Kerby Anderson

Over a week ago, I talked about the dangers of alcohol. We know so much more about its dangers than we did just a few decades ago. This is also true of cannabis.

A few months ago, I quoted from a psychobiology professor at Harvard Medical School who put together a detailed review of cannabis and its medical uses for the World Health Organization. There are several US government organizations and experts who also document the dangers of cannabis.

The National Safety Council warns that marijuana has a negative impact on job safety. It is a leading indicator of workplace accidents. It affects depth perception, reaction time, coordination, and other motor skills. It creates sensory distortion. For someone operating machinery, these effects can be deadly.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, employees who tested positive for marijuana had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and 75 percent greater absenteeism compared to those who tested negative.

The National Institutes of Health have reported, “Young men with cannabis (marijuana) use disorder have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.” This conclusion came from the detailed study of “health records data spanning 5 decades and representing more than 6 million people.”

I remember when many years ago, I had an author on my radio program who documented the link between cannabis and schizophrenia. I received complaints from some in the audience about his statement. We now have solid evidence of that potential danger.

Cannabis is not as harmless as promoters of drug legalization would have us believe. This is another case of “the more we learn, the more we learn of its dangers.”