ONDCP Blog

Support for National Association of School Nurses' Position on the Legalization of Marijuana

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) joins with school nurses across the country to express our support for efforts that promote wellness and good health outcomes for our Nation’s children, including the prevention of substance use disorders.  ONDCP shares the concerns of school nurses regarding the harmful effects of marijuana use among young people. Given research indications that marijuana is harmful to the developing brain,[1] we are especially concerned about the repercussions of use on the health, safety, and education of adolescents. On January 27, 2014, based on overwhelming scientific evidence, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Board of Directors adopted an official position statement[2] outlining the negative impact of marijuana legalization on the health of students. ONDCP supports NASN in bringing attention to this issue.

School nurses are present in 75 percent of the Nation’s schools, so many are in touch with substance use trends within the school and greater community and are able to make educated assessments when students visit their offices.  The school nursing profession has more than 100 years of experience, and school nurses know first-hand that healthy, drug-free children learn better. As more and more states consider the legalization of marijuana, school nurses are compelled to continue providing their students with the facts on the multiple physical and behavioral health consequences of marijuana use. Access to marijuana by young people and the impact of its use on the developing brain continue to be matters of concern for both ONDCP and NASN.

Together, we recognize that adult influencers, including parents, school nurses, teachers, counselors, and other support personnel in the academic setting, are key to helping adolescents understand the connection between good health practices and educational achievement.  There is grave concern that marijuana use, given its impact on cognitive development, motor skills, and attention, will be detrimental to the learning environment for our young people. We encourage professionals in all health fields, parents, educators, and communities to get involved with this issue. We all must work together to reduce marijuana use and prevent substance use disorders among our young people.

David Mineta is Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at ONDCP. Carolyn Duff,  MS, RN, NCSN, is President of the National Association for School Nurses.

What does the New Budget Deal Mean for Drug Policy Reform?

Over the past four years, we’ve worked hard to support drug policy reform rooted in science, evidence, and research.  A difficult budget environment hasn’t made it easy.  Damaging cuts caused by sequestration have placed real obstacles in the way of ensuring full support for services and programs that expand prevention, treatment, and smart-on-crime initiatives that represent a 21^st century approach to drug policy. 

But there is good news.  

The bipartisan appropriations bill passed by Congress this week finally begins to repair some of these cuts. It also includes support for innovative alternatives that will protect public health and public safety while saving taxpayer dollars over the long run.

Some highlights from the bill:

• $1.8 billion in funding for the Substance Abuse Block Grant – a $110 million increase compared to FY2013. The grant gives states the ability to establish and expand substance use prevention and treatment services in order support people recovering from substance use disorders.  
• $92 million will support the Drug Free Communities Support Program, which provides resources to local coalitions working to prevent substance use among young people.  
•  $45 million to support early health interventions through SAMHSA’s Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) initiative. SBIRT helps doctors and medical professionals identify and address the signs and symptoms of problematic drug use before it becomes a more serious, chronic condition.
• Supporting the administration of an estimated $4.6 billion for drug treatment services and related costs through the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services. 
• Restoration of a significant portion of funding for vital drug abuse research through the National Institutes of Health, including research emphasizing the health effects of heroin and prescription painkiller abuse.
•  $68 million to fund programs designed to help formerly incarcerated offenders find employment, housing, and support through the Second Chance Act, and $27.5 million to advance criminal justice reforms at the state and local level via the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. 
• Drug Courts, which work to divert non-violent offenders into alternatives to incarceration, including treatment in appropriate cases, were provided $40.5 million. 
• For the first time ever, the bill also includes $4 million to support expansion of the innovative HOPE diversion model for drug offenders. The HOPE program uses swift, certain sanctions that have shown promise in reducing recidivism and drug use.

This bill is not perfect, and no one got everything they wanted (that’s the nature of compromise), but these are real investments in making our Nation healthier and stronger. Reducing drug use and its consequences is a vital issue that spans the political spectrum and this is a step in the right direction.  

Cross Post: Monitoring the Future Reveals Both Encouraging and Discouraging Trends

Yesterday, the 2013 Monitoring the Future survey results were released, revealing that one-third of high school seniors in states with medical marijuana laws report getting marijuana from someone else's medical marijuana prescription. 

A blog post from Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse is below:

Every year, the NIDA-supported Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan asks 8th, 10th, and 12th graders across the country about their current and past drug use and their attitudes toward drug use, providing us with an invaluable barometer of youth drug trends from year to year. The results of the 2013 MTF survey , which were released today, included some good news—such as 5-year declines in the abuse of prescription opioids, alcohol, and cigarettes by teens. Use of synthetic marijuana (K2/spice), Vicodin, and salvia by 12th graders is also down from last year, as is use of inhalants by 8th graders. It is gratifying to see these statistics, as well as the continued low levels of abuse of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine by students in the survey.

