Despite its illegality, marijuana use is still prevalent among a portion of Americans. According to a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) study released March 4, the admission rates for treatment for marijuana as a primary substance of abuse increased 162 percent between 1992 and 2002.
Additionally, the study showed admissions to treatment for marijuana abuse rose in 41 states, citing marijuana treatment admissions were only 45 admissions for 100,000 people in 1992. However, in 2002, the study found that number swelled to 118 admissions.
SAMHSA spokesperson Leah Young said the study does not point to why increased use is occurring, instead the study suggests marijuana is not a benign substance.
“[The study] does tell us that people are winding up in treatment in greater numbers,” Young said. “This is a cause for alarm because there [are] people [who] think marijuana is harmless.”
According to National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) senior policy analyst Paul Armentano, the federal government and NORML both agree the increased number of teens sent to drug treatment in the past years influenced the increase in marijuana admissions as concluded in the SAMHSA survey.
“Up until this last report [the federal government] made all this very clear,” Armentano said. “For the first time in [SAMHSA’s] history there was not a breakdown of how people got there [into treatment].”
Armentano added few people voluntarily check themselves into treatment and for every 100 people using marijuana approximately nine show signs of dependence.
But according to SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie, marijuana is not a harmless substance.
Curie said in a release it is time for parents and young adults “to understand that marijuana is dangerous and it should be shunned for the illegal substance it is.”
University of Wisconsin physician and addictionologist at Meriter Hospital Ian Powell said there could be other reasons as well why SAMHSA’s findings point to increased admissions for treatment.
The marijuana known today may not be the same kind used in the 1960s when marijuana first became popular, Powell added.
“We know people who raise marijuana in plantations have higher levels of cannaboids,” Powell said. “It means you’re getting more of a potent substance.”
Powell noted many parents have become more educated about the substance over the years and have more readily sent their children to treatment.
While many believe marijuana’s real danger lies in the fact it may be a gateway drug, others disagree.
According to Hope Haven program supervisor Scott Forbes, marijuana is not the gateway drug many researchers seek.
“Cigarettes are really the gateway drug,” Forbes said. “If there is a such, then it’s tobacco.”
However, Forbes added, marijuana could still be considered a type of gateway drug since it encourages many to continue on in a pattern of illegal drugs.
“Because it’s illegal there’s an extra line being crossed there,” Forbes said.
