Affects of smoking pot remain hazy

It has taken years to persuade individuals that smoking causes cancer and years to persuade various levels of government, corporations, schools and other organizations to ban smoking in public places.

Now we are faced with a new but similar peril which seems to parallel tobacco smoking. There are many unknowns that cause us concern, like the effects on health, addictions, distracted and impaired driving and psychiatric implications.

We understand the need for medical marijuana use but do we need to rush into something that requires a lot more thought and research into long-term effects just because of the pressures of marijuana growers and by users who want easier access for their habit?

Smoking tobacco attracted an increasingly younger crowd over the years leading to addiction when they became adults. Why would marijuana use be any different?

Will we be substituting one dangerous smoke haze for another whose effects of early and continued use is as yet unknown?

Evelyn Millman, Edmonton