On Friday, Hot Air posted an article about the dangers of recreational use of marijuana.

The article reports:

There are now 24 states, plus the District of Columbia, that have legalized recreational marijuana. This change in attitude toward the drug was originally driven by a push to make it legal for medicinal purposes, i.e. for cancer patients and other people struggling with nausea. But over time this morphed into the kind of broader legalization we have today.

But as many have noted, the drug being sold today is not like the stuff some were smoking in the 1970s or 1980s. Today’s cannabis products are often many times more potent and along with that has come a host of problems that are only starting to be recognized by many doctors, everything from addiction to psychosis. As with any drug, the people who use it most frequently are the ones most likely to experience problems.

…In the worst cases, heavy users experience exactly the kind of symptoms that cannabis is generally thought to alleviate, i.e. nausea, vomiting and pain. This is known as cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome and it can even lead to death in extreme cases.

The article quotes The New York Times:

“Not everyone who smokes cigarettes develops lung cancer, and not everyone who has lung cancer smoked cigarettes,” said Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a professor at Yale School of Medicine and a staff psychiatrist at VA Connecticut Healthcare Systems. “But we now know, after denying it for many, many decades, that the association between the two is very important. The same is true for cannabis and psychosis.”…

A study in 11 sites across Europe found that people who regularly consumed marijuana with at least 10 percent THC were nearly five times as likely to develop a psychotic disorder as those who never used it. A study in Ontario found that the risk of developing one was 11 times as high for teenage users compared with nonusers.

The article concludes:

Weed is not always harmless and it can be addictive. It’s probably especially bad for younger people whose brains are still maturing. Does that mean it should be illegal? Not necessarily. Alcohol kills a lot of people every year but prohibition didn’t work. Nevertheless, anyone who is using potent cannabis everyday is setting themselves up for problems. Hacking your own chemistry to feel good is always subject to a law of diminishing returns. Sorry if I sound like a 1980s after-school special but I’ve been pretty consistent on this since I was 16 myself. Don’t do drugs, kids.

Using any mind-altering substance while you are young and your brain is still developing is not smart.