Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jan 2018
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2018 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Ellen L. Burnham, MD, Denver

TOP: CALIFORNIA WILL REGRET LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IF ITS EXPERIENCE IS
ANYTHING LIKE COLORADO'S

To the editor: The commercial interests driving the rapid legalization
of marijuana in California call to mind the playbook of Big Tobacco.
("For marijuana users, it's high times as California makes
recreational use legal," Jan. 2)

Decades passed and millions of lives were harmed before the adverse
impact of cigarettes was acknowledged. During that time, Big Tobacco
stifled government investigation of tobacco's potential harm while
manipulating their product's addictive properties and marketing to
children.

Since the liberalization of marijuana laws in Colorado, more people
use marijuana than ever before, and many have or will become addicted.
Use of healthcare resources for marijuana-associated illnesses has
also increased here.

Colorado is suffering additional consequences, including more car
crash fatalities involving marijuana-using drivers and accidental
ingestion and poisoning of children who inadvertently consume edibles
packaged as candy and soda.

It is predictable, but unfortunate, that financial gain for commercial
growers and Silicon Valley financiers have greased the wheels for
recreational marijuana. This enthusiasm should perhaps be tempered by
the sheer numbers of Californians exposed directly or indirectly to
marijuana, where downstream repercussions on healthcare may well be
enormous.

Ellen L. Burnham, MD, Denver

The writer is an associate professor and pulmonary disease specialist
at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt