Dr. Nora Volkow, director of National Institute on Drug Abuse, regarding the recent Monitoring the Future survey:
The other things that are worrisome have to do with the indicators of attitudes. For example, in the case of marijuana, we have not seen any change. It’s sort of stable. The values are stable — they have not gone down as they have for other drugs. But what is worrisome is not only that we still have 32 percent of twelfth graders having abuse in the past year (which is very high, one in three) but the fact that the attitudes toward the perception of risk for marijuana are actually going down. That is to say there are fewer kids that feel that marijuana is dangerous. And in the case of marijuana, all along the survey, we have shown from the data that the attitudes regarding its dangerousness very much predict the prevalence of its abuse.
But because it’s a drug that is widely available — actually 80 percent of kids state that they can get access to it very easily — when you have a situation like that, where the perception that the drug is easily available, the variable that constitutes the most to whether they will take it or not is the sense of whether the drug is risky or not.
So we’ve been seeing significant decreases in the number of adolescents believing that marijuana is dangerous. We are concerned that if this is not addressed, then we will start [having] an increase in the rate of consumption of marijuana. So that was on of the things that raised an alert flag.
Translation:
We don’t have any way of regulating marijuana use for teens. With cigarettes, we have age limits, but with marijuana, we turned that all over to the black market — and they’ll sell it to anybody. Obviously, law enforcement can’t do shit about stopping the black market in marijuana. Kids can get it easily.
So the only way we can think of to prevent teens from using marijuana is to lie to them about its dangers.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, and a whole lot of lies, they’re starting to learn the truth. Somebody must be talking.
We’re in big trouble.
Decades of lies are beginning to backfire on them. Once people see they’ve been lied to, they realize they cannot believe anything the liar has been saying. Hence the decline in belief that MJ is dangerous.
In a way, you can almost feel sympathy for the prohibitionists. Kind of. We really don’t want teenagers spending a lot of their time stoned. On the other hand, we know now they will all survive the experience 🙂
Alternative translation: “Even though 80% could buy and use marijuana, only 32% actually did. But if we legalized it, all the kids would be doing it!”
Where’s my rolling eyes emoticon?
hahahaa nice translation
I think Nora the Vulcan started with Anslinger,
seems like her tired old shit keeps staining news pages.
Milking tax payers by lying and manipulation, gawd bless america?
Dit dit dit dot dot dot Holy crap batman,
The’re losing the battle, less kids are smoking cigarettes getting sick and dying and snorting cocaine frying their brains on disco. Ganja on the rise except in Buyers Clubs or established routes for adults. Still no overdose or much rehab without plea bargain orders. They need statistics or Josephine Goebbels aka Nasty Nora’s Gossip sponsored by Taxpayers, fades away, You cursed drug reform brats! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a little honesty could destroy my beautiful wickedness? Oooooh, look out! I’m going! Oooooh! Ooooooh!
Why yes sir Kooky Kurlycashcowski I’d say You’re Winin”
if your definition is by throwing money at them till they surrender.
Marijuana Use Rises Among Teens; Cigarette Smoking Lowest Since ’75
Marijuana use among teenagers increased this year after previous declines, while the use of other illicit drugs like cocaine mostly declined.
Drug Money Saved Banks in Global Crisis, Claims UN Advisor
Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions.
Mexico’s Drug Cartels Siphon Liquid Gold
The bold theft of $1 billion in oil by drug cartels, resold in the US, has dealt a major blow to the Mexican treasury.
The next move by the gestapo police in our country may well be the control of the internet. Not just to stop marijuana advocates but to reduce problems that the government has when instant information is available for people to make decisions on important issues of the day.
They can’t even fart without someone reporting it on the net. And their campaign of lies and myths that the drug cops have been using on the American public is falling out of the sky.
Clay, actually, they tried to do that with the 2000 Anti-Meth Bill…and got their pinkies singed for their efforts.
Of course, prohibs are as dogged as they are stupid, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them attempt something as dumb as that again.
And as to “Dr.” Volkow, well, I thought the Hippocratic Oath began with “First, do no harm.” What she represents and works for has caused vastly more harm than the substances she rails against…hence the honorific being in quotes.
Today the Canadian government has come along — a day late and a dollar short, as usual — with their anti-drug campaign:
National anti-drug campaign starts
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/12/15/drugs-not4me-youth.html
Government of Canada Urges Youth to Say ‘Not 4 Me’ When it Comes to Drugs
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/nr-cp/_2009/2009_202-eng.php
not4me
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/drugs-drogues/youth-jeunes/index-eng.php
—
And someone has already jacked it:
http://not4me.tk/
Wait… so LEAP grabbed up the domain name? haha I like those tactics… That website is awesome haha. I can only hope that many, many people accidentally stumble upon it.
or, I guess it’s not actually LEAP, but they just link to it.
The fact that teens are having trouble reading and have learning disabilities in general has a lot do with mental disorders left undiagnosed. My client, Silver Hill Hospital specializes in Adolescent psychiatric treatment and excels at helping people espcially younger teens.