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Item: Student pot use rises in CdA, falls in Spokane/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR
More Info: Coeur d’Alene teens smoked more marijuana last year than they did in 2006, a contrast to a trend revealed in statistics released Monday in a federal survey about the drug and alcohol use among U.S. high school students. In Spokane County, however, students’ marijuana use decreased, according to the Spokane County Regional Health District. Of the Coeur d’Alene 12th-graders surveyed in 2008, nearly 23 percent had smoked pot within the past month – up 6 percentage points from the previous survey in 2006. Ninth-graders’ use also increased.
Question: Are you concerned re: the increase in pot smoking by Coeur d’Alene teens?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Don_Sausser on December 15 at 9:27 a.m.
No, but I’m concerned about their parents who, by example, not only set the bar on getting high on any number of drugs, but make light of it.
moscow_minidoka on December 15 at 10:08 a.m.
I’d rather they were smoking pot than drinking alcohol.
Sisyphus on December 15 at 10:18 a.m.
Agreed MM. Look at the arrest sheets in any given day and review the quantity of crimes committed under the influence of alcohol and testosterone. It swings from public intoxication to domestic violence to simple battery to murder.
Pot smokers lack the ambition to change channels let alone drive a car. From strictly a social or even a public policy standpoint our laws would do better to control what needs controlling. I wonder if de-criminalizing pot would alter that statistic.
empyrius on December 15 at 10:24 a.m.
While we would never want to advocate that our teenagers smoke pot; I would want them to be educated about the possible health risks associated with marijuana, just as I would want our kids to be totally informed about the evils of alcohol usage.
Rotted grapes and lots of sugar v. a dried plant?!?
Keep it green!
coeurgenx on December 15 at 10:58 a.m.
Um wasn’t this sort of thing cool at that age, every decade up till now? and now it’s TABOO? I would rather the kids HOTBOX after school then do Meth and steal something from my car or out of my garage!
vitalyb on December 15 at 11:06 a.m.
This is from an article from the Boston Globe that was printed on Dec 13:
“Overall, alcohol is far worse than many illegal drugs. So is tobacco. Smoking pot is less harmful than drinking…”
source: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/12/13/you_cant_handle_the_truth/
brentandrews on December 15 at 11:13 a.m.
Adolescents should not use any drugs regularly as dependency on substances might stunt normal emotional growth, besides other potential negative effects. That many of their parents are using drugs in one form or another to cope with “life” is a certainty, but it’s also beside the point. Best case scenario is teens learn to cope with life and interact with people without drugs before they become adults, to prevent lifelong chemical dependency - a weight on a man’s shoulders, believe me. A longtime supporter of the liberalization of marijuana laws, and a true believer in the efficacy of marijuana in treating many modern ailments including alcoholism (my particular cross to bear), and though I believe pot often causes less harm than alcohol, I never encouraged my son (grown now) to use marijuana “instead” of alcohol. I encouraged him to shun drugs entirely. And he did. But not because I told him to, necessarily - I think we were just lucky that he did not enjoy using drugs.
brentandrews on December 15 at 11:15 a.m.
Lucky and blessed too, I should add.
empyrius on December 15 at 11:21 a.m.
Great article Vitaly: Nutt speaking truth to power!
Indeed Brent; awesome parenting brother!
Peace
Sadbuttrue on December 15 at 11:30 a.m.
The legalization of marijuana is the great moral issue of the new decade. Like even George Will has said, we are most certainly in the process of legalizing it. It is an outrage that almost a million Americans are in prison for marijuana. That is almost as outrageous as slavery.
California will have a ballot initiative next year that has about a 100 percent chance of passing, one that will completely legalize marijuana. California will pass it because it has no choice financially, and neither will Idaho when it votes on it (probably 10 or 20 years from now).
The hysteria over marijuana benefits only the law enforcement/prison-industrial complex. The post above who expressed more concern about teen use of alcohol was right on the money.
redman on December 15 at 3:23 p.m.
The real question, what percentage of HBOers smoke pot?
Sisyphus on December 15 at 3:27 p.m.
Actually the poll makes for quite the anticlimactic story. That’s only half the amount that smoked pot the year I graduated, 1979.
Stickman on December 15 at 5:56 p.m.
So Redman, what are you saying? For me, maybe once or twice a year when old friends visit. Otherwise, not anymore. Did I at one time, of course, and I definitely inhaled.