Pubdate: Tue, 25 Oct 2016
Source: McGill Tribune (CN QU Edu)
Copyright: 2016 The McGill Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mcgilltribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2672
Author: Natalie Vineberg

MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION POSES SIGNIFICANT RISKS FOR YOUTH

One of Justin Trudeau's flashiest policies has been his promise to
legalize marijuana. Taking advantage of 4/20 this past April, his
government announced that it will be instated in the spring of
2017-only one year later. We're halfway through that time, and his
policy remains vague and shallow.

Trudeau is waiting on results from the Task Force on Cannabis
Legalization and Regulation, but the lack of information this close to
its proposed implementation is unsettling. One of the most glaring
gaps is that the Liberal government's website doesn't explain how it
plans to keep the drug out of the hands of youth-it offers no details,
and only asks for a signature in support. When discussing how
legalization should be accomplished, Trudeau must clarify how he
intends to protect youth from excessive marijuana use and be committed
to educating them on the adverse health effects and safety risks.

Marijuana has been condemned since the days of Reefer Madness and
Harry J. Anslinger, the first commissioner of the US Federal Bureau of
Narcotics, who claimed that marijuana was "a short cut to the insane
asylum" in the 1930s. These tactics were undoubtedly excessive and
uninformed, and may have led to the general distrust of anti-drug
data. However, there is increasingly concerning evidence of the
negative effects marijuana can have on young people, and Trudeau's
motion thus far seems to do nothing to help prevent these negative
effects.

Marijuana use can have severely damaging effects on brain development
beyond teenage years. Researchers from the University of Missouri and
the University of Kansas Medical Centre found that marijuana users
overall are more likely to be hospitalized for stroke than non-users.
Significantly, the risk of stroke increases by 126 per cent for users
aged 25-34-the greatest for any age group. Strokes are usually only a
risk for those over 55-not those under age 34. This threat more than
doubles the risk within a population that should otherwise be
relatively unaffected. Furthermore, according to a study published in
The Schizophrenia Bulletin, early marijuana usage can be damaging to
the quality of life of those predisposed to psychosis. Cannabis use
before the age of 15, the frequency of use, and the potency of the
drug can cause the first symptoms of psychosis to appear up to six
years earlier than they would have in non-users, setting in as early
as mid-20s. These are crucial y! ears in which those predisposed to
psychosis can develop strong support systems or career skills to be
better prepared for this onset. Ensuring that youth at risk don't
smoke marijuana is essential to preserving those years.

The potential legalization of marijuana also poses significant risks
for youth in terms of car accidents. The US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention found that motor vehicle fatalities were the
highest cause of accident deaths among teenagers between 1999 and
2006, making it vital to account for any increased risk to do with
marijuana use. While the risks associated with driving under the
influence of marijuana don't seem to be as great as with alcohol,
those who drive while high have trouble staying in their lane and
exhibit slower reaction times than sober drivers. In the year after
marijuana was legalized in Washington, fatal car crashes among drivers
who had marijuana in their system were reported to have doubled.
Although this link does not necessarily imply causation, the fact
remains that drivers testing positive for THC in their system did
increase in that year. It is imperative to better understand these
effects before legalizing marijuana and to develop an ! efficient
method of testing for it.

If able-minded, healthy adults want to smoke safely in their own
homes, that's a choice they should be able to make for themselves.
But, this is not the population that matters when it comes to the
risks marijuana poses. Considering that the Liberal government claims
that our current prohibition does not help youth, its lack of a clear
plan to deal with this problem is disturbing. One of the biggest
perceived advantages of legalization is that it will provide safer
access to marijuana for those that want it, but young users below the
legal age will still be left to find it in unsafe ways. Even if it's
not a deciding factor, the significant health and safety risks facing
youth need to be a greater part of the conversation before the
policy's implementation. Trudeau's policy, from the little information
provided, seems to be hopping on the bandwagon without any plan to
deal with the biggest problems the country currently faces.

Natalie Vineberg is the Creative Director at the McGill Tribune. She is 
a Capricorn and a U3 Cultural Studies and Psychology student. She cried 
for the whole two hours of the One Tree Hill series finale.
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MAP posted-by: Matt