By: David W. Murray, Brian Blake & John P. Walters
Thanks to advances in science, we have never known so much about the effects marijuana use has on the human body, particularly, the fragile brain. Yet, in a political era when scientific research is regularly marshalled to end public policy debates, the powerful, growing scholarship on marijuana has largely been ignored or dismissed. Indeed, marijuana use seems to be one of the glaring areas in modern life where wishful thinking reigns over rationality.
Yet, as the lesson of tobacco demonstrates, when Americans are given the scientific facts about serious threats to their health, they adjust their behavior and insist on measures to safeguard their communities. In the instance of marijuana, the public can be forgiven for not knowing the true threat. With the assistance of a sympathetic media, marijuana legalization advocates, many seeking to profit off the drug, continue to sell romantic falsehoods and outright lies. They casually dismiss the growing list of serious concerns about marijuana emerging from scientific scholarship and survey research, or just cry “reefer madness” without examining the evidence.
Amidst the current marijuana public policy discussion, more than ever, concerned citizens, community leaders, lawmakers, educators, and parents need to better understand the growing body of research about this drug. What follows is a compilation and discussion of the latest research, including reports that are beginning to come in on the effects legalization has had in Colorado and neighboring states—including increased criminal activity even with legalization. While all research has limitations, what we do know is becoming clearer by the day, and it will make many question what they thought they knew about this drug of abuse.
