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Just Say No to Marijuana Dispensaries In SCV
01.28.07|the-signal.com|By Commentary By Frank Ferry

Much has been written lately about the licensing of medical marijuana here in our community. As chair of the city of Santa Clarita's Blue Ribbon Task Force and an avid opponent of marijuana use and dispensaries, I feel compelled to share some facts and research with you, as well as some opinions I have as a parent and school administrator.

First and foremost, you need to know that drug use, especially marijuana use, among teens doesn't just exist in the Santa Clarita Valley. It is rampant.

Now, I know for some of you parents, this is not troubling to you. Heck, you used marijuana in your teens; you smoked and drank beer; you see it as a right of passage and you are not concerned.

What you might not know is that the marijuana that is available to teens today is much stronger than the marijuana that was available in the 1960s or 1970s. Sometimes it is also laced with other, more potent drugs.

Marijuana is physically addictive. Each year, 100,000 teens are treated for marijuana dependence. Teens who smoke marijuana heavily experience many the same symptoms of withdrawal as users of nicotine.

Between 1991 and 2001, the percentage of eighth graders nationally who used marijuana doubled from 1 in 10 to 1 in 5. Kids are using marijuana at an earlier age.

Research indicates that the earlier teens start using marijuana, the more likely they are to become dependent on this or other drugs later in life. Of teens admitted for treatment for marijuana dependence, 56 percent had first used the drug by 14 years of age, and 26 percent had begun by 12 years of age (Kids and Marijuana).

According to a National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), marijuana was the most frequently used drug of choice by teens. The NHSDA also reported that teens using marijuana on 12 or more days during the past year, 58 percent of them had one problem that they related to their marijuana use, 41 percent had two problems, and 28 percent had at least three problems that they related to their marijuana use.

From age 12 to age 13, the proportion of teens who say they could buy marijuana if they wanted to more than triples, from 14 to 50 percent. Also, the percentage of teens who say that they know a student at their school who sells drugs almost triples, from 8 percent to 22 percent (Psych Central).


With the advent of marijuana dispensaries, teens get a mixed message about marijuana, but the message needs to be clear. Marijuana is an illegal substance that affects teens in many harmful ways.

It is very important to begin taking with kids about it by at least 12 years of age. Magazines or newspaper articles are often a good place to start your discussion about drugs. Teens need to be told clearly and often that using marijuana and other illegal substances carries significant health, safety, and legal risks (Kids using Marijuana).

This "slippery slope" is what concerns me. Those truly in need and eligible for medical marijuana in our community are a very small group compared with the large number of teens who may "slip through the system" and be able to obtain marijuana from a dispensary. While you might say that "kids will get it anyway," I say, let's not be our kids drug dealer!

For those of you who are wondering what is being done to prevent alcohol and drug use in our community, I can tell you that it is a lot. Sheriff's deputies conduct regular alcohol stings and utilize minor decoys to catch liquor stores who sell to minors, as well as adults who buy alcohol for minors. Several arrests have been made to this effect. The Sheriff's Department also works closely with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to conduct operations and stings and to enforce the law.

Our own Blue Ribbon Task Force offers programs and education to the community that addresses various teen issues, including drug and alcohol use. We do not support nor endorse marijuana dispensaries in our valley. It is easy for teens - and adults, for that matter - who do not necessarily have debilitating conditions to potentially get a prescription written for medical marijuana.

Having a facility close by will provide easy access and can easily compound the problem.

The Blue Ribbon Task Force developed and disseminated information materials in English and Spanish) about a Prescription/Over-the-Counter Drug Campaign, designed to educate the community about the dangers of prescription-OTC drug abuse. These materials - posters and brochures - were sent to medical offices, pharmacies and drug stores in the area.

I am particularly proud of the DADS program, which I founded - Dads and Moms Against Drugs. This program is a group of moms and dads and their teens and tweens who meet and listen to presentations about drug use among teens. Parents are given drug test kits to use on their kids randomly; results are confidential and kept among themselves.

The program's objective is two-fold: prevention - random drug testing by parents gives kids an excuse to say "no" when their peers offer or pressure them to use drugs; and intervention - if the test comes back positive, parents can seek intervention and treatment for their kids.

Every year, the Blue Ribbon Task Force hosts "Teen Scene Unplugged," a unique program for teens and parents designed to educate the community, especially parents of teens, on various teen issues, including drug and alcohol use.

If you are interested in learning more about the Blue Ribbon Task Force or becoming a member, contact the city at (661) 255-4965. We welcome your support.

Frank Ferry is a member of the Santa Clarita City Council. His column reflects the city's views, and not necessarily those of The Signal.

