BiblicalInsights.net

Alex Berenson wrote, “Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence” in which he exposes six myths about marijuana. In Part 1, the information about how marijuana became a medicine was related. The story reveals the first myth: marijuana is a medicine. Marijuana may have some benefit for cancer-related wasting. However, this has not been proven since THC (one active ingredient of marijuana) nor cannabis itself has ever been show to work in randomized clinical trials. These are the only trials that reliably prove a drug works. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved marijuana as a medicine (p. xix). Marijuana is still considered an illegal drug by the Federal government. An Australian study recently cast doubt on its effectiveness in chronic pain (p. xviii). In the mid-1970’s marijuana consumed in the U. S. was less than 2 percent THC. Today, it is 25 percent THC. The marijuana being used today is much more potent. Heavy use of cannabis in the U. S. has soared in the last decade–nearly tripling (p. xix). Two hundred million Americans have gained access to medical or recreational marijuana in the last twenty years. These facts mean that we really do not know how marijuana use will affect the general public.
Myth Number Two: marijuana is harmless. Marijuana causes schizophrenia and psychosis. Schizophrenia and psychosis cause violence. These facts are the main thesis of Berenson’s book. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is one of the active chemicals in marijuana. THC induces euphoria, enhances sensation, distorts the perception of time, and increases hunger. Marijuana is an intoxicant (similar to alcohol) and a psychoactive drug (a mind altering drug). The dangerous effects of marijuana are one reason that it has been illegal in the U. S. (marijuana is still illegal on the Federal level, but some states have begun to legalize it medically and others both medically and recreationally).
Myth number three: there are no documented deaths due to marijuana. Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate for president said this in August, 2016. He is wrong. Cannabis can be lethal in many ways. First, it increases the risk of heart attack. Second, marijuana impaired driving is killing people on our highways. Third, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) relates that more than 1,000 people died between 1999 and 2016 and cannabis or cannabinoids and no other drugs were listed on their death certificates as a secondary cause (p. xx).
Myth Number Four: marijuana can help stem the opiate epidemic by weaning people off of drugs like heroin. In fact, Berenson observes, marijuana is a gateway drug that often leads to use of other drugs (p. xxi). Opiate deaths are rising as fast or faster in states that have legalized cannabis (p. xxi).
Myth Number Five: marijuana does not cause mental illness. The first comprehensive guide to herbs and drugs ever created, A Chinese pharmacopeia called the Pen-ts’ao Ching, warned that excessive cannabis smoking caused “seeing devils” (p. xxiii). By about 100 A.D., Chinese physicians believed the drug “stimulated uncontrollable violence and criminal inclinations” (p. xxiii). Most will not have a psychotic episode while using marijuana, but a minority will and doctors have no way of predicting who they will be (p. xxiv). The link between marijuana and mental illness has been proven. The National Academy of Medicine issued a 468-page research report, titled, “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.” They state, “Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk” (p. xxv). The number of people showing up in hospitals with psychosis has soared since 2006, alongside marijuana use. Emergency rooms saw a 50 percent increase in the number of cases where someone received a primary diagnosis of a psychotic disorder between 2006 and 2014. By 2014, more than 2,000 Americans eery day showed up or were brought to emergency rooms for schizophrenia and other psychoses–810,000 people in all (p. xxvi). By 2014, 11 percent of Americans who showed up in emergency rooms with a psychotic disorder also had a secondary diagnosis of marijuana misuse (p. xxvi). Mexico criminalized marijuana in 1920, 17 years before the U. S. after Mexican lawmakers became convinced the drug caused mental illness and violence (p. xxix).
Myth Number six: violence has fallen in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In 2017, Cory Booker, a democratic senator from New Jersey, introduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationally. Booker said that states that have legalized marijuana “are seeing decreases in violent crime” (p. xxxi). Booker is wrong. Berenson provides much more information in his book and sites many studies that prove his thesis. Marijuana is a dangerous drug that should continue to be illegal in the U.S.