One toke over the line
Obama drug czar Kerlikowske's far-fetched theory on pot use
Editorial
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-marijuana-20101216,0,7998942.story

The assertion that Prop. 19 is contributing to a rise in teenage
marijuana use is unfounded.

California, whose initiative to legalize recreational marijuana use drew
national headlines this year, is notoriously tolerant of a drug
considered an evil weed in some parts of the country. But is our lax
attitude creating a school system full of Jeff Spicolis, the iconic
California stoner from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"? R. Gil
Kerlikowske, the Obama administration's drug czar, suspects that it is.

After an annual survey of teen drug use nationwide found that marijuana
smoking is on the rise among eighth- through 12th-graders, Kerlikowske
attributed the uptick to California's Proposition 19 and other states'
initiatives to legalize medical marijuana. "Mixed messages about drug
legalization, particularly marijuana, may be to blame," he said in a
news release. "Such messages certainly don't help parents who are trying
to prevent kids from using drugs."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that he has a point. In Los Angeles, where
billboards promoting doctors who pass out medical marijuana
recommendations are commonplace and green crosses identifying pot
"clinics" can be found on hundreds of street corners, cannabis seems as
harmless and ubiquitous as nasal spray. It would be surprising if kids
weren't influenced by adults' blase attitudes about the drug.

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Yet anecdotal evidence is no substitute for rigorous study, and
Kerlikowske should have checked such sources as the Congressional
Research Service before jumping to conclusions. An April report, issued
to advise Congress on whether to loosen federal restrictions on medical
marijuana, examined studies comparing teen pot smoking in states with
and without medical marijuana laws and found no connection between such
laws and drug use. "Concerns that medical cannabis laws send the wrong
message to vulnerable groups such as adolescents seem to be unfounded,"
it stated.

Most studies on the issue were performed about a decade ago, and it's
clear that more research is needed on the effects of legalization
debates on teen attitudes. Even if a causal connection is discovered,
though, it doesn't imply that the solution is to stop discussing
legalization --- as evidenced by the same National Institute on Drug
Abuse survey that prompted Kerlikowske's comments.

Even as teen marijuana use is rising, tobacco and alcohol use is
falling, according to the report, which found that 21.4% of high school
seniors had smoked pot in the previous month and 19.2% had smoked
tobacco --- the first time since 1981 that marijuana was more popular
than cigarettes. This may indicate that public health campaigns aimed at
discouraging alcohol and tobacco use are working, and that similar
campaigns aimed specifically at marijuana might be equally effective.
There's little evidence that continued criminalization has discouraged
teen drug use, but better education might.
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