FEDS: POT, MENTAL ILLNESS LINKED

WASHINGTON -- Youngsters who use marijuana are more likely to develop
serious mental health problems, the government said Tuesday. A private
group said law enforcement increasingly is targeting people who smoke
and deal the drug.

Past medical studies have linked marijuana with a greater incidence of
mental disorders such as depression or schizophrenia. But questions
remain about whether people who smoke marijuana at a young age are
already predisposed to mental disorders, or whether the drug caused
those disorders.

Government officials say recent research makes a stronger case that
smoking marijuana is a causal agent in psychiatric symptoms,
particularly schizophrenia.

"A growing body of evidence now demonstrates that smoking marijuana
can increase the risk of serious mental health problems," said John P.
Walters, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

Administration officials pointed to a handful of studies to make their
case. One, from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, found adult marijuana smokers who first began using
the drug before age 12 were twice as likely to have suffered a serious
mental illness in the past year as those who began smoking after 18.

The ratio was 21 percent to 10.5 percent. Those who first started as
teens also were at significantly higher risk.

Also Tuesday, the Sentencing Project released a report that found the
government's "war on drugs" has become the "war on drug" as police
agencies increasingly target marijuana.

Begun in the 1980s, the war on drugs was aimed at stopping large-scale
narcotics traffickers, particularly those selling cocaine. But since 1990
more of the focus has been on catching users and low-level dealers.