White House Anti-Marijuana Propaganda Machine in Full Catapult Mode

from AP, via Yahoo!:



Feds: Teen use of pot can lead to dependency, mental illness
By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 47 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.

A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the office. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."

Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.

For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.

The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot — 8 percent compared with 3 percent.

Experts who have worked with children say there's nothing harmless about marijuana.

"I've seen many, many kids' lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana," said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. "It's somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, biological. You can't predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid." ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_he_me/teens_drugs

Oh, the reckless abandon!

and I can honestly say that the only times it's ever caused me to be depressed were the two times I got busted for possessing it.

I've been smoking pot for over half a century. In another 12 years I will have been smoking it for three quarters of a century. I don't regret it one bit.

i currently smoke about an ounce per week of some very good weed, and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. three things that i don't ingest in any form: tobacco, alcohol, coffee.

pot actually helped me to deal with the depression associated with the onset and chronic pain of a crippling arthritic condition.

i still hold out hope for it to be legalized or de-criminalized in my lifetime.

Fuckin' grow up America!

So a kid gets depressed & tries to self-medicate. So a kid who's having problems with stress lights up a spliff. Treat the anxiety, treat the depression. And preferably, keep the kids away from psychiatrists and treat both anxiety and depression without medication.

I was merely pointing out the flaws in the research. Personally, I think that depression is all to often ignored in kids because it manifests differently than in adults (cranky, irritable, etc.) & gets mistaken for defiance. I would want to see the kids treated--and generally not with antidepressants, stimulants, or whatever.

Their "report" sounds like 100% pure bullshit to me.

However, I just wanted to point out that given the right circumstances, anti-depression and anxiety meds CAN and do help people. Of course, I think therapy is preferable. (Exactly why I'm studying psychology :) )

that antidepressants have an average treatment effect size of .31, not a whole lot above placebo. Check into cranial electrostimulation therapy. Tecent meta-analyses give it an average treatment effect size of about .47 for depression, .68 for anxiety. Those are HUGE in comparison to what the meds do, and with no know side effects. I' starting to use CES with my patients, and am being amazed at the results. Big Pharma doesn't want you to know about this. I combine CES with various therapy modalities including EMDR, neurotherapy, and cognitive therapy, and find that in most patients I can get what appear to be long-term recoveries in cases of anxiety and depression disorders. Check out a book by Ray Smith to see what I mean: http://www.amazon.com/Cranial-Electrotherapy-Stimulation-First-Monograph/dp/160247589X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210380123&sr=8-2

That is really interesting though. I just learned about CES in Bio a week ago (I'm still an undergrad..) and find it fascinating. Thanks for that post..

Not from nature.

And you'll see just how non-specific these allegations are.

Children should not smoke marijuana just as they shouldn't drink.

Or coffee.

Actually, Mark Twain was right. Little boys should be raised in a barrel and fed through the bunghole until they reach 18.

"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years..." he says with a goddamn martini in his hand.

Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, you're just not very smart, are you, lady?!?

"I've seen many, many kids' lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana..."

What's that quote by Krishnamurti? Ah yes, here it is:

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Lady, just being alive in these here United States in the 21st century has negatively impacted many, many kid's lives. A little whacky weed for some giggle time in front of the TV is NOT the problem.

Sheesh!

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

a true and immensely important statement

Be VERY afraid:scared:

You don't say! Well, then something should be done about it. Maybe funding for public health clinics for teens should be expanded. Maybe drug treatment is too expensive and should be covered by publicly funded medical insurance (Medicare). Maybe suicide helplines are understaffed and should be given a boost in funding and staffing. Maybe counseling at school is ineffective and needs more staffing and funding.

What's that? Those things cost money -- and you're too much of a selfish cheap bastard to fund the things I just mentioned?

I didn't think you were serious.

that'll make somebody happy at least--the drug companies!

Funny. I know a lot of people that use marijuana to relieve their depression. Big Pharma just doesn't like people to hone in on their racket.

'Murkins might buy less cigarettes.
'Murkins might buy less alcohol.

Both of those patriotic industries would suffer horrible financial losses and the terrorists would win.

:sarcasm:

Cigarettes? According to what I've seen in the last forty years, people will continue to use tobacco in addition to reefer rather than in lieu of it.

... and tell them there is a drug for every purpose and need for the next ten years, they believe you.

Ritalin appears to be a gateway drug to marijuana.

