Marijuana and Youth Violence
Marijuana is often viewed by youth and some adults
as a relatively benign drug. Prevention professionals often hear marijuana's
effects described as, "It makes you mellow. It's not like alcohol,
which makes you aggressive. It makes you just want to chill."
So, the link between marijuana and violence may not
always be readily apparent. But, consider these facts:
- In a study of more than 1,000 inner-city
youth, those who admitted monthly or more use of marijuana in
their early adolescent years reported greater frequency of using weapons
and perpetrating violence as well as a higher vulnerability to be
victims of violence.
- Aggressive anti-social behavior is clearly linked
to frequency of marijuana use. The more a young person used marijuana,
the more likely he/she was to attack other people or destroy another
person's property, according to data from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy and the 1994-96 National
Household Surveys.
- A
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
report showed that marijuana-using teens themselves said they were
more prone than non-users to behaviors such as destruction of property
and physical attacks on other teens.
- The same self-report study showed that young people
who use marijuana are four times more likely to engage in violence
and three times more likely than non-users to consider suicide (violence
against themselves).
- The drug trade is inherently violent, whether the
drug is marijuana, heroin, cocaine, or any other illicit drug. Users
contribute to the economic lure of breaking the law and place themselves
in dangerous situations.
- Marijuana was the illicit drug used most often (70
percent) by drivers
who drove after drug use. Drunk and drugged driving accounts for over
16,000 deaths, 1 million injuries, and $45 billion in costs to society
every year. "Impaired driving continues to be the most frequently
committed violent crime in America," says Dr. Ricardo Martinez,
administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- A July 1990 report of the National Institute of
Justice (NIJ), Searching for Answers—Research and Evaluation
on Drugs and Crime holds that while there is no drug which itself
causes someone to commit a crime, drug use is held to be one of several
major causes of criminal behavior.
- Levels of marijuana use among persons involved in
the criminal justice system are high; often one-third or more of the
population has used marijuana within days of an arrest (National Institute
of Justice, 1998). In 1998, the percentage of adult male respondents
testing positive for marijuana use in the ArresteeDrug Abuse Monitoring
(ADAM) program ranged from a high of 53.1 percent in Oklahoma City
to a low of 24.8 percent in San Jose.
With the recent unveiling of Youth
Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General, more and more people
may turn their attention and resources toward helping society prevent,
deal with, and understand youth violence and criminal behavior. It is
an opportunity for those of us in prevention to remind everyone of the
inextricable link between substance abuse (particularly marijuana, for
those of you who are focused on marijuana education) and violence.
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