Comment: Goffness, you stated that the AMA has already stated that cannabis isn't dangerous. That is an outright lie. I've looked up their policy on cannabis on their website and they state unequivocably that it IS dangerous. Pull the other leg, why don't you.
Comment: The sad part about this is that most young people wont take this seriously at all. I myself really doubt that this is true. The best way to predict future behavior is to look at past behavior. The government has lied time and time again about marijuana and its effects. Science proves this, period. The young people in this country are tired of the boy who cried wolf, a.k.a. the drug war. Even if any of this were true, we've been mislead so many times that I cant imagine most people taking it seriously. Britain's top health officials just did a re-classification of controlled substances. They took in over 1500 factors ranging from personal health to sociatal impact. The result? Both tobacco and alcohol were in the top 7 most dangerous drugs, with cannabis coming in at number 11. The american medical association has already come out and said that cannabis is not a dangerous drug. The fact that cigs and booze kill almost 1 million people a year in this country and marijuana is some evil drug is absurd
Comment: As usual, the "war on drugs" has it backwards, and puts the emphasis on the end result, rather than on preventing the problem.
This is information about teen depression, not about teen marijuana abuse.
Marijuana abuse in teens does not lead to depression; depression in teens leads to marijuana abuse.
Depression in teens leads to alcohol abuse, as well, and there is a fairly strong link with teen depression and tobacco abuse.
It is time adults in this country woke up - our kids use substances irresponsibly because the adults around them use substances irresponsibly. Experimentation with tobacco, alcohol and drugs is not a normal rite of passage - in cultures where adults use these substances responsibly, their children don't "experiment" with them. We have elevated drugs and alcohol to mythical and magical proportions - teens use them to try and medicate their moods because the adults in this culture do the same.
If we truly want to do something about adolescent substance abuse, we as adults will need to do something about ours. This includes taking alcohol and pharmaceutical ads off television, and not glamourizing drugs and alcohol in movies and tv shows.
We also need better screening for depression, prompter treatment for depression, and better insurance coverage for treatment, especially family treatment, since you can't treat teens effectively without treating the family.
For those of us in the mental health profession, and especially for those of us in the substance abuse treatment profession, articles like this are discouraging, because they only stimulate the law and order folks to for more jails and harsher penalties; it does nothing to help teens.
The government is not interested in helping teens deal with depression; if it was, it wouldn't publish this kind of nonsense.
Comment: Memo to: ceanf9: Sir, at one time I would have been inclined to agree with you. The reason I can't now and will tell you that the study is on the mark is because I know well first hand the danger that pot poses. The seduction that comes with the high can leave you with a false sense of well being. But that seduction can be stripped away at a moments notice when you least expect it. And instead of a pleasant high, you get your world handed to you stripped of all color and you see it in the very blackest of black and the whitest of white. Reality as it is, not as you would wish it to be. In that instant, you are overwhelmed with a despair that will take you to the edge of the abyss. And I can assure you it will take everything you have, every bit of self control you can muster not to step over the edge into darkness. You are correct in your statement that legal drugs have been linked to the same thing. But the benign persona that has been associated with pot is nothing more than a facade to mask the insidious nature of the drugs seduction. You can pick your poison, but you must ultimately pay the price. The sweetest sunrise you will ever see will be the one you witness after you realize that the night before you were a 1/2lb of pressure away from killing yourself. Please, do yourself a favor and exercise some caution when you drive the fast lane of excess.
Comment: why do you even print this government drug war propaganda newsweek? isn't is a bit of a coincidence that this so called 'study' that determines that 'pot causing suicidal thoughts' comes out around the time when numerous legal drugs have been linked to the same thing? lets be real and call it what it is... nothing but a standard, baseless drug war scare tactic.
Comment: burbank, ihave to disagree with you when you say this study is 'on the mark'. This 'study is what they call a meta-study. Basically they do no new research and combine the results of previous studies, manipulating the results to support their conclusions. I wouldn't give this study a single bit of credibility because a) it is from the white house drug war propaganda machine and b) relies of dubious statistical methodologies. As for your other comments... they reek of the nanny state mentality. Who are you to say that smoking pot brings others to the 'brink of despair', as it seems to have done to you? There are tens of millions of productive, successful american citizens that have at one time, or currently smoke marijuana. please step down from your 'i know whats better for you than you' pedestal.
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