‘This ain’t your mother’s marijuana’

WASHINGTON — Federal health officials issued a national warning Thursday against marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, as more states legalize the increasingly potent drug for medicinal and recreational use.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams made the announcement, with Azar calling marijuana “a dangerous drug.” Officials said President Donald Trump has donated $100,000 — onequarter of his annual government salary — toward a digital campaign to raise awareness of the risks. Trump has forgone his official salary since taking office.

The warning comes as legal marijuana has grown into a $10 billion industry in the U.S., with nearly twothirds of states legalizing it, mainly for medical uses.

Possessing small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The list includes California, Colorado, Michigan and Maine. Federal law still treats it as a controlled substance akin to opioids.

Adams said science shows that marijuana is harmful to the developing brains of teenagers and to the human fetus. The drug has also gotten stronger, with a threefold increase in the concentration of the active ingredient THC in cultivated plants over the last 20 years.

“This ain’t your mother’s marijuana,” Adams said.

The American Medical Association said it strongly supports the government’s effort, adding that it for some time it has been recommending against marijuana use by teens, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding.

The surgeon general said his advisory is a direct result of scientific research that runs counter to changing social mores.

“Marijuana use is a risk to the developing brain,” Adams said.

While the White House has made the opioid epidemic a top policy and political priority, marijuana previously had not gotten such highlevel attention.

Federal officials say they fear the trend toward legalization may make it more enticing for teenagers to try marijuana. It’s a commonly used drug among youths, they said, along with alcohol and ecigarettes.

No states allow recreational marijuana use by teens. States with medical marijuana programs generally allow use by minors with consent from a legal guardian and certification from a doctor.

Adams said that for teens it carries a risk of affecting brain development, which continues in the 20s.

Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images Surgeon General Jerome Adams, right, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar brief the media Thursday in Washington, D.C., on the release of an advisory on the health risks of marijuana use in youth and pregnant women.