ADULT DRUG ABUSE IS LINKED TO EARLY USE OF POT

A new federal report concludes that the younger children are when they
first use marijuana, the more likely they are to graduate to drugs such as
cocaine and heroin as adults.

The study, released Wednesday by federal drug czar John Walters and the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, also ranked
Nevada among the top states for new marijuana users aged 12 to 17.

The findings were culled from the 1999 and 2000 National Household Surveys
on Drug Abuse. Among the findings:

* Adults who used marijuana before age 15 were six times as likely to be
dependent on illicit drugs as adults who did not use marijuana until at
least age 21.

* Sixty-two percent of adults 26 or older who first tried marijuana before
age 15 indicated they had used cocaine. Of those adults who had not used
marijuana, only six-tenths of 1 percent said they had used cocaine. More
than 9 percent of adults who had used marijuana before age 15 indicated
they used heroin. But of those adults who had not used marijuana, only
one-tenth of 1 percent said they had used heroin.

* Eighteen percent of people 26 or older who began using marijuana before
age 15 met the federal criteria for dependence or abuse of alcohol or
illicit drugs, compared to 2.1 percent of adults who never used marijuana.

* Nevada tied for seventh in the nation with an estimated 7.63 percent of
youths aged 12 to 17 who tried marijuana for the first time in 1999 or
2000. The national average was 6.08 percent and the leader was
Massachusetts, at 8.75 percent.

The report comes as Nevadans are preparing to vote on an initiative that
would legalize marijuana.

The leader of the effort to legalize marijuana possession in Nevada
downplayed the report, stating that there is no evidence marijuana is a
"gateway drug" that leads to cocaine and heroin use. But Clark County
District Attorney Stewart Bell, a school official and an executive of a
prominent drug treatment program said the report has merit.

Billy Rogers of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, which is asking
voters to approve the Question 9 marijuana initiative in November, said the
report contradicts other federal studies that indicate the number of
regular marijuana users is far greater than those who use cocaine or heroin.

Rogers said the latest figures available indicate there are about 11
million regular marijuana users in the United States, compared to 1.5
million who use cocaine and 130,000 who use heroin.

"If marijuana is a gateway drug, there would be 11 million cocaine and
heroin users but there aren't," Rogers said.

Bell said he believes that crime rates would decline somewhat if marijuana
use among young people was curtailed. That is based on his belief that some
perpetrators of violent crimes would not have committed those acts had they
not graduated from marijuana to drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

Bell said different factors could explain why some youngsters graduate to
cocaine and heroin.

"Part of it is living on the edge," Bell said, "They try marijuana and then
try to get away with something more."

Ron Ross, who is retiring this week as administrative specialist for the
Clark County School District's Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, said the
report confirms what drug treatment and prevention experts have known for
some time.

"We know to get to children early for prevention," Ross said. "Part of
prevention in school is to have a clear no-use message and that a school is
a drug-free place. You have to get out the information that drug use is not
the norm. You also can have prevention clubs, such as 'Just Say No' clubs."

WestCare, a nonprofit program that offers substance abuse education,
prevention and treatment programs in Nevada and elsewhere, deals
extensively with children who have used marijuana and with adults who have
become hooked on hard drugs. Robert Neri, WestCare's chief clinical
officer, said the federal report "contains what those of us in treatment
have known for a long time."

"A lot of it is based on peer influence and risk factors," Neri said. "Some
of it has to do with family in terms of structure and some of it is
environmental, where there is drug use around you where you live."

Neri said that the younger a child uses drugs the greater the chance that
he or she will develop a dependence that will slow their maturity.

"Instead of coping with a situation as you grow up, you use drugs so it
delays learning to cope and managing emotions and working on
relationships," he said.

But Rogers said history suggests that passage of Question 9, which would
make it a felony to sell marijuana to a minor, would actually reduce access
of marijuana to youngsters because of restrictions on sales. He said prior
crackdowns on alcohol and cigarette sales to minors have reduced
availability of those products to children.

And he said that the sale of marijuana in a regulated market would put the
illicit black market out of business.

"Look what happened to bootleggers when Prohibition was repealed," Rogers
said. "They were put out of business."