Adult drug abuse is linked to early use of pot

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002 | 11:22 a.m.

A new federal report concludes that the younger children are when they first use marijuana, the more likely they are to graduate to drugs such as cocaine and heroin as adults.

The study, released Wednesday by federal drug czar John Walters and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, also ranked Nevada among the top states for new marijuana users aged 12 to 17.

The findings were culled from the 1999 and 2000 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse. Among the findings:

The report comes as Nevadans are preparing to vote on an initiative that would legalize marijuana.

The leader of the effort to legalize marijuana possession in Nevada downplayed the report, stating that there is no evidence marijuana is a "gateway drug" that leads to cocaine and heroin use. But Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell, a school official and an executive of a prominent drug treatment program said the report has merit.

Billy Rogers of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, which is asking voters to approve the Question 9 marijuana initiative in November, said the report contradicts other federal studies that indicate the number of regular marijuana users is far greater than those who use cocaine or heroin.

Rogers said the latest figures available indicate there are about 11 million regular marijuana users in the United States, compared to 1.5 million who use cocaine and 130,000 who use heroin.

"If marijuana is a gateway drug, there would be 11 million cocaine and heroin users but there aren't," Rogers said.

Bell said he believes that crime rates would decline somewhat if marijuana use among young people was curtailed. That is based on his belief that some perpetrators of violent crimes would not have committed those acts had they not graduated from marijuana to drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

Bell said different factors could explain why some youngsters graduate to cocaine and heroin.

"Part of it is living on the edge," Bell said, "They try marijuana and then try to get away with something more."

Ron Ross, who is retiring this week as administrative specialist for the Clark County School District's Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, said the report confirms what drug treatment and prevention experts have known for some time.

"We know to get to children early for prevention," Ross said. "Part of prevention in school is to have a clear no-use message and that a school is a drug-free place. You have to get out the information that drug use is not the norm. You also can have prevention clubs, such as 'Just Say No' clubs."

WestCare, a nonprofit program that offers substance abuse education, prevention and treatment programs in Nevada and elsewhere, deals extensively with children who have used marijuana and with adults who have become hooked on hard drugs. Robert Neri, WestCare's chief clinical officer, said the federal report "contains what those of us in treatment have known for a long time."

"A lot of it is based on peer influence and risk factors," Neri said. "Some of it has to do with family in terms of structure and some of it is environmental, where there is drug use around you where you live."

Neri said that the younger a child uses drugs the greater the chance that he or she will develop a dependence that will slow their maturity.

"Instead of coping with a situation as you grow up, you use drugs so it delays learning to cope and managing emotions and working on relationships," he said.

But Rogers said history suggests that passage of Question 9, which would make it a felony to sell marijuana to a minor, would actually reduce access of marijuana to youngsters because of restrictions on sales. He said prior crackdowns on alcohol and cigarette sales to minors have reduced availability of those products to children.

And he said that the sale of marijuana in a regulated market would put the illicit black market out of business.

"Look what happened to bootleggers when Prohibition was repealed," Rogers said. "They were put out of business."