Drug Czar Plays Politics With Mental Illness, Suicide And Marijuana

I suspect a few of you are aware that last Friday John Walters, America's Drug Czar, held a press conference and issued a report claiming that marijuana was leading to depression among teens. His office also once again floated its weak claim that pot causes schizophrenia. I suppose it's a sign of just how desperate Walters is to justify the federal laws on marijuana that he has to resort to the old Reefer Madness card. I think trying to use teen depression as a wedge issue shows just how hypocritical Walters has become because a press release from his office cannot cite much more than a stray survey and some SAMSHA surveys indicating that pot causes teens to be depressed. Surveys ain't science. In other words, he's not made his case very convincingly and is engaging in little more than fear mongering, SOP for his office.

"Millions of American teens report experiencing weeks of hopelessness and loss of interest in normal daily activities and many of these depressed teens are using marijuana and other drugs, making their situation worse, according to a new White House report released today. The report, from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), reveals that marijuana use can worsen depression and lead to more serious mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, anxiety, and even suicide."

Yes, pot makes people kill themselves. That's such a bizarre assertion that it's embarrassing--and, indeed, claiming pot causes anxiety and suicide while perfectly legal drugs such as Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor and so on have been linked to suicidality and suicides and to cases of very extreme agitation is the very height of hypocrisy. A 2001 study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that 8.1 percent of admissions to one hospital's psych unit in a 14-month period were due to "antidepressant-associated mania or psychosis." Whether you like or hate pot, you ought to be against the feds making such hypocritical claims or you ought to be in favor of Walters warning parents of teens about the dangers of anti-depressant-caused psychosis. I simply don't know of any studies proving that pot causes suicide. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's highly unlikely that such a link is very strong.

Why do I say that? So many more Americans smoke marijuana now than in, say, 1965, yet the rate of suicide in this country is pretty much the same as it was then (it's actually a small bit lower, depending on what year you look at).

More from the Czar:

"Research shows that some teens are using drugs to alleviate feelings of depression ("self-medicating"), when in fact, using marijuana can compound the problem. The report, released to coincide with May's Mental Health Awareness Month, shows a staggering two million teens felt depressed at some point during the past year, and depressed teens are more than twice as likely as non-depressed teens to have used marijuana during that same period. Depressed teens are also almost twice as likely to have used illicit drugs as non-depressed teens. They are also more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become dependent on marijuana. Marijuana use is associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts.

"'Marijuana is not the answer. Too many young people are making a bad situation worse by using marijuana in a misguided effort to relieve their symptoms of depression,' said John P. Walters, Director, National Drug Control Policy. 'Parents must not dismiss teen moodiness as a passing phase. Look closely at your teen's behavior because it could be a sign of something more serious.'"

According to the Los Angeles Times, Walters may not even believe his own hype:

"Some addiction experts said the report stretches evidence by implying a causal link between smoking pot and developing mental illness that does not exist, even if there is consensus that depression is a risk factor for drug use.

"A British government advisory group concluded in a report last month that there was not convincing evidence to show 'a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and the development of any affective disorder.'

"Questioned about the drug control policy report's claim that 'using marijuana can cause depression and other mental illnesses,' Walters demurred and acknowledged there is no proof one leads to another."

Sounds like Walters may have been smoking something when he put this campaign together. Doctors tossed cold water on Walters's claims as well in the LAT piece:

"Among experts inside and outside the government, opinions are mixed on the relationship between teen depression and marijuana use.

"'Both conditions could be related to something else,' Dr. Victor Reus, a psychiatrist at UC San Francisco, said in an interview. 'Depressed teens are more likely to exercise less, stay indoors and watch TV. Take your pick as to which one is causal.'"

One further bit of hypocrisy: if Walters is so concerned about pot causing depression and suicides (and every other human psychological malady) in teens, then why isn't he concerned about the same phenomenon in adults, who smoke pot in numbers that must far outnumber teens? Or is he trying to say that pot doesn't cause depression and suicides in adults?