Did they mention how many of these kids are already on anti depressants or other mind altering substances?

marijuana is a powerful herb that SHOULD be illegal. One mans "propoganda" is anothers research. Most proles cant handle it long term.
I have seen otherwise bright, engaged students with promising futures devolve into introverted, apathetic, shells of their former selves with no motivation to do anything other than smoke more dope within in months of heavy pot use. Functional IQ drops 10 points while on that stuff, sorry but I like to do things that make me smarter not dumber.

Please pander your pro-grass sentiments somewhere else (surly High Times has a user page)-It give progressives a bad name to be associated with it.

MJ's paranoia inducing effects fuel some of the stupidest conspriracy theories I have ever heard. Nothing like hearing a bunch of stoners wax lyrical about 9/11 and "the bombs were placed in the WTC towers by the gov't man, yo pass that bong" or how everyone on the planes were knocked out with gas etc etc etc....

Will you kill loved ones? No probably not. Rape people? nope. You probably wont do anything at all except sit on the couch in a stupor and sit and sit and sit some more.

useful eh?

WTF. Are you the spelling gestapo? Happy now its fixed..

and i have noted your file accordingly.

Unfortunately, I *notice* things like spelling, punctuation, and grammar even when high. Editorial note: I'll refrain from using quoteblocks because it just doesn't look right when quoting individual sentences.

"marijuana is a powerful herb that SHOULD be illegal." Capitalization of the opening word of a sentence is considered proper English. Not doing so is called 'Engrish'.

"Most proles cant handle it long term. " Can you handle apostrophes?

"term.
I have seen" When denoting the beginning of a paragraph on forums such as this, it is customary to do as you did in the rest of your post, and add a carriage return (wow, I actually found a use for that chestnut) at the end of the preceding paragraph.

"introverted, apathetic, shells of their former selves" Of course it was all the fault of the grass! They couldn't possibly have had anything else going on in their lives that had nothing to do with marijuana! (And by the way, the second comma is, shall we say, 'extracurricular'.)

"Functional IQ drops 10 points while on that stuff, sorry but I like to do things that make me smarter not dumber. "

Two things:

1) Source that or retract it, and
2) You combined two complete sentences into one single je ne sais quoi, and forgot the comma after the word 'smarter'.

"MJ's paranoia inducing effects fuel some of the stupidest conspriracy theories I have ever heard." Conspriacy? Is that related to priapism? I've heard of conspiracies that don't go down well; perhaps you have a point.

"how everyone on the planes were knocked out with gas etc etc etc...." 'Etc'. is actually an abbreviation for et cetera, which is Latin for "and other things". Thus, use of more than a single et cetera- by the by, normally italicized- is called redundancy.

"Will you kill loved ones? No probably not. Rape people? nope. You probably wont do anything at all except sit on the couch in a stupor and sit and sit and sit some more." I'm getting bored now, so I'll go through this one very quickly. Pay attention, now, because I'm only going to say this one time, and then, after seven seconds, this message will self-destruct: comma following '(n)o', make '(r)ape people' a complete sentence, capitalize 'nope', give an apostrophe to "wont", and place a comma following the words 'stupor' and the first two instances of 'sit'.

Well, that certainly took a while. I had to, though; my grammar and spelling nannies were tapping their copper-edged rulers into their palms whilst giving me the Mama's Family 'Thelma look'. And my bowl died! MY BOWL DIED!!!11!1! :grr:

I didn't know High Times was surly..

Your post is full of grammatical and spelling errors, hardly an overwhelming case for abstinence..

"within in months"

"You probably wont do anything"..

Seeing all those pot smokers with diminished IQs come up with far more intelligent and cogent arguments must be really painful. I mean, I could smoke myself into a stupor and still come up with a far more rational argument for the legalization of pot than the useful idiot could come up with straight sober. "Surly" he must have some very deep rooted issues to have so much fear for a plant.

You must really be missing your own site, huh?

BTW...



I'll let *you* try to figure out what's wrong with that, since you didn't catch it on your last edit.. and please pander your bullshit back on your own site when it comes back up, we don't don't need to read your misinformed paranoid ramblings here...

:nuke:

In case you can't make it out...




I think it's PERFECT for you...

I am clearly in the pro-pot camp.

I smoked pot for the first time at 13 and I am now 45.
I still smoke pot, not every day, but usually several times a week.
I was bored out of my skull in high school, and smoked more than I should have.
I never went to college and I never wanted to.
I am smart, probably smarter than you - always tested in the top 1 percentile.
I could probably be the head of a multi-national corporation by now, or running for congress.
Instead, I am a struggling musician and lazy real estate broker.
You probably have more money in your change jar than I have to my name.
I enjoy sitting on the couch and watching eye-candy.
I believe that there were explosive charges placed in the WTC after the first bombing, and that the insurance companies made them do a controlled demolition to protect other nearby buildings. It certainly looked that way - I watched it with my own eyes.

