by Dick Hall-Sizemore
In response to some of the comments to my recent post on crime and drug data, as well as to a running theme on this blog, I want to share a thought-provoking article that I recently encountered.
I have long felt that the use of marijuana should not be a criminal offense. However, a recent New Yorker article caused me to have second thoughts. The author does not take a stand on whether pot should be legal or not. He is questioning one of the basic premises behind the drive to legalize it: that it is safe. He points out that we really don’t know how safe it is because relatively little research had been done in this field.
The point that stood out for me is that there is some evidence linking the heavy use of pot to mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. Also, some researchers have shown links between the use of pot and increases in violence.
All of this research is preliminary and much more needs to be done before any definitive conclusions can be reached. In any event, it is important to keep in mind that THC is a potent chemical and that the human brain chemistry is a delicate balance that can be affected, in good and bad ways, by the introductionof “foreign” substances.
