Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jan 2015
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Copyright: 2015 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www2.indystar.com/help/letters.html
Website: http://www.indystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210
Author: Dr. Dick Huber

DON'T FALL FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

Some legislators and citizens are ready to legalize marijuana. Then
Indiana would gain needed revenue dollars, people with certain medical
conditions might benefit and everyone would live high and happy
thereafter. End of story? Not.

Look at the total picture.

When discussing drugs, always keep in mind that the human brain is
still developing until about the age of 25. Drugs that might not
affect an older person's brain could cause drastic and permanent
damage to a young person's developing brain. Long-term marijuana users
who started using when young were later found to have a drop in their
IQ.

Tetracycline is a useful antibiotic but may cause permanent yellowing
of the teeth if given to children whose teeth are still developing
before age 8. We're against giving tetracycline to children because we
don't want them marked for life with discolored teeth. But yet don't
seem to mind that marijuana before 25 may result in a damaged brain
and a lower IQ for life. We see the teeth but ignore the brain.

We often hear that marijuana should be legalized but kept out of the
hands of our youth. Look at the success we've had keeping legalized
tobacco and alcohol from our youth. You can be assured we won't have
any better success with marijuana.

Initially, post traumatic stress, Alzheimer and Parkinson disease were
claimed to benefit from marijuana even though no clinical trials
revealed such. Now some data support that marijuana for some of these
conditions is associated with worse outcomes.

The marijuana (cannabis) plant contains more than 400 chemicals. Many
of the reports endorsing the usefulness of marijuana were looking at
only a few compounds, mainly THC, cannabinol and cannabidiol, when
used as single ingredients. But these ingredients may have entirely
different, harmful and unknown effects if taken in combination with a
few hundred of the other chemicals present in marijuana.

We need vitamin A but not when the vitamin A comes from the poison ivy
plant. So we look for another source of vitamin A that does not have
all the bad effects.

Aspirin or acetaminophen have benefits but if one of these were added
to several hundred other chemicals as in the marijuana plant, might
the results be entirely different? Look for information that shows
what the whole marijuana plant will do, not just one or two
ingredients used separately from the plant.

Legislators and citizens, stop. Get off your high and look at the big
picture. Weigh the pros and cons. One or two ingredients from the
marijuana plant may show some benefits but when combined with 400
other chemicals, may cause major and long-lasting effects, especially
to the brains of our young people.

I'm willing to forego something that a few believe beneficial if a
greater number are adversely affected. Which side are you on?

Dr. Dick Huber, Greenwood
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