This week, there was an article in the news about a professional soccer player, the captain of the team actually, who got caught through a drug test for smoking marijuana. What was interesting about this article to me, was the way the Players’ Union handled the issue. He wasn’t just thrown out and told not to come back.

There are preset rules in the league that deal with drug abuse. Not only a way to deter use, but a way to help the players through, should they find themselves faced with drug addiction issues.

The soccer player was drug tested, which is a bi-annual, no prior notice procedure, administered to everyone in the league. An independent company tests the players for common street drugs like heroin, cocaine, marijuana as well as performance enhancing drugs.

Instead of throwing players out of the league for testing positively, they have the option to attend a drug rehab program. Then, after successful completion, they can play again. To me, it’s truly a winning solution. And, I think a lot of people would benefit from this type of program in many different work-based scenarios. The player who got busted is through his time in rehab and back to doing what he loves, playing soccer.

Rather than throwing someone out, which doesn’t help the situation at hand, they are assisted. And while marijuana seems like a fairly harmless, non-addictive drug to a lot of people, it is illegal and many, many people enter drug rehab to battle the havoc it causes in their lives.

President Obama is currently working on a new anti-drug strategy. I really hope this headline makes its way to his desk. Perhaps it could be a positive addition to what he’s working on to clean up America. We need all the help we can get!

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Recent studies have proved that pot smoking at a young age can lead to problems with harder drugs and alcohol abuse as adults. The studies have gone on to show that even occasionally indulging contributes to this phenomenon. This is the “gateway drug” theory, and unfortunately, it appears to be true.

Teens who start smoking pot around ages 13 or 14 are more likely to move on to drugs like ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamines and heavy alcohol consumption. This should be a warning to all parents, no matter how unlikely you think your child is to partake. Kids hang out with all kinds of influences and could be doing things that you don’t know about.

Unfortunately, there isn’t any special trick to getting your kids to stay away. But, being honest, having an open line of communication and keeping your children active in positive groups and activities can be one way of combating the drug scene.

If you do suspect that your child is using drugs, don’t wait and hope that they “grow out of it”. Be up-front. Tell them about your concerns. You could be saving them from a life of addiction, social problems, job troubles, family issues and possibly death.

Kids who have drug and/or alcohol issues should be addressed and, if needed, go to a drug rehab program. They’re much more likely to get past the addiction and be able to live drug free, productive lives.

Pot is a hot topic right now, with all of the medical marijuana laws and California considering making it legal for recreational use. I sincerely hope that these studies are taken into consideration. Things could certainly take a tragic turn for the worse!

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I was in a pet store the other day and asked the clerk (he could be the owner, he’s been there every time I’ve gone in there for the last four years) if Catnip is a drug – would it get my cat high, like marijuana?  He said “Yes, but it won’t hurt him, just like marijuana. It doesn’t hurt anyone.” I jokingly asked him if my cat will want to move on to other drugs once he tries catnip and will my cat eventually need drug rehab.

By then it was obvious we were no longer discussing catnip. He replied that marijuana is not a gateway drug – that whether or not someone goes on to take other drugs once they’ve smoked marijuana depends on the individual, not the drug.

I agreed – duh, I don’t know of one drug that has an inherent chemical property of making the person want a different drug. But I also told him that in all the years I took drugs I’d never once met anyone who only smoked grass. (Not to mention the number of people who wind up in a drug rehab center who’ve taken meth, cocaine, LSD, heroin, and so on, whose first drug experience was with marijuana.)

He informed me that I had now met such a person – him.

Okay. So, I’ve now met one person.

Also – every time I talk about marijuana as a gateway drug I get several comments telling me what an idiot I am. So, there’s a few more.

(For some reason, those responses are always rude and semi-literate. No one ever quotes or lists studies or offers any statistical evidence that people who smoke marijuana don’t usually go onto other drugs; they just quite simply tell me, in no uncertain terms, that I’m an idiot. The responses are akin to “Oh, yeah! So’s your mother, you ****ing ***hole!” Well, when you put it that way … that’s certainly enough to convince me! I don’t know why the scientific community hasn’t taken that into account.)

Nevertheless, the guy in the pet store did give me some insight into why people think marijuana is not a gateway drug. Because drugs don’t cause people to take drugs, people do. Just like guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

It is true? Sure. But, if you put a loaded gun in the hands of a very angry, frightened guy who feels he needs to do something drastic about his emotional state, there’s more chance he’ll use the gun when it’s already in his hand than if he had to wait until the next day, get a gun license, go to the gun store, decide what kind of gun he’d like, figure out if he wants a case for it and, if so, what kind, etc. etc. etc.

