Marijuana: What's a Parent to Believe?

Dr. Cermak covers a broad scope of issues related to marijuana use and adolescents, using the most recent scientific research on marijuana and the brain as a foundation. The issues include a discussion of the developmental phases faced by teens and how drug use interferes with developmental tasks. He delves into the disease concept of addiction as well as the social and political factors that complicate perspectives. The scientific foundation allows Cermak to include a rational discussion of medical marijuana and include scientific and clinical perspectives on social policies as suggestions to replace the failed "War on Drugs."

Cermak's objective is to reorient the reader's perspective from marijuana itself to the brain, by weaving the latest research into a story about how the mind relies on a healthy, chemically balanced brain. In the process, readers will understand both the basic theory of addiction as a disease and the undeniable proof of marijuana's addictive nature. They will also learn the difference between use, abuse and addiction, and that only a minority of teens will become addicted. Cremak speaks to parents who smoke, used to smoke, and those who have never smoked pot; his objective approach entices skeptics--those who do not see any harm in past use--to read on.

Best-known for his work with ACOA and codependents, Dr. Cermak has earned a reputation as a leader in the field of marijuana research because of his work on the California task force for medical marijuana.

About the Author

Timmen L. Cermak is a psychiatrist and neurologist specializing in addiction psychiatry. He is the author of A Time to Heal and A Primer on Adult Children of Alcoholics and is president and a founding member of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics. Dr. Cermak heads the California Society of Addiction Medicine Task Force on Medical Marijuana and runs a psychotherapy center in San Francisco and in Mill Valley, California.