PARENTS SHOULD STAND STRONG AGAINST POT

Perceptions among teens and their parents about marijuana use often do
not reflect the realities of short and long-term health impacts and
increase emergency room interventions and treatment admissions
associated with the more potent marijuana of today.

A survey of 1,987 teens aged 12 to 17 indicates that perception of
harm is a crucial factor in a teenager's decision to use marijuana.
Among teens who see marijuana as very harmful, 9 percent admit to
having tried it, while among those who regard marijuana as not too
harmful or not harmful 45 percent, five times as many admitted to
having tried it. Perceptions of risk associated with smoking marijuana
are decreasing, and this may signal future increases in use.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 32.4 percent
of youths age 12 to 17 indicated that smoking marijuana once a month
was a great risk, down from 37.2 percent in 1999. Decrease in
perceived risk tends to precede future increases in use. And increases
in perceived risk tend to precede decreases in use, according to a
2002 study.

Teens' perceptions of risk are not the only factors in their drug use
behavior. Parents' perceptions that marijuana is harmless can have a
significant impact on their children's behaviors. Youth who do not
receive a strong and consistent message of parental disapproval of
substance use are more likely to engage in substance use themselves,
according to this same study. Almost six times as many teens (30.2
percent) who say their parents would somewhat disapprove or neither
approve nor disapprove of their trying marijuana once or twice have
used marijuana in the past month compared to teens who say their
parents would strongly disapprove (5.5 percent).

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America reports a softening in parent
reactions to youths' marijuana use: Before 2001-02, slightly more than
half of parents of youth in grades 7 to 12 (53-54 percent) said they
would be extremely upset if their children tried marijuana, compared
with only 49 percent in 2003. This softening in parental concern about
marijuana use suggests that many parents do not realize that pot today
is more potent that it was in the past and that this increased potency
may result in more adverse health consequences to their children than
they may have experienced in the past. Some parents may be reluctant
to disapprove of their children's marijuana use because of their own
experience with the drug.

Such reluctance is unwarranted. Many of today's parents smoked
cigarettes years ago, before they understood the dangers associated
with tobacco; but given all of the information available today about
tobacco's devastating effects and despite their past experiences with
smoking, most parents today do all they can to get their children not
to smoke cigarettes. With all that we know about the dangers of using
marijuana, parents, even those who smoked marijuana in their youth,
should take a strong stand against their children' s use of the drug.

Houghton is a Carlsbad resident.