Pubdate: Wed, 23 Apr 2014
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Nathan Giede
Page: 6

MARIJUANA'S EFFECT ON HEALTHCARE

April 20 is a day of days for marijuana users. And this year, 4/20 was
markedly more significant as it was celebrated legally for the first
time within the states of Washington and Colorado, both of which
legalized the use of marijuana late last year. Politicians of all
stripes are eagerly watching the end of prohibition to see if it
results in more revenues and less crime or the social chaos prophesied
by anti-legalization critics. Meanwhile, people in British Columbia
are divided on the issue: some believe marijuana usage is a private
choice that ought to be left to citizens, while others argue that it
is a public nuisance that requires legislation. Both these views have
merit, but there's something even bigger at stake, although it's often
overlooked: the cost of health care in British Columbia after
marijuana is legalized.

Copious amounts of peer reviewed research consistently shows two
results for marijuana users: a higher risk for cancer and the
development of mental illness, ranging from depression to severe
schizophrenia. While Canadians have tried to battle preventable
diseases with "sin taxes" on items like cigarettes and alcohol,
marijuana's unique side effects on the brain are inestimable.

To put it bluntly, psychiatric treatment is much more expensive than
chemotherapy: we can mass produce machines and medicine, but we cannot
mass produce therapy and therapists.

Furthermore, research is now suggesting even moderate use of marijuana
can permanently corrode certain mental processes. This means that many
young people, who only smoke marijuana a few times a week, are
permanently reducing their mental capacity for the rest of their
lives. But there's a piece of the picture that's missing from this
litany of cannabis related problems: healthcare in Canada is public.

Medical insurance premiums reflect the cost of administering all the
healthcare in B.C. divided by the number of paying members in B.C.
Therefore, any increase in the costs and burdens of the healthcare
system are felt by all dues paying members. Upon the legalization of
marijuana, these costs could increase steeply in the short term and
absolutely skyrocket in the long term, especially when severe mental
illness is considered.

Furthermore, unlike patients suffering from alcohol- and
tobacco-related illnesses, the cannabis-affected patient is more
likely to not be able to go back to work, which means his taxes and
medical premiums drop out of the system, thus compounding the cost for
others. What can be done to reduce these costs on society?

Simple - it's time to correlate behaviors and premiums.

For too long, Canadians have avoided this conclusion, because it
sounds like an "American style" healthcare policy.

But the fact is that "sin taxes" don't work, not only because they
automatically create a black market, but because you can never
directly correlate the cost of treatment to the mark-up on certain
items. As a country and a province, it's time to grow up and face the
fact that people's good and bad behavior needs be reflected by what
they pay for medicine.

There is a certain level of service that can and must be guaranteed
for all: maternity care, vaccinations, trauma care, and palliative
care.

But beyond these core items, individuals and families must be given
the chance to make decisions about their health insurance with a
consumer's rationality, weighing the extent of coverage, its cost, and
its health requirements so that the tragedy of our common healthcare
model is stopped.

Sadly, it will take marijuana legalization to bring much needed
reforms into play for our medical system. But maybe that makes sense,
because a drug that's sole purpose is for "drifting away" is most in
need of some grounding in the hard costs that society shares.
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MAP posted-by: Matt