Youngsters should probably not be altering their consciousness. Oh... wait... what about sugar and amusement park rides? Are those things any healthier? I don't think children should be using illegal drugs. But I don't think they should be using most of the legal ones either. I've seen people get their lives fucked up by drugs also. However, I've seen more lives fucked up by credit cards.

I don't think that the problem is with drugs, per se, I think the problem is with the insanity that is our civilization. Kids have always pushed the boundaries, tested the limits, screwed things up and hopefully learned from their mistakes. Some people just do not make it. It's sad, but true. There are individuals who destroy themselves. Others get through it and survive, and even thrive.

I'm generally a healthy, happy individual. Much happier and healthier than I would be if I were the head of a multi-national corporation or member of congress. I've made it my business to know everything there is to know about this universe, and I think I recently crossed the 1 millionth of 1 tenth of 1 percent threshold. I really like my brain, and we have a good time together. I'm rather good looking, get laid a lot, have a lot of good friends who I love and trust, and laugh and laugh and laugh. Barring the unforeseen, I'm going to live to be 90 years old. And I'll be smoking and fucking 'til the end.

Would I trade my drug-addled life for yours? I don't know you, but most likely not. From the tenor of your post, you just don't seem to have much fun! Chances are I have more fun just sitting on the couch than you do, doing... well... whatever it is you do!

Have a nice life, Idiot. I'll take a toke for ya...

you sound like most of my friends back in tennessee. nice retort. spot on.

Go take another Oxycontin you douchbags!

:hide:

You want to talk about research? Find out the difference between correlation and causation, then feel free.
If you want to do things that make you smarter, thats your concern; what you want has absolutely no relevance to the lives of others, however. Might be a bit hard to swallow for a controlling person such as yourself, but thats life.

Don't wanna hear "a bunch of stoners" talking? Then don't hang out with stoners. Pretty simple, hmm?

You're the delusional one if you think our government is so in favor of the drug war to help people.

but it isn't "surly".

I like his screen name, though.

That's based on some British studies that argue that teen pot-smoking will lead to 1.4 cases of schizophrenia per 1,000 when it would have been only 1.0 without pot-smoking.

but that doesn't seem surprising. Enjoy your wrong view of reality. :hi:

first off - I do not want ppl under the age of 18 to smoke pot, cigarettes, drink alcohol or drive cars. All dangerous in the hands of those too immature to handle.
I also do not want them to engage in sex.

however, that does not mean that adults should abide by these same restrictions. get the difference? adult? teenager?

you put all mj use under the "heavy" label - which is not the case for many ppl, it would seem. I live in a college town and i can tell you there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who smoked pot and went on to productive lives. To claim otherwise is bullshit.

MJ has real medicinal uses that cannot be duplicated by any pharmaceutical. These should not be illegal.

Legal mj would be taxed and sold like alcohol and would have standards and brands/types of intoxication. Better information, in other words. There are hybrids of mj that are not paranoia positive. there are hybrids of mj that are not munchie inducing.

You come onto this site and want to tell the rest of us to go somewhere else? get over yourself. take a poll here and find out how many progressives think mj should be legalized or decriminalized. of all the polls I've seen there - those ppl are in the majority, and include many who do not use mj themselves. I find it is pretty stupid to try to claim that progressives do not support legalization. Where have you been for the last 30 years? It by no means gives progressives a bad name. Progressives aren't the ones who are generally dupes for every propaganda campaign launched by corporations with their govt. buddies.

Richard fucking Nixon's task force recommended legalization of mj in the 1970s.

Hemp is also illegal b/c of the fear-mongering about mj. Hemp could be a big part of the solution for U.S. oil dependency. I'm a patriotic american cause I support legalization.

wow

as if it wasn't obvious already.

now go get me some brownie bites! :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

Enjoy your booze, assholes.

it means you were in desperate need of psychiatric attention. It doesn't mean it's okay for adolescents to use any type of mind and mood altering substance. If marijuana did prevent you from killing yourself then yours was an extremely rare circumstance. The fact that you apparently have survived an imminently fatal depression means you are one very fortunate individual.

This does not mean I support marijuana prohibition because I don't. In fact I am a decriminalization advocate and I've smoked a lot more than my share of pot in the past. But I know the adolescent brain is not fully developed and the use of any type of psychoactive drug will affect that development -- quite possibly in a negative way.