Likewise, there’s more chance that someone who’s disillusioned, worried, fearful, unsure of themselves, unhappy, confused, or, apparently, just bored, will take drugs other than marijuana if they’re already high on marijuana (or have used it before without negative affects) and someone is right in front of them offering them something else.

In fact, that can be said of any drug. No matter what drugs a person has taken, there’s more chance that they’ll take a different drug than if they had never taken drugs at all.

So, all drugs are gateway drugs – taking any drug increases the possibility that other drugs will be taken.

If you know someone taking any drug, it’s best to get them into drug treatment before they take things further.

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By now just about everyone knows about Michael Phelps smoking marijuana. Or, at least, he was holding the pipe and we assume he was smoking it. Travis Tygart, chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said Phelps, “… let down the world.”  That’s a lot of pressure.

But I think this incident might be a blessing in disguise. People for whom he’s a role model have now gotten the message, straight from Phelps, that using drugs is not acceptable.

As there’s a very good chance that many people who admire Phelps take drugs themselves, this might act as a deterrent. They may never have known or even thought about Phelps’ stand on drugs – now they know.

I hope they’re not too jaded to think he apologized and expressed his regrets just to make himself look good to his sponsors, the Olympic Committee, and so on.

When I was about his age I quit smoking because someone I very much admired did a lot of research on it and concluded it was very unhealthy. I smoked like a furnace before that. So did she. It had never really occurred to me to quit – that was quite a few years ago, long before it became such a big issue - until she did.

Maybe someone out there who smokes marijuana, who never really considered there was anything wrong with it, might have a second look at it in light of Phelps admitting it was stupid.

Maybe someone who takes other drugs might even be influenced to get help through an addiction treatment center.

All in all, this incident may do more good than harm.

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Occassionally we see news items saying that kids are using fewer drugs. Like the recent local TV news story from Palm Beach, Florida, that said alcohol use is down 3% (from 33% to 30%) and marijuana has gone from 13.5% to 11%. That’s over a period of 8 years – since 2000.

I hope this type of news item doesn’t lull parents into a sense of complacency – thinking that drugs are no longer a problem and they can stop worrying about their kids. What the story neglects to say is that Florida is the pill-popping capital of the U.S., and the prescription drug abuse in and around Miami is among the worst.

The story also doesn’t mention that many kids have switched from marijuana to prescription drugs. Prescription drugs are also more likely to be the first drug kids try – it used to be marijuana.

The situation with prescription drug addiction and abuse is frightening. Many kids get the pills from their parents’ medicine cabinets and share them with other kids. There are also tons of Internet sites where anyone, of any age, can order prescription drugs. If they can pay for them, they can get them. And they’re cheaper online.

The prescription drug epidemic is also, in many ways, more dangerous than street drugs ever were. Even when they’re prescribed by a doctor and taken as directed, they’re addictive and they have absolutely horrible side effect like slowing your heart and respiratory rate down to nothing and motivating thoughts of suicide.

Don’t let your guard down. Keep your own drugs locked up, and get help for any kids you know who might be taking them. Check out addiction treatment centers where they can get prescription drug rehab.

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I wrote a post not too long ago about the dangers of marijuana and received a few comments about how ignorant I am and calling me names you wouldn’t really want to publish.

One of the things I talked about was marijuana being laced with other drugs. That, too, was considered ignorant.

Since I’ve been around for a while and have endeniable proof that’s the case, the comments didn’t really bother me.

In the news today is a warning from police about marijuana laced with crack cocaine.  In England, the mixture is known as Mach5 and, according to the police who’ve been busting people with the stuff, this combination is used so the marijuana is more addictive and dangerous.

That’s the kind of people most drug dealers are, actually. They make their living from people coming back for more on a regular basis, not from the occasional user, and they’ll go to great lengths to accomplish that. If they can get the user to come back every day or start buying larger amounts, they make more money.

It’s the same with many industries. They depend on repeat business to keep going. Big Pharma’s a good example. They lie, cheat, steal and would probably kill their grandmother to turn more people onto prescription drug addiction.

Drug dealers also get referrals from repeat customers. Another important avenue to business growth. People who get a more dramatic high from one guy’s marijuana than another’s are going to tell their friends about it, and their friends wil switch suppliers.

Not everyone who sells marijuana is some laid back guy who just happens to sell some to an occasional friend who comes to the house to kick back.  They’re business people. They’re in it for the money.

Some don’t even take drugs themselves – they’re just looking for a way to make money and don’t really care who they hurt doing it, whose lives are ruined, or who ends up in an addiction treatment center.

Again, don’t take smoking marijuana lightly. Remember, when someone buys marijuana, they’re not doing business with a pillar of the community. They’re doing business with a criminal. They’ve chosen a path in life that is anti-social. Is that really someone you want to trust?

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