KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Cary Quashen, founder and CEO of Action Family Counseling, explained the effects marijuana can have on adolescents and what he believes residents should consider when voting on Proposition 64 — which deals with the legalization of marijuana — next week.
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“I’m not going to debate whether it should be legal or not, but what I am going to say is, I see the devastation of that drug,” said Quashen. “Number one is, it has gotten so much more potent that it is not what it used to be, (and) number two, so many children are using it right now.”
Action Family Counseling Founder, CEO Cary Quashen
According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of adults are in support of legalizing marijuana today, a significant increase from just 32 percent about 10 years ago.
“If you are 40 or 30 or 50 and you want to go smoke that stuff, go for it,” Quashen said. “But when you have a kid that is using this drug, it is pretty dangerous and I have seen what happens.”
Related: Action Family Counseling Gearing Up For SCV Drug Take-Back Day
While the long term effects of regular marijuana use are still not fully understood, Quashen noted it can be increasingly detrimental to adolescents ages 18-25 whose brains are still developing, potentially leading to increased risk of addiction and mental disorders from frequent use.
“I have watched this through my drug rehabs really take off in the last five or six years because of the potency of the marijuana when it comes to children,” said Quashen.
Adolescent drug rehabilitation centers have seen a decline in new patients regarding marijuana use, noted Quashen, adding this is not because of a decline in using the drug, but rather a more relaxed attitude towards it.
“Years ago … when somebody came in and drug tested their adolescent and it showed all kinds of THC, the parents would freak out (and) the kids would get treatment,” explained Quashen.“In today’s society, with the lack of worry about marijuana, when parents call up and say, ‘What was in their drug test?’ and we say it was really high with THC, they go, “Okay, thank you — that’s fine’ and they hang up.”
Quashen also stated that the adult population seeking rehabilitation when it comes to marijuana is increasing, and the majority of these adults are 18-25 years old.
Parents of children as young as 12 years old with marijuana dependency have reached out to Quashen in hopes to get their child help.
“Their schooling is suffering, their ability to mature is suffering, their short term memory, their motivation is suffering — so we have a crisis with this,” said Quashen. “I’m not even debating if it should be illegal or not, I’m just saying you better pay attention to what is going on (with) our children.”
Ed. Note: This article is a KHTS Feature story based on a recent “Families in Action” radio show.Action Family Counseling is a Santa Clarita drug and alcohol rehab center. Action Family Counseling has drug and alcohol residential treatment locations in Santa Clarita, Piru and Bakersfield, as well as intensive drug and alcohol outpatient programs in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Ventura, Pasadena and Bakersfield. Action Family Counseling supports and reinforces changes in behavior patterns so that adolescents and adults, or clients and their families, can fully indoctrinate the philosophies and principles needed to remain abstinent and stabilized for life.
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I’ve served as an elected District Attorney in Conservative Texas. Every DA is on a limited budget. We have to make choices. I believe in strict punishment for violent offenders and burglars. I rarely gave probation. Unfortunately we had to deal with all these annoying pot cases. Even when pot users got probation the understaffed probation officers had to make sure they were in by 10PM – I’d rather they checked on sex offenders.]
Revenues are another reason to legalize. The Washington Post reports for 2015 Colorado gained 18,000 pot-related jobs and $2.4 billion in revenue. 2016 will be much better.
Use among teens has not increased both according to surveys from the Denver Post and Federal Government.
Its best to vote “Yes”.
I’m guessing you don’t have a child who is a drug addict who started his journey with pot. Somehow, when you do, and when you see the other parents and families who are devastated by the disease of addiction, you realize that no amount of revenue justifies this.
I’m willing to bet that 99.9% of drug addicts are result of bad parenting more so than marijuana. Just my 2 cents.
Let’s stop pretending here and be forthright, it will be illegal for those under 21. We can’t predicate the rights of adults due to the illegal actions of minors. Parents need to do their jobs and teach their kids right from wrong. This “oh, but think of the children” argument is tired and false. If that were truly a concern, where’s all the campaigning to outlaw alcohol? A substance way more deadly than marijuana…there is none. It is something we live with. You will ALWAYS have a subset of minors breaking the law and to think otherwise is fantasy. We DON’T condone minors consuming alcohol, tobacco or any other activity that is adult oriented. But to say “Yeah, we’re going to have to put YOU in jail because Susan’s kids are incapable of following the rules…and to help her kids, we’re going to arrest them too” that’s asinine! Then to turn a blind eye to the criminal element that prohibition brings is laughable. Think about that…If your kids want to sneak a drink, where do they go? A bad part of town…with a guy not only selling alcohol but perhaps heroin, coke, guns…OR will they just sneak into your liquor cabinet? Same will hold true with marijuana…The kids that want to get stoned will find a way no matter what and a quasi safer level of access is a GOOD thing. We don’t condone minors having sex but hand out condoms…same thing. Safety first and being honest is a good place to start.
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One of the biggest issues that we’ve ran into with legalization is city officials refusing to acknowledge the change in LAWS. Medical marijuana has been legal since what, 92? But due to the lack of officials taking it seriously and creating a frame work for application of the law, the industry went wild-wild west. Unchecked and out of freakin control. Pot shops all over the place with almost zero oversight. This is the fault of those in office that refuse to acknowledge the will of the people. This is the fault of those that feel if the law doesn’t identify with their views, then its not worth their time to apply. This needs to STOP! City officials may not agree with the laws personally but they are not elected to force their personal will onto the MAJORITY. They are public servants and when they lose sight of that and start circumventing the will of the people…You have pot shops on every corner and an out of control situation. OR you have a city that abridges the RIGHTS of the people by putting forth a cop out code of zero tolerance. Think about that, the legal RIGHT of a person is ignored because city officials refuse to acknowledge the will of the people! They pass an ordinance to outlaw a law!
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City officials need to put their personal differences aside and do their jobs. Create a viable, safe, functional and economically feasible plan of action for the impending legalization. They need to stop acting as a few orange cones blocking the way for a freight train barreling down on them at full speed. They need to do their jobs which is the will of the people.
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Bottom line, this is about a realistic approach to the realities of today. The war on pot was predicated on FALSE data and a FALSE narrative. No longer are the people willing to cause great financial harm to individuals through incarceration over something so benign. Parents? If you think marijuana laws are keeping your kids from experimenting? You’re truly out of touch with reality. And if you’d prefer them to go to some shady part of town versus your sock drawer to satisfy their inevitable curiosity, you should really take some parenting classes. Harsh? Maybe…True? 100%