Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2014
Source: News Journal, The (Wilmington, DE)
Copyright: 2014 The News Journal
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/1c6Xgdq3
Website: http://www.delawareonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/822
Author: Michael Vest

MARIJUANA ISN'T AS HARMLESS AS CLAIMED

I read Jonathan Starkey's article "Will Delaware Legalize Marijuana" 
with great concern. The history of the tobacco industry in the United 
States has shown that there is tremendous profit in selling addictive 
chemicals for recreational use. A growing marijuana industry in the 
United States is applying lessons learned from the tobacco industry 
to marijuana. Unfortunately, the public and legislators are not being 
adequately informed of the dangers of this drug.

The use of marijuana is associated with memory impairment, impaired 
motor coordination (often resulting in motor vehicle accidents) and 
impaired judgment.

Longer-term use is associated with adverse cognitive and respiratory 
effects. Marijuana results in addiction in 9 percent of all users, 17 
percent of those who begin using in adolescence and up to 50 percent 
of daily users. It is important for the public to be aware that the 
marijuana available today is not the same as what some readers may 
have tried back in the 1960s.

The primary active drug in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). 
In the 1960s, marijuana contained 1-2 percent THC. Since that time, 
marijuana growers have worked to increase the concentration such that 
marijuana now contains between 10 and 20 percent THC.

This manipulation of THC content is reminiscent of manipulation of 
nicotine content in tobacco cigarettes, which increased profits at 
the cost of many smokers' health. Youth experimenting with marijuana 
today are potentially taking a more dangerous drug than their 
grandparents' generation. Legalization may increase the number of 
people exposed to this harm.

Michael Vest

Hockessin
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom