Welcome to the Newly Updated Website of GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com
Last Modified: 8:02 PM, January 3, 2010
The following published articles and papers are now posted in file form on this website. The author is Paula D. Gordon. (For information concerning the author, see http://gordonhomeland.com. The author may be reached at pgordon@starpower.net)
Additional reports, articles, and abstracts by other contributors to the field can be found in the Pages Section.
May the articles and papers prove of interest and of value to all who visit the website.
NEW: 2010 Report on Teen Drug Use Trends
For discussion of the report, see the following videos:
From http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/YouthD
The National Institute of Drug Abuse released the results of its annual survey on drug use. The latest survey showed increased use of marijuana and a plateau in the heretofore decreasing trend in cigarette smoking. The researchers also found that changing attitudes and less public service funding are partially to blame for the trends.
Nora Volkow talked about the latest survey on teen drug use, the survey's positive and negative findings, and what is influencing drug use in U.S. She responded to telephone calls and electronic communications.
For more about the report, see http://www.monitoringthefuture.org and http://www.drugabuse.gov/PDF/mtfhighlights10.pdf
NEW:
September 29, 2010: New Fact Sheet on the Effects of Marijuana
"The Facts on Marijuana" just released by
the National Association of Drug Court Professionals
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“Heavy Alcohol and Pot Use May Damage Teen Brains”
November 1, 2010 Research Summary
http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2010/study-heavy-alcohol-and-pot.html
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NEW SAMHSA REPORT ON ADMISSIONS FOR OPIATE, MARIJUANA TREATMENT
http://www.jointogether.org/news/research/summaries/2010/more-americans-admitted-for.html
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The Harm Caused to Individuals and Society by the Use of Marijuana
Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.
May 27, 2009, Revised December 27, 2009
http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com
and
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5140/pub_detail.asp
Copyright 2009 by Paula D. Gordon. All rights reserved.
The view that marijuana is harmless or even “relatively harmless” is a view that is widely shared. That a view is widely shared does not mean that it is a sound view or that it has any basis in knowledge or fact.
Of course, the fact that marijuana is a plant that is widely available in nature has nothing to do with the potential harm that it can do if it is smoked or ingested. To assume otherwise is to engage in vague or magical thinking. It is common knowledge that there are plants and substances of all kinds that are harmful if ingested. For instance, hemlock is deadly as are some mushrooms. Smoking anything has some harmful consequences.
However widely shared a view it may be, the view that marijuana is harmless or even “relatively harmless,” it is a view that reflects a lack of knowledge concerning the immediate and the short term and long term effects of marijuana. It is also a view that reflects a lack of knowledge of the less widely recognized effects of marijuana use of contact highs and flashbacks (spontaneous recurrence of a drug high without using the substance at the time of the recurrence.) Similarly, the view reflects a lack of awareness of the civil liberties implications of being subject to contact highs and other effects as a result of being in the proximity of those who are using marijuana. Certainly, a rational public policy needs to be based on such a knowledge base.
One way I try to determine what the knowledge base might be of a person who seems unaware of the harmful effects of marijuana is to pose these questions:
· Do you know of research that shows that the use of marijuana can negatively affect motivation, long and short term memory, concentration, judgment, reasoning, and common sense?
· Do you know of the research of Harris Isbell and others who found that there can be idiosyncratic psychotomimetic (psychosis-like) effects from the administration of delta 9 THC in human subjects? (Delta 9 THC is the active principle of marijuana.)
· Do you know of the research findings that marijuana smoke can be inhaled by bystanders who then can experience marijuana highs and idiosyncratic effects?
· Do you know of the research in humans and animals showing the deleterious changes in lung tissue as a result of exposure to marijuana smoke?
· Do you know that contact high and flashback effects can occur as a result of the use of marijuana and do you think that the occurrence of such effects can have any negative consequences?
· Do you see any deleterious impacts to the civil liberties of others, including children, the elderly, mentally impaired, and other sensitive individuals, when they are unwillingly or unwittingly subjected to marijuana smoke or contact highs?
With regard to the policies that are needed when it comes to psychoactive, mind altering substances, I believe that there should be an increasing emphasis on effective diversion programs (including drug court programs) and early intervention with judicial backup but no record if successful re-education and treatment are completed. Such approaches need to go on hand in hand with a massive prevention-education effort aimed at helping dissuade users from using a substance that has such negative effects on the mental, psychological, and physical health of users and on the health and functioning of those in their proximity, as well as on the overall well being of society.
