EDITORIAL Calculate the costs of pot

Marijuana causes headaches. That has certainly been the case as the federal government proceeds with its plans to legalize the drug this summer, leaving provinces and municipalities scrambling to sort out the thorny details of regulation and distribution, even as investors jostle to get in line for what they anticipate to be substantial profits.

Legalization — or at least, decriminalization — of marijuana is long overdue, but let’s not get so euphoric about the liberation of weed that we overlook its adverse effects. They could end up being costly — in many ways.

Canada should be doing more to warn people — especially young people — about the risks of marijuana, says University of Victoria professor Bonnie Leadbeater. She was part of a team that wrote reports on research that indicates the frequent use of marijuana in teenage years hampers a person’s prospects in early adult years.

The studies examined data from the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey, which followed 662 young people for 10 years. Research showed that chronic users of marijuana earned less and racked up more debt than their peers who were abstainers or moderate users. The heavier users experience higher levels of depression, anxiety, substance-abuse disorders and other mental-health issues.

“What’s our obligation to prevent harm — to youth particularly?” asks Leadbeater, who warns of “a culture of acceptance of marijuana.”

While governments and the marijuana industry are calculating the price of marijuana, we should also be calculating the costs.