According to the NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) teenagers in High School have been using marijuana at an increased rate since 2006, while the DEA and major government organizations have been frantically trying to figure out why this is happening.
With the advent of the Internet and readily accessible information, teens are able to learn more about drugs without reading government run propaganda. It shouldn’t be a surprise that more teens are smoking marijuana.
First, you do not hear of people overdosing on pot and dying. I know the DEA is just trying to do their job, but it is hard to explain to teenagers, especially those who have had friends die or go to the hospital because of alcohol poisoning, that a drug like marijuana that can’t kill you should be illegal.
Cannabis culture is slowly growing and is even becoming a huge part of American culture. With movies like Pineapple Express and entertainment celebrities like Lady Gaga, Wiz Khalifa, and Seth Rogen openly admitting to using marijuana; convincing teenagers to not use the drug will become increasingly difficult when people in the mainstream media are influencing the youth of the nation. We also see pictures of Michael Phelps, an Olympic gold medalist, smoking a bong. How can an authority figure convince a teen to not use a drug when their heroes and some of the most successful people in society use marijuana?
The scary thing is that these messages are making people in the DEA and NIDA go nearly ballistic trying to find a scapegoat for the increase in drug use. They blame the music industry, Hollywood, medical marijuana, and even current law enforcement for teens using more drugs.
The DEA and NIDA are placing the blame in the right place, but they are trying to stop the use of a drug that is a huge part of culture already. The reason that all of these industries and institutions are to blame is because the use of marijuana is so prevalent in our society that it is basically penetrating every aspect of our society. All we need to do is embrace this substance as a part of our culture and regulate it like cigarettes and alcohol.
Today, it is much harder for a 16 year old to get their hands on alcohol than illegal drugs, such as marijuana. Why go through the hassle of having to show ID at a government run liquor store when you can simply walk down the street to your local pot dealer? If the DEA was really serious they would treat the use of drugs as a health problem and inform teens that smoking marijuana can have negative consequences that are validated by scientific evidence.
Information is the most powerful weapon in one’s arsenal, and that is why the marijuana movement has been so successful in the last 15 years. If the DEA informs the public with factual, unbiased information about marijuana use, I have no doubt that it would be a more effective means of curbing marijuana use then jailing teens for pot use.