“We don’t have as good data as we have for alcohol, but the evidence is already clear,” said Susan Weiss, policy chief for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Marijuana is not good for you.” Frequent, prolonged marijuana use has been linked to depression, psychosis, anxiety, and other mental disorders, especially among teenagers. A decades-long study in New Zealand found that adolescents who used pot at least four times a week lost an average of 8 IQ points between the ages of 13 and 38. Studies suggest that about 9 percent of all users become dependent on marijuana, and that pot smokers have far higher rates of workplace injuries and school absences than non-users. One study of 46,000 Swedish soldiers found that even infrequent pot smokers were more than twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as non-smokers; regular users were six times as likely. It also appears to cause testicular cancer in men.
EDITOR:
What does “Marijuana is not good for you” mean? That they aren’t recommending that people take it up as they do vegetables?
Of course teenagers should not partakae of marijuana, especially those between 13 and 18 in which their brains are still developing. They shouldn’t smoke, drink alcohol or use hot tubs either.
”[F]requent prolonged use” of alcohol will do even more harm, so this means little. In fact, “fequent prolonged use” of sodas, cigarettes, and many other things will do harm.
Is schizophrenia caused by smoking marijuana or do people with latent schizophrenia seek it out as self medication? And what is “twice as many men” in absolute numbers?
To read the “evidence” of dozens of governmental and peer reviewed articles concerning marijuana, visit Drug War Facts.
