“We already have enough people with low IQs, we don’t need to be generating more”
-Dr. Ben Carson on Marijuana in November 2015
Weed, pot, Mary Jane and marijuana, all words used to describe one of the most controversial drugs of the last century. For decades people have gone punch for punch debating the medical and ethical effects of marijuana. In 2016, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing the drug in some form, while four states, plus DC, have legalized it for recreational usage. Much to my mom’s chagrin, in November eight states vote on marijuana reform including California, Nevada, and Arizona. With all that in mind, let’s discuss the true effects of what marijuana does and what it can do.
If you are yet aware, marijuana is listed by the DEA as a schedule one drug, among the likes of heroin, LSD and ecstasy. These drugs are prohibited from medical testing, which is a shame considering the medical breakthroughs concerning cannabis over the past decade. First though, let’s consider the negative aspects. As the good doctor Ben Carson once quipped, weed is commonly believed to lower young people’s IQ level during sustained usage. However, the research that he had cited was linked to flawed studies, and has recently been disproven by multiple studies, including a USC, University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University study conducted in 2014 which concluded that marijuana doesn’t have a measurable effect on teenager’s IQ levels. Another study, conducted by the University College of London, found that “Even heavy marijuana use wasn’t associated with IQ.” So, as much as I’d like to take Dr. Carson’s word for it, primary and replication studies seem to contradict his claim.
Another critique of marijuana usage is that it makes people lazy, risks an increase in crime, and results in school drop out for teenagers. However a 2014 report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice found that after the decriminalization of marijuana in California back in 2011, “California teenagers showed improvements in all risk areas after reform.” Meaning that not only did these critiques fail to materialize in a statistically significant fashion, but California teenagers actually showed improvement in each area of concern, including a smaller dropout rate.
Let’s discuss some of the benefits that make the drug a worthwhile medical option. First, pain management. Currently the mainstream form of pain management are prescription painkillers, including drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin. These hard painkillers result in not only vicious side effects including vomiting, seizures, and fainting, but as reported by the CDC resulted in over 14,000 deaths in 2014 alone. Marijuana has been utilized in states like California as an alternative to hard pain killers and,according to a recent study, states that have legalized medical marijuana experience on average 25% fewer prescription drug overdoses. Medical marijuana is not only an alternative way to treat pain, but arguably a better and safer way.
Now let’s talk about some of the recent medical findings that project some of the amazing things medical marijuana could do if provided adequate funding for testing. According to multiple studies published over the past decade, marijuana compounds have been linked to combating things like cancer and epilepsy. Most recently, the THC compound of marijuana has been shown to decrease the effects of Alzheimer’s through a removal of plaque from brain cells.
Despite the medical benefits, and seemingly lack of deterrents, many stand firm in their belief that marijuana is a gateway drug, one that will lead young people down a path to harder drugs that in turn will lead to significant medical and life problems. This is one reason that the general public isn’t horrified by the fact that America incarcerates more people of color today than South Africa did during the height of apartheid, over half of which are solely serving time for drug offenses, many for marijuana possession. According to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, “There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are casually linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.” Furthermore, hard drug use has been far better linked to social environment, peer groups, mental illness, and criminalization, rather than pot. Finally, alcohol and tobacco have been tried and tested as more harmful drugs, as well as in some cases a better predictor for hard drug usage.
Concluding, with the overwhelming benefits that medical marijuana can provide, along with its relatively safe usage recreationally when weighed against alcohol and tobacco, people need to begin to take a harder look at an issue seemingly more polarizing than Nancy Grace. Side note: none of this is to mention the massive tax revenue states like Colorado have generated as a result of legalization - seriously, the benefits are far-reaching.
