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Harmless? Never!
Pubdate: Mon, 24 Oct 2005
Source: Brooks Bulletin, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 The Brooks Bulletin.
Contact: http://www.brooksbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2917
HARMLESS? NEVER!
More than 2,000 Canadians go to jail annually for simple possession
of marijuana and some segments of society believe this is a useless
waste of public funds and police resources. These same people feel
that marijuana possession merited no more than a fine.
Of the 67,000 drug offences in Canada in one year, more than 70 per
cent were related to cannabis. Of those, two-thirds involved mere
possession and the majority of those charged with offences were young.
It also has been suggested that marijuana is no more harmful than
tobacco. But is it?
There are more toxins and carcinogenic compounds in marijuana than is
produced by burning a plain tobacco cigarette. Studies at Harvard
University have shown that marijuana smokers have a five times
greater than the average incidence of heart and lung disease.
A recent twenty-year study at the University of Waterloo reported
that the control group of heavy marijuana smokers using only one
joint per day suffered a 4.1 drop in their IQ in five years. This
refers to attention span and the inability to access short-term
memory. These things affect the workplace directly.
It also was noted that the potency of the drug ranges around the
twenty per cent mark, whereas only a decade ago it ranged around ten
per cent. The drug has become more potent and dangerous than it was a
generation ago. It is damaging.
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