GOVERNMENT: YOUTHFUL POT SMOKERS RISK MENTAL ILLNESS

Recent Research Cited in White House Claim

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
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 itself 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 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 that adult marijuana smokers who 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.

Also Tuesday, The Sentencing Project, a private group that promotes
non-prison alternatives to crime, reported that the government's "war on
drugs" has become the "war on drug" as police agencies increasingly target
marijuana.

Of some 700,000 marijuana arrests in 2002, 88 percent were for possession,
it said. Only one of every 18 of those arrests ended in a felony conviction.

"Arresting record numbers of low-level marijuana offenders represents a
poor investment in public safety" and diverts resources from "more serious
crime problems," said Ryan King, co-author of the report.

Jennifer deVallance, spokeswoman for the White House drug office, said the
greater focus on marijuana is because it is the nation's most abused drug,
the strains are more potent than ever and more is known about health dangers.

"For the first time, more kids are seeking treatment for marijuana use than
alcohol," she said.

The Sentencing Project called for renewed national discussion of the war on
drugs, an idea echoed by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.