Teen Marijuana Use Linked to Later Illness - washingtonpost.com
Teenagers who smoke marijuana put themselves at risk for future mental illness and higher rates of depression, according to a report to be released today by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Although fewer teens overall are smoking marijuana, the report said, there is growing concern that those who do, particularly those who view the drug as a way to cope with depression, do not understand its consequences. It also is not clear whether their parents, who might have indulged when they were younger, understand the risks, experts say.

The report, whose release coincides with the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, said studies show links between marijuana use and risk of mental illness later in life, and that use could increase the risk by as much as 40 percent.

Teenage girls who smoke marijuana are particularly at risk, the report said. It found that teen girls who smoke marijuana daily are more likely to develop depression than those who do not.

The report also found that teenagers who smoke marijuana at least once a month are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users. It said that even though the percentage of teens who are depressed is equal to the percentage of adults who say they are depressed, teenagers are more likely to seek solace in marijuana or other illicit drugs.

“Significant numbers of teenagers are self-medicating,” said John P. Walters, director of the White House office. “They’re turning to marijuana to reduce [symptoms of depression], and [the depression] is getting worse.”

Walters said advances in technology allow researchers to better understand the effect drugs such as marijuana have on brain function. The research being done today “is breaking new ground in showing the role marijuana use is playing in depression,” he said.

[T]he report’s conclusions mirror many of the findings of a 2005 survey of Fairfax County youth. According to that study, Hispanic, Asian and African American teens reported higher percentages of depression than their white counterparts.

Contributing to the risk is the higher potency of marijuana being distributed today compared with what was available in the 1970s, when federal officials began analyzing the drug. A study done last year by researchers at the University of Mississippi found that, since the 1980s, the potency has doubled.

Walters said that despite a drop in usage among teenagers, those who are using are becoming more dependent on it. About 60 percent of first-time users are under the age of 18.

“We forget because we think of marijuana as something that’s the least dangerous of illicit drugs, but far more teens are in treatment for dependency on marijuana than alcohol,” Walters said.

If you smoke the reefers, it’ll make you insane!  Who would have thought we’d get a whole new round of marijuana scaremongering just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month?

I’ll let Dr. Earleywine tear into this new report next Wednesday, but initially, I would have to ask these few questions about the study:

This “report” ignores so many of the factors that lead to teen depression.  Suppose a kid is depressed and he smokes some pot.  Then he’s subject to the stigma of being a “pothead”.  Maybe he gets busted and loses college money, or a job, or gets grounded, or gets sent to jail or rehab - doesn’t that all sound pretty depressing to you?  In other words, did anyone think to control for the effects of the prohibition of pot on someone’s depression?

As for the “40% more likely to develop mental illness” point - could it be that people at higher risk for mental illness tend to use marijuana?  And could you show me, please, where rates of mental illness have risen and fallen along with the rates of marijuana use?  Clearly there should’ve been some massive spike in mental illness after the Summer of Love, right?  No, the rates of mental illness do not seem to fluctuate with the rates of marijuana use.

Minority kids are more depressed than white kids?  While I believe it, what does that have to do with marijuana?

At least they said that marijuana is only twice as potent, and not thirty times more potent like they say in the UK.  But again, they misunderstand the effect of potency on the experience.  More potent marijuana doesn’t cause a more harmful high, it just gets you to the same high by smoking less of it.

Finally, more kids are in treatment for marijuana than ever before because when we catch them with marijuana, we force them into treatment.  When you factor out the people forced by the criminal justice system to attend rehab for marijuana, the numbers of self-referred treatment-seeking marijuana abusers is quite small.