According to the nonpartisan National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine -- which published a multiyear, million-dollar federal study assessing marijuana and health in 1999 -- "Millions of Americans have tried marijuana, but most are not regular users [and] few marijuana users become dependent on it."[1] The report continues, "[A]though [some] marijuana users develop dependence, they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs."[2]
Just how less likely? According to the Institute of Medicine's 267-page report, fewer than 10 percent of those who try cannabis ever meet the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of "drug dependence" (based on DSM-III-R criteria). By contrast, the IOM reported that 32 percent of tobacco users, 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users and 15 percent of alcohol users meet the criteria for "drug dependence."[3]
In short, it's the legal drugs that have Americans hooked -- not pot -- but, curiously, I do not hear Mr. Evans calling on police to begin arresting adults who drink alcohol or smoke tobacco.
Regarding the author's equally specious claims regarding an increase in the number of citizens seeking so-called 'treatment' for cannabis, the devil is in the details.
In reality, few of these individuals are in ‘treatment’ because they or their families believed that their marijuana use was adversely impacting their lives. Rather, most individuals in drug-treatment programs for cannabis were arrested for possessing minor amounts of marijuana and were referred to treatment by the courts as a requirement of their probation.[4]
In fact, data published by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) indicates that voluntary drug treatment admissions for cannabis have fallen over the past decade, while criminal justice referrals for cannabis-related drug treatment have risen dramatically.[5] (During this same time period, arrests for minor marijuana offenses have risen from fewer than 300,000 per year in the early 1990s to more than 800,000 per year.) As a result, according to current state and national statistics, an estimated 60 to 70 percent of all individuals in treatment with a primary diagnosis of “marijuana dependence” are legally coerced into treatment.[6-7] Of those in treatment, some 36 percent had not even used marijuana in the 30 days prior to their admission.[8] These are Mr. Evan's pot "addicts"?
Of course, none of this data denies that some marijuana smokers don't find quitting difficult. Naturally, a handful of folks do, though this subpopulation is hardly large enough to warrant pot's legal classification (along with heroin) as an illicit substance with a "high potential for abuse." Nor does this fact justify the continued arrest of more than 800,000 Americans annually for pot violations any more than such concerns would warrant the criminalization of booze or nicotine.
See Citations Below:
Expert Verified
Link
Text
