“Pot: Cool or Just Plain Stupid ?”
There is a national move to legalize marijuana (pot) across America. Is this a smart or a dumb move? Here are the medical facts, folks. A twenty year UK study, that ended in 2014, linked long term cannabis (“pot”) use with mental illness, lower academic attainment, impaired driving ability and lower birth weight of children. They found that pot can be highly addictive and can cause mental health problems and lead to hard drug use. Drugs campaigners said the study showed that heavy cannabis use by teenagers amounted to them playing “Russian roulette” with their mental health. One in six teenagers who regularly smoke cannabis become dependent on it, as are one in ten regular adult users. Driving after smoking cannabis doubles the risk of a car crash, with the risk heightened yet further if you have had a drink. Prof Hall, a leading expert in addiction at King’s College, said, “If cannabis is not addictive, then neither is heroin or alcohol. It is often harder to get people, who are dependent on cannabis, through withdrawal than for heroin.
