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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 20, 1995                   TAG: 9507200062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

ANTI-MARIJUANA CAMPAIGN BEGINS

Twice as many teen-agers wind up in emergency rooms for using marijuana as for heroin and cocaine combined, the government said Wednesday.

New research also indicates women who smoke marijuana during pregnancy may jeopardize their children's brain development - but the effects are so subtle mothers may not realize the consequences of their drug use.

The data are part of a government campaign to change marijuana's image from that of the benign 1960s drug to an addictive killer that American children are using more and more often.

Marijuana is ``a very dangerous drug that can well cause you to fight for your health and your very life in a hospital emergency room,'' said Lee Brown, the White House drug policy coordinator.

Government figures show marijuana's popularity among teens is on the rise. Use among eighth-graders has doubled since 1991, and a third of high school seniors say they smoked pot at least once in 1994.

In 1993, 4,293 teens ages 12 to 17 were treated in emergency rooms after using marijuana, vs. 1,583 cases involving cocaine and 282 involving heroin, Brown said.

The federal survey of 350 hospitals doesn't identify the teens' diagnoses, but marijuana has been linked to everything from heartbeat fluctuations to car crashes.

by CNB