Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legislation (Denver, Center: high schools, income)

[davidv]

Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legislation - The Denver Post, November 12, 2012

If only we could have foreseen this becoming a problem when we legalized marijuana a year ago.

Wait a minute, I DID see this becoming more of a problem a year ago, but the everyone told me that kids will get it anyway, and assured me that it was harmless.

Well it seems that more kids are getting it -- from their parents, and it is harmless -- unless you are an adolescent with a developing brain.

This problem is going to get much worse before it gets better.

So the question is: What can we do to keep this from harming a generation of children?

[arleigh]

From the liberal's stand point, if the government says it's OK then people disregard common sense, and be stupid.It's OK .
Personally I think it all a part of the dumbing down of america.

[robertgoodman]

"There are no hard numbers yet because school disciplinary statistics do not isolate marijuana from general drug violations. But school resource officers, counselors, nurses, staff and officials with Colorado school safety and disciplinary programs are anecdotally reporting an increase in marijuana-related incidents in middle and high schools." Pot problems in Colorado schools increase with legislation - The Denver Post, November 12, 2012

In high school I would have failed any report I turned in if it was based solely on anecdotal information. I do agree that we need to 'think of the children', but I am more concerned with how can we stop irresponsible journalism from harming an entire generation by teaching them that conjecture is just as valuable as the facts.

[coloradoalimony]

I've said it at least a dozen time on threads on C-D: the Obama administration does NOT want pot to be legal. This is why Holder came out with his "guidelines" a few months ago about under which circumstances legal pot will be squashed by the Feds. Every item on the list *will* happen, so legal pot *will* be gone by 2016.

One of the major items on the list is that if the number of people under 21 using pot goes up, it will be gone. Of course, no scientific studies or real stats will be used, because it would take to long to do a real study, so, they will look to anecdotal evidence cherry-picked from the press which operates from a kneeling position in front of Obama and his administration.

Obama and members of both parties simply get too much money from the pharmaceutical, alcohol, defense, and incarceration industries to allow this experiment to succeed. In case you have your head under a rock, money talks and BS blowing out of stoner's mouth walks in this country. It isn't about the people, it is about the corporations, and corporations lose big time under the current rules for legal pot.

Sorry.

[sammy87]

Here's a thought, how about parents actually being responsible for their own kids.

[Katarina Witt]

Back before marijuana was legalized, advocates (and others) said more people have problems with alcohol, which is legal. While possibly true, I said all along that if mj became legal, we would probably see more problems with its usage, as more used and abused it. Please note I'm not taking a position one way or another, just sayin'.

[Colorado^]

Nice scare mongering piece. "No hard data" and "anecdotes" ... in other words just someones opinion.

Alcohol, prescription drugs, cigarettes and guns are FAR FAR FAR more dangerous to your children than pot. But they are all perfectly legal for parents to own and they all end up in school. Sometimes with deadly consequences.

Heck, the chocolate milk and mac and cheese they serve the kids at lunch are, in the long term, far more addictive and dangerious to your health than pot (obesity is a killer) .

About a quarter of 2-5 year olds and one-third of school-age children (including adolescents) are overweight or obese in the U.S. (Ogden et al., 2012). About 30 percent of low-income preschoolers are overweight or obese (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011)

Don't get me wrong though. Pot has no business being in the hands of minors and no business at schools either. But lets target our efforts where they will do the most good. If we did an honest and independent assessment of the health risk to minors, I doubt pot would even make the list.

[Colorado^]

Originally Posted by sammy87

Here's a thought, how about parents actually being responsible for their own kids.

Exactly.

[coloradoalimony]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Back before marijuana was legalized, advocates (and others) said more people have problems with alcohol, which is legal. While possibly true, I said all along that if mj became legal, we would probably see more problems with its usage, as more used and abused it. Please note I'm not taking a position one way or another, just sayin'.

Back during Prohibition, advocates said that if alcohol became legal, we would see more problems with its usage, as more used and abused it.

Back before gambling was legalized, people said we would probably see more problems with people being addicted to gambling, as more people gambled away their earnings.

Back when people rode horses, people said we would have more people killed if the bicycle became widely adopted.

Back when people rode bicycles, people said we would have more people killed if the automobile became widely adopted.

See where this goes?

Of course more people under 21 will use pot now that it is legal. Perhaps FEWER will drink vodka or snort coke. Kids get wasted. If they can't get pot or alcohol, some will find 'shrooms or huff. This is nothing new. "Reefer Madness" was made in 1936. It was about high school kids smoking pot.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by sammy87

Here's a thought, how about parents actually being responsible for their own kids.

You quite obviously have no kids of high school age.