Marijuana: Legal Doesn’t Mean Safe

Twenty-three
states and the District of Columbia have laws legalizing some form of marijuana
use, and recreational use of marijuana is legal in four states and D.C.

Does
this growing trend to legalize marijuana mean we don’t need to worry about it?  About
one in 10 people who try marijuana will become addicted to it which means that
they most likely will use it in increasing quantities, develop tolerance (less
effect from it as time goes on), will have withdrawal symptoms if they try to
stop, and will find that the marijuana use is causing them to neglect other
important areas of their life like work, relationships and leisure
activities. 

Even
occasional use of marijuana can have negative effects.  hen someone has marijuana in his/her system,
short term memory is impaired, reflexes are impaired and judgment is
impaired.  These impairments can last 24
hours or longer after the use of the marijuana so it is certainly not safe to
drive after using marijuana. Most people will not be able to perform other
demanding tasks (work-related activities, childcare) at the level they are
accustomed to after using marijuana. 

All the
evidence that we now have indicates that marijuana is possibly permanently damaging
to the developing adolescent brain. All
children should be strongly discouraged from using it at all until they are at
least 21 years of age. If marijuana is
smoked there are also potential physical health risks, such as damage to the
lungs or cardiovascular system.

For more information, see American Psychiatric Association’s  Resource
Document on Marijuana as Medicine.

By Andrew Saxon, MD

Professor and Director, Addiction
Psychiatry Residency Program

University of Washington

Director, Center of
Excellence in Substance Abuse Treatment and Education

VA Puget Sound Health
Care System

Seattle, WA