Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2014
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Marylyn Harris
Page: A13

MARIJUANA PRODUCES HOST OF BAD EFFECTS

Re: "We shouldn't ignore the effects of marijuana," April 20.

Marijuana is a mood-altering drug capable of producing dependency and 
adverse effects on memory, learning, perception, behaviour and 
functioning, as well as having negative effects on pregnancies.

Marijuana is particularly harmful to adolescents. Research shows that 
the use of marijuana in the teen years increases the severity of 
schizophrenia and lowers the age of its onset for those susceptible 
to it. The National Academy of Sciences found adolescents who 
regularly smoked marijuana before the age of 18 showed an average 
decline in IQ of eight points. Quitting or reducing marijuana does 
not restore intellectual functioning.

Marijuana contains crude THC (the psychoactive ingredient delivery 
system that sends more than 400 chemical substances into the body). 
This increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and damage to the 
respiratory system and brain. The amount of tar inhaled and the level 
of carbon monoxide absorbed by marijuana smokers, regardless of the 
THC content, is three to five times greater than from tobacco 
cigarettes. According to the British Lung Foundation, smoking three 
or four marijuana joints is as bad for your lungs as smoking 20 
tobacco cigarettes.

Because police forces usually look the other way, Canada leads the 
developed world in the consumption of marijuana. It should not be 
decriminalized with a ticket like jaywalking or over-parking. Canada 
has the highest proportion of marijuana users in the industrialized 
world. It is nothing to be proud of.

Marylyn Harris Victoria
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom