PUBLIC FUSS OVER MARIJUANA PUZZLES MANY TEEN-AGERS

Prevention Specialist Blames Media

CASTRO VALLEY -- Kevin, 16, says it makes him smarter and more creative.

Robert, 17, has never tried it and doesn't plan to, but he has no problem
with his friends who do.

Jean, 15, admits it was the "gateway" drug that turned her on to Ecstasy
and acid.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon at an arcade in Castro Valley, opinions differ
on marijuana use. But smoke it or shun it, one thing seems clear: The kids
here don't think abusing the illegal substance is a big deal.

"I don't even think of marijuana as a drug. It's a plant to burn," Kevin says.

That attitude is all too common these days, says Emily Chung, prevention
specialist at Community Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems in Ashland.

Positive images of marijuana use in movies and music have created an
environment in which social marijuana use is acceptable, she says, pointing
in particular to the songs of Snoop Dogg and Afroman.

"But marijuana is definitely a drug. A serious drug," she says.

"THC (the chemical in marijuana) can keep the brain from forming new
memories ... and it affects the lungs, making it more likely that users
will get sick."

Chung also debunks the popular belief that marijuana is less harmful than
cigarettes.

"One joint can have four times as much tar as a cigarette," she says.

But parental lectures, public service announcements and school assemblies
rank low on the list of reasons why the kids hanging around the arcade do
and don't do drugs in general, and pot in particular.

"The thing I always say about everything is 'Don't down it until you try
it.' I tried pot when I was 14 and liked it," says Jim, 18, of San Leandro.

Others are guided less by life philosophy than blind instinct.

"I don't know why I don't. I just don't feel like it," says Jarrett, 15, a
freshman at San Lorenzo High.

Jarrett has just clobbered Jim in a virtual boxing game, and the two are
reliving the action with a friendly bout of air-sparring. Social barriers
between pot smokers and non-smokers are virtually nonexistent, these teens
say, and peer pressure, if it exists, is not on their radar screens.

Next to the pair, a pierced and tattooed senior at San Leandro High School,
wonders aloud how many of her friends smoke pot. Finally, she throws up her
hands in exasperation.

"Too many to count, I guess," she says.

Actually, recent surveys buoy anti-drug advocates. There were 2.3 million
new marijuana users in 1998. That's 11 percent fewer than the 2.6 million
in 1997, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The
average age of first-time use was 17.3 in 1998. Seventy-two percent of kids
ages 12 to 17 say they have never used illicit drugs at all.

But the numbers don't paint an accurate picture of life at the local
hangout, where of the 14 kids asked, only four said they had never smoked weed.

Wendy Phillips covers health, the environment and seniors. Call her at
(510) 293-2465 or e-mail wphillips@angnewspapers.com.