Marijuana – Family Council

Marijuana Harms

Sep 27, 2021Guest AuthorMarijuanaMarijuana

*John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center*

According to Dr. Eric Voth in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “There exists clear medical evidence of increased psychiatric difficulties with marijuana use, including violence, psychosis, schizophrenia, manic episodes, worsening depression and suicide.”

These effects are particularly harmful for youth.

Of course, when it comes to public policy, the cat is largely out of the bag, and probably isn’t going back in. One thing, however, is becoming more and more clear with each study, despite what proponents claimed and promised: marijuana is not the harmless thing we were sold by advocates and the state.

For the record, states should not be in the business of promoting distractions to citizens in the first place, especially harmful ones used to self-medicate symptoms of loneliness, pain, or anxiety without actually addressing the root causes. But this is particularly disturbing when they accomplish this by overselling financial windfalls and underselling the social consequences.

Frequent Marijuana Users Under 45 Twice as Likely to Suffer Heart Attack: New Study

Sep 22, 2021Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal indicates that adults under age 45 who frequently use marijuana are roughly twice as likely to suffer from a heart attack as adults who do not use marijuana.

Researchers examined health data from more than 33,000 adults ages 18 – 44, of whom more than 4,600 reported using marijuana in the past 30 days.

The study noted that a history of heart attack was more frequent among recent marijuana users than among nonusers, and that a history of heart attack was associated with using marijuana more than four times per month.

The study’s authors even observed that marijuana’s association with heart attack appeared to be similar to tobacco’s, writing, “The association between recent cannabis use and MI [heart attack] was similar in magnitude to associations with MI [heart attack] observed for current tobacco smoking.”

It’s important to point out that this is certainly not the first study to link heart problems with marijuana use.

All of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

D.C. Police Chief Calls Out Realities of Marijuana

Aug 9, 2021Guest AuthorMarijuanaMarijuana

In 2015, then-Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier assured reporters that legalizing marijuana would not have an effect on crime. “They just want to get a bag of chips and to relax,” she said. “Alcohol is a much bigger problem.”

Six years later and DC is dealing with more than the munchies. Current Police Chief Robert Contee recently declared, “Marijuana undoubtedly is connected to violent crimes.” This in a community with a 20 percent increase in violent crime since Covid.

Contee grew-up in D.C., He knew the smell of marijuana because his dad was an addict. His life was turned around by a mom who taught him about consequences and a community that gave him support. Now, he’s trying to convince D.C. residents and lawmakers that bad ideas, including bad laws, have consequences… and victims.

This will be a tough thing to turn around. Christians will have a role to play, along with a shift in thinking about marijuana. One that matches reality.