A common myth is that marijuana is harmless. Some people joke and say the worst that can happen is a pot smoker will fall asleep in front of the TV. In fact, there are many instances where marijuana played a pivotal role in many tragedies. Here’s some actual facts:
Myth: Many teens believe “marijuana isn’t really that bad…[enter justification here]“
In fact, the reality is:
Marijuana is a very pervasive addictive drug wreaking havoc in our teen population. For instance:
- “The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana is a dangerous drug,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. “Parents should recognize–and help their children understand–that playing with marijuana is like playing with fire. More kids are in treatment for marijuana dependence and abuse than ever before, and marijuana is a culprit in an increasing proportion of emergency room visits. Moreover, CASA’s latest analysis provides increasing evidence that marijuana is a gateway to other drug use. The more researchers study the drug and the consequences of its use, the clearer it becomes that teens who smoke pot are playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette, not engaging in a harmless rite of passage.” (CASA 2008)
- From 1992 to 2006, rates of admission for children and teens under age 18 for marijuana as the primary substance of abuse increased by 188.1 percent from 22.7 percent to 65.4 percent, compared with a 54.4 percent decline in rates of admission for all other substances combined. (CASA 2006)
Myth: “No one gets sick or dies from smoking marijuana”.
In fact, the reality is:
- 290,563 emergency department visits involved marijuana, the second leading drug cause, surpassing heroin, for an ER visit. (DAWN 2006).
- Emergency department mentions of the drug among 12- to 17-year old’s jumped 48 percent since 1999. Especially troubling is the possibility that this rise in teen emergency department mentions is related to the increased potency of the drug. (CASA 2008)
- Of the 53,481 alcohol-related ED (emergency room) visits by patients aged 12 to 20 where alcohol was combined with another drug, 69 percent involved an illicit drug. Marijuana was involved 47% of these cases. (DAWN 2006-2)
- Marijuana use accounted for 87,150 emergency-room admissions, up 455 percent from a decade earlier. 40,000 of these came from young people aged 12-25 years old. (DAWN 1999)
- To investigate the relationship between marijuana use prior to driving, habitual marijuana use and car crash injury, this population-based case–control study suggests that habitual marijuana use is associated with a 10-fold increase in the risk of car crash injury. The relationship between both habitual and acute marijuana use and car crashes is complex and is likely to be related to other risktaking behaviours, particularly risky driving. (GEORGE 2004)
Myth: Kim Twolan – Dispensary owner and Marijuana Task Force member commented that “Since the beginning of the bible, no one has died from marijuana.” Not exactly true…
In fact, the reality is:
- A 16-year old San Diego girl who had recently smoked marijuana died after driving her car over a cliff in La Jolla. Too baked to put her foot on the brake. (SDUT 2004)
- In April 2002, four children and the driver of a van died when the van hit a concrete bridge abutment after veering off the freeway. Investigators reported that the children nicknamed the driver “Smokey” because he regularly smoked marijuana. The driver was found at the crash scene with marijuana in his pocket. (COMMERCIAL 2003)
- In 2001, after a night of smoking marijuana, drinking and drugs, a former nurse’s aid hit a homeless man with her car. “Jurors saw pictures of the twisted, bruised and bloody body of a homeless man today as a former nurse’s aide went on trial on charges that she hit him with her car, drove home with his body lodged in the windshield and left him to die in her garage.” (NY TIMES 2003)
- In 2001, George Lynard was convicted of driving with marijuana in his bloodstream, causing a head-on collision that killed a 73 year-old man and a 69 year-old woman. Lynard appealed this conviction because he allegedly had a “valid prescription” for marijuana. Lynard appealed this conviction because he allegedly had a “valid recommendation” for marijuana. A Nevada judge agreed with Lynard and granted him a new trial. The case has been appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court. (DEA)
- “Frank Bedell should never have been behind the wheel of a bus on Mother’s Day… He was high on marijuana and dizzy from Benadryl. The Mother’s Day bus crash near City Park that killed 22 passengers is being blamed on driver Frank Bedell, who police say was seriously ill and under the influence of drugs when he got behind the wheel of the motor coach that morning. Safety experts say stricter federal rules governing the inspection of buses and the screening of drivers might have prevented the accident.” (NOLA).
They are not hard to find. Every few days brings a fresh tale of feral youths meting out random acts of violence with unfathomable intensity. Apart from the shocking brutality, the speed with which a seemingly trivial argument or confrontation can assume murderous proportions, the stories have a common theme: the perpetrators of the violence, often in their very young teens, were high on ’skunk’ at the time.
The teenagers who killed Garry Newlove, the 47-year-old father of three in Cheshire? The attack came after they had binged on alcohol and skunk. Three youths were found guilty of kicking to death Mark Witherall, 47, after he found them burgling his house in Whitstable, Kent. The three were intoxicated by a ferocious cocktail of alcopops and cannabis. The judge said the three had ‘acted as hyenas’. (UK GUARDIAN)
- A man under the influence of marijuana drifted onto the shoulder of the road hitting a CHP officer and the driver he had stopped, killing the driver. The CHP officer remains paralyzed. “The investigation revealed a large amount of marijuana and marijuana edibles in White’s vehicle. According to search warrants filed in federal court, in his post-arrest statement, White acknowledged being under the influence of marijuana when the accident took place, saying he had purchased the marijuana from a “medical marijuana” dispensary in Compton.” (CHP)
- A house blaze that killed two firefighters started in a tangle of wires and lamps that were installed to grow marijuana in a basement closet, authorities said. (AP 2004)
- The 2003 Cedar fire was the second largest wildfire in the history of California. 14 people lost their lives in that fire. 104 firefighters were injured, one died. Countless wildlife were cremated; 90% of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park was incinerated; 280,278 acres; 422 square miles were ravaged; the fire took a month to put out and cost $27 million. The hunter “admitted that the night before his foray into the forest, he had smoked marijuana by himself and slipped the pipe and lighter in the pocket of his hunting vest. He said he had not smoked marijuana on the day of the trip. Investigators looking into the fire later found Martinez’s glass marijuana pipe about 30 feet from the spot where the fire had started.” (NC TIMES 2004)
- A 17- year old San Jose teen had recently smoked marijuana and drank alcohol was mauled to death by a San Francisco Zoo tiger on Christmas Day. His attorney “says it’s irrelevant whether the teen was drinking or smoking pot before he was mauled.” (AP 2008)
- DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was abducted outside the U.S. consulate in Guadalajara, horrifically tortured and murdered. His kidnapper was marijuana kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero, who was able to flee Mexico to Costa Rica with the help of officers in Mexico’s version of the FBI. (WSJ)
Myth: Our prisons filled with individuals who were merely guilty of posessing marijuana.
