Dear Abby
This letter and reply
appeared in a recent “Dear Abby” column:
Teen’s pot use puts friend in tough spot
Dear Abby:
I’m a senior in high school. Every day during
lunch, one of my friends goes outside and smokes weed with a couple of his
friends. He comes back from lunch with red eyes and smelling of smoke, and his
behavior indicates he’s high. I’m not sure if they smoke on or off campus, but
I know it isn’t legal at their age (17) and especially not at school. I saw a
joint in his pocket a couple of times, and he told me to keep it a secret.
Abby, this has me very uncomfortable. If he
wants me to keep it a secret, he must know it’s wrong. I don’t know how to tell
someone or even who I should tell. I know he has depression and weed can “take
the edge off,” but that doesn’t make it OK.
What should I do? Should I tell anyone? And
if so, who and how?
Fretting in Washington State
Dear Fretting:
It’s surprising to me that your friend
returns from lunch showing all of the signs of being stoned, and none of his
teachers have picked up on it. Haven’t his grades suffered?
While it is not
uncommon for people who are depressed to try to self-medicate with illegal
substances, it’s not nearly as successful as dealing with their emotions by
talking about them with a medical professional and can sometimes make the
problem worse. The person to confide in about this would be a trusted teacher
or school counselor. Please don’t wait.
Abby seems to need
some advice herself on marijuana and the marijuana laws. I’m going to respond to her response and hope
she will avail herself of an opportunity to learn more and be a better
counselor to her readers:
Dear Abby,
Thank you for paying
attention to teenagers caught in the current social conflict over marijuana and
its use. But you ignored the bigger half
of the problem. Yes, a few –very few –
teens face problems arising from their use of marijuana, but vast numbers of
them face much more serious problems from their encounters with marijuana laws.
First, her friend’s
use of marijuana is extremely unlikely to do him harm. It presents virtually no health risks. No one has ever been shown to have died from
a marijuana overdose or from any medical side effects or from marijuana
complications or contributions to long term diseases. Several long-term studies tracking thousands
of patients for longer than twenty years have found no health differences
between marijuana users and abstainers.
While a few argue than marijuana is addictive, the weight of evidence
rebuts that contention. A few may
develop a weak compulsive use, but those are easily able to break their habits,
often without help.
Apparently his
teachers have not noticed any bad effect on his academic performance, and there
have probably been none. Studies show
that marijuana use is more common in high performing students – both academically
and in extra-curricular activities – than in those in the middle of the class. Just ask Prof. Carl Sagan, astronomer, NASA
consultant, and creator of the PBS “Cosmos” series, or Dr. Lester Grinspoon,
professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School – or thousands of Silicon
Valley computer scientists and engineers.
If, as your correspondent reports, he suffers from depression or
anxiety, the marijuana may actually improve both his school work and his
behavior. Marijuana has been shown to be
helpful for both of these disorders. And
with mental health services now unavailable or unaffordable for most people,
his self-medication with marijuana may be his best option.
His marijuana use does
put him at risk, but not because of its effects on his mind or body. The risk comes from the dangers imposed by
the laws prohibiting marijuana. If the
school learns of his marijuana use, he will probably be placed in alternative schooling
or expelled. Either of these actions
would make his high school graduation unlikely and probably preclude college.
Even worse, the school
administrators would be required to report his activity to the police; and a
conviction for marijuana possession, even one resulting in probation rather
than a jail sentence could destroy his future.
In most states he would lose his driver’s license for a least two
years. He would become ineligible for
student financial aid, necessary for many college students. In many places he could not rent an apartment
and would be barred from many jobs.
In short, telling
teachers or school counselors about his marijuana use would do much more harm
to his future than his continuing marijuana would. While your correspondent may want to discuss
her own use of marijuana, current or contemplated, with her parents, she should
never tell any adult about another’s use unless compelled by subpoena. The effects on that person’s future could be
much, much worse than marijuana will be.
If she feels like she
must talk to someone, she should ask her teachers and counselors why they
endanger students by not speaking up for and working for reform of the
marijuana laws.
And that’s also a good
question for Dear Abby.
Sincerely,
A concerned Reader
