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Marijuana is the most controversial drug as to the danger for dependency, physical health and mental problem. Don't get mislead! Most of the hard drug users have started their addiction with marijuana.
Drug rehab centers can be really confusing with all the different programs and philosophies in Maryland. There are different school of thought on marijuana. We will try to teach you what the drug really is. Remember if Marijuana would be so "innocent", you would not be reading this website now. Drug rehabilitation is a process with different phases that will bring the individual to a drug free life.
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Marijuana use in Maryland
Marijuana is the most easily available, commonly abused illegal drug in Maryland. The majority of the marijuana available in the state is cultivated in Mexico; however, marijuana produced in Maryland is available, to a lesser extent. Local independent dealers, mainly Caucasians, produce cannabis indoors and outdoors. Violence usually is not related with marijuana abuse in Maryland, but violence associated with marijuana distribution and cannabis cultivation is a serious concern. Jamaican criminal organizations are the major transporters of marijuana into Maryland; Mexican criminal groups transport lesser amounts into the state. Jamaican criminal groups are the dominant wholesale distributors of cannabis cultivated in Mexico. Local independent dealers, mainly Caucasians, are the dominant retail distributors of cannabis produced in the state as well as in Mexico. OMGs also distribute marijuana at the retail level, but to a lesser degree.
In the state marijuana-related admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities rose from 4,644 in 1994 to 7,196 in 1996 then steadily decreased to 6,862 in 1999, according to TEDS. The Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration stated that around 64 percent of marijuana abusers admitted for treatment in FY1997 first abused the drug between the ages of 12 and 17. The Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration reported that in FY1998, drug use screenings detected cannabis abuse in 86.4 percent of admissions for individuals aged 17 and younger at Maryland substance abuse treatment programs, and many used marijuana in conjunction with other drugs.
Admissions of cannabis users to drug treatment programs in Maryland more than doubled between 1992 and 1998, again as in the country. The majority of that increase came from criminal justice referrals and again the increase was especially dramatic for adolescents, rising about nine fold. Analysis of county level information also suggests that it is arrest rates, not the prevalence of cannabis use that drives these figures. Treatment might be a way of diverting low level cannabis offenders, numerous without a serious drug problem, from the criminal justice system, rather than a way of treating a substance abuse or other behavioural problem.
The available evidence, even though it is not overly strong, suggests that tougher enforcement has little effect on cannabis use, crime or public safety. Moreover, it now has an important racially disparate effect. With 13,500 arrests and maybe as much as 3,000 adults spending time in jail each year, tough enforcement of cannabis possession laws in Maryland needs a much clearer justification than has been provided. |
