THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

For the states that have legalized marijuana use, the latest bugbear of the opposition is the children. How do we keep the young'uns from copping a joint from mom & dad's stash?

With polls showing support for legalizing marijuana on the rise, questions about how it would affect children remain.

The debate has intensified as momentum for legalization builds and as research shows increased marijuana use among youngsters. More teens are now smoking pot than tobacco, believing that it is safer.

Legalization backers say they’re just as eager to protect kids as opponents. And they say the public has no reason to worry if the drug is sold openly in stores instead of on the streets.

“Forcing marijuana sales into the underground market is the worst possible policy when it comes to protecting our young people,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group. “It is odd that those who wish to keep marijuana out of the hands of kids are fighting to keep it as uncontrolled as possible.”...

In 2012, 23 percent of high school seniors reported using marijuana in the past month, while 17 percent of the seniors said they had smoked tobacco. As recently as 2008, high school seniors were more likely to smoke cigarettes than marijuana.

The study reported similar findings in past-month use for students in younger grades. Seventeen percent of the 10th-graders had used marijuana, compared with 11 percent who had smoked cigarettes. Among eighth-graders, 6.5 percent had smoked pot, compared with 5 percent who had smoked tobacco.

“We are increasingly concerned that regular or daily use of marijuana is robbing many young people of their potential to achieve and excel in school or other aspects of life,” Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute For Drug Abuse, said when the study was released.

With the Teabaggers and Kochheads working hard to destroy the public education system, one has to wonder why they aren't promoting recreational use everywhere without age limit.