While marijuana is the most benign of the recreational drugs it is not absolutely benign. We know that it affects short-term memory, which is critically important during adolescence because short-term memory is a critical component in the learning process.

Bottom line: Smoking (or eating) cannabis is fine -- for fully developed adults. But it's not okay for kids!

I know I was intensely depressed at my situation and pot helped me get a perspective on it that guided me to a different level of existence. I'm talking more ages 16-19 than when I was still developing.

makes you see things differently -- not sweat the small stuff.

the immediate effect is to take you out of the negative feedback loop you're stuck in. then, you can build a new/better set of loops. i can totally see how it would be good for depression.

I was bitching about all my problems and halfway through holding in my first hit I had forgotten completely what I was talking about. It made me notice the beauty around me instead of the ugliness within.

to "wow, i'm really a self-centered butthead" in a matter of minutes.

having known quite of few "nerds" in college who only started doing that stuff "late in life" -- i noticed a lot of "type A" people really be able to relax for the first time.

it's like anything else, the way you respond to MJ is going to reflect socio-economic, biological and familial patterns. it matters who you are, and what your environment is like. maybe i've had the benefit of observing people having mostly positive experiences with MJ b/c i tend to avoid people who are on a downward trend.

i also knew people in college who became raging alcoholics (people I lost touch with, mostly) -- generally they weren't the pot smokers, but some were. there were definitely people who smoked the weed and became an addicted not so much to weed, but to the "party" lifestyle. of the people i know who sought help thru AA/etc, they were all people who smoked -- my point being, i think there might be something about people who smoke a little, that makes them more amenable to recovery. maybe it's a general tendency toward self-reflexiveness.

These substances are always going to be around just as people with a genetic or psychological tendency to overdo them are always going to be around.

As far as positive things in my life, weed has certainly brought more than alcohol! They both have nice flavors and bring relaxation, but weed brings insight as well.

The funny thing about the "stupor" is, a lot of important stuff can start happening on the inside once the ego shuts the fuck up.

In that case, the last thing you want to do is send a kid to a psychiatrist.

Absolute garbage.

So, depressed kids smoke pot.. and that means pot makes kids depressed?

Uh-huh...


Show me research indicated that pot use BRINGS ABOUT depression.. until then, stop shoving propaganda down our throats.

Sigh..

(Not talking to the OP.. referring to the "man", as they say)

He should have kept smoking it instead of becoming addicted to alcohol & cocaine.

that alcohol is the legal drug, while using others can get you imprisoned.

Alcohol literally destroys your brain. I don't want to drink alcohol, but I do enjoy altering my consciousness, if you will, once in a while. However, i'd like my neurons not to die, please.
Basically, the government forces us to either use an en extremely dangerous drug, accept the risk of getting arrested and completely fucking up your life, or sit around sober all day.

And wheres the fun in sitting around sober?

What a bunch of Horse Crap! Pot is not a NARCOTIC you ignorant, mouth breathing Sycophants. It is NOT a GATEWAY DRUG. There is not now nor was there ever any proof that Marijuana is a gateway Drug. This again is pure, government Propaganda Horse Crap. Our jails are bursting at the seams with hard-working non-violent American Taxpayers who got caught with one marijuana seed in their ashtray. All this is brought to you by the lobbyists at Big Pharma and the liquor industry. Oxycontin, Xanex and Booze... sure.. that's OK. Just ask Rush Limberger. But if you dare Smoke a home-grown, non-federal-taxed cigarette, and you will end up in the Haliburton Prison Camp!

That said, this "study" is BS. I would have had anxiety troubles eventually, even if I didn't smoke weed that one time.

ANY drug is bad for kids to be exposed to longterm while they are still in the development stages. They shouldn't do ANY mind altering drugs until after or around 23 years of age...this study just throws more fuel on the fire against a mostly harmless drug. I say mostly, because like all drugs one can become addicted and children even more so than adults.

The study is just more of the same that everyone already knew, with a pinch of hysterics thrown in for good measure.

All the while George is snorting coke and throwing back tall boys at the ranch. :eyes:

And even very small kids get it in massive quantities..

But that's different, right?

Mind reader?

From too many drugs..

But the message is, drugs 'r bad m'kay..

People with addictive personalities should stay far away from drugs, unfortunately high fructose corn syrup and caffeine are institutionalized by our moral majority, for kids to feast on. Go figure.

-Reefer Madness=

Sounds like some good shit.