culture
Is the rise of marijuana bad news for America?
Smart Approaches to Marijuana
Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry
3
1
Genesis
Response
Penultimate
September 22nd, 2022
The rise of marijuana––that is, the legalization, commercialization, and normalization of marijuana––will continue to harm Americans. To protect the wellness of our nation, the industry-funded campaign to make marijuana a mainstream drug should be rejected.
The marijuana industry and special interest groups have misled Americans by a 2-to-1 margin into believing that marijuana is “safe.” In fact, 3-in-10 users will develop a cannabis use disorder, better known as addiction. Since 1995, the year before the first state legalized medical marijuana, the nationwide number of marijuana-related emergency department visits increased by 1,630%, from 45,259 to 787,769 in 2020. In Colorado, 76% of marijuana-related ED discharges did not mention alcohol or other drugs, indicating that the marijuana itself is often the sole cause of the visit. Marijuana is not safe, harmless, or risk-free.
Our Parent Action Network regularly supports parents whose children suffered the mental health effects of marijuana––these effects are particularly acute among users of high-potency marijuana. Between 2014 and 2020, the industry in Colorado increased the average potency of joints from 14% to 19.2% and concentrates from 46.4% to 67.8%. Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, warned, “The increase in the THC content of cannabis has led to a worrisome upward trend in the rate of calls to poison control centers and emergency department visits, especially in States that have legalized the drug.” Moreover, the use of high-potency products is “linked to a four-fold increased risk of addiction” and the daily use of products above 10% THC increased the odds of developing psychosis by nearly five times.
To protect those who will continue using marijuana against the best efforts of public health officials, would you support a 10% THC potency cap, which would still be three times stronger than the average marijuana used by the prior generation? And to draw on a question from the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health, would you rate marijuana as posing no risk, a slight risk, a moderate risk, or a great risk to users?
Others suggest legalization has widespread support. However, these polls are misleading because they fail to ask about other real-world policy preferences, such as decriminalization. For instance, a binary Gallup poll found that 77% of 18-to-34-year-olds indicated their support for legalization. But when asked about their preferences for additional policies, Emerson College found that this demographic’s support for legalization dropped to 43%––with a 57% majority favoring policies other than legalization. Because this demographic holds the most favorable view of marijuana, these results demonstrate that Americans rightly reject legalization and all that comes with it.
Instead of ushering in another addiction-for-profit industry by legalizing marijuana, we believe decriminalization is a better, safer, more equitable approach to marijuana policy. Based on your recent tweet that “in the last five years, we’ve seen many examples how not to legalize cannabis,” we appear to share a distrust of the profit-driven, self-interested marijuana industry and agree that legalization has fallen short of its rosy promises.
1 Comment
Jan 10
When are talking heads going to get down in the trenches and see the real damage marijuana usage is doing. Real studies on dumbing down of young users, 25 and under. Also real studies on lung damage of smokers.
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