WKBT La Crosse, WI-NewsChannel 8-Study Links Marijuana to Violence

Study Links Marijuana to Violence

There's some disturbing news about marijuana use among teens.  A new study from the White House is linking the drug to violence and even gang membership.

Marijuana is often regarded as a "soft drug" in comparison to others like meth, cocaine and heroin, but the study shows it can lead young people to harmful behaviors in the future.

The study says while fewer teens are using illegal drugs, they are trying marijuana at younger ages than ever before, sometimes as early as eleven years-old.  It also says smoking pot makes it four times more likely that a child will become involved in a gang.

At the Coulee Council on Addictions headquarters, experts talk with teens who have been caught with marijuana or alcohol.  They say it's normal for kids who do drugs to form their own groups and then continue their self-destructive habits.

"If teens do become addicted to them or feel they need [drugs], they run into situations where if they do not have them, they're going to do what they deem necessary to get them," said Rita Pfaff from the Coulee Council on Addictions.  "Whether it's steal from parents, steal from friends."

Pfaff says kids who are shy or anti-social are more at risk for marijuana use, because they may want to impress their friends of be a part of a group.  Those who are home alone after school are also more at risk.

In 2004, 17 percent of 12 to 16 year-olds in Wisconsin reported using marijuana within the last year.  Forty-six percent of high school seniors reported trying marijuana in their lifetimes.

The Marijuana Policy Project is calling the new study a "deliberate misuse of scientific data" in order to reform the nation's marijuana laws.  The project spokesman says these problems would "disappear overnight" if marijuana were to be legalized and regulated like alcohol.