The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released a report last week saying that teens who use marijuana to self-medicate for depression could be hurting themselves more, that weekly marijuana use doubles the risk of depression and anxiety for teens, and that depressed teens are more than twice as likely as their peers to become dependent on marijuana.

However, the Los Angeles Times reported May 10 that ONDCP director John Walters later acknowledged that there is no proof that marijuana use leads to depression.

The ONDCP report was based on previously published studies. "Marijuana makes things worse, not only for young people in general, but it particularly makes things worse with regard to mental health and depression," Walters said.

But Victor Reus, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco, noted, "Both conditions could be related to something else. Depressed teens are more likely to exercise less, stay indoors and watch TV. Take your pick as to which one is causal." A British government advisory panel also recently concluded that there is no conclusive evidence of "a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and the development of any affective disorder."

"When you start convincing young people and their parents that marijuana is the cause of problems rather than the symptom of them, you can get into real problems," said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. "It may cause people, parents, teens and counselors to overlook the real cause of the problem."