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THE EDUCATOR - Spring 1998

Teenage Marijuana Use Up
in Wake of Legalization Efforts

by Washington State Lt Governor Brad Owen

Teenage marijuana use increased by over six percent in the nine-month period during the campaigns to legalize marijuana in California and Arizona. Polling by the Partnership for A Drug-Free America confirms that the increase in marijuana use was a direct result of more teens who agreed strongly that “I hear more and more talk about legalizing marijuana.”

The legalization debate affects what experts call teen’s “Perception of Great Risk.” Very simply, drug legalizers do not accurately or fairly portray the dangerous effects of drug use. And, when our kids watch pro-pot political ads on TV and hear drug legalization arguments from friends, AND EVEN ADULTS, they begin to see less risk in using drugs like marijuana.

Considering the $1.5 million spent by pro-drug activists on television advertising here in Washington last year, we can only assume a similar rise in use has occurred with our own state’s children. In case you are wondering, a six percent increase figures out to be around 20,000 more kids smoking pot. Ours was a hollow victory this past November 4th.

But that’s not the bad news. The bad news is that it isn’t over yet.

The billionaire backer of last year’s failed initiative 685, George Soros, has agreed to fund another ballot effort. Sadly, we will have to endure another drug legalization campaign again urging voters for compassionate and humanitarian reasons to approve a “medical” marijuana initiative set for the 1998 ballot. They won’t mention the fact that the FDA, the AMA and every other established medical institution has stated that marijuana is not medicine.

When I made the decision to run for the Office of Lt. Governor, I knew that teenage marijuana use was rising dramatically. I made teenage marijuana education a big part of my campaign and shortly after the election agreed to coordinate the federal government’s Marijuana Awareness/Education Effort for the Northwest HIDTA. But, I have to admit, despite my involvement on the issue, I had no idea that the legalizers and all their money were poised for a fight. But, then again, I like to think that they didn’t know about me, either.

I have a long history of being concerned about the problems and tragedies around drug abuse. I have visited our treatment centers. I have talked with hundreds, if not thousands of kids and their families and I’ve seen the heartaches and toll that drug abuse has inflicted on our people.

In studying the drug problem, I concluded a long time ago that we can’t JUST tell people or kids to “just say no.” Conveying clear messages and healthy beliefs is definitely part of the solution, but we also have to look at what it is that kids need in their lives. We have to make sure that each child is strong enough and has enough good in their life to minimize their potential for getting involved with drugs or other social ills.

The most promising approach that I have seen is to develop diverse, coordinated community-wide teams that focus on the protective factors that support the needs of our youth. In addition to the obvious, and critical, basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, health care and safety, these community teams must also focus on engaging the community in creating conditions that maximize the potential for kids to grow up to be healthy and productive adults.

The conditions which help a child to be resilient include providing:

• caring and support
• clear standards and healthy beliefs
• high expectations and respect and,
• meaningful participation

This is where I get very concerned about drug legalization efforts. As debates occur on drug legalization, it is very important that there is an accurate and fair portrayal of the issues.

Over the years, we have seen the harm related to alcohol, and we’ve been frustrated by how it is being portrayed in TV commercials. The beer industry spends millions on TV advertising every year—would you say that they provide a fair representation of the consequences of that product?

In the California, Arizona and Washington legalization campaigns, the pro-side far outspent the anti-legalization/prevention side. The paid media was almost exclusively pro-legalization. And just like the alcohol industry, we did not see a fair portrayal of the marijuana issue from the drug legalizers. It is not in the interest of George Soros or his deep pocket legalizer friends to fairly portray the consequences of marijuana use.

More to the point: Does the legalizer portrayal of marijuana convey clear standards and healthy beliefs to our youth? I would suggest not.

And the media seems to want to paint a rosy picture about drug legalization, particularly marijuana legalization, without giving the same time and space to the constant reports and studies on the negative impact of “medical” marijuana and increased teen usage.

Something very significant is happening in our culture. For the first time in history, more teens feel that marijuana ought to be legalized than are actually using the drug. Even during the height of teenage marijuana use in the late 1970’s, the users themselves knew that marijuana was unhealthy, dangerous, and that it ought to re main illegal. Not anymore. Today, less than 29% of our EIGHTH GRADERS see a great risk in getting stoned.

It is not alarmist to say that we have big problem. Teen and pre-teen marijuana us is climbing and it’s damaging effects will be felt by thousands and thousands of families. Yet, as if that weren’t bad enough, remember that the statistical association of marijuana as a gateway drug is absolutely convincing. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 12 to 17 year-olds who smoke marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than those who do not. A full 60% of adolescents who try marijuana before age 15 will later use cocaine. I would suggest that the harder drug of choice for tomorrow’s youth will, in all likelihood, be methamphetamine.

Unless efforts are made to counter the massive amounts of misinformation being told to our children, teenage marijuana use will absolutely skyrocket in the coming years. Already, again for the first time, more teens are in publicly funded treatment for marijuana addiction than for alcohol.

So when you see the pro-pot doctor/spokesperson Rob Killian on TV this fall pleading for your vote on the “Ralph Seely Medical Marijuana Memorial Initiative,” re member the words of California’s pro-legalization spokesperson. Dennis Peron, now the operator of the San Francisco Cannabis Cultivators Club, said in the December 8, 1997 issue of TIME that “All use of marijuana is medical. It makes you smarter. It touches the right brain and allows you to slow down, to smell the flowers. We’re living in a very stressful world. It can and should be used for anxiety and depression.”

If you think Dennis Peron has smoked too much medical marijuana and will never make sense again; hold on. He went on to say, “This is not about marijuana as medicine. This is a cultural war.”

Oddly enough, I couldn’t agree with him more.