It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Dems who have been so unwilling to prosecute other crimes would soften their position on street drugs as well.
Biden has a long history of opposing the legalizing of marijuana use. As veep in 2010, he considered it a ‘gateway drug’ and thought it would be ‘a mistake’ to legalize it. As recently as 2019, he claimed he needed to see more evidence gathered as to whether it really was a gateway drug or not.
Joe’s position on this topic has — to borrow a term from Obama’s presidency — has ‘evolved’.
He is instructing his administration to move marijuana from a Schedule 1 restricted drug to a Schedule 2 drug. This will have implications for how drug-related laws are enforced.
Any criticism of his flip-flopping aside, he picked an odd time to make this announcement.
After all, a study that just came out would suggest pumping the brakes rather than hitting the gas on making weed more widely available.
Developing cannabis use disorder is relatively common in Washington state, one of the first states to fully legalize cannabis, and can even occur in people who only use medical marijuana, according to a new study.
“There’s a perception that people who are using marijuana for medical reasons have a lower risk of a cannabis use disorder,” said lead author Gwen Lapham, assistant professor at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Seattle.
To have cannabis use disorder, or CUD, a person must have two or more of such symptoms as craving weed, becoming tolerant, using more than intended, using marijuana even though it causes problems in life, using it in high-risk situations, experiencing withdrawal and being unable to quit, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The main take home message of our study is that cannabis use disorder is common among primary care patients in a state with legal cannabis use,” said Lapham, who is also an assistant investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. — CNN
The article goes on to explain some of the possible consequences of cannabis addiction.
The left likes to remind us about the mental health crisis facing our nation, especially among our homeless population, but they seldom discuss what could be driving these problems.
A variety of substances and medications can cause a condition known as substance/medication-induced psychotic disorder. After taking a drug or medicine, some people may experience psychosis within a month of using the substance or when they are withdrawing from the drug.
[…]
Marijuana use has also been linked to an increased risk for developing a number of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, depression, and substance use disorders. — VeryWellMind
Schizophrenia isn’t exactly something we want to be rolling the dice with, is it?
There are no current FDA-approved medications to treat cannabis use disorder, Lapham said, so behavior-based treatments or specialty addiction centers are the rule. Yet not getting treatment can have consequences.
“Among others, studies have noted a higher risk of developing a mental disorder, cognitive deficits, use of psychiatric services and hospitalization, in addition to violent behavior towards oneself and others,” Dumais added.
It’s not just Washington state, either. The new study’s result mirror findings from other countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and France. A 2020 meta-analysis of those countries and the US found 22% of cannabis users would develop a cannabis disorder during their lifetime — the risk rose to 33% for younger people who engaged in weekly or daily use of weed. A 2021 study found cannabis use disorder rose from 17.7% before marijuana was legalized in Canada to 24.3% after legalization. — CNN
Seeing how well adjusted his own kids are, surely Biden is the person we should look to on advice about the safety of drug use, eh?
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