ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE RISE AS POT BECOMES MORE POTENT

In a trend apparently caused by more potent pot, the prevalence of
marijuana abuse or dependence among adults increased markedly through
the 1990s, even though the percentage of people using the drug stayed
about the same, according to a new government study.

The increases were particularly notable among young black men and
women and young Hispanic men.

"Overall, marijuana abuse or dependence rose by 22 percent between
1991-92 and 2001-02," said Dr. Wilson Compton, director of prevention
research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and lead author of
the study published today in The Journal of the American Medical
Association.

"This means there were approximately 800,000 more adults in the United
States with marijuana abuse or dependence at the end of the period."

Across the adult population, about 4 percent were marijuana users
during the past decade, but the prevalence of those with abuse
problems rose from 1.2 percent to 1.5. percent.

The criteria for abuse included failing to fulfill major obligations
because of drug use, smoking pot in physically hazardous situations
and having repeated legal problems because of drug use.

Respondents were determined to be dependent if they needed increased
amounts of the drug to achieve a high, spent a great deal of time
obtaining, using or recovering from effects of the drug and gave up
important aspects of life in favor of using marijuana.

"It is important to communicate that the increased potency of
marijuana over the past decade may, in part, be responsible for
increases in abuse and dependence among users," Compton and his
colleagues noted.

The study was based on results from two national substance abuse
surveys, each of about 43,000 people over age 18, done 10 years apart,
by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

While marijuana problems were considerably more common among whites a
decade ago, this disparity had narrowed considerably by 2001-02.

That was mainly because of increases of 224 percent among black men
and women ages 18 to 29, from 1.4 percent with abuse problems to 4.5
percent, and a 148 percent among young Hispanic men (18 to 29) from
1.9 percent to 4.7 percent.

The study is the first to measure long-term trends in marijuana abuse
and dependence in this country using a diagnostic system developed by
the American Psychiatric Association.

"Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal substance in the United
States, and its use is associated with poor educational achievement,
reduced workplace productivity, motor vehicle accidents and increased
risk for use of other substances," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of
the drug abuse institute.