Marijuana Use Doubles in U.S., But So Do Problems

As someone said, when marijuana is legal, young people will turn to worse drugs to "prove their independence" from their parents.

The idea that marijuana is harmless because it is useful for some illnesses is like thinking that radiation and chemotherapy are harmless because they are useful in fighting cancer.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/marijuana-use-doubles-u-s-so-do-problems-n448616?cid=sm_fb

by Maggie
Oct. 21, 2015

Marijuana use has more than doubled in the U.S. since the beginning of the century — but so have problems for users, including addiction, researchers reported Wednesday.

They found 9.5 percent of U.S. adults used marijuana in 2013, up from 4.1 percent in 2001-2002.

More Americans than ever approve of marijuana use. Just this week, a new Gallup survey showed that 58 percent of Americans favor the legalization of cannabis — the highest number ever.

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"The prevalence of marijuana use more than doubled between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013, and there was a large increase in marijuana use disorders during that time," they wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Psychiatry.

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"While not all marijuana users experience problems, nearly three of 10 marijuana users manifested a marijuana use disorder in 2012-2013." That adds up to 6.8 million Americans, they said.

This is a big issue for younger users, they said.

"When examined by age, young adults were at highest risk for marijuana use disorder in both surveys. Clearly, concerns about this age group continue, with prevention and intervention efforts for this group critically needed." Blacks are now more likely to use cannabis than whites, they added.

It's clear that legal changes reflect a change in attitude about marijuana and cannabis products, Grant's team wrote. Four states have legalized recreational marijuana use and 23 states have medical marijuana laws. People often don't realize that marijuana use is not always safe.

"Further, fewer Americans view marijuana use as risky, although studies have shown that use or early use of marijuana is associated with increased risk for many outcomes, including cognitive decline, psychosocial impairments, vehicle crashes, emergency department visits, psychiatric symptoms, poor quality of life, use of other drugs, a cannabis-withdrawal syndrome, and addiction risk," they wrote.

One recent study showed that the brains of people who tend to use marijuana may be smaller to start with [This does not necessarily mean the less intelligent are more likely to use, but it suggests the possibility], while another found that marijuana appears to change the brain structure of young men with a high genetic risk of schizophrenia.

They also have shown that teenagers who use marijuana heavily grow up to have poor memories and also have brain abnormalities.

"Our study clearly cannot predict the impact of further legalization," Grant's team wrote. "As is the case with alcohol, many individuals can use marijuana without becoming addicted."

But they said minimum legal drinking age and smoke-free laws have changed the use and abuse of alcohol and tobacco.

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