MARIJUANA USE IS A PROBLEM WITH NO BOUNDS

She's 21 years old and has a 3.82 college grade point average at a
prestigious university.

She also smokes marijuana regularly.

"It's the only illegal thing that I do, other than maybe speeding
every now and then," she said last week in an interview with the
Ledger-Enquirer.

She could be your daughter, your girlfriend or your best friend.

She is one of millions of people in the United States who smoke marijuana.

When it comes to illegal drugs, marijuana has broad appeal and strong
social acceptability, despite research that it can cause health
problems and lead to the use of harder drugs, and despite its
connection to crime and violence.

"When people think about drugs, they think about meth, cocaine and
marijuana," said Lt. Mike Honsinger with the Athens Clarke County
Drug and Vice Unit. "Marijuana is by far the most prevalent. If you
smoke marijuana, you are not considered a drug fiend. 'It's just a
social drug,' is the thought."

In the United States, there are nearly 15 million marijuana users a
year -- more than the users of most other illegal drugs combined.

And marijuana's many users run the gamut of age, gender, class and ethnicity.

"There is no picture, no stereotype, no average," said Jonnie
Ellerbee, a sergeant in the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office and
assistant special agent in charge of the Metro Narcotics Task Force.
"It's all age groups, all walks of life; young, old; rich, poor; black, white."

The marijuana problem is complex. It involves domestic and foreign
growers -- both outdoor and indoor -- as well as tightly woven
networks that include not only conventional drug traffickers, but
also established social networks of friends and family, the Office of
National Drug Control Policy concluded in a report.

There is another issue pointed out in that report and echoed by law
enforcement officers and counselors dealing with marijuana-related
problems: The potency of the drug has risen dramatically in the past
two decades. It's stronger, with a higher tetrahydrocannabinol, or
THC, content than in years past. Also, buyers can never be sure what
the marijuana is laced with, experts say.

Jack Killorin is director of the Atlanta High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area office, one of 35 such federal outposts in the war on drugs.

"A bunch of people have a recollection of what marijuana was like
back in the day," he said. "That leads them to believe it's a safe
drug. In today's world, marijuana is a serious and damaging drug in
its own right."

Simply put, this ain't your daddy's marijuana.

Starting Young

Many marijuana users start young, some before they reach their teenage years.

The college student interviewed for this story started smoking when
she was a 15-year-old high school sophomore. A year later, she was
smoking marijuana a couple of times a week.

Her father, a respected professional in the Chattahoochee Valley in
his mid 40s, knew his daughter and her siblings were experimenting
with marijuana.

In his youth, he did the same thing.

"I experimented with a lot of different things, marijuana being one
of them," he said. "I walked a very, very fine line. I was in rehab
by the time I was 18 and had an overdose of cocaine shortly after I
got out of rehab."

That overdose was an awakening, he said.

Today, he does not use drugs and has tried to counsel and discipline
his children, drawing on his life experiences.

Getting children to listen is not easy, he said. "I think you have a
very short span where you can make a difference."

His daughter said both of her parents talked to her about about the
potential dangers of drug use.

"My mom talked to me at length," she said. "She knew the first time I
tried it... . My family has been honest about use."

Studies have shown that marijuana can hinder a user's short-term
memory and impair perception and reaction time, and smoking marijuana
can cause many of the same respiratory problems that smoking tobacco does.

Marijuana is also known as a gateway drug, meaning that its use can
lead to the use of other drugs.

This young woman says she restricts her drug use to marijuana.

"I have no desire to try anything else," she said.

John Doheny, a licensed addiction counselor, sees a lot of young
people. He understands the mind-set of the successful college student.

"A lot of kids I work with smoke weed and say, 'I would never do hard
drugs,' " Doheny said. "I tell them they can never predict that. Any
time you are talking about drugs and start a sentence with 'never,'
you should end that sentence with "yet." The reality is they simply
don't know."

Another reality: Many parents trying to keep their kids off marijuana
have used it themselves.

"The biggest issue with parents is if they smoked it when they were
kids," Doheny said. "They feel they are hypocritical if they
discipline their kids for smoking weed."

Doheny, a recovering addict, takes a hard line with parents he counsels.

"My response to that is in growing up lots of people make mistakes,"
he said. "Now, your role is as a parent and your responsibility is
parenting. It does not matter what you did as a kid. I asked the
parent if they were caught shoplifting as a child, would they say, 'I
did that as a kid and it is OK that Johnny did it?' No. I strongly
confront that mind-set."

