Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991                   TAG: 9104120035
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ANN LANDERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POT MORE POTENT NOW THAN IT WAS IN THE '60S

The problem is marijuana. My girlfriend and I don't like to smoke pot. My brother smokes every night, and my boyfriend smokes every weekend. Neither of them thinks he has a problem, Ann.

I thought this behavior would stop once they graduated from college, but they've been out of school for more than two years and both are working at very good jobs that require a high level of concentration.

My girlfriend and I have expressed our disapproval many times and don't want to turn into nags, but we are very worried about these terrific guys. Please respond soon with any advice and information you may have on the effects of prolonged marijuana use. LOST IN A CLOUD OF SMOKE, MORRISTOWN, N.J.

DEAR MORRISTOWN: Your brother and your sweetheart are working from an old script. These are the facts:

The American Bar Association has reversed its stand on decriminalization of marijuana, because it is a far more powerful drug today than it was in the '60s when flower children were mellowing out and "expanding their minds." The August issue of the American Bar Association's Law and National Security Intelligence Report had this to say:

"Long-term use of marijuana can damage the immune system and affect the genetic structure of new cells. It can produce memory loss, interfere with body coordination, impair speech and vision, and cause a dramatic change in mood. It can also do serious damage to the respiratory system.

"Researchers estimate that smoking three to five joints a week has the same carcinogenic effect as smoking 16 tobacco cigarettes a day, seven days a week. Marijuana also affects the heart, raising the blood pressure and heart rate as much as 50 percent after only one joint."

In a series called "Pot, Inc.," Paul Weingarten and James Coates of the Chicago Tribune reported that a potent and expensive form of marijuana called sinsemilla is up to 18 times more powerful than the marijuana of the '60s. It is being grown in clandestine greenhouses, on farms and in attics and basements.

The potency of pot today is staggering. One veteran San Francisco smoker said, "We used to take a few tokes and everybody would giggle and roll around on the floor. Now you take a toke or two and you're completely blasted."

In one study of 1,023 patients admitted to a Maryland trauma center after serious car and motorcycle accidents, nearly 35 percent had significant levels of THC, the active ingredient in pot, indicating recent use.

It is unlikely that America will ever return to the days when an ounce of marijuana could bring 30 years in prison, but the debate is much more heavily weighted against the use of pot than it once was. Why? Because we now know that pot is not the harmless, recreational, fun thing we thought it was 25 years ago.

I take no small amount of personal satisfaction in this verdict. I took a lot of heat for speaking out against pot in the late '60s on the grounds that we didn't know enough about the long-term effects. It turns out that I was right. Creators Syndicate