The Internet! This breadth, speed and diversity of material is part of the reason why the Internet (also known as the Net) continues to appeal to so many people. A study done by Nielsen Media Research showed Net usage has risen about 50% between August 1995 and March 1996, from about 24 to 30 million people.1 With this type of growth it is difficult to determine from day to day exactly what content is actually available. Each new user has the opportunity to create and post their own page of information on the World Wide Web (WWW), (a system used on the Net that links pages of text, graphics and other information.) So how much of the information is junk or just plain dangerous information? We're not sure, but would like to address a few of the things we think are important when trying to make sense of this new information medium.

On the dark side, we can address some of the ways we've made decisions about the quality of information we've found on the Internet, some responses we've gathered from kids about the how, where and why of using the Net, and lastly, some of the surprising discoveries we've made during the creation of our prevention Web site and possible implications for prevention professionals.

On the light side, we will illustrate how the Net can be used as an efficient and effective communication tool and how the WWW can offer new ways to advance our work in prevention.

The Dark Side No one censors or "cleans up" the material that is posted on the Internet. Since the Net's medium is not publicly owned as the airways are, no regulatory agency has any influence over its content. Public outcry and judicial rulings against the Communications Decency Act this year practically guaranteed that the Net will be largely free of official censorship in the future. So how can you judge whether information you find is legitimate? Many of the same rules that apply for judging print works also apply here. Ask yourself a few basic questions such as: Who produced the information? Is the information I'm reading helping to sell a product; is there a bias? Don't ignore considering the reputation of the issuing or endorsing institution. Can I recognize the author's name, should I trust their judgment? Finally, be suspicious of facts or statistics that are not backed by a reference to a reliable source. Having the discipline to check each document for these signs of legitimacy can be challenging for adults and even more so for our youth.

What are some of the dark issues of the Net for our youth? We took a survey sampling of 50 youth from four metro counties to help frame our thinking on this issue. The three places these youth use the Net the most are home, school and a friend's house. Library and youth centers had low responses. Our next question was: what kinds of things do you use the Net for? The choices included e-mail, WWW, chat software and newsgroups. Thirty-nine percent of the respondents use the WWW, 28% use e-mail, 23% use chat software, while only 10% use newsgroups. So what exactly can we surmise from these results?

We believe most schools are being conscientious about using filtering software or adult supervision to keep youth out of the noticeably dark (pornographic) sites on the Web. We do question whether adults are aware of the kinds of information youth may be accessing at home or at a friend's home. Are the online activities supervised by an adult or is filtering software being used? Are adults aware of some of the questionable activities and safety issues involved with youth using chat software? When respondents were asked what kind of information they search for, the response was as varied as the sites on the Web. So how at risk are the 39% who use the WWW? It depends on what they're looking for.

It has been an interesting year for the Minnesota Prevention Resource Center (MPRC). In February, a teacher called and reported that students had a Web document that listed the 12 myths of marijuana use, complete with well cited references. The teacher knew the paper was circulating around school but didn't have a copy. A quick search produced a very persuasive, pro-use document furnished by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. MPRC issued an Information Alert About Marijuana, which stated facts about marijuana use and listed resources for good information on the subject. In April, while in search of new information about Ecstasy, we uncovered Web sites where Herbal Ecstasy and other ephedrine products could be ordered online. During the Olympics, the newspapers stated that instructions for building pipe bombs were on the Net. And sadly, yes, in a matter of just a few minutes, we found those diagrams and detailed instructions too. In June, as work progressed on our Using the Internet book and the development of our Web site, we began to realize that strong prevention messages were often being lost or buried in the tide of pro-use messages.

We tried an experiment with the search tool Yahoo to illustrate this point. Searching with Yahoo on the word marijuana produced 73 sites. Yahoo has created categories where specific sites are placed. The categories are displayed alphabetically, as are the respective categorized sites. Consequently, sites such as the Pot Head Philosopher's Page is located under Arts:Humanities and will appear at the top of the list of retrieved sites. Prevention or public health types of materials will typically be classed under Health and show up much further down the list. Here are the first 20 retrieved sites.

Yahoo Sites

Pot Head Philosopher's Page - Thoughts and links on marijuana, drug laws, God, Satan, life, death, books, space, confusion and thinking. No training in philosophy required, just a brain.
High Quality Seeds - Catalog of marijuana seeds.
Hempster's Guide to Marijuana Laws - state and federal laws on possession, cultivation, sales, transportation.
Happy Capitalist Productions - online amusement park for marijuana/hemp lovers. Soon to be released: pothead, a new CD-ROM for pot-smokers everywhere.
Reefercity - a board game in which players travel around 'The City', buying and selling marijuana, hash, and mushrooms.
Bigfatty - links to free XXX nude pictures, marijuana links.
AZ4NORML - official Arizona chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
California Proposition 215 - Medical Use of Marijuana@
Californians for Compassionate Use (CCU/CBC) - Cannabis Buyers Club. Working to reform laws regarding cannabis use while providing a place where sick people struggling with terminal illnesses can help each other. Hemp Initiative Projects of Washington State - HIP-WS is working for the regulation of Marijuana instead of prohibition of Marijuana.
Hemp Nation Headquarters - devoted to fighting marijuana prohibition and to publicize a Canadian Constitutional Challenge to that effect.
Illinois Marijuana Initiative
Illinois Marijuana Initiative WEB - is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the public aware of the reasons Marijuana should be completely legal.
MPP - Marijuana Policy Project - full-time lobbying organization in Washington DC persuading members of congress to support Harm Reduction in practice.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
Pennies from Heaven - A cool short movie about marijuana legalization.

To sum it up, within the first 20 sites we have legalization nuts and bolts, pot philosophy, seed catalogs, satanic material, online amusement parks, board games, nude pictures and movies. This is a tough act to follow. It isn't until the 39 site, within a Health:Pharmacology category that we come across two fairly recent, nicely done NIDA publications about marijuana. We contend that only the very persistent will have returned to the original search to get to site 39 and receive a prevention message. It is more probable that they are waylaid at Reefercity or Big Fatty. We are bringing this issue up to make a point. The pro-use messages appear to be far more predominant than we expected, the sheer volume of them is of concern. Some of the sites are of little appeal, others are quite captivating. A search on marijuana and prevention would yield more focused information, yet we are fairly certain that youth or the average adult wouldn't use the term of prevention in their search terms.