cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Easy To Get, Teens Say
Marijuana Easy To Get, Teens Say
Posted by FoM on February 22, 2001 at 08:37:23 PT
By Susan Vela, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer
It's on high school campuses and nearby streets. Marijuana has become so available that some Greater Cincinnati teens say it's easier to buy than cigarettes. Pot is “easy to get,” said Vu Mai, a 17-year-old senior at Glen Este High School. “There are about five people I could go to.” He hasn't seen marijuana pushed at Glen Este, he said, but drug dealers have approached him away from campus.
His experience mirrors those of 1,000 youths ages 12 to 17 surveyed in 2000 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. The survey results, released Wednesday, show that drugs remain U.S. teens' No.1 concern. And fewer youths — 51 percent — expect to totally abstain from future drug use than in 1999, when 60 percent expected to abstain. More also believe it's easier to buy pot than cigarettes. The study concluded that a more hands-on parenting approach — where adults establish rules and expectations for their children's behavior — minimizes chances that teens will smoke, drink or use drugs. “The loud-and-clear message of the survey is this: Moms and dads should be parents to their children, not pals,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., the center's chairman and president. “Mothers and fathers who are parents, rather than pals, can greatly reduce the risk of their children smoking, drinking and using drugs.”Marijuana "More Accepted' Mark Peters, principal of Clermont County's Glen Este High, supports that conclusion whole-heartedly. He has been an educator for 28 years. In that time, he said, teens have become more open to trying drugs, particularly marijuana. “The difference is, it's far more accepted,” Mr. Peters said. “People are no longer shocked when young people become involved (in drugs). That's why we have a more blatant use. “It's a disaster. We're losing a generation of kids. Parents have to realize their job is to raise kids and not be friends with kids.” He urged a get-tough approach through which parents search their children's rooms and clothes, establish rules of conduct and follow through with discipline should those rules be disobeyed. Glen Este senior Seth Jones, 17, said the tactic has worked with him. He also has noticed a gaining acceptance of drug use. He said that it's not just the “stoners” or “skaters” who are smoking, drinking and using drugs. “Now, it's really every single group,” Mr. Jones said. It's Easy To Get Pot: Last year, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Cincinnati surveyed 47,000 teens in Hamilton, Warren, Butler, Clermont, Brown, Kenton, Campbell and Boone counties. Fifty percent said it's easy to get pot, said Rhonda Ramsey Molina, the coalition's executive director. It also showed that 44 percent have experience with alcohol, drugs or tobacco by the end of the seventh grade and 25 percent have consumed alcohol by the age of 12. Also, teens who attend parties are 18 times more likely to use marijuana, 23 times more likely to drink beer and 12 times more likely to smoke cigarettes, she said. “We're not saying that children shouldn't have a social life, but where those parties are there needs to be responsible adults,” Ms. Molina said. “Parents are extremely important in prevention. Children do listen to their parents, and they do play a role in their choices.” Fort Thomas parents recently received a crash course on teen marijuana use. About two weeks ago, a dozen teen-agers from the upscale Campbell County suburb were arrested for what police called an “open-air drug market” near Highlands High School. The school has become known for posting some of the highest test scores in Kentucky and is a football powerhouse. “I don't think there's anything in the world I could do to make sure it didn't happen again,” said Dave Freer, assistant principal at Highlands. “Kids unfortunately test the system.” He worries that marijuana use places teens on a precarious path. “It leads on to other things,” he said. “That's when it scares me big time.” SURVEY FINDINGS: Findings of a national teen survey released Wednesday: • In 2000, one-third of 1,000 teens surveyed said it was easier to buy marijuana rather than cigarettes. This compared to 27 percent in 1999. • 28 percent knew somebody who had used Ecstasy. Ten percent said they had been to a rave and that Ecstasy was available at 70 percent of these parties. • Drugs remain the No. 1 teen concern. In 2000, 51 percent said they would never try an illegal drug. The figure was down from 60 percent