Marijuana laws
I applaud APA and affiliates of the NIDA for executing and disseminating research on the potential dangers of marijuana legalization and subsequent use in the Monitor's September article "Are marijuana legalization laws based on bad science?"
The information in this article is excellent and the points for the science against marijuana legalization/use are well made, but the title is misleading. The article discusses little to none of the science used in favor of the legalization of cannabis or any subsequent defenses of that action. Rather, the article claims there are many myths of innocuousness surrounding marijuana use/effects; it references "good" science from sources like the New England Journal of Medicine showing harmful health findings and also points out alarming statistics about the negative effects of legalization, such as the rise in drug-related expulsions from Colorado schools.
Finally, it is important to recognize marijuana legalization has much to do with pragmatic or political arguments, such as "personal freedom" and increased tax revenue, as well as issues of good or bad scientific findings. Scientific knowledge is pertinent to this discussion, but we should also recognize that empirical evidence is often not the whole basis of making these decisions.
Graham Morris, doctoral student
Auburn University
