Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jun 2018
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2018 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Matthew M. Elrod

POT LEGALIZATION WILL ENABLE MORE RESEARCH

The costs and benefits of cannabis and cannabis policies are difficult
to calculate, but cannabis legalization will remove many impediments
to research.

A recent study finding an association between chronic cannabis use by
young people and diminished life outcomes acknowledged "while we
controlled for multiple potential confounds, it is possible that there
are other explanatory mechanisms that have not been accounted for ...
in the current study."

Oddly, one of the confounds the study neglected to control for is the
self-medication of emotional and psychological problems such as ADHD
and PTSD, which typically stem from childhood trauma: abuse, neglect,
abandonment or, in some cases perhaps, an emotionally unavailable father.

It is worth noting that of the roughly 25 per cent of Canadian youth
who report using cannabis in the past year, only one to two per cent
are daily consumers.

There is a large and growing body of evidence that cannabis is an
economic substitute for opiates, alcohol and other licit and illicit
drugs. Setting the costs of criminalization and enforcement aside,
cannabis need only claim a small fraction of the alcohol market to be
a net benefit.

Matthew M. Elrod
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt