A Statement of Relief to Remedy a Statement of Concern
In a recent “Statement of Concern” released by over 40 Massachusetts doctors and scientists, they aimed to make the public aware of the “dangerous risks of commercial marijuana” which included things like addiction, cognitive impairment and mental illness.
According to their “Statement”, they feel that the policies being passed in the area favor commercial gains over public health. Considering that these clinicians are so “concerned” about the entire Marijuana Thing…I decided to answer them in my own letter entitled, “A Statement of Relief” where I wish to address their particular concerns.
Shall we start?
Let’s look at the facts
Before we begin with our Statement of Relief, we need to take a closer look at these individuals who are so concerned that they had to pen a letter to the public. The vast majority of the folks in this letter are in the field of psychiatry and addiction recovery. It suddenly makes sense when you see where they make their money that they would be so “concerned” about public health.
Concerned about legalized cannabis, yet they have no problem prescribing opiates, hardcore pharmaceuticals to deal with anxiety and other psychological conditions while receiving a hefty paycheck from the pharmaceutical companies themselves.
Suddenly, their concern becomes very obvious – Don’t legalize cannabis, you’ll take away our money!
Secondly, we take a closer look at the particular concerns. The following is directly from their Statement:
- Risk of Addiction
- Impairment of cognitive (intellectual) function; and
- Increased risk of serious mental health problems including, acute psychosis (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), paranoia, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and suicide, with growing scientific evidence that the daily use of high THC products brings greater risk.
- We are seeing these negative health effects on our patient populations
- Just like not all tobacco products cause cancer, not all marijuana/THC use causes the negative effects listed above, however, the risk is substantial enough to require policies which discourage use.
Source – A Statement of Concern
Oh boy, those are a lot of concerns. Let’s take a look at them.
Can you get addicted to cannabis?
Some people yes, most people no. According to their documentation, when you smoke weed as a kid, you’re likely to become an addict. In fact, they claim that if you smoke under 10% THC as a teen, you have a 1 in 6 chance to be classified as an addict. If you smoke higher potency, it suddenly shoots up to nearly half.
However, when you look at the general population and see that the vast majority of consumers are NOT addicted according to their own standards…then how do they continue to support those numbers? It’s simple really, they use the data provided by their own system. In giant blue letters next to the “facts” they state, there is a statistic that reads “76% of teen substance abuse treatment admission are for marijuana”.
And then it becomes clear, they are concerned that if cannabis is no longer seen as the “dangerous drug” they need it to be, then they would lose custome…*cough* patients.
While I don’t advocate for the underage consumption of cannabis, the sheer fearmongering of these statistics are directly related to their revenue stream.
So for the rest of us, a sigh of relief…but what does concern me is that people in the pockets of the pharmaceutical industry are taking care of your kids. Nothing to see here! Let’s move on.
Smoking weed makes you a dumbass
While they didn’t use those exact words, the idea is pretty clear. They claim that smoking cannabis as a teen will make you dumber. These studies they cite have all been debunked when factors like socio-economic status, diet and a number of other elements are considered.
Yet they continue to bang on the same old drum. What truly was comical for me was the way they described “Cannabis induced psychosis”. This my friends, it merely another word for “tripping”.
Cannabis-induced psychosis according to them relates to a “detachment from reality which might sometimes include hallucinations”. That sounds like tripping to me.
But more concerning is, “what is the definition of reality”. While there is an obvious position to be made on the fact that “reality is shared”, it’s also highly subjective. What is “real” for some people, is bullshit for others.
Let’s take the idea of God for a moment. For some people, it’s the reason why we are here, for others it’s a fairytale grownups tell.
However, it doesn’t mean that the concept isn’t “real” for others. From a psychiatric perspective, talking to God is schizophrenia. You’re talking to a “being” that cannot be measured in physical space and hearing the “voice of God” in response.
That by definition is schizophrenic. Yet, there is no concern for the reinforcement of these ideas. Hell, some people think they are animals, yet this is not of their concern…only weed.
Let’s be fair
To be fair, they aren’t asking for the illegality of cannabis. They are simply trying to have a more “health-oriented approach” when it comes to regulation. However, that could be expressed without spreading more misinformation about cannabis, which their statement of concern is stuffed to the brim with.
Either way, it’s time we stop being concerned about public health, because the public is already smoking weed. We can work on making it safer, purer and more efficient, but the need to pen a letter to the public over your concerns, when you have obvious ties to pharmaceutical companies and the rehab industry…well, that is what’s truly concerning.
SCIENCE ON WEED, CLICK HERE.
BILL NYE ON CANNABIS, CLICK HERE.
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