Pubdate: Wed, 05 Mar 2014
Source: Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
Copyright: 2014 Herald & Review
Contact:  http://www.herald-review.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/837
Author: Gerald Thompson

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WILL NOT IMPROVE OUR COUNTRY

Our president recently said that marijuana was no more harmful than 
tobacco. Since marijuana is now legal in a couple of states, there is 
a push to legalize it by those who claim it is not harmful. The 
evidence does not support their claim.

Dr. Kevin Sabet served in the Obama administration as senior advisor 
at the White House office of National Drug Control Policy. He is now 
director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida 
College of Medicine. He says, "The marijuana conversation is one 
mired with myths. Many Americans do not think that marijuana can be 
addictive, despite scientific evidence to the contrary." The American 
Medical Association has come out strongly against the legal sales of 
marijuana. According to the National Institute on Health, one in six 
16 year-olds who try marijuana will become addicted to it. It has 
also been linked to an eight point redirection in IQ; and that if 
used strongly it is connected to mental illness.

Dr. Louis Kraus, M.D., chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at 
Rush University Medical Center says "there is a multitude of risks 
associated with the use of cannabinoids." Dr. Drew Pinsky who has 
been working with addicts for decades says, "It would be malpractice 
to say cannabis isn't addictive." He says that giving up cannabis is 
more difficult than giving up cocaine and alcohol. He states, "It is 
extremely addictive for some people." Dr. Christian Thurstone, 
society president and youth addiction researcher at the University of 
Colorado-Denver, observed that his clinic has been inundated with 
young people reporting for marijuana-addiction treatment.

Is legalizing marijuana going to make our country better or worse? I 
believe the evidence is clear -- it will be worse.

Gerald Thompson

Decatur
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