in 1999. • 25 percent live with “hands-on” parents who have set a household culture of rules and expectations for their teens' behavior. When compared to average teens, this group is at a substantially lower risk of smoking, drinking and using illegal drugs. TIPS FOR PARENTS: • Don't be afraid to communicate with your kids. • Know your child's friends; make sure the friends don't smoke, drink or use drugs. Your child's friends have a lot of influence over them, so make sure your kid chooses them wisely. • Encourage your kids to participate in after-school activities such as sports, clubs or community service. Just hanging out with friends after school or being bored can lead to smoking, drinking or doing drugs. • Make a point to eat dinner together, or set aside other family time, and use it as a communication tool. • Enforce in your children the need for them to make their own decisions, not have peers negatively influence them. Source: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, New YorkNote: Pot 'easier to buy than cigarettes'Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)Author: Susan Vela, The Cincinnati EnquirerPublished: Thursday, February 22, 2001Copyright: 2001 The Cincinnati EnquirerContact: letters enquirer.comWebsite: http://enquirer.com/today/Feedback: http://enquirer.com/editor/letters.htmlCannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #17 posted by Dylan on May 02, 2001 at 20:07:57 PT:
dope
teens on dope need help!! and they need someone to tell them its not ok!!!!! i'm a teen so to all you fucking shitty parents out there have a look at how you raised your kids... is it that much of a suprise that they turned out to be stoners?????
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Comment #13 posted by Rebel X on March 06, 2001 at 07:57:10 PT
just to easy
Here in the state of AZ it just right around the corner. If you realy wanted it. In the city of AVONDALE is the best place to get it cause it is a small town, but growing fast and the cop have on time to play around with us. We'er the best salers are in the south side of the city. I don't think that the cop do want to mess with the salers, because thay are not trained to play with the big boyz of the game.If you need the weed baby come to AVONDALE at the mini max the grass is green on the other side of the hill.Oh yeah stay drug free. Thier are some gangs here but the weed is on the SOUTH SIDE were the ACM is in action
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Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on February 23, 2001 at 06:25:23 PT:
Sad but true
Some of the posters here have made some very obvious (to all but antis, that is) observations about what happens when you 'tighten up'. Namely, kids start looking for other means to get high...with far more dangerous results.I was up in Canada in November of last year, visiting with an old friend in Toronto. At the time, there was something of a national scandal going on: Native American kids being shown on national TV huffing gasoline. I won't boor you with a socioeconomic analysis of what prompts this kind of behavior amongst the economically disadvantaged and culturally marginalized; you've heard it all before. We have the same kind of dynamics going on right here in our own cities and towns.But why gasoline? Because it's the only thing they could get their hands on. It's relatively cheap and plentiful because it's everywhere.And so, these kids will destroy liver, lung, and brain tissue, to alleviate the emptiness and despair of their lives. Don't get me wrong; I, too, advocate harsh penalties for drug sales of any sort to children. Fifty lashes in the public square would be just the beginning. But let's face facts, shall we? Kids will find ways around parental edicts. I did, and so did you. But I would much rather know that a child's experimentation dealt with far safer drugs such as cannabis than petrochemically-based, liver-toxemic, anoxia-causing solvents.Losing a generation to lies is just as bad as losing one to war. Which, when you think about it, is just what antis have declared. War. Not merely upon adults...but upon children. (Don't think so? Ask the ghosts of Alberto Sepulveda or Esequiel Hernandez if they have benefitted from anti efforts to 'protect them' from the scourge of mary-joo-wanna. The bullets and shotgun pellets which killed them were purchased as much through the contributions given to the pharmaceutical, distillery and brewery-backed PFDFA as through our taxes.)Because by engaging in their propaganda effort, they have alienated the very people they though to reach. More unintended consequences.God, when will the antis ever learn?
