NEW PUSH TELLS PARENTS PERILS OF KIDS SMOKING POT

Dr. Daniel Angres, a drug counselor and parent, is alarmed at how casual
many parents have become about their children smoking pot.

"Their attitude is, thank God it's not cocaine or Ecstasy," he said. "This
is so frightening to me."

Angres, director of a drug treatment program at Rush-Presbyterian-St.
Luke's Medical Center, has joined a government-sponsored campaign to wake
up parents about the dangers of marijuana.

On Thursday, Angres spoke about the campaign, launched by the White House
drug czar, that includes ads, Web sites and partnerships with influential
groups such as the National PTA and American Medical Association.

Angres and other experts detailed some of the scary stuff researchers are
discovering:

* The percentage of eighth-graders who smoke marijuana has doubled in the
last decade, to 20 percent.

* More kids enter rehab for pot than for all other drugs combined.

* One out of 11 pot smokers becomes addicted.

* The concentration of marijuana's active ingredient, THC, is 30 times
higher today than 20 years ago.

* Kids who smoke pot are more likely to get poor grades, engage in risky
sex, cut classes, steal, attack people, destroy property and have
difficulty concentrating and remembering.

* The younger kids are when they first smoke marijuana, the more likely it
is they will abuse drugs as adults. But if they haven't smoked pot by 17,
they probably never will.

Parents have more influence than they may think. One survey found that only
7 percent of kids 12-17 who believe their parents would strongly disapprove
if they tried pot once or twice had used an illegal drug in the last 30
days. But 31 percent of kids who said their parents wouldn't strongly
disapprove used an illegal drug.

Here are some things experts say parents can do to keep kids off pot:

Strongly prohibit marijuana, and if you catch kids smoking, punish them.
Eat dinner together. Know who your children's friends are and what they're
doing.

On the Web:

www.theantidrug.com (for parents); www.freevibe.com (for kids).