Medical journal warns legal pot will harm Canada’s youth

The interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal is pleading for the defeat of a federal government plan to legalize marijuana, fearful youth will have easier access to a drug that damages their developing brains.

“Cannabis should not be used by young people,” Dr. Diane Kelsall writes in an editorial published Monday in the journal. “It is toxic to their cortical neuronal networks, with both functional and structural changes seen in the brains of youth who use cannabis regularly.”

Bill C-45, if passed, would make marijuana use legal for adults aged 18 and over. Yet current research shows the brain doesn’t reach maturity until around age 25, Kelsall notes in the editorial.

A Canadian Paediatric Society position paper on the effects of cannabis on children and youth cites such serious potential effects as: increased presence of mental illness, including depression, anxiety and psychosis; diminished school performance and lifetime achievement; increased risk of tobacco smoking; impaired neurological development and cognitive decline; and a risk of addiction.

The nine-per-cent risk of developing dependence over a lifetime rises to 17 per cent if marijuana use started in the teen years.

“Most of us know a young person whose life was derailed because of marijuana use,” Kelsall writes. In a phone interview, she said while some young people use marijuana without problems, there are vulnerable ones whose lives are permanently damaged. For some, it can become a gateway to more serious drugs.

“You can end up with a bright boy or girl with promise, who’s ended up basically on the fringes of society,” said Kelsall, who said she’s dealt with these teens in her family practice and personally. “That is why I wrote this editorial. ”

Bill C-45 and associated changes to the Criminal Code would make it possible for anyone who sells marijuana to youth to be sentenced to up to 14 years in jail, and would introduce tougher measures for driving under the influence.

The government has stressed its bill is meant to prevent youth from accessing cannabis, which youth are already obtaining illegally.

In 2010, Canadian youth were ranked No. 1 for cannabis use among 43 countries in Europe and North America. One-third of them had tried it at least once by the time they reached 15.