When California legalized marijuana in 1996 for medicinal purposes, it had every intention to push the legalization to the limits of easy and accessible public availability. Many states have joined the ranks of legal dope under the guise of a medical need. There are now roughly 30 states that have since legalized marijuana to some degree or another.
Today marijuana is easier to access and more potent than ever, and a higher percentage of people who use are heavy users, compared to people who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. Despite the widespread usage, there is little public awareness, and even denial, of the facts and the dangers.
Politicians and lobbyists have stated that decriminalizing marijuana will reduce crime, while the opposite has occurred. They have also stated underage teens will have a more difficult time obtaining the drug, and that too is false. Crime rates, DUI’s and traffic accident have all risen in states that have legalized the drug for recreational and medicinal use, not to mention minors in possession of the drug. Some states have even hypothesized that marijuana use will decrease the use of opioid overdoses, because “people will choose marijuana over opioids and painkillers”. Another reckless and dangerous assumption that has proven untrue. Opioid overdoses and deaths have steadily risen in all these states that have adopted legal marijuana.
As a matter of fact, making pot legal has had several additional and unreported impacts in the community. Since the legalization it has driven the cost of weed down and potency up. This has now created a quasi-competition for the “drug dollar” in all communities. Methamphetamine and heroin costs are down sharply to compete with legal pot in all these states. This is another unreported phenomenon that is germane to this issue.
Studies in Europe are starting to emerge and force the conversation outward. In America most if not all medical information for teens or adolescents are strictly confidential, so gathering information and research is often difficult. This leads to delays in reporting and potential solutions. Emergency rooms are now reporting vast increases in what’s called cannabis use disorders or psychosis. Some of these disorders and psychoses are permanent and, in some cases, leading to suicides.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) has now come out with an entire section dedicated to cannabis use disorders. The National Institute of Health reports that, along with the doubling of marijuana use nationwide, related disorders have nearly doubled as well. The effects range from anxiety, addiction, violent vomiting, violent schizophrenia, permanent psychosis and suicide. Clinics are popping up in Europe directly dealing with cannabis related psychosis and disorders. The increase in cases is worldwide and quite alarming.
Besides smoking the now potent pot, people can purchase food products, like cookies, brownies, Rice Krispy treats, chocolate, lollipops, gummi bears to ingest. Every imaginable and ingestible possibility is available for consumption. It’s easy to see why our young people are falling victim so easily to the epidemic. This has become a multi-billion-dollar industry that won’t go away too soon. Too many vested interests including local governments. This legislator is incredibly proud that the City of Mill Creek continues its moratorium on marijuana stores and sales within city limits.
Thank you and God bless
Editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer
