--to break the adolescent down so that he or she will be more pliable in the therapist's hands. The next three sessions are designed to further convince the adolescent that "marijuana is bad" by forcing the adolecent into interacting with other adolescents that have been similarly brainwashed and playing games that force the adolescent into saying "no" to marijuana.2. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 7 (CBT7) is a treatment designed to follow MET/CBT5 and provide additional group sessions on other common topics including problem solving, dealing with anger and criticism, coping with cravings and relapse, and depression management. Cognitive Behavior Therapy is essentially using both cognitive strategies (essentially mind games) and behavioral strategies (reinforcement and punishment) to further indoctrinate the adolescent into standards of living that fit more closely with what the therapist deems to be "societal norms." In the group session, the adolescent will encounter the issues of anger (essentially, "you went against societal norms and therefore have no right to be angry that we are forcing you into this brainwashing"), criticism ("you have no right to criticize us; we have every right to criticize you"), coping with cravings and relapse ("you want to get high because you are a deviant. We will teach you to no longer be a deviant"), and depression management ("don't worry, if you get depressed during treatment we have a wide assortment of drugs we have deemed appropriate for your comsumption"). 3. The Family Support Network (FSN) is a treatment designed to supplement MET/CBT or other types of treatment with additional support for families such as home visits and parent education meetings. The therapist will visit the home and talk with the family, thereby affording the therapist the opportunity to inspect the premises for drugs and to indoctrinate the rest of the family, as well.4. The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA) is composed of 14 private sessions with the adolescent and/or the adolescents concerned other that focus on learning alternative skills to cope with problems and to change the environmental issues related to continued substance abuse. Once fuly brainwashed, the adolescent will be taught how to live without the "dangerous" influence of marijuana. The adolescent obviously has a terrible life (why else smoke marjuana, says the therapist), so he or she must learn to adapt to this horrible life without the use of marijuana. The therapist will next guide the adolescent through the wonderful process of dumping his or her friends.5. Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) - integrates substance abuse treatment into 12 weeks of family-focused treatment (plus other phone and case management contact) that involves working with the adolescents and their families on family roles and other problems areas. Now that the therapist has fully brainwashed the adolescent and integrated the adolescent back into "normal" society where alcohol and tobacco are the only "user friendly" drugs, the therapist will continue to brainwash the family, keep tabs on the adolescent, and force the family into accepting responsibility for the adolescent's "drug problem." And that's about it, folks. Aren't you glad our government is willing to spend vast sums of money to help your children combat their horrible "marijuana addictions"? All of this is, of course, at your (the taxpayer's) expense. One would think that the government would have better things on which to spend money than the "treatment" of an addiction to a verifiably non-addictive substance. Again, give me a break.
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Comment #6 posted by Dan B on September 18, 2000 at 02:29:24 PT:
What Marijuana Did For Me...
Marijuana is not only non-addictive, but it actually helps many people think about important issues in their lives and to get in touch with their emotions.Unlike some other mind-numbing substances, marijuana can be used effectively to enhance one's emotions, often to the point of confronting issues one might not have confronted if not high. I can recall many conversations I have had while high in which me and a friend were able to discuss matters that we otherwise would not have thought to discuss--relationships we had or wished we had, family problems, poetry, and even the nature of the universe and of existence. I would often write down what we discussed and read over the notes later, almost always finding some great ideas I might have not thought of had we not been high, and always remember every detail of what we said (unlike when I used to drink too much and forget everything that happened). Marijuana helped me to loosen up a bit. I had been rather tightly wound all of my life--so afraid to let anyone see me make a mistake, so afraid to show any sort of weakness. Marijuana helped me change--helped me not only to be myself, but to learn just who "myself" was. When I was high, I looked deeper into myself for answers to my life's problems, and I often found them. I haven't had any cannabis for a long time now, but even now I can tell that the cannabis experience changed me.So, when I see that McCaffrey wants to spend another $2.6 billion to fund therapy for the treatment of marijuana addiction, I have to laugh at his utter stupidity. At the same time, I cringe because I know where this is heading. McCaffrey is fully committed to the law enforcement approach--don't ever let him convince you otherwise. What he wants is to have his cake and ice cream, too. He wants to continue arresting over 700,000 people each year for marijuana possession, and he wants to appear "compassionate" by forcing these people into "treatment" instead of into prison. Both are infringements on our civil rights.More in Part II..."What McCaffrey Wants to Do to You"
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Comment #5 posted by MikeEEEEE on September 17, 2000 at 21:28:33 PT
Read between the lines
1. Motivational Enhancement Therapy/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 2. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 7 3. The Family Support Network 4. The Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach 5. Multidimensional Family Therapy All these programs are all psyhological.We all know that marijuana isn't addictive (see the IOM report). Anything such as coffee or over-eating could apply to these psychological programs.If you look at it from the approach of propaganda you'll see something completely different. There's a push for treatment while exposing a supposed problem. Here's a classic at the end that tries to get that point across: "McCaffrey said 85 percent of people behind bars " Ha, ha, how many times has he used that before?I'm not sure of this yet, but this shifty character may be going the treatment route. Maybe they'll convert jails to treatment centers, but in my opinion they're still jails.This is just another side-step, whose jobs are they really protecting?
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 17, 2000 at 20:18:10 PT:
Hi Rainbow
I guess I just don't believe there is an addiction to marijuana. I'm not saying that a person doesn't think he or she is addicted to pot but I think it is something that needs addressing with the people who feel that way. I believe it can make dealing with emotional pain a little easier but it doesn't do what an addictive drug does in my opinion.( totally numb ) Missing a substance is one thing but physical pain if you stop a substance is a whole other ball game. I hope this makes sense and Thank You for praying for Alberto and his family in Church today! Bless Your Heart!Peace, FoM!
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Comment #3 posted by i_rule_ on September 17, 2000 at 20:16:47 PT
Marijuana ADDICTION?
Give me a break. How many more studies have to be done to prove to these idiots that marijuana is not addictive? Heroin, addictive. Cocaine, addictive. Morpine, addictive.Prescription drugs, addictive. Marijuana, NOT. Just another desperate scare tactic of McCaffreyism and yet another lie to follow all the others out there. I have noticed a great deal more people, even who don't smoke pot and never will, are realizing that pot is a wonderful alternative choice for people who are gonna self medicate, and so much safer socialwise, and healthwise, than alcohol and tobacco. Keep shooting down the lies, comrades, and soon, even the most hardcore pot prohibitionists will see, lies are all McCaffrey and company have to fight with. Soon, the government is gonna have to acknowledge the truth. Soon, the corporations will have a plan in effect on how to capitalize on hemp and marijuana, and as soon as they do, it will be legalized. Then and only then, innocent people will stop being thrown in prison, killed, and having their lives destroyed by the narrow minded, blind, ignorant naysayers. Peace and Free the Plant of Life.
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Comment #2 posted by Fank on September 17, 2000 at 20:14:17 PT
Marijuana Rehab is a Fraud and Not Required
What is going on? Study after study finds that marijuana is non-addictive. Why do these people continue tohassle people about this issue? Money?. Rehab is a black hole where frightened parents throw lots and lots of money and the prohibitionists lash the masses into frenzy. In my opinion the most addictive drug is power and control over the lives of others. This is the drug that the prohibitionists are addicted to – power and money. Rehab in the case of marijuana is joke. It’s a money grab. You might as well flush you money down the toilet. It’s not required.  In case studies in Holland there are very few problems related to the use of marijuana and anyone can purchase it who is over 18 years of age. The extent of “Rehab” in America is “What do we have to do to get the insurance carrier’s check” for giving worthless treatment to some brow beaten teenager? The people who run this scam need rehab in a correctional institution for fraud. 
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Comment #1 posted by Rainbow on September 17, 2000 at 19:45:41 PT
Humm
Is this another try at scare by our friends? seems that the addiction to MJ is very important in fact more important that the addiction to herion or crack. But then crack is a black mans drug so we don't need to worry about that do we?Have I missed something or is MJ really considered addictive? I know it can be psychologically but not physically. These programs looks like silly putty.RainbowPlease note I am not a racist but I thhink many are and it shows in their actions and emphasis on the whitey drugs instead ofthe drugs that really cause the problems.
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