The Dopey Dope Peddlers under the TrueDope !

   The first Drug Pushers in history to lose money is the Canadian Government.  Despite all their marijuana malfeasance and their legal manipulation, the illegal pushers can still market the pot significantly cheaper than the Government can: of course the government is simply bleeding the taxpayers dollars and not their own.  Buying votes is the governmental priority and they certainly saw this as a cheap way to buy the youth vote.   They also saw it as a vast source of income because everyone knows that selling drugs is the way to make a fortune (under honest crooks, in contradistinction to the dishonest ones in government).   But when Ronald Reagan said, "The nine most frightening words in the English  language is 'I'm from the Government and  I'm here to help' he was right on the ball.  No one but the government could lose money pushing drugs, but that is nowhere near the worst of the damages they have perpetrated.   The medical consequences of long term use of pot are by no means fully known.  The legalization of marijuana was passed by a government that had not adequately investigated either the health consequences or the business mechanisms necessary to produce the end product as a source of income rather than a liability.  Our Prime Minister has probably had more experience of weed in his early years than most and HE thinks he's okay!  By all accounts his mother was no amateur either!
  After all it is only the taxpayers money that is at stake.Instead of replacing the black market marijuana that manages to produce and sells at about half the price of the legal product the Dope was not smart enough to realize that a government requires at least a rudimentary knowledge of the danger of a product that they are unleashing on the public and the necessity to produce the evidence that it is relativity safe to the user and not a hazard to the public at large.  This government does not.    The tragedy is that the Dope's move to hurriedly implement the program is going to encourage the illicit market to grow bolder, has no real safeguards against driving and other hazardous activities while high on weed, or worse still on a combination of weed and booze.          The great pride that Canada Health has voiced in reducing tobacco smoking is likely to be overwhelmed by the increase in weed smoking which is just as damaging to the lungs as cigarette smoking.  Smoke from pot contains the same toxins and carcinogens as tobacco and tends to be inhaled more deeply and held in the lungs for longer.
   Other long-term effects of marijuana include such non benign effects as temporary hallucinations, paranoia and worsening of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.  Some studies have demonstrated that weed use is associated with reduced volume in certain areas of the brain that are involved with memory, learning and self control.  
   A large New Zealand study found that long term use starting in adolescence results in a loss of six to eight IQ points.
   The endocannaboid system is known to play an important role in the proper formation of synapses during early brain development.
   Memory impairment from marijuana use occurs because THC alters how the hippocampus, a brain area that is responsible for memory formation, processes information.   As people age they lose neurons in the hippocampus which decreases their ability to learn new information.  THC accelerates this loss in rats significantly. 
   There is considerable evidence that pot is a gateway drug and serves to introduce its users to other more potent drugs.  There is also evidence of a link between pot and psychiatric disorders.
   These are a few of the long term problems created by the premature legalization of marijuana.  With the passage of time we are like to find significantly more.
   Next time we'll take a look at the havoc and damage the short term effects can have.