What next, MAGA hats on their reporters?
1/28/19 NPR.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in 10 states and Washington, D.C., and it's bringing in billions in revenue. But when it comes to science about its safety, medicinal properties or even its benefits, we're still largely in the dark, says New Yorker writer and author Malcolm Gladwell.
Here & Now's Robin Young talks with Gladwell (@Gladwell) about his new article on the subject, which explores what's known about the drug and why he thinks it's critical to spend some time and money on learning more.
"For years and years and years, people who were advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana correctly pointed out that you can't study the drug, you can't understand it, unless you make it legal," Gladwell says. "We're now making it legal, and we have the opportunity to study it properly. But it strikes me that in some cases, we're not doing that. We're kind of jumping ahead of ourselves."
A big part of the problem is that it was made illegal in a silly way - by the federal government arbitrarily making it category one. That made it illegal for anyone to use it, even researchers, without jumping through huge hoops.
ReplyDeleteIt would have made a lot more sense for them to put it in the same category as morphine, so the medical community could study, and prescribe it.
Now we'll find out how dangerous it is; we have tame doctors to write prescriptions to anyone. Of course that means you can't complain about the smoke smell -- it's for medication! I have a prescription. Tobacco doesn't have those protections.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, General George S. Patton thought it stimulated violence, and if I recall correctly, Mexico outlawed marijuana 8 to 10 years before America did. Clayton linked a study a few years ago that showed there was a 1 in 11 chance of becoming psychotic from the drug, and there were no predictors for if it would happen or not.
At least two universities- one in California and the other in New Jersey- have had State funding and protection to research the medicinal value of Cannabis form a quarter century. I now await the collapse of the medicinal studies because the Cannabis sellers decide they no longer have to pay to maintain the story.
ReplyDelete