Pot Potency Doubles

A new report released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) says the average potency of marijuana has doubled since 1983. Parents thinking that teenage pot experimentation is no big deal may want to reconsider. As the Drug Czar put it, "This isn't your father's marijuana."

Get the full story here.

Is Drug Testing Teenagers a Bad Idea?

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement yesterday saying that drug testing teenagers at home or at school is generally a bad idea.

I agree.

However, if you look the AAP’s concerns closely, it wasn't so much the idea of drug testing teens that was the problem. It's the urine tests schools and parents use to conduct the testing that's the problem. The AAP pointed to problems with false positives and false negatives, teens using the web to get information on how to beat the urine tests, and a short window of detection (most drugs only stay in the system for just a few days after use).

I first read the report when a friend of mine e-mailed me a link to a story about it saying "this probably isn't good for your business." Actually, I think it's GREAT for our business.

That’s because most of the concerns the AAP raises about drug testing teenagers are eliminated by using DrugWipe.

False positives and false negatives? Not an issue a DrugWipe.

Teenagers beating the drug tests? Not with DrugWipe. Parents use DrugWipe to swipe down surfaces their kids have touched when the kids aren't even around. There’s no room for any adulteration or substitution.

Short detection window? DrugWipe can detect drug residue on surfaces up to three months after use.

Another main issue that the AAP brings up is that drug testing can create a climate of “resentment, distrust, and suspicion” between a parent (or school) and a teenager.

There may be some truth to that, but isn’t that about par for the course when it comes to teenagers? Eventually, they’ll get over it.

That type of argument reminds me of something I’ve heard from a number of drug treatment specialists. They say “if you ask parents whose teenagers have battled drug addictions, they all wished they had intervened sooner, rather than later or not at all.” When it comes to drug use, there's simply too much at stake to worry about offending your teen.

DROP IN DRUG USE????

According to this AP article, the Drug Czar John Walters is reporting that illegal drug use has dropped sharply since 2001. He cites numbers from a University of Michigan study conducted for the National Institute for Substance Abuse that show a 23% drop in drug use among teenagers. Walters credits drug testing for much of this decline. He also reports that drug use among "older people" dropping as well.

I blogged about studies like this not too long ago. As much as I'd like to believe drug use is dropping in this country, I just can't fathom there's much truth to those numbers.

Spending a good bit of my time swiping down businesses, homes, and schools with DrugWipe and talking to business owners, parents, and school officials about the drug problems they're grappling with, it would be a VERY scary thought that drug use is on the decline. And even if there is some truth to the numbers in this study, we still have a LONG way to go!

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS, DAD

Quick Quiz: What demographic group is responsible for the largest increase in drug use and related violence in the U.S.?

There’s an interesting Op-Ed in today’s New York Times about the "explosion" of drug use in this country that answers that very question. The piece, written by Mike Males, a senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, takes issue with the annual Monitoring the Future survey on drug use that indicates a big drop in teenage drug use. The Monitoring the Future survey is based on self-reported behaviors related to drug use by teenagers. I've always wondered how accurate these studies, which rely on the honesty of those filling out the questionnaires, actually are. Especially in this case where you have teenagers completing questionnaires about illegal activities.

Mr. Males says a better system of tracking drug abuse is needed. He suggests using “largely ignored data" from drug related deaths, hospital emergency rooms, and crime statistics. In the article he points to some data from these categories that paint a very different picture than the one in the Monitoring the Future survey. I've highlighted some of these findings below, but first . . .

. . . which group is responsible for the largest increase in drug use and related crime in the U.S.? Teenagers? Inner-city minority groups? Wrong! White, middle aged Americans are the fastest growing population of drug users in the U.S. Not exactly the “stereotypical” drug user that most of us have in our heads.

Here’s a link to the article (registration required) and the promised highlights, if you can call them that:

1. While the Monitoring the Future study shows a drop in teenage drug use over the past decade, the National Center for Health Statistics reports that teenage deaths from illicit drug use has tripled over the same period.

2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of Americans dying from illegal drug abuse has increased by 400 percent over the past two decades, reaching a record 28,000 in 2004.

3. F.B.I. data shows that drug arrests reached an all-time high of 1.8 million in 2005.

4. The number of hospital emergency cases caused by illicit drug use climbed to 940,000 in 2004, according to data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network.

5. Deaths from illicit-drug overdoses, among those in their 40s and 50s, has risen by 800 percent since 1980, including 300 percent in the last decade.

6. According to FBI statistics, arrests for drug offenses among those over 40 rose to 360,000 last year, up from 22,000 in 1980.


If you think this doesn't affect you - think again.