The U.S. federal government, supposedly one of those good places to look for objective, unbiased information on health concerns, may not be as good as you think. At least when it comes to anything coming out of the White House (as opposed to the more traditional places we turn to in the government for health information, like the NIH).

As we reported last week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a report indicting marijuana use amongst teens as potentially leading to a whole host of problems, including increased depression, mental disorders, and suicidality. We admit we should’ve looked harder at the claims before publishing the news story (which enjoyed a broad mainstream media pickup nonetheless).

Nevermind that the research evidence doesn’t support such assertions.

Furious Seasons has the analysis and details the hypocrisy and lunacy of such claims. There is no firm causal data linking marijuana use with depression or an increase in mental disorders amongst teens.

Until there is such data, we will take anything stamped with “White House” on it with a healthy grain of salt (which is an important part of a healthy diet!). Drug policy leaders shouldn’t be attempting to influence public health policy with misleading data and somewhat bogus news releases.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 13 May 2008
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.