Marijuana, whose botanical name is Cannabis sativa, has been used by humans for thousands of years. The main psychoactive (affecting the mind or behavior) chemical is tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly referred to as THC. For over 3,000 years, the dried ground leaves, flowers, and stems of the plant have been smoked, eaten, chewed, or brewed as a medicine to relieve symptoms of illness.
In the 1920s, as a result of Prohibition, the use of marijuana as a psychoactive drug began to grow. Even following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, marijuana (along with morphine, heroin, and cocaine) continued to be widely used.
In 1937, 46 states banned the use of marijuana. Less than fifty years later, in 1985, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave approval for the use of two psychoactive chemicals from marijuana to prevent nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy in cancer treatment. Medical researchers also propose using marijuana to ease the effects of glaucoma, as a bronchodilator (a drug that helps open the bronchial air passages in the lungs), and as an antidepressant. Because of these uses, the term “medical marijuana” was coined.
Medical marijuana use has surged in the 16 states and the District of Columbia that allow its use. But states and cities are also still wrestling with the question of what medical marijuana is, or should be. Many states and the Federal government still consider the drug illegal, and so the sixteen states with legalized medical marijuana have laws which are in conflict with some Federal laws at this time.
Many different opinions have been voiced by voters in different states and the legislatures vary significantly in their acceptance of such legalization. The federal government continues to oppose any decriminalization of the drug. And while the Obama administration has indicated some leeway when it comes to medical marijuana, raids on dispensaries and growers by law enforcement agencies are still common – even in California, where the industry effectively began in 1996, with the passage of the landmark Proposition 215, which legalized medical marijuana.
In any case, recreational, non-medical use of marijuana has been steadily increasing among teenagers. According to a December 2011 government report, one out of every 15 high school students smokes marijuana on a near daily basis, a figure that has reached a 30-year peak even as use of alcohol, cigarettes and cocaine among teenagers continued a slow decline. The long-running annual study, called the Monitoring the Future, conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, questioned more than 46,000 students from 386 public and private schools nationwide. Overall, about 25 percent of 8th, 10th and 12th graders who took part in the study reported using marijuana in the past year, up from about 21 percent in 2007.1
The popularity of marijuana, which is now more prevalent among 10th graders than cigarette smoking, reflects what researchers and drug officials say is a growing perception among teenagers that habitual marijuana use carries little risk of harm. That perception, experts say, is fueled in part by wider familiarity with medical marijuana and greater ease in obtaining it.
If you or your loved ones are regularly using marijuana or other drugs, there is a way out that is effective and drug-free. The Narconon program has been effectively helping to rehabilitate drug addicts and alcoholics since 1966.
The Narconon school drug education program is also available to help educate kids about the dangers of drugs.
Resources
http://drugabuse.gov/infofacts/HSYouthtrends.html
http://drugabuse.gov/newsroom/11/mtf11overview.html