Health of NM may be put at risk by increased use of pot
“BLOWING SMOKE,” the Journal’s reprint on July 15 of a San Diego UnionTribune article, gives lots to be concerned about. False and unsubstantiated claims that cannabis cures cancer are quickly absorbed, believed and regurgitated by, according to the story, people who want hope and, sadly, by those who want to make money off of that hope.
There’s another direction our dialogue should take. There are medical disorders that cannabis can cause, not cure. Unfortunately, the lack of scientific data creates a vacuum that those scrambling for the money, including growers, owners and vendors, as well the political salespeople who want the state to get tax money to pass around, are more than happy to fill.
It took hundreds of studies on the effects of nicotine to convince the public in general of the link between smoking and cancer, heart disease, COPD, etc. The hundreds of studies aren’t yet available about cannabis. The research will emerge as widespread use continues of both medical and recreational marijuana. We are kidding ourselves to pretend that the effects won’t include cancer, heart disease, COPD, etc.
One by one, the states are falling into legalizing recreational sales of marijuana. At a time when New Mexico is beginning to make headway in education, increased marijuana use among minors could easily derail us. We could join the trend now being reported by the annual study conducted by the University of Michigan on adolescent drug use: For the first time in seven years, marijuana use went up among teens. We have been teaching teens for some years now that pot is a curative.
We are also setting our teens up as guinea pigs for replication of results from a major study out of Australia that showed that early use of marijuana can result in literal loss of IQ points. I have seen that study criticized, but not by the National Institutes of Health, whose website quotes it.
We have a great deal to consider as our state Legislature again takes up the issue of legalizing marijuana. Our discussion will be fed by out-of-state interests and in-state desires to win a jackpot. But if the health of our state is at risk, we could end up the losers.