By Ken Wolski
A billboard on Route 1, near Trenton’s Olden Avenue, says teenagers will lose 7-8 IQ points if they use marijuana regularly. It uses this argument to oppose legalizing marijuana for adults in New Jersey.
Besides being illogical, the billboard misrepresents the New Zealand Dunedin study that it cites. First, the study showed only a correlation, not a cause-and- effect relationship, between marijuana use and IQ decline, and second, the study documented a 17-point IQ difference based on socioeconomic status.
The billboard misrepresents these facts to play on society’s passion to protect children as an argument against legalizing marijuana for adults. The bill in the New Jersey Legislature, S1896, proposes allowing adults, not children or teenagers, to use marijuana.
There is no scientific evidence that supports the claim that teenagers will decrease their IQ by using marijuana. Even Dr. Nora Volkow, the head of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and an arch-prohibitionist, admits there is no cause-and-effect relationship between teen use of marijuana and a subsequent, measurable drop in IQ. In reality, the only thing that distinguishes the marijuana user from the non-marijuana user is the use of marijuana — there is no difference in intelligence or achievement.
The billboard is yet another example of the rampant misinformation that has been the hallmark of the endless and severely misguided War on Drugs. Rather than helping to discourage teenage use, the continued illegality of marijuana significantly contributes to the problem of teenage drug use.
Nearly everyone agrees that, except for valid medical purposes, teenagers should not be using marijuana, just as they should not be drinking, smoking or engaging in risky sexual behavior. But more than 80 percent of high school seniors in New Jersey say that marijuana is “easy to get” or “fairly easy to get” and they have been saying that consistently for 30 years, according to survey by Monitoring the Future.
It is the current prohibitionist approach that has led to easy access for teens.
Teens say marijuana is easier to get that alcohol or tobacco. Regulating the sale of marijuana strictly to adults would make it more difficult for teens to obtain marijuana than it is now.
Our current law-enforcement approach only makes matters worse by failing to address underlying issues and by alienating and marginalizing teens with criminal records that can follow them for the rest of their lives.
Our laws against marijuana are outmoded and harmful not only to individual teens but to society as a whole.
If parents would actually like to prevent marijuana use by their children, lying to them is not the way to do it. Yet, this is exactly what the government does. In 1970, marijuana was classified by the government as a Schedule I drug. No drug in the world is more dangerous than a Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs are not available in the pharmacy, and physicians are forbidden to write prescriptions for them. Heroin and LSD are also examples of Schedule I drugs, so they are considered as dangerous as marijuana, not more dangerous. Drugs in Schedules II through V are available by prescription and are considered less dangerous than marijuana. These drugs include cocaine, methamphetamine, tranquilizers, barbiturates, etc. In fact, every drug available in the pharmacy is considered less dangerous than marijuana.
The risk of misinformation is that teenagers soon discover the relatively benign effects of marijuana that they easily get illegally. This can lead them to experiment with far more dangerous and addicting drugs that are also provided by illegal dealers. Their thinking is, “Since you lied to me about marijuana, you are probably lying to me about heroin.” There are legitimate reasons to strongly discourage marijuana use by minors, but we don’t need to lie to them or to keep it illegal for adults.
Marijuana is a natural substance that has been used for thousands of years with no reported deaths from overdose. Thanks to convincing scientific research, it is now nationally recognized that marijuana has important health benefits, in addition to being a far safer alternative to alcohol. You can use all the marijuana you want and you will still wake up the next morning. That is not something that can be said about alcohol. Alcohol-related deaths on campus are a national tragedy that shows no sign of abating. And alcohol is not even a scheduled drug — the government absurdly considers it far less dangerous than marijuana.
By distorting a scientific study in order to oppose marijuana legalization, the billboard seeks to continue the wretched excesses of mass incarceration. Cities such as Trenton are ground zero for the War on Drugs. The current policies for drug offenses have destroyed families and left the inner cities of our state impoverished, devastated and crime-ridden.
Legalization would stop 22,000 marijuana arrests in New Jersey each year. Prison is what really lowers IQs. Prison can not only dumb down a person, it can lower the socioeconomic status of the entire family. The Dunedin study showed that a low socioeconomic status is a much stronger indicator of low IQ than marijuana use. When enough residents are incarcerated, the IQ of the entire community is affected.
If the people who put up the billboard are really concerned about the IQs of teenagers, they will work to raise their socioeconomic status and not oppose the legalization of marijuana for adults.
Ken Wolski, RN, M.P.A., is executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey Inc.
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Opinion: Legal marijuana use for adults - a smart idea
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