cannabis abuse in teenagers. daily use

7/31/2019 Cannabis Abuse in Teenagers. Daily Use.

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Paul D. Spradling

Prof. Parker Phillips

ENC 1101

27 July 2012

Informative Essay

Final Draft

Marijuana is not addictive and is less harmful than alcohol. This viewpoint,

common to many teenagers nowadays, has led to an increase in cannabis consumption and

more importantly an increase in the percentage of daily users (Substance Abuse and Mental

Health Services Administration. September 2010.) The problem is that this viewpoint is not

entirely correct. While it is true that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and not physically

additive, it can be psychologically addictive, and the strength of this latter addiction can be much

stronger than one usually imagines. The harmlessness of cannabis is also mostly misunderstood;

while casual use is relatively harmless, sustained chronic use can lead to many problems,

especially in teenagers (Swift, Copeland & Lenton. 2000. p103-7).

After many years of repression and (ongoing) prohibition, marijuana has made a

comeback. Recent scientific studies, but more importantly the availability and accessibility

to these and opinion based on these with new mediums such as the Internet, has debunked

previous paradigms and created a new perspective on this substance. Teenagers coming to

age in this era realize marijuana is not as bad as they were taught or as previously thought.

There is a growing acceptance and therefore a growing tendency to use it.

Among marijuana users we identify the chronic/daily/heavy users as people who

consume it on a regular basis (most days, everyday, and many times even multiple times a


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day or all day long/constantly). With the increase in general marijuana consumption there

has obviously been an increase in daily users too. Recent research gives us a clearer picture

of this; the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Nov. 26, 2004) reports:

Among young adults aged 18 to 25, approximately 4.3 percent reported daily

marijuana use compared with about 1.1 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 and

0.8 percent of adults aged 26 or older. Males were almost 3 times more likely

to report daily marijuana use compared with females (2.0 vs. 0.7 percent).

In 2003, more than 25 million persons (10.6 percent) aged 12 or older

reported past year use of marijuana. An estimated 3.1 million persons (1.3

percent of the population and 12.2 percent of past year marijuana users)

were daily marijuana users (i.e., they used marijuana on 300 or more days in

the past 12 months).

According to National Survey on Drug Use and Healths (2010) report:

In 2010, an estimated 15.7 percent of past year marijuana users aged 12 or

older used marijuana on 300 or more days within the past 12 months. This

translates into 4.6 million persons using marijuana on a daily or almost daily

basis over a 12-month period.

In 2010, an estimated 39.9 percent (6.9 million) of current marijuana users

aged 12 or older used marijuana on 20 or more days in the past month. This

represents an increase from the 2009 estimates of 36.7 percent or 6.1 million

users.

Sullum (May 2, 2012) also found:

Monitoring the Future Study put "heavy" use at 7 percent of all high school

students last year, who are more likely to smoke pot than younger students

are.

The war on drugs has created a polarization of opinions on the subject: the old anti-

marijuana, prohibitionist opinion, and the new scientifically backed pro-marijuana opinion.

The problem with this is that marijuana is not really as harmless as the pro-marijuana

opinions make it out to be; they are mostly correct in their opinions (far more correct than

the anti-marijuana opinions), but the war, polarization and discussion on this topic has

destroyed the middle ground. Teenagers are not realizing that marijuana is not completely


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harmless. The medicinal issue has also fueled this problem, placing the view of marijuana

as something beneficial to ones health. There is a common and grave misconception

towards the medicinal issue. It is true and scientifically backed that cannabis has great

medicinal uses, and for these people who need it its use can be very beneficial. In these

cases marijuana helps patience function better. What people dont realize is that marijuana

is not always beneficial; in some cases (for example chronic use in teenagers) it can actually

impede the users general function instead of improve it.

Daily and sustained use is the most problematic. Swift, Copeland & Lenton (2000, p103)

report:

The most probable adverse health effects of acute use are generally self-

limiting and do not persist beyond intoxication.

On the other hand the most probable effects of regular (daily or near daily),

sustained use (over several years) are: dependence, cognitive impairment,

emotional development issues and adverse respiratory effects.

It is especially dangerous in adolescence. Swift, Copeland & Lenton (2000, p107) report:

A major focus of concern is cannabis use in adolescence, a time of rapid

development and transitions in life roles. While most adolescent use remainsexperimental, early onset and adolescent cannabis use have been related to a

number of negative outcomes such as poor mental health, drug use and

abuse, delinquent behavior and criminality and poor educational

achievement.

I used to be a daily marijuana user myself, and sometimes I still am, but as I continue

to see the negative consequences I continue to reduce my use. For over 4 years I consumed

marijuana almost every single day and from the morning or noon hours to the late night

(what people call a wake and bake stoner). I stopped the waking and baking many years

ago, but I continued to smoke it at least once before the end of the day. This has improved

my performance in many areas notably, but smoking everyday at lease once it is still not


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the best, at least for me. Currently I have what I call short seasons, I smoke one, two or

three days during the night time, and then stop for one, two or three days. Again I have

noted an incredible improvement.

I began smoking everyday because I thought it was harmless and not addictive,

many of my friends and people I interviewed expressed the same thoughts. The truth is

casual use is relatively harmless, but daily use is not. The other great misconception is

towards the addiction potential. Sure marijuana is not physically addictive, but try getting

used to doing something everyday for 5 years, building your friends, habits and actions

around it, and then trying to stop. I can tell you it is not easy, especially when you still like it

and enjoy it and still believe it is not so harmful. It is true marijuana is not physically

addictive, one can stop using it and suffer no consequences, no abstinence, and no grave

urges to consume it (unlike nicotine), but still it is not easy to stop it, the psychological

addiction can be much stronger than you can imagine or originally imagine. Again many of

my friends and people I interviewed agreed, they do not feel a physical addiction, but they

have a strong psychological addiction and have great problems trying to control it.

One of the participants warns, do not underestimate psychological addiction, it can

turn out to be very strong, habits are hard to change, especially if you start at a young age,

and even more so if your friends still do it. My participants agreed daily use can become a

habit, and therefore an addiction, they agree not to underestimate the psychological

addiction.

Cannabis use is more common than ever before, especially among teens. Daily use is

also more common and may cause developmental problems in adolescence. When cannabis

impedes in your functioning, it is a problem. When used for medicinal purposes cannabis


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helps patience function better. That is a fundamental difference. The war on drugs must

end and the middle point must be established, we must educate with the truth; marijuana is

a safe drug, which should be legalized, but it is not completely harmless and can be

addictive. If a change in our laws does not occur we risk damaging our children and

creating a great public health issue in the future.


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Works Cited

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2010

National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings . NSDUH

Series H-41, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 11-4658. September 2011.

Sullum, Jacob. Teen Pot Smoking 'Surges' While Staying the Same. Reason Magazine. May

2, 2012.

Swift, Wendy; Copeland, Jan; Lenton, Simon. Cannabis and harm reduction. Drug and

Alcohol Review, Vol 19(1). March 2000. p100-110.

cannabis abuse in teenagers. daily use

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