MARIJUANA

“Science, not ideology, must be our guide to rational and informed public policy.”

National Association of Drug Court Professionals

63% of emergency room admission records mention marijuana, 36% mentioned heroin (2009).
The psychoactive ingredient in marijuana – THC – has increased almost six-fold in potency.
Marijuana contains 50% more carcinogens than tobacco smoke.
More youths are in treatment for marijuana abuse or dependence than for use of alcohol and all other drugs. (Teen

admission for marijuana abuse has increased 66% between 2011 and 2014 in Colorado.)
Marijuana negatively affects attention, memory, learning and intelligence for days or weeks, depending on user’s

history with the drug, after intoxicating effects of drug have subsided. Its use is consistently associated with poorer academic grades and reduced likelihood of graduating from school, as well as increased work related absences, tardiness, accidents, compensation claims, and job turnover.
Marijuana negatively affects the development of the adolescent brain and use during adolescence is directly linked to the onset of major mental illness.
Marijuana impairs motor coordination and reaction time and is the second most prevalent drug (after alcohol) implicated in automobile accidents (2010).
Use of marijuana makes addiction to other drugs more likely. (After three years of use, two-thirds of people who used marijuana had some additional form of substance use disorder, compared with less than 20% of people who did not use marijuana, in a 2016 study by Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University.)
80% of child abuse and neglect is related to substance use: marijuana, alcohol, heroin, and methamphetamine.
The average user of smoked “medical” marijuana has no chronic illness and is a white male in his mid-thirties with a

history of alcohol and drug abuse. In Colorado, April 2016 statistics according to the Department of Health, only 3.8% of users reported cancer, 1.2% reported glaucoma and less than 1% reported HIV/AIDS as their reason for marijuana use. Some constituents of marijuana, including THC, are available today in pill form. Research is investigating other safe delivery methods.
Smoked marijuana is not an FDA approved medicine and has not passed standards of safety and efficacy.

Citations at www.nadcp.org/sites/default/files/nadcp/NADCP%20Board%20Position%20Statement%20-%20Marijuana.pdf