MARIJUANA MAY BE ADDICTIVE FOR TROUBLED TEENS-STUDY

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Troubled teen-agers who use marijuana can quickly
become dependent on the drug, Colorado researchers reported Tuesday.

But instead of reinforcing the image of an evil weed luring carefree
adolescents into a life of drug abuse, their study indicates that
teen-agers get in trouble first, then become dependent on marijuana.

Dr. Thomas Crowley of the University of Colorado said more than two-thirds
of teens referred to his drug treatment and study program by social or
criminal justice agencies complained of withdrawal symptoms when they
stopped using marijuana.

``I want to emphasize that this is a group of kids in treatment for
substance problems. This is not your average kid in a sophomore class,''
Crowley, a psychiatrist, said in a telephone interview.

Nevertheless, he said, ``Cannabis makes big troubles in the lives of some
people who are very troubled.''

Crowley's team at the university's Addiction Research and Treatment Service
interviewed and examined 165 boys and 64 girls aged 13 to 19. More than 80
percent of the boys and 60 percent of the girls were clinically dependent
on marijuana.

``These are official criteria from the American Psychiatric Association,''
Crowley said. ``They include things like the development of tolerance,
development of withdrawal, the person continues using after he realizes it
causes a problem for him,'' he added.

When asked, 97 percent of the teens said they still used marijuana even
after realizing it had become a problem for them. Eighty-five percent
admitted their habit interfered with driving, school, work and home life,
according to Crowley's report, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol
Dependence.

``The withdrawal symptoms that these kids complained of were tiredness,
sleepiness, weakness, trouble concentrating, yawning, changes in appetite
and psychological depression,'' Crowley said. ``In addition 25 percent of
the kids said they used cannabis to relieve withdrawal symptoms.''

Most said their problems started before they started using marijuana.

``Also many come from very disrupted homes, from situations where the
parents were emotionally disturbed or were themselves substance-involved or
involved with the criminal justice system. This is a very troubled group of
kids we deal with.''

This could indicate a genetic factor, Crowley said.

``We have convinced the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to give us
a large grant to study the genetics...in the kids that we treat and their
families,'' Crowley said.

He said alcoholism, which has a known genetic component, was very common in
the teen-agers' families. ``This is a population that is very vulnerable to
substance problems.''

But that did not mean the problem was rare. ``That is not a smaller,
trivial population in the United States. There are about 825,000 juveniles
arrested and sent to court each year. It appears that about half those kids
have cannabis in their urine at the time of arrest.''

There could be a physical basis for marijuana dependence. Scientists have
identified a brain receptor -- a place where chemicals hook onto brain
cells -- that specifically responds to THC, the active ingredient in
marijuana.

``This study is not about marijuana's dangers,'' Lynn Zimmer, a sociologist
who wrote a book, ``Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts,'' said in a statement.

``Most teens who try marijuana are normal and healthy, and never develop
symptoms of drug dependence. Among troubled teens, heavy marijuana use is
more of a symptom than a cause. The solution is to offer troubled teens
more support and assistant, whether they use marijuana or not.''

Copyright 1998 by Reuters