In our view, legalizing marijuana has zero to do with increasing tax revenue — although it seems to be working out well financially for many states — because the health and safety of Americans should never be jeopardized for a profit.  To that end, we still have serious concerns about the potential dangers of marijuana, especially for teenagers.

 

A 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reveals that, although cannabis use "does not appear to increase the likelihood of developing depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder," there is an association between cannabis use and the development of schizophrenia and other psychoses.  Plus, "heavy cannabis users are more likely to report thoughts of suicide than are nonusers" and "regular cannabis use is likely to increase the risk for developing social anxiety disorder."  Another study found that "increasing self-exposure to non-medical cannabis...was a predictor of greater odds of opioid dependence diagnosis." 

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One major consideration is that today's marijuana is much more potent than in the past.  According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, "marijuana potency has steadily increased over the past few decades.  In the early 1990s, the average THC content in confiscated cannabis samples was roughly 3.7 percent for marijuana and 7.5 percent for sinsemilla (a higher potency marijuana from specially tended female plants). In 2013, it was 9.6 percent for marijuana and 16 percent for sinsemilla.  Also, newly popular methods of smoking or eating THC-rich hash oil extracted from the marijuana plant (a practice called 'dabbing') may deliver very high levels of THC to the user. The average marijuana extract contains over 50 percent THC, with some samples exceeding 80 percent."

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The bottom line is we need more research.  1787 supports the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report's four recommendations to improve the cannabis research agenda.  Read the four recommendations here.

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Our main concern centers around the effects of marijuana on the teenage brain.  According to the Washington Post, "In the Denver area, visits to Children’s Hospital Colorado facilities for treatment of cyclic vomiting, paranoia, psychosis and other acute cannabis-related symptoms jumped to 777 in 2015, from 161 in 2005."

 

This concern for teenagers is deepened by the fact that the scientific community is only now realizing results from their long-term studies of marijuana use.  These studies have already discovered that, not only does "early adolescent substance use dramatically increases the risk of lifelong substance use disorder," but also that "marijuana abusers show lower positive and higher negative emotionality scores than controls, which is consistent, on one hand, with lower reward sensitivity and motivation and, on the other hand, with increased stress reactivity and irritability."  Which is the last thing teenagers need.  

 

One study "recorded clear and consistent associations and dose-response relations between the frequency of adolescent cannabis use and all adverse young adult outcomes.  Compared with individuals who had never used cannabis, those who were daily users before age seventeen years had clear reductions in the odds of high-school completion and degree attainment, and substantially increased odds of later cannabis dependence, use of other illicit drugs, and suicide attempts."  Teenagers who smoke weed on a daily basis are 60% less likely to complete high school and seven times more likely to attempt suicide than those kids who never use marijuana.  Another study suggests that the future children of kids who smoke weed may have a higher risk for mental illness and addiction, even though they are years away from even being born.

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A study released in October 2018 by the American Journal of Psychology revealed that marijuana is more damaging to the teen brain than alcohol:  "Cannabis use, but not alcohol consumption, showed lagged effects on inhibitory control and working memory and concurrent effects on delayed memory recall and perceptual reasoning (with some evidence of developmental sensitivity).  Beyond the role of cognition in vulnerability to substance use, the concurrent and lasting effects of adolescent cannabis use can be observed on important cognitive functions and appear to be more pronounced than those observed for alcohol." 

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But this is a challenge we must tackle whether we legalize marijuana or not because, as was noted earlier, kids can easily get it anyway.

 

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 39 percent of high school students report they have used marijuana one or more times, and the University of Michigan reports that 80 percent of 12th graders say it is already easy for them to get marijuana if they wanted some.  The positive news is that the number of kids who approve of marijuana has declined some since 2007 or 2008, and disapproval of regular use "still remains quite high with 81 percent, 70 percent, and 65 percent in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades, respectively" (read the entire report here).

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Generally speaking, drug prevention efforts for kids should be drug-specific, meaning the strategy for prevention needs to be tailored to each drug individually.  Both Empower Society and America's Best Chance have drug-specific prevention programs.

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