Dr. Kay Wachuku

Marijuana Impaired Youths: a Clinical Handbook for Counselors, Mentors, Teachers and Parents. Dr. Kay Wachuku

There are many 1iteratures thatoffer insight on substance abuse treatment, yet very few have targeted specifictreatment protocol for youths. Marijuana is the national youth drug of choice. Our society has a very liberal view of marijuana. As a result, we generallytend to undermine the serious problems of marijuana addiction among our youths. Marijuana is undoubtedly a major gateway drug to other letha1 drugs, but itsability to stymie ambition, productivity, and hope among youths continues toreceive second-hand consideration in our national social problems. Many youthsabuse marijuana, yet there are no treatment programs specifically targeted totreating marijuana-addicted youths. As medical marijuana movement gathersmomentum nation-wide, it is imperative that we prepare for potentialconsequences of the misconceptions of medical marijuana. A recent CNN pollindicated that 75% of Americans favor legalizing medical marijuana with a viewto taxing its sales and using the money to defray medication cost for seniors. This perverse intent to hide a bad motive underneath a good one if allowed tomaterialize wou1d have far-reaching consequences. Marijuana Impaired Youthsis a c1inical handbook intended to educate the general public about theimplicit and explicit dangers inherent in marijuana use and abuse. The bookepitomizes the culmination of twelve years of clinica1 experience in workingwith marijuana abusing youths. The main objective of the book is to offer adesktop reference for addiction counselors, mentors, school counselors,teachers and parents for working with youths. The book uses vivid vignettes ofreal life clinical literary sketches to illustrate the challenge, cognitivedamage, discomfiture and distortion a marijuana abusing youth faces. Most importantly,the sketches offer serious professional insight on how to confront and treatyouths who abuse marijuana. The ultimate goal of the author is to educatecounselors, youth mentors, teachers and parents on the dangers of mariju