After the conclusions of the deliberations in Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin was asked later by a woman what kind of a government the new nation had. He is said to have replied: “A republic Madame, if we can keep it.” A new question: If we sanction or tacitly encourage the recreational and/or chronic use of psychoactive, mind-altering drugs, including marijuana, and if we do not actively discourage their use, can we still keep our republic? I think not, since keeping our republic depends on an educated and informed psychologically and mentally healthy and stable citizenry who value the common good and who are capable of bring sound reasoning, good judgment, the exercise of common sense, and understanding to bear on recognizing and addressing exceedingly complex and challenging problems and threats that are currently looming before us.
Answers to the six earlier questions can clearly reflect a very different set of values and assumptions concerning what kind of nation we want America to be, and what kind of nation and what kind of world we want to pass on to the future generations. The answers can also reveal very different knowledge bases concerning the effects of psychoactive, mind-altering drugs and very different perspectives on what constitutes mental and psychological health and what the value of mental and psychological health is. From my vantage point, playing Russian Roulette with anyone's mental and psychological health is simply not a smart thing to do. Turning any part or all of the United States into an Amsterdam or continuing to allow any part of the United States to evolve into an Amsterdam as is occurring in certain places in Southern and Northern California and Colorado and other places in this nation seriously undermines our capacity to realize the promise of America. From my perspective allowing such devolution to occur in America throws to the winds the great gifts that the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us and entrusted to our keeping, the same gifts that following generations have fought and are fighting to keep.
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Dr. Paula D. Gordon is a consultant, researcher, analyst, writer, speaker, and educator. She has also served in a variety of capacities in the Federal government, including staff officer, policy analyst, and special projects director. She has an extensive background in several domestic policy arenas including drug abuse prevention and homeland security. She played a key role in the introduction of the idea and the design of the legislation that culminated in the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Executive Office of the President (a precursor office to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy). Her websites at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com and http://GordonHomeland.com include her articles, reports, publications, and presentations on drug abuse prevention and homeland security respectively. Her doctoral dissertation, Public Administration in the Public Interest (posted at http://www.jhu.edu/pgordon) focuses on complex societal problem solving and governmental change. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail: pgordon@starpower.net
Other Drug Abuse Prevention-Related Articles and Reports
by Paula D. Gordon with Links Provided Here:
~ Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention
~ Alternatives to Drugs Approach to Drug Abuse Prevention
~ Resolving the Controversy Regarding the Effects of Marijuana Use
~ Promising Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention and Early Intervention
~ The Role of Drug Abuse Prevention Educators in Addressing the Drug Problem
~ School-Based Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention and Early Intervention
~ Master of Arts Degree in Drug Abuse Prevention
~ Cigarette Smoke and Marijuana Smoke as Environmental Health Hazards and Infringements on the Civil Liberties of Those Subjected to Passive Inhalation (This paper also includes a discussion of research bearing on contact high and "flash back" phenomena.)
~ An Alternative Approach to Drug Abuse Prevention Evaluation (Professional Paper Submitted to the National Institute on Drug Abuse) (81M056825701D)
Thanks to Baywood Publishing for their permission to post the articles from Drug Forum and Journal of Drug Education.
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~ Guide to Ideas on Drug Abuse Programs and Policies, Paula Gordon, compiler. It is available online through the Education Resource Information Center (ERIC) at http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED044712.pdf .
~ The State and Territorial Guide to Substance Abuse Prevention in Declared Disasters Primary Authors: Tara Kelley Baker, M.S.W., Magdalena Hurwitz, and Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D., http://captus.samhsa.gov/southeast/documents/CSAPGuidetoPreventioninDisasters.pdf
Another article that you may find of interest includes several hundred recent references to the scientific literature. This article by an Australian, Dr. Stuart Reece. His article is entitled “Cutting The Gordian Knot of Drug Addiction Confusion Strategy of Seduction vs. Seduction of Strategy”, The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4 - WINTER 2009 at http://www.globaldrugpolicy.org/2/4/2.php .
Other publications and papers will be added to this website in the future.
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New Website Devoted to the Harmful Spiritual Effects of Marijuana and Other Psychedelic Drugs
Visitors to this website may also be interested in a newly established website that focuses on The Spiritual Harmfulness of Marijuana and Other Psychedelic Drugs: http://SpiritualHarmofMarijuana.com
The SpiritualHarmofMarijuana.com website includes the views of a wide variety of spiritual teachers and luminaries and others with special insights concerning the spiritual harmfulness of marijuana and other psychedelic drugs.
Thank you for visiting http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com . I hope you have find it of value and that you will find http://SpiritualHarmofMarijuana.com of value as well.