David Clinton- Cannabis Legalization Is Starting to Look Like a Really Dumb Idea
The new concerns follow the recent release of a couple of groundbreaking Canadian studies: Cannabis Use Disorder Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations and 5-Year Mortality which found evidence relating cannabis use to early death, and Convergence of Cannabis and Psychosis on the Dopamine System which describes a possible biological mechanism linking cannabis use to psychosis.
I have 3 children. Two of them wildly successful in every way, including fantastic parents. They never used marijuana. One of my 3 kids is dead. Heavy pot user since high school. Went from straight-A student to a bi-polar schizophrenic … destroyed his life in every way, then took his own life.
The only difference in their upbringing and development was heavy pot use (then cocaine, and God knows what else). Pot destroyed his mind.
Kenji,
I am so sorry to hear that. I cannot begin to understand how much that must have hurt but please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Thank you, however, I do not repeatedly bring up the topic as a play for sympathy … but rather as a pointed WARNING. The marijuana of today is a HARD psychotropic drug. This is NOT the pot I grew up with (and smoked occasionally).
Did my son have underlying, congenital, causes for his dual diagnosis? Perhaps. Much of what we face medically is genetic not environmental. However, the dope definitely triggered a cascade of negative impacts in his life. From self-medicating (poorly with pot) to simply using the high to … well … do … nothing.
Then wake up depressed at age 35 when all his friends were married and hitting their career strides while he had accomplished NOTHING. NADA. That realization and depression did him in. We tried all we could … we even got him through 5 years of college with no degrees after he was booted (twice) once for F’s and then a criminal case of stalking (a girl) and setting his apartment on fire. Oh … we endured 17 years of a hell no parents ever expect to face.
When my son took the medications prescribed by his psychiatrists … he was a fully functional, and delightful person. And he actually had quarters in college when he did quite well. But he just wouldn’t take his meds. He chose pot instead. Which was the WORST possible decision.
I didn’t mean to imply that you were reaching out for sympathy. The situation resonates with me because I have a grandson who is bordering on the same journey, and sadly, his father has seemed to encourage it. As a grandfather there is little to nothing I can do by way of intervention without alienating the entire family.
It’s not you … it’s me. My sensitivity of not wanting to appear solicitous.
I am so sorry also. (From your evidence it seems we can’t conclude that marijuana was the root cause of son’s death. But that is irrelevant. There is plenty of evidence that marijuana is truly dangerous.) Of the people I know fairly well personally, every one of them who uses pot is troubled, and the pot use does not seem to be helping any of them.
I’ve never met anyone who took “harder” drugs to not have started by smoking pot. Perhaps some would say similar about alcohol, but for me when I was a teen in NW Regina, that’s the way it was. Not everyone moved onto harder drugs (I never).
I’ve known a few people whose lives ended early because of drug use, a couple in grade 11, and others, but nobody as close as Kenji’s son would have been.
I don’t support legalization of any recreational drugs, but nor do I think medical Dr’s should be the only ones prescribing certain drugs. I doubt their expertise on the matter.
Are we to think the government gives a fck?
The proponents of it get a guaranteed job.
They’re no different than someone from the poverty industry.
Money, money, money, money…Money!
Just cause something is legal don’t make it good.
Pharmaceuticals
The medical industry
Alcohol
Tobacco
Canola
Glyphosate
Gambling
Politicians
MSM