“Marijuana 2018 Update”
The 2015 decision by the Obama administration not to enforce federal anti-marijuana laws marked a significant change and Americans have seen the growth of large, for-profit commercial enterprises that will saturate the country with “pot.” It is estimated that around 22.2 million people in the United States have used marijuana in the past month, making it “the most commonly used illicit drug” in the country. The National Institute on Drug Abuse summarized six salient points on marijuana entitled “Adverse Health Effects of Marijuana Use,” as follows: 1) marijuana is particularly harmful to children and youths under 21 years of age; 2) it can affect short-term memory; 3) it is associated with “significant declines in IQ” if used frequently when one is an adolescent or a young adult; 4) it impairs a person’s “motor coordination; 5) it is addictive. About 9 percent of users overall become addicted, but that number rises to 17 percent of those who start as adolescents and shoots up to as much as 50 percent among those who use pot daily; and 6) it is related to social ills. Today’s marijuana contains about four times as much THC, the ingredient that produces the “high,” than it did in the 1980s.
