Opinion/Guest View: Evidence continues to show marijuana legalization is a bad idea

This past weekend I watched the movie “Coach Carter,” a film based on the true story of Ken Carter, played by actor Samuel L. Jackson.

In the movie, Carter accepted the position as a basketball coach for Richmond High, an inner-city high school in Northern California whose student-athletes were struggling academically and athletically.

With tough rules and academic discipline, Carter pressed on to bring out the best in each of his student-athletes, and demanded, most importantly, that they excel in the classroom as well as on the court.

I found “Coach Carter” to be an inspirational film, as its main character exemplified leadership and fortitude, even while being criticized by both his players and their parents for sticking to his convictions. Carter emphasized the message that his players were “students first,” and that education would be the key that would change the trajectory of their lives.

This powerful movie was about determination and how Carter, as a coach and an advocate, improved the lives of the young men on his 1999 team. His players not only graduated from Richmond High, but many went on to college, including his son Damien, who attended West Point.

I think Gov. McKee and certain members of the General Assembly should see this movie. Maybe they would think twice about their actions in legalizing recreational marijuana.

Despite the fact that marijuana use among youth increases with the legalization/commercialization of marijuana, and despite the fact that using marijuana not only increases depression in youth, but is also correlated with an increase in suicidal ideation and behaviors, Rhode Island chose to hide its proverbial head in the sand and disregard the science and evidence-based facts on how marijuana use can negatively affect our youth.

Recently, both an article on WebMD and an op-ed published by The New York Times, shed some light on the “casual pot use” by teens and how this issue is negatively impacting their health and well-being, especially when it comes to depression and suicidal thoughts.

The WebMD article, “Study Says Casual Pot Use Harmful to Teens,” referenced a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) which stated that, “Teenagers who use cannabis recreationally are 2 to 3 times more likely to have depression and suicidal thoughts than those who don’t use it. And teens who have cannabis use disorder – which means they can’t stop using it despite health and social problems – are 4 times more likely to have those same thoughts and feelings.”

According to WebMD, the study looked at information from 68,000 teens in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and according to its lead author, Dr. Ryan Sultan, “Kids, year by year, have been moving towards a view that marijuana is safe and benign – that’s factually incorrect.”

An op-ed published in The New York Times last month entitled “Legalizing Marijuana Is a Big Mistake,” discussed the author’s view on how marijuana legalization has proven to be “… a policy failure, a potential social disaster, a clear and evident mistake.”

Author Ross Douthat specifically pointed to a recent study by the National Institute of Health (NIH) which found evidence that strengthened “the link between heavy pot use and the onset of schizophrenia in young men.”

Upon further research on the NIH website, I found additional details regarding the results of the study:

• “The study team estimated that 15% of cases of schizophrenia among men aged 16-49 may have been avoided in 2021 by preventing cannabis use disorder, in contrast to 4% among women aged 16-49. For young men aged 21-30, they estimated that the proportion of preventable cases of schizophrenia related to cannabis use disorder may be as high as 30%.”

• “'Increases in the legalization of cannabis over the past few decades have made it one of the most frequently used psychoactive substances in the world, while also decreasing the public’s perception of its harm. This study adds to our growing understanding that cannabis use is not harmless, and that risks are not fixed at one point in time,’ said Carsten Hjorthøj, Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor at the Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark and at the University of Copenhagen.”

With the potential proliferation of pot shops popping up around the state, please take the opportunity to discuss the harms of marijuana use with your children.

Rhode Island may hide its head in the sand, but you, like Coach Carter, can make all the difference.

Carol Formica of Middletown is a former member of the Special Legislative Commission to Study the Effects of Marijuana Legalization.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Evidence continues to show pot legalization is a bad idea: Guest View