In fact, the reality is:
- The fastest growth in criminal justice system referrals has been among admissions younger than 18 and admissions for primary marijuana and primary methamphetamine abuse (SAMSHA 2007)
- It is not true that our prisons are filled with those who are guilty merely of possession of marijuana. But this, in fact, is a myth – an illusion conjured and aggressively perpetuated by drug advocacy groups seeking to relax or abolish America’s marijuana laws. In reality, the vast majority of inmates in state and federal prison for marijuana have been found guilty of much more than simple possession. 0.3% of first time offenders and 0.7% of multiple offenders are in state and federal prisons for marijuana possession (ONDCP)
Fatigue, paranoia, possible psychosis, memory problems, depersonalization, mood alterations, urinary retention, constipation, decreased motor coordination, lethargy, slurred speech, and dizziness. Impaired health including lung damage, behavioral changes, and reproductive, cardiovascular and immunological effects have been associated with regular marijuana use.
Regular and chronic marijuana smokers may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have (daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis), as the amount of tar inhaled and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed by marijuana smokers is 3 to 5 times greater than among tobacco smokers.
The short term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficultly in thinking and problem-solving, and loss of coordination. Heavy users may have increased difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing and using information.
National Highway Safety and Transportation Association (NHSTA)
- As many as 87% of individuals arrested for any crime test positive for drug use and the most commonly detected drug at the time of arrest was marijuana. Additionally, arrestees who are using marijuana use it frequently: in seven of the cities, marijuana users used the drug on average every other day during the past month. (ONDCP 2009)
- In federal prisons the median amount of marijuana for those convicted of possession is 115 pounds. (CSM)
- Data from… a system of hospital emergency rooms that record adverse drug-use events, show that marijuana is now the second leading drug cause (behind only cocaine) for an emergency room visit, surpassing even heroin. Moreover, the rate of marijuana mentions has been steeply rising over the past decade as marijuana potency has increased. (DAWN 2008)
- It impairs alertness, concentration, coordination, reflexes, multi-tasking ability, depth and distance perception; many of the skills required for safe driving and other tasks. Effects can last up to 24 hours after smoking marijuana (NIDA)
Sources:
(CASA 2008) Non-Medical Marijuana II: Rite Of Passage Or Russian Roulette? – The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University – June 2008 - link
(CASA 2006) Analysis of the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) – National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). 1992-2006 – link
(DAWN 2006) All Misuse and Abuse, Total SDL Visits – Drug Abuse Warning Network – March, 2008 – link
(DAWN 2006-2) Emergency Department Visits Involving Underage Drinking – Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Issue 1 – 2006R - link
(DAWN 1999)
(GEORGE 2004) Marijuana Use and Car Crash Injury The George Institute For International Health, Sydney and School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand – link
(SDUT 2004) Traces of pot found in teen victim – San Diego Union Tribune – June 2004 – link
(COMMERCIAL 2003) Drug Tests Required of Child Care Drivers – The Commercial Appeal – July 2, 2003 – link
(NY TIMES 2003) Murder Trial Starts in Death Of Man Stuck In Windshield – New York Times – June 24, 2003 – link
(DEA) The DEA Position on Marijuana – Drug Enforcement Agency - link
(NOLA) SPECIAL REPORT: Mother’s Day Bus Crash – NOLA.com – August 29, 2001 – link
(CHP) Three indicted in relation to six los angeles-area marijuana dispensaries – The United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California – May 2008 – link
(AP 2004) Murder charged in blaze that killed two firefighters – August 21, 2004 – Source: bluelight.ru website – link
(NC TIMES 2004) Hunter gets probation, halfway house term for setting fire – North County Times – November 2005 - link
(AP 2008) Autopsy Finds Marijuana, Alcohol in Teenager Killed by San Francisco Zoo Tiger – Associated Press – June 3, 2008 – link
(UK GUARDIAN) Cannabis: Hippie Dream Modern Nightmare – Guardian, UK – link
(WSJ) In Praise of Mexico’s War on Drugs – Wall Street Journal – Opinion – March 2009 – link
(ONDCP) Who’s Really in Prison for Marijuana? – Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President – link
(ONDCP 2009) New Study Reveals Scope of Drug and Crime Connection – Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM II) – Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President – May 2009 – link
(CSM) Legalize Marijuana? Not so Fast – Christian Science Monitor – May 22, 2009 – link
(DAWN 2008) Ask the White House - ONDCP Director answers citizen (Chris, from Kent, OH) question – December 2008 – link
(NHTSA) Drugs and Human Performance Fact Sheets – National Highway Safety and Transportation Association – April 2004 – link