Pubdate: Wed, 04 Nov 2015
Source: Cape Breton Post (CN NS)
Copyright: 2015 Cape Breton Post
Contact:  http://www.capebretonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/777
Author: John Rogers
Page: A8

MARIJUANA SHOULD NOT BE LEGALIZED

As a psychiatrist I was disappointed by the national election results 
which produced a Liberal Party majority.

Specifically, I am opposed to the Liberal Party's intention to 
legalize marijuana in Canada.

Doing so will no doubt increase prevalence of use and by so doing 
will unleash a cohort of users who will suffer chronic and likely 
lethal pulmonary disease.

Data is already available showing cannabis use to cause pulmonary 
bullae, pneumothoraxes, chronic bronchitis and in one study an 8 per 
cent increased risk of lung cancer for every year of heavy use.

More important is the inconvertible threat to our youth. For Canadian 
teens with higher risk of access, there will be for those who use, a 
three to four-fold increased risk of psychosis and schizophrenia, the 
latter a life-long illness with high personal and social costs.

Like the supposed singular national lottery of Jean Drapeau in 1976 - 
which produced government dependence on gambling revenue - no 
government thereafter will turn away from the addiction of marijuana taxation.

Revenue from marijuana sales, no doubt, will be offered as a resource 
to ameliorate the national injury to physical and mental health, but 
it will be a most twisted prospect offered to a most damaged country.

John Rogers MD

Glace Bay
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom