Stronger Dope Raises Fears

The United States is seeing a rise in the number of individuals who are in need of treatment for marijuana use and the reason is blamed on the strength of the weed. Accordingly, officials are seeking to change policies to shift some of the focus in research and enforcement from "hard" drugs such as cocaine and heroin to marijuana.

The number of children and teen-agers in treatment for marijuana dependence and abuse has jumped 142 percent since 1992, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported in April.

According to the report, children and teens are three times more likely to be in treatment for marijuana abuse than for alcohol, and six times likelier to be in treatment for marijuana than for all other illegal drugs combined.

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According to the University of Mississippi's Marijuana Potency Project, average levels of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, rose steadily from 3.5 percent in 1988 to more than 7 percent in 2003.

Understandably, marijuana's place and status in society is a contentious issue. My opinion is that marijuana makes people generally stupid through reduced attention span and memory and, for this reason alone, I'm against decriminalization or anything that would increase its availability.