Legal age for marijuana should be higher than 18

Every day in the youth program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre my colleagues and I see young people whose mental illnesses are complicated by the use and abuse of cannabis. We provide these young people and their families with information on the impact of marijuana on the developing brain, including articles and research papers. We often are able to convince young people to decrease their marijuana consumption and, in many cases, to stop using it altogether.

Unfortunately, legislators may not be as aware of the risks of cannabis on the developing brain as mental health professionals are.

Marijuana use can impair concentration and cause a deterioration in such cognitive tasks as remembering, problem-solving and decision-making. These effects will reverse in adults a few weeks after discontinuing marijuana. In youth younger than 25, however, this is not the case.

Very often, these difficulties persist, resulting in long-term functional deterioration. Young people may find their academic achievement deteriorates, at a time in their lives when they can least manage this. From the age of 18 until age 25, the age when brain development is completed, a young person is finishing high school, beginning postsecondary education, and starting a career. Most of us call upon all our mental resources during this period and we don’t need cannabis clouding our judgment, either for a few months or in the long run. Health professionals had hoped the legal age for marijuana use might be 25, to reduce these impacts.

A second concern is related to mental illnesses, particularly psychotic illnesses. Research has demonstrated a correlation between marijuana use and the onset of anxiety disorders, symptoms of depression and psychotic disorders in youth with a predisposition to these conditions because of family history. Mental health symptoms also are a concern in acute, toxic, dose-related episodes of intoxication. These symptoms include anxiety and depression, but also paranoia and brief psychotic episodes.

Yet many Canadians of all ages believe marijuana is relatively harmless. It is for this reason that public health and mental health professionals have requested a robust education plan accompany the implementation of marijuana legislation.

Finally, we must remember that, even when they are not intoxicated, youth, especially young men, are implicated in more motor vehicle accidents than any other age group. Marijuana intoxication is every bit as dangerous as any other intoxication and has been linked to an increased rate of traffic accidents.

Mental health professionals had hoped the federal Liberal government would keep public health concerns in the forefront as they introduced marijuana legalization. As a physician and as a parent, I am inclined to be protective where the evidence merits.

I had hoped this legislation would regulate marijuana to limit access to safe amounts only, keeping in mind the mental health of young Canadians.

Health professionals now will take our concerns to provincial governments. Since the cost of negative outcomes will be borne provincially, perhaps these legislators will be more cautious with age restrictions.

More importantly, perhaps health professionals will be able to convince young Canadians and those who care for them of the health risks of marijuana use, in much the same way as we are able to convince my patients and their families. That would be the best prevention.