 

1tokeovertheline

First I don't agree with minors smoking pot, some already know that, BUT it's not as harmful as.........Vicodin, Oxycontin, OTC cold medicine, huffing paint, etc...Let's shut down all the Pharmacy and Hardware Stores.
It's morons like this guy that fuck it up for everyone while he is having his 3 martini lunch everyday and telling all his mom and dads how terrible marijuana is. It would be much better for their sons and daughters to go to alcohol rehab instead of smoking pot.

Remember to take your "nerve pill" so you don't worry about your kids smoking pot.

Sec

I totally blame this not on recent advances in medical marijuana laws and ordinances, but on absent or disinterested parents. If parents would get involved in their kid's lives instead of allowing the TV, video games & the computer to raise their children, the useage numbers wouldn't be going up so drastically for such young children.

Also, the parents wouldn't have to blame marijuana use for all the problems their children are experiencing, because they would have been able to solve or prevent any such problems from occurring in the first place.

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newgrowerNY

Marijuana is, and should be a drug used by adults responsibility. With that said:

What a nice compliment. We are kicking A$$ these days.

Well now were not even talking about marijuana anymore. What does this have to do with sick paitents getting medicine.

Yep . .look at how successful D.A.R.E. was/is . And once again, does this person really think that teenagers are that stupid to associate closing a dispensary, with marijuana being harmful? I would bet, that 60% of teenagers would support the legalization of marijuana.

As we can see, the methods he is using, are failing.

Who is the biggest sponser for the superbowl ? Budwiser .. there are drinking ads on every bill board. Why is he not petitioning to shut down all liquor stores?

Hmm .. ignorance is bliss, i guess

Is he really trying to say that teenagers are using more marijuana because Dispensaries are open? If so, I wonder what the real agenda is behind this letter.

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d3mus

This guy grows pot and is a member of the blue ribbon watever?????? That should say all we need to know about this guy, in case we can't read between the lines......

Guess what....without pot your kids would still have problems......they would find something else to huff, smoke, drink, whatever.

Every chemical on this planet affects every single person here differently. I smoked pot through high school and college daily and I would be willing to bet my academic and business achievements make your school admin crap pale in comparison. Your kids are your responsibility quit blaming it on pot and take care of your business. If someone can smoke pot and go take a test or preform at work then so be it, if they can't then they shouldn't.....end of story.

Quit drawing generalizations propagating the same line of BS that has existed since the outlawing of marijuana. Are you familiar with the situation and the man that led to the outlawing of marijuana, could it be he is the same guy that made that ridiculous poster that you have as your avatar? Bet you didn't know that he was actually pro marijuana until he needed to rally a christian conservative vote. Bet you also didn't know that the surgeon general of the united states (and several other government institutions) said that his so called findings were out and out lies.

Marijuana was outlawed on lies and outlandish Christian propaganda and the dull tools in the shed of American society like you are responsible for propagating it.

Here is a link to the history channel special called "grass" that can spell it out for you, do us a favor and get educated. People like you are why I don't send my kids to public school. I would be absolutely sickened if I saw any of these ideas in my children.

Amazon.ca: Grass (Widescreen): DVD: Ron Mann,Woody Harrelson

 

Lit_Match

I'm actually starting to wonder if the DEA has a payroll just for people to say that. What's worse is that there are actually a lot of drugs available that are far more potent and even cheaper by weight than they used to be, marijuana is definitely not one of them.

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Buzzby

How did I miss this POS when it was posted? I must have been out of town or something.

On average it is slightly more potent than the average of weed from 40 years ago. That's a big "So what?" Everyone uses as much as they need to reach the state they desire. Better weed means you need less.

Almost never - and this is not a problem with the high quality weed coming out of dispensaries.

Only for a small percentage of users and then it is easier to quit than drinking coffee.

What would you do if a judge offered a choice between "treatment" and a criminal record? That the reason most people end up in "treatment". From the reports to this site, very few of them take it seriously.

Total bullshit. Anyone who ever used cannabis, including the Mom & Dad audience, knows better.

1) Forbidden fruit.
2) Rebellion.
3) Relatively harmless.
4) Readily available.

It's amazing how much prohibiting something that you can get anywhere encourages kids to try it.

I'd love to see the questions and how they were interpreted. People who smoke once a month have problems?

This is a good reason to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana. How many schools kids are selling bootleg alcohol?

With the advent of pharmacies, teens get a mixed message about Vicodin: it's OK for people whose doctors say they need it; otherwise not. How is that any different?

Why would the believe it any more this time than they have in the last 40 years? All they have to do is look at their classmates to see that it's a lie, except for the legal part.

Unless the dispensary is illegally sloppy and doesn't verify doctors' recommendations, how is anyone going to "slip through"?

If a medical professional says that someone needs marijuana, who are you to say that they don't? Do you want to second-guess doctors about all of their prescriptions?

Random drug testing gives kids a good reason to use dangerous drugs that are only detectable for short periods rather than relatively safe marijuana which can be detected for a month.

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