 

But there were also reasons to be concerned. The survey showed a 4-year increase in the nonmedical use of Adderall by 12th-graders; students may abuse prescription stimulants in the mistaken belief that they will boost cognitive performance and help their grades, or simply to get high. And one of the most worrisome trends in the MTF concerns teens’ attitudes toward marijuana use. Less than 40 percent of high school seniors this year said they think regular marijuana users risk harming themselves (physically or in other ways), down almost five percentage points from last year; in fact, the perception by 12th-graders that regular marijuana may be dangerous is the lowest it has been since 1978.

 

The plot below provides a striking teaching point: Over the 3 decades of MTF’s existence, the fluctuating perception of marijuana’s risks by teens has exactly mirrored how much they have used the drug. The public conversation about marijuana’s purported therapeutic benefits is likely contributing to the common impression that the drug is not harmful. Yet most of what we know from research in animals and humans points to significant cognitive impairment and negative impacts on brain development and various measures of life satisfaction, success, and achievement when marijuana is used heavily, especially during adolescence.

 

 

There are at least two ways in which the problem of teen marijuana use could actually be worse than the MTF numbers indicate. First, the survey does not take into account the rising potency of marijuana from year to year. In 1990, marijuana in the United States averaged 3.35 percent THC (the main psychoactive ingredient in the marijuana plant); today’s average street potency is well over four times that, at almost 15 percent. Although it is possible that users today may moderate their THC intake by smoking less on a given occasion, it is likely the MTF use trends don’t fully reflect the magnitude of the impact marijuana may be having on the brains of today’s teenagers. For example, the participants in the large-scale New Zealand study published last year who had lost an average of 8 IQ points after using marijuana heavily as teenagers would have turned 18 in 1990 or 1991—when marijuana potency in New Zealand was comparable to what it was in the U.S. at the time (between 1 and 5 percent). Would they have lost more IQ points had marijuana been more potent? Only further research can answer that question.

 

Second, it is important to remember that the MTF only surveys adolescents who are in school. Although the nationwide graduation rate is climbing, fully a quarter of the class of 2010 did not finish high school, and heavy marijuana use is linked to school dropout. The 6.5 percent of 12th graders who reported in the MTF that they use marijuana daily is thus likely to be less than the percentage of all American 17- and 18-year-olds using marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis.

 

The annual MTF results give us crucial information about where to concentrate our efforts at prevention. While America’s teens do seem to be hearing some of our messages—for instance, that synthetic marijuana could easily land them in an emergency room—we clearly need to do more to impress upon them that the harms of marijuana, although less immediate and less obvious than those of some other drugs, are no less serious: Among others, it can negatively affect a person’s ability to learn and, in turn, their academic performance. This is an important reason for teens to steer clear of marijuana while their brains are still maturing. 

 

Read more about MTF and the results of this year’s survey. 

ONDCP Hosts First-Ever Drug Policy Reform Conference

On Monday, Director Kerlikowske and  Deputy Director Botticelli kicked off an unprecedented discussion at the White House on the future of drug policy.  Braving a snowy D.C. morning, approximately 140 people attended to engage in a conversation on drug policy reform and hundreds more watched online. Limited video on demand is available here. 

Director Kerlikowske opens the Drug Policy Reform conference, Monday, December 9, 2013. December 9, 2013.

Among those speaking at the conference were the Deputy Attorney General (James Cole) and Tonya Robinson, Special Assistant to the President and member of the Domestic Policy Council.  They were joined by former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who is himself in recovery from a substance use disorder and who moderated the panel on stigma and addiction. 

The Drug Policy Reform Conference featured three panels and focused on public health approaches to drug policy, criminal justice reform, and the importance of lifting the stigma of addiction. 

Attendees and the online audience heard from addiction recovery specialist Jacki Hillios about her work combining substance use disorder treatment with active, healthy lifestyles at Phoenix Multisport.  Founded in 2009, Phoenix Multisport is a hub for sports and addiction recovery in Denver, Colorado.  Its founder, Scott Strode, was recognized as a CNN Hero in 2012 for his innovative approach to substance use disorder treatment.

Conference attendees also heard from Alby Zweig, who, with the help of the Denver Drug Court, went from being a defendant to serving as the court’s magistrate.  Just before the third and final panel began, Pat Taylor (of Faces and Voices of Recovery) showed a video trailer for film director Greg Williams’ feature “The Anonymous People”.

You can review live-tweets of the conference on Twitter on the @ONDCP profile page.