TEEN DEPRESSION NOT AIDED BY POT

Depressed teens who retreat into marijuana may be making their
conditions worse, national anti-drug abuse leaders said yesterday,
citing new research about brain function and mental illness.

"The short message is marijuana is not safe and it's not a solution
for depression," said John P. Walters, director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

New research is implicating marijuana as a risk factor for adolescent
mental health problems, amplifying pre-existing depression in some
teens and triggering it in others, Mr. Walters said at a National
Press Club yesterday.

There's also evidence that elements of marijuana can linger in
certain parts of the brain, leading to impaired memory and learning,
said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Using marijuana is "not going to help anything," she said. "It will
make life much worse."

After the press conference, a Michigan teen spoke with reporters
about her battle with pot.

When she first tried it at age 15, "I liked the feeling," said Sonia,
now 18, who asked that her last name not be printed. But the habit,
which she sustained via friends who grew marijuana or sold it in
suburban neighborhoods, led her to lose interest in everything but
hanging out with friends.

The pretty blonde, who has also had bouts of depression, is now at
the Pathway Family Center treatment program in Southfield, Mich.
"It's taken time, but I've figured out that I want to live a life
that is productive," Sonia said, adding she expects to graduate from
high school soon.

When Sonia's mother, Lily, was asked what prompted her and her
husband to put Sonia into treatment, the mother's eyes instantly
welled with tears.

"She had a plan to take her life," she said softly.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, who hosts VH1's "Celebrity Rehab," a new reality
show on overcoming addiction, said he and others who work in
addiction medicine are not trying to create another "Reefer Madness"
message. The goal is to clarify that the problems surrounding
marijuana "are not mysterious; they are overwhelming and obvious," he said.

"The benign quality of marijuana -- which has been an assumption from
the '60s -- is now seriously questioned by researchers, scientists
and doctors," said Dr. Larry Greenhill, president-elect of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

However, organizations that seek decriminalization of marijuana are
not persuaded. Marijuana certainly shouldn't be used by children,
said Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project.

But it has many medicinal uses and should be "treated like beer, wine
and liquor," he said, adding: "It's very important to give out
accurate information, not exaggerated scare stories."