GIVE KIDS ALTERNATIVES TO MARIJUANA

More teenagers these days are smoking marijuana.

That troubling word comes out of the most recent Monitoring the Future
Survey, which was released earlier this week.

One in 16 10th-through 12th-graders are smoking marijuana daily or
nearly daily, according to the report.

And, for the second straight year, the study found that more
12th-graders had smoked marijuana than had smoked tobacco cigarettes
within the past three months.

Perhaps even more disturbing than the actual number of kids using
marijuana is the indication that more teens look favorably at the drug
than has been the case in the past.

Some government officials, as well as the lead investigator, blamed
the trend in teens looking differently at marijuana on the fact that
medical-marijuana use has gotten so much attention in recent years.

"Young people are increasingly seeing marijuana as not dangerous,"
said lead researcher Lloyd Johnston of the University of Michigan.
That fact, he said, is likely to lead to even heavier use of the drug
in the future.

The increased use of marijuana has impacts that can reach beyond the
criminal effects of buying or possessing it. Scientists say marijuana
use can inhibit memory and learning. Those qualities are especially
important in teens, who are laying the foundations for their future
academic and occupational lives.

They could also be damaging brains that have not yet fully developed,
researchers said.

Meanwhile, advocates for legalizing marijuana pointed to the results
as proof that the government's attempts to stigmatize and criminalize
the drug have failed to prevent its use.

The political arguments here are not as important as the fact that
increasing numbers of our young people are putting their futures in
jeopardy by using illegal drugs.

What is the answer? There is no easy one, but there are
answers.

Our teens need reasons to stay off drugs, and they need viable
alternatives.

Kids who are involved in sports or other extracurricular activities at
school have a reason to keep their records clean and a reason to stay
away from harmful influences.

Kids who have active parental involvement in their lives will probably
have a tougher time hiding illicit drug use from those who care most
about them.

And those who are surrounded by positive role models will have good
influences rather than bad and a voice of reason that might talk them
out of harmful choices.

Whatever the numbers and trends say, you can help the teens around you
make their own way if you do your part.