Studies show Hawaii was correct to pass on dangerous marijuana legalization

Washington Examiner, April 4, 2024

Hawaii declined to hear a bill on legalizing marijuana on Tuesday, which effectively ended any legitimate effort to legalize the drug in the state. It was a bold move in a political climate that unfortunately seems to favor legalizing the drug despite the numerous studies that warn of marijuana’s dangers. Other states should follow Hawaii’s lead and pass on hearing any legislation supporting legalization. 

“The path to legalizing adult-use cannabis has been a deeply divisive issue,” state House Finance Committee Chairman Kyle T. Yamashita said in a released statement about the decision. “This year marked its furthest progression, with SB3335 narrowly passing its second reading. Due to numerous concerns regarding the implementation of the bill, the House has decided against further deliberation in the House Finance Committee. This decision is strengthened by the prevailing ‘no’ votes from committee members expressed on the House floor.”

Hawaii should be commended for rejecting this legislation. However, lawmakers should also be encouraged to familiarize themselves with the dangers and adverse health problems that have been linked to marijuana in recent years. The recent national push to legalize the drug has ignored warnings of the devastating effect regular marijuana use has on people. It’s almost as if lawmakers throughout the country were in a huge rush to poison the population. 

For example, a recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that regular use of marijuana over an extended period “can impact midlife cognition.” The study revealed that people who used marijuana regularly for years “exhibited impairments across several domains of cognition.” The study also found that regular use of marijuana affected cognitive impairment more significantly “than that of alcohol or tobacco use.”

Additionally, the study found that people who used marijuana regularly had a decline in IQ points and had “smaller hippocampi” — the hippocampus is the part of the brain “responsible for learning and memory.” It was always joked that marijuana made people less intelligent. Now, there is scientific evidence to back that claim up. 

Furthermore, another study revealed that regular marijuana use was linked to “psychotic disorders,” “poorer mental health outcomes including increased risk of mood disorders, self-harm and suicidality,” and “associated with approximately 12 and 15 excess life-years lost in women and men.”

And most recently, another study warned of even more dangers of using the drug. Earlier this year, the Journal of the American Heart Association published a study that revealed regular use of marijuana was “associated with a 25% increased likelihood of heart attack and a 42% increased likelihood of stroke when compared to non-use of the drug.”

Simply put, marijuana is dangerous, and the negative health ramifications associated with the use of the drug have been constantly downplayed. With all the above data easily accessible and readily available for the country’s legislators, there is little, if any, reason to promote the use of marijuana or advance bills, laws, or any legislation to legalize the drug. Any lawmaker who participates in efforts to legalize marijuana should be considered a willing accomplice in poisoning the population with a product that endangers people and leads to diminished brain function, cognitive impairment, increased mental health problems, strokes, and heart attacks.

No politician should be supporting the legalization of a drug that causes these horrific health problems. Any politician who does is either irresponsible, uninformed, or compromised by the big marijuana lobby.