4 The Hampton Roads Messenger Editorial


Could Passing an Immigration Reform Bill Affect Average Americans?


which may have been reserved for “minorities,” could be filled by the newly legalized immigrants since the "minority" pool would then include the 11 million people who are currently undocumented. These jobs could include positions with the Department of Defense, defense contractors, the US Postal Service as well as jobs with state and local governments.


Regardless of how people BY ANGELA JONES Before the holiday break,


Congress was contemplating passing an immigration bill that would address the problem of approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. With the latest unemployment figures for the United States hovering around 7 percent, 12.5 percent for African Americans and 20.8 percent for teenagers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, one has to wonder, "How will the passage of an immigration bill affect these already financially vulnerable Americans?" Before average Americans jump on the immigration reform bandwagon, they should consider the consequences.


Unemployed Americans may


not be the only Americans affected by allowing a flood of immigrants, who entered the country illegally, to circumvent current laws. With an influx of new workers entering the workforce, working Americans with already low wages could see their wages lowered even further or lose their jobs completely. Some federal jobs and jobs with government contractors,


feel about immigration reform, many Americans do not appreciate undocumented immigrants and others comparing their plight to the struggles of African Americans. Referring to the word “illegal” as the “i-word” and using phrases such as “United we dream” implies that there are similarities between those who entered this country illegally and African Americans. The ancestors of numerous African Americans were kidnapped and brought to America against their will and had to fight discrimination for centuries, through the Civil Rights Movement and beyond.


A recent survey from the Pew


Research Hispanic Trends Project reports that the majority of Hispanic adults believe it is more important for undocumented immigrants to be able to live and work in the U.S. legally without the threat of deportation than it is to have a pathway to citizenship. In addition, the research reveals that 89 percent of Hispanics believe a pathway to citizenship is still important.


President Obama told a protestor


complaining about deportation policies at a speech last year, “If in fact I could solve all these problems without passing laws in Congress, then I would do so. But we’re also a nation of laws -- that’s part of our tradition -- and so the easy way out is to try to yell and pretend like I can do something by violating our laws.” This country was also built on cheap and free labor and with immigration reform, this tradition is sure to continue.


Volume 8 Number 5


January 2014


Sixty Percent of 12th Graders Do Not View Regular Marijuana Use as Harmful


NIH’s 2013 Monitoring the Future Survey shows high rates of marijuana use; decreases in abuse of pain relievers and synthetic drugs


The percentage of


high-schoolers who see great risk from being regular marijuana users has dropped dramatically in the past 10 years, according to this year’s Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which measures drug use and attitudes among the nation’s eighth-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The change in attitudes is reflected in continued high rates of marijuana use in all three grades and could predict higher use in future years, based upon past MTF data showing an association between softening attitudes and increased use of marijuana.


The survey reports that 39.5


percent of 12th graders view regular marijuana use as harmful, down from last year’s rate of 44.1 percent, and considerably lower than rates from the last two decades.


The rates of marijuana use have


also shown significant changes in the past two decades, with 6.5 percent of seniors smoking marijuana daily compared to 6 percent in 2003 and 2.4 percent in 1993.


“This is not just an issue of


increased daily use,” said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. “It is important to remember that over the past two decades, levels of THC — the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — have gone up a great deal, from 3.75 percent in 1995 to an average of 15 percent in today’s marijuana cigarettes. Daily use today can have stronger effects on a developing teen brain than it did 10 or 20 years ago.”


Nearly 23 percent of seniors say


they smoked marijuana in the month prior to the survey, and just over 36 percent say they smoked it during the past yearFor 10th graders, 4 percent say they use marijuana daily, with 18 percent reporting past month use and 29.8 percent reporting use in the previous year. More than 12 percent of eighth graders say they used marijuana in the past year.


“We should be extremely


concerned that 12 percent of 13- to 14-year-olds are using marijuana,” Volkow added. “The children whose experimentation leads to regular use are setting themselves up for declines in IQ and diminished ability for success in life.”


“These increases in marijuana use


Established 2006 Angela Jones, Publisher Chris Parks, Editor


Rae Willis, Graphic Designer Ida Davis, Contributing Writer


PO Box 10414 ● Norfolk, VA 23513


Sales and Information 757-575-1863 info@hamptonroadsmessenger.com Copyright pertaining to contents of this edition. All rights reserved.


over the past few years are a serious setback in our nation’s efforts to raise a healthy generation of young people,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy. “Teens deserve to grow up in an environment where they are prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and drug use never factors into that equation. Today’s news demands that all of us recommit to bolstering the vital role prevention and involved parenting play in keeping young people safe, strong, and ready to succeed.”


There is mixed news regarding


abuse of prescription medications. The survey shows continued abuse of Adderall, commonly used to treat


attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, with 7.4 percent of seniors reporting taking it for non-medical reasons in the past year. However, only 2.3 percent of seniors report abuse of Ritalin, another ADHD medication. Abuse of the pain reliever Vicodin has shown a marked decrease in the last 10 years, now measured at 5.3 percent for high school seniors, compared to 10.5 percent in 2003. In addition, 5 percent of seniors report abuse of cough products containing dextrometho- rphan, down from 6.9 percent in 2006, the first year it was measured by the survey.


There are some other bright spots


in this year’s survey. Past year use of K2 or Spice, sometimes called synthetic marijuana, dropped to 7.9 percent among high school seniors from 11.3 percent last year. While many of the ingredients in synthetic cannabinoids have been banned by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Spice manufacturers have attempted to substitute other chemicals in their mixtures, and many young people continue to experience toxic reactions to these substances.


The use of substances commonly


known as bath salts is at or under 1 percent in all three grades. Bath salts refers to an emerging family of drugs containing one or more synthetic chemicals related to cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant found naturally in the khat plant. Use of the hallucinogenic herb salvia is declining, with 3.4 percent of 12th-graders reporting past year use, compared to 5.9 percent in 2011 and 4.4 percent last year.


The past year use of inhalants in


all three grades has declined. Among eighth-graders, the 2013 rate is at 5.2 percent, compared to 8.7 percent 10 years ago and 11.0 percent 20 years ago. Inhalants are among the abused substances that have higher rates of use by the younger students in the survey. Four percent of seniors report use of Ecstasy (MDMA) in the previous year, still considerably lower than 2001, when use peaked at 9.2 percent.


For cocaine and heroin, while


there was no significant change from the 2012 rates, there continues to be a gradual decline in use, with both drugs at historic lows in all three grades. The 2013 rate for high school seniors for past year cocaine use is 2.6 percent, compared to a peak of 6.2 percent in 1999. Similarly, the reported use of heroin by 12th-graders is 0.6 percent this year, compared to a peak of 1.5 percent in 2000.


Cigarette smoking continues HARMFUL PAGE 11


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16