Expert: Marijuana abuse 'impairing youths'

By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer | Saturday, January 8, 2005 8:56 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA ---- On a recent Friday afternoon, as hundreds of students were filing out of Temecula Valley High School, three students walking home among the throng picked up a small plastic bag they noticed on the sidewalk.

They smiled to each other knowingly as they passed around the clear, worn bag, a bit smaller than a thumb. Although empty, the sack was interesting enough to prompt the teenagers to take notice of the otherwise innocuous piece of trash. In some circles, the little plastic pouch is known as a "dime bag," and commonly holds illicit drugs.

That the trio of students didn't seem surprised and got a laugh out of the bag's presence so near their school is not surprising, said Kay Wachuku, author of "Marijuana Impaired Youths: A Clinical Handbook for Counselors, Mentors, Teachers and Parents."

One out of every five high school kids use marijuana regularly, Wachuku said, citing his studies and national surveys. And with the ongoing news about marijuana on a national and local level, Wachuku said parents and teachers must educate themselves and young people about the drug's harmful effects.

On the radar screen

Today, talk of marijuana is commonplace. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether use of the drug for medicinal purposes should be allowed. Locally, the Temecula City Council recently weighed the medical marijuana issue when a vendor sought preliminary information on opening a shop in the city.

Moreover, arrests for marijuana top the list of the few arrests that are made for drug possession on campuses, said Sgt. Rick Zerkel, who oversees the officers assigned to campuses in the Temecula Valley Unified School District.

Wachuku said in an interview that today's marijuana is much more potent than what was around in the 1960s and 1970s. Also, medical marijuana advocates have, in his opinion, prompted people to think the drug is acceptable. Because of this, he said, parents and educators must get tough on what he and other authorities classify as a gateway drug.

"When kids begin to use substances, it impacts the brain. ... They feel substance abuse is inconsequential," said Wachuku, a San Bernardino educator who has spent the past 15 years studying and working with drug-addicted youths.

In Temecula, where the City Council has enacted an ordinance prohibiting the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries pending the Supreme Court's decision, education efforts are doubly important, he said.

"Marijuana is not only harmful, it's a gateway. ... Over 50 percent of heroin addicts started with marijuana," Wachuku said. "TV trivializes marijuana, makes kids think, 'Oh, it just gets you a little goofy, it's no big deal.'"

"Comedians make it seem like there is nothing wrong with it, which creates a distortion," Wachuku said. "Added to other sources like (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and Internet propaganda, and it makes it difficult for kids to understand the severity of drug-abuse behavior."

Experience, statistics

In addition to working at schools located in juvenile halls and developing sober-living homes, Wachuku directed the youth substance abuse treatment program for the Inland Empire Job Corps in San Bernardino for six years. Under his tenure, that program was rated the best in the nation by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2002.

He said his current position as associate dean of academic affairs at ITT Technical Institute has allowed him to take a break from substance-abuse treatment and education, although he still runs a small drug-abuse consulting business on the side.

Wachuku's advice to parents and teachers is to make sure access to drugs is cut off, then get teens into counseling and educate them about the effects of illicit drug use. Parents and teachers also need to educate themselves, he said.

"Consider a world where one out of every five high school kids use marijuana regularly, and that one is bent on recruiting more users," Wachuku writes in his book, citing national surveys for his statistics as well as his own studies on the issue.

Statistics on how many teenagers in Southwest County have been arrested for possession of marijuana or other drugs are not readily available, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Earl Quinata said.

Mitchell Rosen, a marriage, family and child counselor with a practice in Temecula, said that at least once a month he takes on a new case involving teenage drug abuse, often dealing with marijuana.

"And I'm just one therapist," Rosen added.

In his book, Wachuku cites the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which found that among children ages 12 to 17 who use drugs, about 60 percent use marijuana only. Citing another recent study, Wachuku points out that the number of eighth-graders who have used the drug at least once doubled in a decade from 10.2 percent in 1991 to 20.4 percent in 2001.

Wachuku argues that more young people enter treatment each year for heavy marijuana use than for all other illicit drugs combined.

Nonchalant teens

Wachuku argues in his book that most kids feel there's nothing wrong with weed.

Sgt. Zerkel said he agrees with Wachuku that students think marijuana is not going to hurt them or that it's less dangerous than other drugs.

Rosen agrees.

"Kids will say to me, 'I've got a 3.5 (grade-point average), I've been accepted to UCLA," Rosen recounted. "My response to that is, 'Imagine what your life would be like if you didn't get high every day.'"

For Wachuku, education is the way to stop marijuana abuse.

"I tried the scare tactics we all have tried," Wachuku said. "You go to jail, your brain is fried, but people don't get scared away from addiction.

"When you sit down and educate them on the effects of drug abuse, give them full knowledge, be friends enough with your child to share with them articles with illustrations to what's going on ---- they can relate very quickly to it."

Local education efforts

Temecula Valley Unified School District, for example, teaches students about the dangers of drugs, said Diana Damon-White, a special programs official.

"We don't just cram everything into Red Ribbon Week," she said of the national, annual education effort to teach kids about the dangers of drug abuse. "The (lessons) are done over time (and) are tied into the curriculum.

"We recognize that it has to be long-term, and has to be done from year to year to year."

Damon-White said drug education is conducted as part of the district's "40 developmental assets" program, which emphasizes different lessons each month, with topics such as a sense of purpose, responsibility and reading for pleasure.

"It's not just a program, but a state of mind," she said. "We're looking for positive ways to impact students."

Wachuku said a positive state of mind is important, and encourages exercise as a way to stay sober.

"Let the brain calm down through natural exercises," he said. "Yoga ... martial arts ... in doing those physical things, it releases the same neurotransmitters that illicit drugs tends to mimic."

Causing harm

Some harmful effects of marijuana, as chronicled by www.marijuanaaddiction.info include:

Impaired thinking, mood, memory and coordination.

Damaged pituitary gland.

Clogged synapses, brain damage and addiction.

Increased blood pressure, risk to those with hypertension and heart disease.

Decreased sperm count and damaged sperm.

Females can have egg damage and alteration of hormone levels.

Damage of the air sacs of the lungs

Marijuana has twice as much tar as cigarette smoke and significantly increases the chance of lung cancer, inflammation and infection.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.

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