20.10.15

Worse than cigarettes

(A published letter in the National Post, 10/20/2015)...

High cost of pot  
Re: Misleading The Public On The Benefits Of Legalization, Ed Gogek, Oct. 15.
Those who support the legalization of marijuana frequently ignore the serious and harmful consequences to users. The cannabis plant contains more than 421 chemicals, of which 61 are cannabinoids. More than 2,000 compounds are produced by pyrolysis during smoking of cannabis, including carcinogens.

The potency of marijuana is steadily increasing and the user is consuming an ill-defined mixture of substances. In 2009, marijuana was involved in 376,467 emergency-room visits in the U.S -- about 1,000 a day. Marijuana is found in the blood or urine of 33 per cent of drivers involved in fatal car crashes. It also leads to nine per cent addiction by users and in young users, alters brain development, lowers IQs, results in poorer educational outcomes and diminished lifetime achievements.

Marijuana exacts heavy costs on the user particularly and society generally.

Morris Givner, Halifax.
http://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20151020/281994671337896/TextView

Another letter:
Pot advocates refuse to see how drug will harm society