Marijuana use in the United States has skyrocketed in the past several decades, and now there are more people who use marijuana daily than people who drink alcohol daily, according to a new study.
Researcher Jonathan Caulkins compared daily alcohol and marijuana use based on surveys taken in 1979, 1992, 2008, and 2022. Caulkins published his findings on May 22.
In my opinion in future years will there be a realization that legalizing marijuana was a big mistake. When this happens, those who were big time marijuana advocates will no longer be in office, or will be dead. As most regular readers know I have been against okaying marijuana mainly because as of yet, as opposed to alcohol, there is no way to test for its recent use when one is driving impaired. I continue to feel that way, and furthermore my position is being enhanced because of increasing reports of significant disastrous medical side effects from its use.
Epoch Health recently published a summary about the adverse psychiatric effects of cannabis, including articles from The American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Addiction, & Molecular Psychiatry.
The following is from that Epoch Health article:
New UK research shows adults who consumed high-potency cannabis between ages 16 and 18 are twice as likely to experience psychotic episodes like hallucinations and delusions by their mid-20s compared to those using low-potency strains or abstaining. The longitudinal study, published in Addiction, highlights cannabis’ risks to adolescent brain development.
Over the past several decades, illicit marijuana products have become significantly more potent. The concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—the psychoactive compound in cannabis responsible for the “high” sensation and one linked to psychotic experiences in some people—increased from around 10 percent in 2009 to roughly 14 percent by 2019, according to a scientific review published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging.
“This is the problem,” Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute at Mount Sinai in New York, told The Epoch Times. “Many people don’t realize that the cannabis that is consumed today—the majority or all of it—is high-potency.”
Cannabis poses a greater psychosis risk than tobacco or alcohol, according to Ms. Hurd, who noted that the new findings align with numerous studies linking cannabis use to psychosis.
Despite evidence linking cannabis to psychosis, teen use soared 245 percent between 2000 and 2020, according to research published in Clinical Toxicology. The authors attributed the rise to popular edible products, with legalization making cannabis seem safer and more accessible to teens, even though it is only legal for adults in 24 states and Washington, D.C.
Biden’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently proposed to move cannabis to a Schedule III drug, which would reduce the penalty for selling or delivering the drug in states where it remains criminalized.
While “we should not criminalize the use,” Ms Hurd said, the move to make it legal and reduce penalties ignores the fact that the current strains are purposely made to be addictive because “like everything else, it’s a business, and the business is to get more customers,” she added.
While I am certain that J.B. is only familiar with what his handlers allow him read, which is not The American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Addiction, & Molecular Psychiatry, or even the Epoch Times.
However, it is also likely that “those who know best” in the DEA either cannot read or willfully ignore these recent studies documenting these severe consequences of cannabis use.
6/10/24