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Expert: Marijuana abuse 'impairing
youths'
On a recent Friday afternoon, as hundreds of students
were filing out of Temecula Valley High School, three students walking
home among the throng picked up a small plastic bag they noticed on the
sidewalk. They smiled to each other knowingly as they passed around the
clear, worn bag, a bit smaller than a thumb. Although empty, the sack
was interesting enough to prompt the teenagers to take notice of the
otherwise innocuous piece of trash. In some circles, the little plastic
pouch is known as a “dime bag,” and commonly holds illicit drugs. That
the trio of students didn't seem surprised and got a laugh out of the
bag's presence so near their school is not surprising, said Kay Wachuku,
author of “Marijuana Impaired Youths: A Clinical Handbook for Counselors,
Mentors, Teachers and Parents.” One out of every five high school kids
use marijuana regularly, Wachuku said, citing his studies and national
surveys. And with the ongoing news about marijuana on a national and
local level, Wachuku said parents and teachers must educate themselves
and young people about the drug's harmful effects.
On the radar screen
Today, talk of marijuana is commonplace. The U.S. Supreme Court is
considering whether use of the drug for medicinal purposes should be
allowed. Locally, the Temecula City Council recently weighed the medical
marijuana issue when a vendor sought preliminary information on opening
a shop in the city. Moreover, arrests for marijuana top the list of the
few arrests that are made for drug possession on campuses, said Sgt.
Rick Zerkel, who oversees the officers assigned to campuses in the
Temecula Valley Unified School District. Wachuku said in an interview
that today's marijuana is much more potent than what was around in the
1960s and 1970s. Also, medical marijuana advocates have, in his opinion,
prompted people to think the drug is acceptable. Because of this, he
said, parents and educators must get tough on what he and other
authorities classify as a gateway drug.
“When kids begin to use substances, it impacts the brain. ... They feel
substance abuse is inconsequential,” said Wachuku, a San Bernardino
educator who has spent the past 15 years studying and working with
drug-addicted youths.
In Temecula, where the City Council has enacted an ordinance prohibiting
the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries pending the Supreme
Court's decision, education efforts are doubly important, he said.
“Marijuana is not only harmful, it's a gateway. ...
Over 50 percent of heroin addicts started with marijuana,” Wachuku said.
“TV trivializes marijuana, makes kids think, 'Oh, it just gets you a
little goofy, it's no big deal.'”
“Comedians make it seem like there is nothing wrong with it, which
creates a distortion,” Wachuku said. “Added to other sources like (the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and Internet
propaganda, and it makes it difficult for kids to understand the
severity of drug-abuse behavior.”
Experience, statistics
In addition to working at schools located in juvenile halls and
developing sober-living homes, Wachuku directed the youth substance
abuse treatment program for the Inland Empire Job Corps in San
Bernardino for six years. Under his tenure, that program was rated the
best in the nation by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2002.
He said his current position as associate dean of academic affairs at
ITT Technical Institute has allowed him to take a break from
substance-abuse treatment and education, although he still runs a small
drug-abuse consulting business on the side.
Wachuku's advice to parents and teachers is to make sure access to drugs
is cut off, then get teens into counseling and educate them about the
effects of illicit drug use. Parents and teachers also need to educate
themselves, he said.
“Consider a world where one out of every five high school kids use
marijuana regularly, and that one is bent on recruiting more users,”
Wachuku writes in his book, citing national surveys for his statistics
as well as his own studies on the issue.
Statistics on how many teenagers in Southwest County have been arrested
for possession of marijuana or other drugs are not readily available,
Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Earl Quinata said.
Mitchell Rosen, a marriage, family and child counselor with a practice
in Temecula, said that at least once a month he takes on a new case
involving teenage drug abuse, often dealing with marijuana.
“And I'm just one therapist,” Rosen added.
In his book, Wachuku cites the 2001 National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse, which found that among children ages 12 to 17 who
use drugs, about 60 percent use marijuana only. Citing another recent
study, Wachuku points out that the number of eighth-graders who have
used the drug at least once doubled in a decade from 10.2 percent in
1991 to 20.4 percent in 2001. Wachuku argues that more young people
enter treatment each year for heavy marijuana use than for all other
illicit drugs combined.
Nonchalant teens
Wachuku argues in his book that most kids feel there's nothing wrong
with weed.
Sgt. Zerkel said he agrees with Wachuku that students think marijuana is
not going to hurt them or that it's less dangerous than other drugs.
Rosen agrees.
“Kids will say to me, 'I've got a 3.5 (grade-point
average), I've been accepted to UCLA,” Rosen recounted. “My response to
that is, 'Imagine what your life would be like if you didn't get high
every day.'”
For Wachuku, education is the way to stop marijuana
abuse.
“I tried the scare tactics we all have tried,” Wachuku
said. “You go to jail, your brain is fried, but people don't get scared
away from addiction. “When you sit down and educate them on the effects
of drug abuse, give them full knowledge, be friends enough with your
child to share with them articles with illustrations to what's going on
— they can relate very quickly to it.”
Local education efforts
Temecula Valley Unified School District, for example, teaches students
about the dangers of drugs, said Diana Damon-White, a special programs
official.
“We don't just cram everything into Red Ribbon Week,” she said of the
national, annual education effort to teach kids about the dangers of
drug abuse. “The (lessons) are done over time (and) are tied into the
curriculum.
“We recognize that it has to be long-term, and has to be done from year
to year to year.”
Damon-White said drug education is conducted as part of the district's
“40 developmental assets” program, which emphasizes different lessons
each month, with topics such as a sense of purpose, responsibility and
reading for pleasure. “It's not just a program, but a state of mind,”
she said. “We're looking for positive ways to impact students.” Wachuku
said a positive state of mind is important, and encourages exercise as a
way to stay sober. “Let the brain calm down through natural exercises,”
he said. “Yoga ... martial arts ... in doing those physical things, it
releases the same neurotransmitters that illicit drugs tends to mimic.”
Causing harm
Some harmful effects of marijuana, as chronicled by
www.marijuanaaddiction.info
include:
- Impaired thinking, mood, memory and coordination.
- Damaged pituitary gland.
- Clogged synapses, brain damage and addiction.
- Increased blood pressure, risk to those with
hypertension and heart disease.
- Decreased sperm count and damaged sperm.
- Females can have egg damage and alteration of
hormone levels.
- Damage of the air sacs of the lungs
- Marijuana has twice as much tar as cigarette
smoke and significantly increases the chance of lung cancer,
inflammation and infection.
Jennifer Kabbany
8 January 2005
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/01/09/news/californian/20_48_231_8_05.txt
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