Part of the issue is that marijuana users, though aware of the drug's
illegality, compare it to alcohol, a legal drug. Marijuana acceptance
can be found throughout the culture.

The college student who started using when she was in high school
said she continues to smoke it to deal with the stress of college
life. She is a typical marijuana user, many of whom are in their early 20s.

"It really is helpful," she said. "I know I could go to a
psychiatrist and pay the same thing or less for beta blockers. But it
is a so much more natural form of medicine than I would get from a doctor."

The Consequences

Because marijuana is illegal, users are running risks that could
prove costly, especially for young people.

A misdemeanor marijuana conviction, which could come for possessing
one joint, may cost someone college loans, the ability to join the
military or get a job and driver's license.

State Court Judge Andy Prather and Solicitor General Ben Richardson
see the problem on a weekly basis. Almost all of the misdemeanor
marijuana charges end up in Prather's court; Richardson's office is
in charge of prosecution.

"Marijuana cases have remained pretty steady," Prather said. "It is
not like DUIs, that are way down right now. It kind of goes in
spurts. One Friday, we may have one case, the next Friday we will
have seven or eight."

But a simple marijuana possession charge can get tricky, Prather
said. He uses a real-world situation to illustrate the problem.

"Say you go on the street and you are flush with cash and have 10
bucks," Prather said. "Instead of buying a dime bag, you buy two
nickel bags. You get caught and you have two plastic bags in your
pocket. Now, you have possession with the intent to distribute."

The misdemeanor just became a felony.

If Prather sees a first-time offender in his court, he is likely to
cut that person some slack, he said.

"I look at the record," Prather said. "If they have no prior drug
convictions, I'll ask them to do 40 hours of community service and
test clean with the probation office for 90 days. Marijuana stays in
the system for a long time, so those drug test numbers better be
steadily dropping."

Richardson looks for ways to work with younger offenders to keep the
conviction from ruining their lives. The deferred prosecution program
is a way to do that.

But the offender has to do his or her part, Richardson said.

"The first thing we tell them is, 'We are not going to baby you,' "
Richardson said. "We'll tell them they qualify for the program, then
we will do an interview with them."

Part of that interview includes asking the person what they plan to
do with their lives. If the answer is college or military, Richardson
has the hook he generally needs to get cooperation.

"Attitude goes a long way," Richardson said.

"I tell them if they want to get a good job, with a drug conviction
they can't," he said. "I tell them I don't know what's going to
happen to them, but it's not going to be positive."

Richardson likes to get 40 hours of meaningful community service, but
he has increased that to as much as 240 at the recommendation of the
parents or judge.

Once the person has completed their community service and tested
negative, Richardson's office asks the judge to put the case on the
dead docket.

"Then we wait a year and make sure they stay on the up-and-up,"
Richardson said.

After a year of flying straight, the person is then given a clean slate.

The Catch?

On a job or any other application, the person can answer no if asked
if they have been convicted of a crime. But what if the question is
- -- and most often these days it is -- "Have you ever been arrested?"
Then the person has a problem and some explaining to do.

"I see attitudes of apathy from young people," Richardson said. "That
is scary. They say it is 'just marijuana.' It's a drug conviction.
People don't know the consequences. It really is a crime and we
really will punish you."

The college student and marijuana smoker at the prestigious
university knows there are risks. A biology major, she wants to
pursue a career as a crime scene investigator.

"That makes me really nervous," she said. "I know an arrest doesn't
look good. If I wanted to work for the local branch of the FBI, I
would not be allowed to do that."

She uses care when she smokes marijuana.

"I smoke it in my apartment or a friend's apartment," she said. "I
don't smoke it in my car on the streets. I don't get it from people I
don't know -- I get it from my friends."

Prather said most young users are not fully weighing the consequences
and the risk.

"A 17-year-old is not thinking about a student loan, he's not
thinking about getting a job," he said. "He doesn't know that this
drug conviction could and will cost him a job. He's not thinking like that."

The college student said she will quit smoking marijuana when it
comes time to join the workforce. But for now, she will continue to
take the chance and hold out hope the drug is eventually legalized.

"I am hoping by the time I am 65 or 70 and retired," she said, "it
will be legal."