STRONGER POT PROPELS ADDICTION RATE HIGHER

Marijuana abuse and addiction have increased over the past decade,
even though the percentage of people using pot has remained roughly
the same, a new study says.

The reason: It's not your parents' marijuana.

A 25 percent increase in serious problems with marijuana from 1992 to
2002 is likely explained by a 66 percent increase in the potency of
the drug, researchers from the National Institute of Drug Abuse report
in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Marijuana today has nearly five times the level of THC, the drug's
most active ingredient, than was in the pot of the 1970s, government
figures suggest. Marijuana has become so strong that the liberal
government of the Netherlands is considering classifying it as a
"hard" drug to be banned from the "coffee shops" of Amsterdam, where
it has been sold openly for years.

Hydroponic growing techniques and the selective use of seeds from
powerful strains contribute to the higher levels of THC, researchers
say. Superstrong "BC Bud" from British Columbia can easily be
obtained, especially in the northwest United States.

"People still have a naive approach to marijuana and think of it as a
harmless substance," said Dr. William Compton, lead author of the new
study and an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Drug Abuse,
one of the National Institutes of Health. "It's not as innocent as
they might expect."

About 4 percent of Americans age 18 and older say they smoked
marijuana in the past year, the same as a decade ago, the study found.
But use of the drug among African-Americans and Hispanics increased
significantly, with use among blacks now surpassing that by whites.

Rates of abuse and addiction increased the most among racial and
ethnic minorities, with serious marijuana problems now more common
among blacks and Hispanics than in whites. Overall, more than a third
of marijuana users report signs of abuse or addiction.

The study is based on two sets of information gathered in interviews
by the U.S. Census Bureau. Marijuana users who acknowledged at least
one of four criteria for abuse, such as pot-related legal problems or
interference with job performance, were considered abusers.

Those who noted at least three of six other criteria - including the
need to use more pot to achieve the same effect and unsuccessful
attempts to cut back - were categorized as dependent, or addicted.

"This study shows that there is a certain propensity to addiction for
marijuana," Compton said. "That may surprise people, that marijuana
can be addictive."

Another report, released last month by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said that among
people ages 12 to 17, marijuana use appears to have stabilized in
recent years.

But emergency room visits implicating marijuana use among that age
group jumped 48 percent from 1999 to 2002, the report said. The
proportion of children and teenagers in treatment for marijuana use
soared 142 percent from 1992 to 2001.

"We think potency is probably the explanation," said Joseph Califano,
president of the drug research center at Columbia and former secretary
of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, now known as
Health and Human Services.

Califano directed the U.S. government's campaign against smoking
tobacco in the late 1970s, after he quit smoking it himself. He said
he had no problem telling younger people not to do something he had
once done, because a better understanding of the dangers had emerged.

The message is the same today for parents who smoked marijuana in
their youth and who may be unsure how to talk to their children about
pot, he said.

"There's nothing hypocritical about it," Califano said. "This stuff is
much stronger today."

[sidebar]

POT PROBLEMS

Marijuana abuse and addiction are on the rise, though the percentage of
people using marijuana remains the same, a new study says. That may be
because pot is more potent. The percentage of marijuana users with abuse
or addiction to the illegal drug:

..........1991-92...........2001-02

Whites.........31.8%............34.4%

Blacks.........21.2%............38.6%

Hispanics......23.7%............37.1%

Ages 18-29.....36.0%............42.1%

Ages 30-44.....22.4%............27.9%

Ages 45-64.....16.9%............25.8%

Total..........30.2%............35.6%

Sources: National Institute on Drug Abuse, Journal of the American
Medical Association