The other night, in one of my counselling classes, we had a small discussion about whether marijuana should be legalized. Many people thought so: after all, pot seems basically harmless. Nobody overdoses or gets violent on the stuff.
But in general, people don’t know the whole story. At our addictions clinics, we frequently see habitual pot smokers who struggle with anger and anxiety when they reduce their use. It seems that marijuana is good at managing emotions; but, like most substances, not good at teaching emotional management. Once you quit, you’re on your own emotionally, and this can be overwhelming.
Medical research has been slow in confirming what addictions counsellors have known for a long time: marijuana use (I’m talking about habitual use; daily, or a few times a week) erodes overall psychological functioning. But recently, a slew of studies among teens has yielded some new and disturbing results (from the Guardian):
“There is increasing clinical evidence linking cannabis use to mental illness, particularly schizophrenia, psychosis, anxiety and depression. US research shows that 80 per cent of new cases of psychosis in some hospitals have been triggered by cannabis use.”
“Someone who starts using cannabis aged 15 is at more than four times the risk of developing schizophrenia over the next 11 years than someone starting smoking the drug at 18. And 18-year-olds who have used cannabis at least 50 times have a seven-fold increased risk of developing psychosis in the next 15 years.”
I’m not usually one for highlighting and bold type, but in this case — for the quick-scan habits of the addicted, in particular — I’ll make an exception. The point is important: marijuana is not harmless, and it is not free of lasting detrimental effects. It’s a drug like any other: it can be used effectively in small doses, but users have a tendency to increasingly rely on its effects (for stress reduction, or pain management, or simple pleasure). In short order, recreational use becomes habit. This, my friends, is called addiction.
Legalize it, don’t legalize it — doesn’t matter much. Folks will use it or they won’t. But those who do, need to know what they’re smoking.
It’s insidious. (Can you add a spell checker to your site please?) I was researching this a couple of weeks ago. There still seems to be some disagreement around cause and effect. Some of the reseach seems to suggest that people who will eventually be diagnosed with scizophrenia are prone to liking the effects of marijuana. Sort of a link in pre-disposition. Other research suggests that early use may play a role in the onset of the disorder. I’m not sure that it matters either way.
The scariest thing about this drug is that if you are smoking it now you probably won’t notice the slow and cumlitive impact it has. Twenty years from now you will think it’s just normal to not get too angry or too sad or too happy or too excited. It turns down all the emotions, including the fun ones.
By the way, in this morning’s news (at the Science Daily site):
“The principal active ingredient in marijuana causes transient schizophrenia-like symptoms ranging from suspiciousness and delusions to impairments in memory and attention, according to a Yale research study.”