COULD SMOKING POT BE GOOD FOR TEENS?

A new study from Switzerland raises the question: Might marijuana
actually be good for teens? The answer is almost certainly no, but if
one follows the logic used by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP, aka the Drug Czar's office), the answer would
be, "In some ways, yes."

If that seems confusing, allow me to explain.

The Swiss study, just published in Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine was based on a survey of 5,263 students, aged
16-20. Scientists compared teens who smoked both cigarettes and
marijuana, those who used only marijuana, and those who abstained from
both substances. The results were surprising.

By pretty much all measures, the youths using both marijuana and
tobacco were doing the worst. Compared to those using marijuana only,
they had poorer grades, were less likely to finish school, more likely
to be depressed and more likely to get drunk frequently. Their
marijuana use was also much more frequent than the marijuana-only
group, and they were much more likely to have started smoking
marijuana before age 15.

But the marijuana-only teens were strikingly similar to the
abstainers, with very few statistically significant differences. The
marijuana smokers were more likely to skip school but had comparable
grades and were just as likely to finish their schooling as the
abstainers. The marijuana users had more "sensation-seeking"
personalities, which -- not surprisingly -- translated to somewhat
higher use of alcohol or other drugs than the abstainers. But the
marijuana-only group's use of alcohol and other drugs was far lower
than the marijuana/cigarette group.

And in some ways the teens using marijuana looked better than the
abstainers. They had better peer relationships, were more likely to be
involved in sports and more likely to be on an academic (as opposed to
vocational) track in school.

But these associations, as researchers call them, do not prove cause
and effect. Just because A and B happen together tells nothing about
whether A causes B, B causes A, or some third factor causes both A and
B.

And that's where the Drug Czar gets into trouble. ONDCP regularly uses
such correlations to frighten parents about marijuana in an utterly
dishonest way. For example, an ONDCP ad published in major newspapers
and magazines around the country bore the headline, "Marijuana can
limit your teen's academic achievement." It went on to warn parents,
"Marijuana use is linked to poorer grades. A teen with a 'D' average
is four times more likely to have used marijuana than a teen with an
'A' average."

Well, yes, there was a study showing such an association, but just
like the Swiss study, it did not and could not prove that marijuana
caused the poorer grades. Indeed, there is a small mountain of
evidence suggesting that it's the teens doing poorly in school who
start smoking marijuana at a young age in the first place.

So by ONDCP's logic, it should now start running ads telling parents
that smoking marijuana is linked to better peer relationships,
involvement in athletics and more interest in academics. Don't hold
your breath.

(It's worth noting here that there are good reasons to urge teens not
to smoke marijuana. Some things, like psychoactive drugs, are simply
best handled after one has acquired a bit of experience and maturity.
Second, there are still unanswered questions about marijuana's effect
on developing brains. Given that the brain uses marijuanalike
chemicals as part of its natural communication system, pouring in
large amounts of similar compounds while that neural circuitry is
still developing seems needlessly risky until more is known.)

What the Swiss study does, if policymakers would only listen, is
suggest that ONDCP's obsessive focus on stamping out even occasional
marijuana use is misguided. The serious public health problem isn't
good students who light up an occasional joint with friends on
weekends, much as we might prefer they not do so. The real problem is
the population of kids, clearly identifiable in the Swiss research,
using multiple substances at an early age and having all sorts of
problems at school and home. These kids -- more depressed, less likely
to finish school and using heavy amounts of marijuana, booze and other
drugs -- exist in the United States as well as Switzerland, and they
clearly need help that many aren't getting.

For most of these teens, substance use likely wasn't the original
cause of their problems, but it's almost certainly making them worse.
ONDCP could be helping parents and schools identify these kids and get
them help. Instead, officials cherry-pick data to bolster an
ideological agenda while ignoring the real problem.