On September 26th, the National Academy of Sciences presented its latest report on marijuana. A distinguished group of scholars and panelists, which included Dr. Steven Teutsch of UCLA, Neuroscientist Yasmin Hurd of the Icahn School of Medicine and Rosalie Pacula of USC, went public in a webinar.
The panel implied that states have done a terrible job of legalizing marijuana, particularly in terms of public health.
This specific report involved health policy and health equity, as opposed to the 2017 NAS Report on the health effects of cannabis and cannabinoids. We caution that the copy available to the public is a prepublication copy.
In short, the committee was asked to assess the regulatory framework for cannabis. The 312-page report was divided into six chapters. The webinar panel reported on Chapters 2 through 6, saying that cannabis is “very challenging to regulate.”
The committee was critical of the 2018 Farm Bill which allowed growing hemp with .03 percent THC. This bill resulted in producers converting hemp into other types of THC (Delta-8 THC, Delta-10 THC which we’ve written about previously.) A panelist stated: “Each hybrid has unique and inconsistent effects.” The implication was that Congress should close this loophole quickly.
Should the federal government step in?
It seems as if Committee Chair, Dr. Steven Teutsch, believes that the federal government needs to step in and regulate the state legalization programs.
How is it possible that the federal government would be able to regulate cannabis while state governments have failed? (Although the press sometimes reports of failures, the overwhelming bias of the press is to laud the effort and talk about the potential for tax money.)
During the question-and-answer period, someone asked what other countries do, wondering if other places have been more successful.
The answer came back. Uruguay does the best job in terms of regulation for public safety because the market is centralized and the government controls the market.
We note that Uruguay has a population of 3.4 million, fewer people than most states! It’s no comparison for the United States. Because the US is a capitalist country, the safety nets provided by Uruguay will never be imitated in the United States!
Health Impacts Covered in the Report
Panelists noted lots disturbing trends: higher potency, new products and more pregnant women using cannabis, with dispensary workers recommend cannabis to pregnant women. Increases of use were most remarkable the categories of young adults, males, American Indians/Native Alaskans and those below the poverty line.
As the cannabis industry hoped, daily marijuana use surpassed daily alcohol use in 2022. There were approximately 17.7 daily or near-daily users of marijuana compared to 14.7 daily drinkers of alcohol. Although far more Americans report drinking alcohol, the frequency of use is less among drinkers than cannabis users
Chapter 6 covered harmful health impacts of legalization with descriptions by Laura Stack of Johnny’s Ambassadors and Aubree Adams of Every Brain Matters. Both women lived in Colorado at the outset of cannabis commercialization, and their families suffered because of it. Stack “highlighted the alarming ease with which teens can access high-potency cannabis, using medical marijuana cards obtained without legitimate medical conditions.” (p. 224) Laura Stack’s son Johnny lost his life in a suicide due to psychosis related to his cannabis use. She’s written two books about it, but the story is not unique or unusual in this new cannabis landscape.
Gabriel Mondragon, who has schizophrenia related to cannabis use and his genetics also spoke to the committee. “The committee heard from more than 20 people, all of whom expressed concerns about the increased cannabis use that follows policy changes and the health impacts of this increased use.” (p. 225)
Social Equity isn’t working either
Since so many believe that millions are in jail for simple marijuana possession alone, the jail argument and its disproportionate effects on minorities motivate voters.
Social equity is a recent aim of legalization programs, as the earliest programs didn’t try to solve that problem. The report said, “While these initiatives hold promise for mitigating the harms of cannabis prohibition, challenges remain in implementation and effectiveness.”
It also stated that “The data needed to evaluate whether changes in cannabis policy have reduced inequities associated with criminal justice entanglement are lacking.” (p. 209)
In other words, the social equity arguments and claims for legalization haven’t made a difference. Arrests for cannabis are down in legalization states, but minorities are still arrested at higher rates than whites.
Remember what Hillary Clinton said
In 2015, Hillary Clinton was asked about marijuana legalization. She replied that the states are “laboratories for democracy” and suggested a wait-and-see attitude. Well, now the country seems to be recognizing what we’ve always known all along: Marijuana legalization is FAILED POLICY!
Although this report recommends federal leadership to clear up the many problems, we do not believe it’s possible. There’s no roadmap to making a program that has failed consistently start working successfully. The committee’s recommendations can be found in a summary on pp 4-16.
The bigger the state, the bigger the failure in the US.
(Of course, each state program is different, and all state marijuana programs are inconsistent with federal law.)
California and New York are perhaps the two biggest failures – and the two largest states to legalize pot!
California Governor Gavin Newsom was Lieutenant Governor when California voted to legalize cannabis in 2016. He led a blue-ribbon committee of scholars and scientists to study how to best legalize in California. Backed by the ACLU, the California model hasn’t worked. Despite the best intentions, California still struggles to control its illegal market. After 8 years, 70-80% of all sales are still illegal. (Californians would probably vote to undo legalization if the ballot came up again, but such ballots are very expensive.)
New York’s model of legalization, implemented by the state legislature also failed badly. Florida, the nation’s 3rd most populous state, could end up with the same issues as New York, if Florida’s legalization ballot, Amendment 3, passes this year.
Americans should learn how to cut their losses and go no further into the tangle of cannabis problems. We don’t need a bureaucracy of public health experts to attempt correcting something that can’t be corrected.