This year, the American Heart Association surveyed more than 2,500 teens and found that 70 percent of THC vapers reported experiencing anxiety symptoms such as worrying, flashbacks, panic attacks, and anxiety over the previous week. That compared to 40 percent of those who had never vaped. A Columbia University study also found that teens using cannabis recreationally are two to four times as likely to develop psychiatric disorders, including depression and suicidality, compared to teens who don’t use cannabis. So, with all this incredibly daunting information in front of us, why is the United States so gung-ho about making cannabis legal in all states?
“Follow the money. That’s why we haven’t learned anything. There are a lot of powerful interests who think they can make money from us,” Boston University professor of health law, policy and management Dr. David Jernigan said to The Epoch Times. “There’s a constellation of reasons, but one is that there’s a lot of money involved, and that money is speaking louder than anyone else.”
Currently, 23 states, three U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana use, with another eight decriminalizing it. According to Zippia.com, states with legal marijuana collected $15 billion in tax revenue between 2014–22. A total of $3.77 billion in tax revenue was collected from marijuana sales in 2022 alone.
Dr. Jernigan, known for his outspoken and heavily researched approach to combat the effect alcohol advertising, as well as its marketing and promotion, has on young people, points out that cannabis is still being treated very differently from tobacco. “There is a well-funded public health advocacy movement pushing back against tobacco. There is no such well-funded group pushing back against cannabis,” he said.
One of the significant concerns nationally with researchers and teen mental health advocates is the effect that marijuana use is having on our kids. Dr. Muhammad Zeshan is a Harvard-trained infant, child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at Inside Out, a private practice based in Princeton, New Jersey, and he told The Epoch Times that kids are showing increasingly adverse reactions to regular cannabis use.
“We have a lot of data on the use of cannabis and the effects on anxiety and depression showing a four-fold increase in psychosis for those who use, and an almost three to four times lower performance in memory and processing speed,” he said, adding that kids don’t have to be regular users of marijuana to show adverse reactions. “I’m not just talking about excessive use but use that is not excessive. Kids, even if they’re not meeting that criteria, they’re still having tolerance issues and academic performance is going down.”
The Columbia University study backs Dr. Zeshan’s claims. The researchers found that more than 2.5 million U.S. teens—or about one in 10—were casual cannabis users. More than 600,000 teens—roughly one in 40—met the criteria for cannabis addiction. The study determined that to be considered to have a cannabis use disorder; a person must meet at least two of 11 criteria, which include an inability to reduce consumption, constant cravings, and relationship and social problems.
Despite an increasing amount of studies showing a correlation between cannabis use and psychological issues among teens, a wide margin of Americans still support legalization across the country. Late last year, a Gallup poll showed that support for marijuana legalization remains at the record-high 68 percent recorded each of the past two years. Back in 1969, when the polling company first asked the question, only 12 percent of Americans favored legalization. In its most recent study, there were only a few staunchly against legalization, including political conservatives and those who regularly attend church.
“You’ve got something that you’re basically regarding as a drug or a medicine, and yet people are packaging it like it’s a lollipop in very high concentrated amounts,” Dr. Nicholas Buckley, an Australian professor of clinical pharmacology, told Fatherless.com. He said he’s puzzled by the laissez-faire approach to cannabis policy in the United States. “I’m unclear what the loophole is there, but I’m pretty sure they couldn’t start putting oxycodone in lollies.”
Dr. Jernigan says that one of the reasons cannabis is here to stay is the money behind it. “We’re well on our way to creating a giant, highly concentrated cannabis industry with a tremendous lobby to serve profit, more than health, like alcohol,” he said. “Cannabis may be a small business at the retail level, but everything above that has enormous economies of scale.”
