NIDA needs a reality check

This latest NIDA release is so nauseating that I don't even want to talk about it, but I will anyway. Let's just start with the opener.

More than 96 million Americans have smoked marijuana at least once. Marijuana abuse is particularly prevalent among adolescents: Of the more than 2 million people who abuse the drug for the first time every year, two-thirds are between 12 and 17 years of age.

What does that mean, "who abuse the drug for the first time." You can't abuse a drug for the first time. Abuse would imply sustained irresponsible consumption. The first time it's an experiment. When you do nothing else all day long, day after day but consume it, then it's abuse. Otherwise, for adults, it's a martini after work - not something you'd want to consume all day long either.

As far as kids, they shouldn't be taking any mind altering substances but the easiest one for them to get is marijuana because it's illegal and unregulated. You want to keep out of their hands, then legalize it.

Nora goes on to make the tired argument about the admissions of "teenage marijuana addicts" into rehab, while of course failing to mention that the majority of those admissions are court-orderd in lieu of criminal punishment for possession of a couple of grams of pot.

Even more irritating is that they are about to spend millions more on studies and research into treatments for this alleged marijuana abuse. They already have dozens of studies that prove it's a myth, but they're going to keep spending your tax dollars until they can find a scientist willing to give them the results they're looking for - that is to justify their continued existence.

The final line is a real corker.

This broad focus, building on the insights to be gained through increased understanding of marijuana's developmental impact, will help reduce the health costs and alleviate the damage inflicted by widespread abuse of this dangerous drug.

Let me say this one more time. If this plant was really a dangerous drug and was responsible for all the psychiatric problems they attempt to attribute to its use, you would be surrounded by murderous schizophrenic/psychotic heroin addicts. Think about it. The baby boom generation, the largest in the history of our country, almost all smoked pot. A lot of it. 96 million people admit to smoking it today. These ills would have manifested in them and they turned out to be today's leaders in government and industry.