Dear Ann Landers,
"Marijuana is not the innocuous drug many would have us believe. Nor is it the deadly poison that scaremongers describe. However, all agree that it is a drug, which acts on the brain. In sufficient doses this drug induces confu-sion, disorientation, hallucinations and delusion. In my long experience working with Peace Corps returnees and other patients in their teens or early twenties, marijuana in sufficient doses has the capacity to trigger serious men-tal illness in susceptible persons. "These psychotic episodes, some of them lasting for months, would never have occurred had the person not been exposed to substantial amounts of marijuana. Although alcohol and marijuana act somewhat differently on the central nervous system, they are both toxins (or poisons). Just as people who don't drink alcohol don't get D.T.'s (delirium tremens), emotionally unstable people who stay away from marijuana in high doses reduce their chances of spending some time in a psychiatric hospital. It is true that some people can indulge in occasional or periodic use of marijuana without noticeable ill effects, but the emotionally unstable young who use it are playing Russian roulette." Who smokes pot? There is no classic pot smoker. Some are as young as nine years of age. Recently a pot smoker turned up in a Detroit home for the aged. He was celebrating his hundredth birthday. (He attributed his long life to "a shot of bourbon every day and a reefer [pot] whenever I felt like it.") In-depth interviews on college campuses turned up the following facts: At least half of the students admitted they tried pot at least once. (My own hunch is that the figure is closer to 85 percent.) Almost every student who said he had tried pot said he did because he wanted to be part of the scene or "to see what it was like." When asked if pot made them homy (interested in sex), most said no but some said yes. While talking to college students about pot, one interviewer noted a sharp division between the social smoker who lights up at weekend parties and the head who has made marijuana an impor-tant part of his life. These kids were as different as night from day. They not only looked different and sounded different, but they smelled different. Is marijuana physically addictive? There is almost unanimous agreement on this question. The answer is no for people using low doses on occasion as a recreational drug. But when the dose rises as with the use of hashish, some experts feel that dependence does occur in mild form. Dr. Francis Braceland, former President and Director, now Senior Con-sultant of the Institute for Living in Hartford, Connecticut, points out that marijuana can be psychologically addictive, and this may be as compelling a force as physical addiction. The desire to experience again and again the high feeling or the release of tension can be "habit-forming" in a very real sense. Some psychiatrists say the users who become psychologically hooked on pot are people who have difficulty handling their problems and had they started on alcohol, they would probably have become alcoholics. The real question is whether or not most marijuana smokers go on to use other drugs. The answer is no. Most marijuana smokers do not go on to harder drugs. But the facts when viewed from the other end of the telescope are a bit scary. Almost every survey and study reveals that approximately 90 percent of the heroin addicts when questioned about the history of their drug addiction say, "I started smoking pot." Is marijuana harmful? Smoking it probably carries the same lung risks as would occur with the use of an equivalent number of cigarettes. Driving a vehicle under the influence of pot is definitely dangerous. With higher doses (hashish) the risks of developing psychological dependence in-creases and psychotic episodes can occur. The most important factor is the emotional stability of the smoker. All au-thorities whom I respect agree that an emotionally healthy person who has a reasonably high degree of self-esteem will not get into serious emotional or physical trouble if he smokes pot on occasion with friends. The problem lies in the stability of the user. But if the dose and frequency increase, the risk of problems in functioning vocationally, socially and sexually increases exactly as is the case with other drugs. The most intact person in the world should not smoke hash or have two martinis and attempt to fly a jet. The strongest evidence of the harmful aspects of marijuana were cited by Dr. Harvey Powelson, chief of the Department of Psychiatry at the Univer-sity of California at Berkeley. Dr. Powelson said: "Five years ago I testified before the state legislature that marijuana was harmless. I have changed my mind. At that time my experience with users was limited and literature was sparse. Most of what I had read and heard led me to the conclusion that there was no proof of long-term harm. The Psychi-atric Clinic in Berkeley sees approximately three thousand students a year. My thinking began to shift when I noticed that formerly bright students were finding it difficult to concentrate, to memorize and to think straight. "They would insist that they were feeling things more acutely, getting unu-sual insights into situations and loving humanity more. But I could see no ev-idence that any of this was true when those students spoke to me. I heard patches of lucidity and sometimes brilliance. Suddenly they would fall into a hole of confusion and be unable to extricate themselves. A common state-ment from such a student: 'I am lost.' Or: 'I forget what I was trying to prove.' "I have now come to believe that the effects of marijuana are cumulative, that after a period of prolonged use, say, six months or a year, if pure marijuana is used in frequent dosage, chronic changes can occur which are similar to those seen in organic brain disease." A striking confirmation of Dr. Harvey Powelson's testimony was presented in a study by two Philadelphia psychiatrists, Dr. Harold Kolansky and Dr. William T. Moore. Their statement in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that all thirty-eight patients in their study were ad-versely affected by smoking pot (lots of it, frequently). Of eight who became psychotic, four tried to commit suicide, and of the thirteen unmarried girls who became sexually promiscuous (some with other girls), seven became pregnant. Eighteen developed anxiety, depression, apathy and had trouble remembering and distinguishing fact from fantasy. None of the patients, who were from thirteen to twenty-four years old, used any drug but pot, and none had a history of mental illness. Some psychiatrists did not believe Dr. Kolansky and Dr. Moore had proved anything. One of the principal critics was Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard psychiatrist. He warned against "alarming reports based on slim data." He said, "Such reports widen the credibility gap between doctors and adolescents." Dr. Grinspoon, who believes marijuana should be legalized, strongly opposes the use of marijuana by teenagers. He said, "Many or-dinarily harmless drugs can set off a psychosis in people who have shaky egos, and in adolescence, a shaky ego is a normal condition of life." TAKING POT LUCK DEAR ANN: Please publish this for young people who think pot is so great: Philosophy of a Pot-Head- Or Nothing Matters My pockets are empty-SO WHAT? I owe everybody-LET 'EM WAIT. I have no job--LET OTHERS WORK. My car broke down-DAD'LL GET IT FIXED. I dropped out of school-WHO NEEDS IT? My life is a mess-ISN'T EVERY-BODY'S? But I have good friends-COP-OUTS LIKE ME. And I'm happy-AM I??? Yes, but give me a few minutes to get high first.

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