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Comment #11 posted by aocp on February 22, 2001 at 19:45:23 PT:
Screw this guy
“It's a disaster. We're losing a generation of kids. Parents have to realize their job is to raise kids and not be friends with kids.”First of all, what do you mean, exactly, by "losing"? Maybe you mean you're losing the ears of those kids who are tired of listening to your hate-filled authoritarian lies/rants? Ya think?Secondly, why in the hell wouldn't a parent want to be friends with their kids?He urged a get-tough approach through which parents search their children's rooms and clothes, establish rules of conduct and follow through with discipline should those rules be disobeyed.I wonder if this guy was raised that way. I bet he wasn't. He's a sad, little man on a pathetic power trip that will only build distrust between parents and their children. That is a wholly unnacceptable model for a modern family, damn it. He should be ashamed.
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Comment #10 posted by none on February 22, 2001 at 16:18:02 PT
weed
i love weed
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Comment #8 posted by Stripey on February 22, 2001 at 13:17:45 PT
Actually . . .
Fight fire with fire, and you just may burn down what you're trying to save.There's no way the legalization movement can condone underage usage. There's no way in hell that anyone should. Children, regardless of the actual dangers of the drug taken responsibly, are almost never responsible enough to handle it in a responsible manner. I used to drink a lot when I was in high school. I'd drink until I passed out. I couldn't control my substance intake. On a side note though, I still have the binge-drinking urge on occasion, but since I started smoking mj again, I don't drink more than socially, and even then, drinks are few and far between.
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Comment #7 posted by meagain on February 22, 2001 at 12:35:20 PT
Sad but true
Pot is “easy to get,” said Vu Mai, a 17-year-old senior at Glen Este High School. “There are about five people I could go to.” He hasn't seen marijuana pushed at Glen Este, he said, but drug dealers have approached him away from campus. It may be easy now but tighten up and you will see a rise in other drug use when these kids can't find no weed they try things like huffin paint gas you name it they will try ti ...Sad but trueJust let them do the weed it is safer than other things more harmful fight fire with fire and you may win
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Comment #6 posted by RAS JAMES RSIFWH on February 22, 2001 at 11:14:46 PT
CANNABIS SATIVA HEALS
in 1968, i drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes; and then I-man was introduced...while living in Ethiopia...to the sacred herb. cannabis sativa, the tree of life, healed my addictions to alcohol and cigarettes; and ras james has never used any other drug knowingly.READ THE BIBLE...REV 22: 1&2. The Tree of Life shall fruit on both sides of the street each month of the year. Cannabis Sativa is the only plant in the history of america to do this. Each month of the year in small grow rooms cannabis bears fruits called achenes...the healthest fruit in the world.car drivers are carrying crystal-clear spring watersas they drive down american streets...the clean waters are flowing. yes! and the leaves of cannabis sativa have become the miracle drug of the new century...yes! "healing the nations!"this marks the establishment of the promised "City of God".GIVE ALL PRAISE AND THANKS TO JAH RASTAFARI...I-TERNAL REDEMPTION FOR THE ALL.
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Comment #5 posted by Dan B on February 22, 2001 at 11:04:44 PT:
I Second Dr. Russo
Brandon, it does me good to see that there are young people like you who are bright, articulate, and willing to conduct their own research to determine the truth. I appreciate your sharp, concise approach.I hope you use your talent for writing to express how you feel on this issue in letters to the editor and such. It's great to have intelligent folks like you on our side. And you're in good company, what with folks like Dr. Russo, kaptinemo, observer, Lehder, aocp, Kevin Hebert, FoM, Dankhank, and many others who display their keen observations with us on a regular basis in this forum.So, thanks. You make us proud.Dan B
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Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on February 22, 2001 at 10:38:49 PT:
Brandon!
You're a star! Don't ever change and go prohitionist on us, now will you? The movement needs articulate, educated young spokespersons such as you.
