SayNo Montgomery

Marijuana is addictive. Of course, not everyone who smokes marijuana will become addicted—that depends on a whole bunch of factors—including your family history (genes), the age you start using, whether you also use other drugs, family and peer relationships, success in school, etc. Repeated marijuana use can lead to addiction—which means that people have difficulty controlling their drug use and often cannot stop even though they want to, and even though it undermines many aspects of their lives. Research shows that approximately 9 percent, or about 1 in 11, of those who use marijuana at least once will become addicted. This rate increases to 16 percent, or about 1 in 6, if you start in your teens, and goes up to 25-50 percent among daily users. Moreover, among young people in drug abuse treatment, marijuana accounts for the largest percentage of admissions: 61 percent of those under age 15 and 56 percent of those 15-19.

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As the director of SAYNO, a United Way agency that addresses substance abuse prevention, I am involved in the topics of legalization as well as substance use and abuse from many sides.

Some of the issues are controversial and information changes frequently, reasons that SAYNO decided a blog attached to our traditional website, would be a good way to address these issues. This inaugural post, reprints a rebuttal to the Montgomery Advertiser in response to two letters published promoting legalization of marijuana for medical purposes (recent references at the Montgomery Advertiser). It received an immediate and heated response. That original post follows:
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