Anti-marijuana groups have been energized recently by actions taken by the Trump administration to raise awareness about the negative effects of the drug.
Last month, U.S Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued an advisory on marijuana use, highlighting the harmful effects it has on adolescents and pregnant women. The advisory, the first of its kind since 1982, was supported by President Donald Trump, who announced that he will donate his second quarter salary for 2019 to promote it.
The advisory stressed that marijuana, contrary to popular belief, has gotten more dangerous over the years.
“Marijuana has changed over time. The marijuana available today is much stronger than previous versions. The THC concentration in commonly cultivated marijuana plants has increased three-fold between 1995 and 2014 [4% and 12% respectively]. Marijuana available in dispensaries in some states has average concentrations of THC between 17.7% and 23.2%. Concentrated products, commonly known as dabs or waxes, are far more widely available to recreational users today and may contain between 23.7% and 75.9% THC,” the advisory stated.
THC, which stands for delta tetrahydrocannabinol, is the component in marijuana responsible for euphoria and intoxication.
The advisory warned of the consequences when pregnant women take marijuana, which include damage to the fetus’s brain development and lower birth weights.
The advisory also noted that, “alarmingly, many retail dispensaries recommend marijuana to pregnant women for morning sickness,” but pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that “…it is important to advise all adolescents and young women that if they become pregnant, marijuana should not be used during pregnancy.”
In 2017, 9.2 million youths aged 12 to 25 had reported marijuana use in the past month as reported by the advisory. It drew a connection between states legalizing the drug and the decline in high school student’s perception of harm from marijuana. “The legalization movement may be impacting youth perception of harm from marijuana.”
In recent years, marijuana has been legalized for recreational use in 8 states: Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. It has been legalized for medical use in most others.
The advisory noted that “frequent marijuana use during adolescence is associated with changes in the areas of the brain involved in attention, memory, decision-making, and motivation.”
“Chronic use is also linked to declines in IQ [and] school performance that jeopardizes professional and social achievements, and life satisfaction. Regular use of marijuana in adolescence is linked to rates of school absence and drop out, as well as suicide attempts.”
“The advisory, like all of our work on substance abuse, is grounded in the best science we have,” Alex Azar, U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a press conference announcing the report.
“We need to be clear: Some state’s laws on marijuana may have changed, but the science has not, and federal law has not,” he continued.
Frank Lee, the Bay Area Director of the organization California Coalition Against Drugs, spoke with the Epoch Times about the significance of the Surgeon General’s report and Trump’s announcement.
“Trump has so many issues to deal with, for him to single out this issue and donate 25% of his salary, it shows that he is very committed to this cause,” Lee said.
“It is so crucial that people understand how serious of an issue marijuana really is, because we have seen so many times, people’s lives have been ruined by this drug.”
This article is from the Internet:Trump Donates Salary to Support US Surgeon General’s Effort to Raise Awareness of Harm Caused by Marijuana