Marijuana use by youth in Casa Grande is increasing. The Arizona Youth Survey was administered in February 2008 to 558 local 8th graders, and 354 local 10th graders. The results are cause for concern: 16% of our sophomores reported using marijuana within the past 30 days, which is slightly higher than the state rate for their age group.
The rate of 30-day marijuana use by eighth grade students was nearly twice that of the state rate: 14.8% of Casa Grande youth used marijuana as compared to just 7.6% of their peers statewide.
In conversations with young people, it appears that the use of marijuana is now considered more acceptable than ever before. Teenagers and young adults believe that because marijuana is ‘natural’ that it cannot be harmful. They believe that because one of the slang names for it is ‘herb’ that it actually is an herb – something harmless to be consumed like food or drink. This could not be farther from the truth.
Marijuana is a mind-altering, mood-altering drug. People smoke it or eat it to get ‘high’ – to create an artificial mind state through chemical means. Recent research has clearly shown that when young people use mind-altering drugs it causes a change in brain chemistry that can be life-long. This brain damage dramatically increases the risk of addiction not just in adulthood, but during the user’s childhood. Marijuana addiction is the number one reason youth seek drug treatment in our Nation.
Aside from the medical risks involved with marijuana are what I consider the moral issues of supporting an industry linked with such violence and complete disregard for human life. Recent news coverage of violence in Mexico and southern Arizona are just beginning to paint the picture of what it is really like in the drug smuggling world. Smugglers kidnap children and hold them for ransom. They murder people – 1,000 in Mexico just since the start of this year and 6,200 last year. They put drugs into the backpacks of desperate illegal aliens and send them off across the hot, dangerous Arizona desert so that they can reap the benefits of pot sales in Phoenix and the rest of the nation. They are ruthless, violent people.
When I talk to kids about not smoking marijuana, they are not always impressed by the health risk information. So, here is my latest message, not only to kids, but to adults who casually continue to smoke pot: When you fire up that joint tonight, you need to think about how many people died just so you could get high, just for fun. Was it worth it? Is that the industry YOU want to continue to support?
| Sat Sep 11 @10:00AM - 12:00PM Youth Commission Meeting |