There Is no Need in "Treatment" For Marijuana for Nearly Four In Ten Admitted

According to data provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, somwhere four in ten individuals agreed to substance abuse treatment programs for cannabis have not used the drug in the month prior to their acceptance.

As federal figures reveal, around 37 percent of the suppositional 288,000 thousand people who supported drug treatment for pot in 2007 had not stated using it in the 30 days antecedent to their admission. At the same time 16 percent said that they'd used marijuana three times or fewer in the month prior to their admission.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano pointed that according to statistics date it is evident that it is not marijuana uses per se that is driving these treatment admission rates; it is marijuana prohibition that is primarily responsible. These people can't be called addicts. They are simple ordinary American victims who got under the influence of marijuana and should make a choice whether to go on rehabilitation or to appear in jail. According to state and national statistics, between 60 percent and 70 percent of individuals enregistered in substance abuse 'treatment' for cannabis are referred there by the criminal justice system, but fewer than 15 percent of marijuana treatment acceptances are voluntary.

To obtain extra information you may address to Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the report, "Highlights of the 2007 Treatment Episode Data Sets, and online at: http://oas.samhsa.gov/TEDS2k7highlights/TOC.cfm.