The Washington Times published
my review of Alex Berenson’s Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana,
Mental Illness, and Violence.
Many people these days, it
seems, believe that marijuana is a mostly harmless drug that helps to ease pain
and relaxes people, like a good, stiff, alcoholic drink. But like alcohol, the
effects of marijuana can be serious and even deadly.
Alex
Berenson, a thriller writer and former New York Times reporter, has
written a book that exposes the myths of marijuana at a time when many
politicians are pushing for nationwide legalization.
In “Tell Your Children: The
Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence,” Alex
Berenson warns that the chemical in marijuana that causes one to
“get high,” 9-tetrahdrocannabinol, commonly called THC, can cause psychotic
episodes that can end in violence.
...“Most people will never have
a psychotic episode while using marijuana. Some will have temporary breaks from
reality. But an unlucky minority of users develop full-blown schizophrenia,” Mr.
Berenson writes. “At this point, doctors have no way of predicting
who they will be.”
Mr.
Berenson writes that the most important finding linking marijuana
and psychosis is a 2017 468-page research report issued by the National Academy
of Medicine titled “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.” The study
reported that marijuana does not appear to cause lung cancer. But the study
offers less good news when it comes to mental health. The study found strong
evidence that marijuana causes schizophrenia and some evidence that it worsens
bipolar disorder and increases the risks of suicide, depression and social
anxiety disorder.
The higher the use, the
greater the risk, the study concludes.
You can read the rest of the
review via the below link:
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