Pot No Longer Focus of Anti-Drug Campaigns

"In fact, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the nation's largest creator of anti-drug messages, hasn't produced a single anti-marijuana public service advertisement since 2005. "

"The change comes as a result of the decline in marijuana use amongst teens, and growing worry over the abuse of prescription drugs. Marijuana use has been declining for 10 years and past-month use is down 25 percent since 2001 according to the largest tracking study in the U.S., "Monitoring the Future" by the University of Michigan. "

"Meanwhile prescription drug abuse has held steady over the past five years according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, with nearly one in five teens (19 percent) abusing prescription medications to get high."

"The bottom line is the Opiates and Stimulates are much more addictive than marijuana, those that try it are likely to return to them after first use." said Mitch Earleywine, associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York. "Maybe 9 percent of marijuana users develop problems but 14-23 percent of prescription drug abusers end up saying can't quit or report withdrawal when they want to stop."

"The report compared data on deaths due to marijuana with FDA-approved medications. It found that the approved drugs -- which included anti-psychotics, Attention Deficit Disorder medications, painkillers and other prescription drugs -- were suspected as the primary cause of 10,008 deaths and as a secondary cause in 1,679 more."

"Another report recently issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement indicated that prescription drugs caused more deaths than illicit drugs - even including alcohol-related automobile accidents. Prescription drugs were the cause of more than 25 percent of drug related deaths in the state. Marijuana was not listed as a cause of death last year in Florida."