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Comment #3 posted by observer on February 22, 2001 at 10:33:16 PT
Child Caring Department
It's on high school campuses and nearby streets. Marijuana has become so available that some Greater Cincinnati teens say it's easier to buy than cigarettes. The first factor that influenced the mind of the public toward mistrusting Prohibition was the fact that some things were obviously changing. One of the most obvious and, to many, disturbing changes was the change that occurred among American women and children. Before Prohibition, most drinking was done in saloons, nearly exclusively by men. After Prohibition was enacted, the saloons were closed and much more drinking was done in the privacy of the home. Since many families made their own alcoholic beverages in their homes, the women and children had much more direct contact with alcohol than before Prohibition. One amateur poet in New York wrote: Mother's in the kitchenWashing out the jugs;Sister's in the pantryBottling the suds;Father's in the cellarMixing up the hops;Johnny's on the front porchWatching for the cops.22 Sometimes the wife would indulge herself in some, and the children, too. The records of the Child Caring Department of the Society of St. Vincent DePaul in Detroit showed that the number of mothers who deserted husbands and children greatly increased after Prohibition began. The number of cases of drunkenness among women also jumped.23 Father Francis Kasaczun, a Catholic priest who lived in Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania said to a Senate subcommittee: . . .Now, never in my occupation as a Catholic clergyman have I found children drinking hard liquors. I have never found the youth, anywhere from fourteen years old to eighteen or nineteen that drank hard liquors. And now you see children drink. You see them drunk. I have seen them drunk myself. There were a few children last year found drunk in the schools of the towns, public schools, and had bottles of it in their pockets. . . .And of course, the women are taking to it and you can imagine the results. They are unfaithful to their husbands. I know of cases where women have run away with other men, especially with the star boarders, leaving the children behind without any care. . .24 American Prohibitionhttp://cpcug.org/user/billb/prohibition.html “The loud-and-clear message of the survey is this: Moms and dads should be parents to their children, not pals ... etc.Califano is such a sorry spin-doctor. The message is the same as for the message of Prohibition: making illegal a substance people want and like to use increases to the substance access for children.
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Comment #2 posted by Brandon on February 22, 2001 at 09:46:22 PT:
Pot is easier to get today
Marijuana is the easiest thing these days to get. I am in high school and a large percentage of people much large than the study shows smoke weed on a regular basis. The statistics they come up with are ridiculous. Marijauna isnt bad for you at all. Researchers from the United States and abroad have produced data that indicates that removing criminal penalties for marijuana possession will not lead to increased drug use, according to findings published this month by the British Journal of Psychiatry. The researchers concluded, "The available evidence suggests…that removal of criminal prohibitions on cannabis possession will not increase the prevalence of marijuana or and other illicit drug". In March of 1999 researches at The Institute of Medicine stated the following in reference to the gateway theory, "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are casually linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." Another study conducted over 15 year period of the effects of marijuana on 1,318 participants by John Hopkins concluded that "there is no significant differences in cognition decline between heavy user, light users, and nonusers of cannabis…these results seem to provide strong evidence of the absence of long term residual effect of cannabis use on cognition." Maybe the writer of the story should do a little research before they run their mouth.
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Comment #1 posted by Kevin Hebert on February 22, 2001 at 09:37:24 PT:
The solution is so obvious, but . . .
"He urged a get-tough approach through which parents search their children's rooms and clothes, establish rules of conduct and follow through with discipline should those rules be disobeyed."If anyone thinks that searching a teenagers room will do anything except make teens resent their parents, they are wrong.If it's easier for kids to buy pot than cigarettes, then we know that simply making it illegal is not working. This has been now proven.Make pot legal and restrict it. Restrict it heavily. I don't think anyone would mind showing a picture ID in order to buy cannabis legitimately. So do this, punish people severely for reselling the pot to kids, and we can have sanity. This can and will work beter than what we have now.
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