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USA: Malcolm Gladwell – Big Concerns about Potent Pot

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Malcolm Gladwell blasts pot legalization, says “we should not be racing to make this available,” and that the emerging legal industry is “a whole new scary thing.”

Also today, CBS This Morning features SAM Pres. Kevin Sabet
This week, best-selling The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, who the New York Times has called “as close to a singular talent as exists today” in the world of nonfiction, opined about his distaste for the legalization of marijuana and the expanded normalization of the drug. In an extended interview with an NPR affiliate, Gladwell stated:
“To my mind, the important issue is not the economic one, it is the psychological and medical one,” he said. “Research seems pretty clear that the kind of marijuana that’s being sold now, which has levels of THC that are seven or eight times higher than historically, has some quite serious side effects, not all of which we understand.”
He went on to say: “The idea of having the general public consume what is an extraordinarily powerful drug that we don’t fully understand is quite terrifying to my mind.”
CBS This Morning Features SAM

Also t oday, CBS This Morning featured a story on the sales of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, and SAM President Kevin Sabet. In the story, Sabet said: 

“The state is being heavily influenced by the marijuana industry to tell you your product is safe. There have been…recalls because of additives, pesticides, and molds, so it’s really ‘buyer beware.’


“This isn’t about the individual users, this is about a green light to an industry that is taking all of their plays from Big Tobacco, who lied to the American people for a century. Why would we get fooled again?”
Colorado Cost Study 

In case you missed it: a new  study conducted by a third-party analysis firm found each dollar in tax revenue costs the state of Colorado $4.50.
About SAM
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians, policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states.   Evidence shows that marijuana – which has skyrocketed in average potency over the past decades – is addictive and harmful to the human brain , especially when used by adolescents. In states that have already legalized the drug, there has been an increase in drugged driving crashes ,   youth marijuana use , and  c osts that far outweigh pot revenues. These states have seen a black market that continues to thrive,sustained marijuana arrest rates, and tobacco company investment in marijuana .
For more information about marijuana use and its effects, visit www.learnaboutsam.org.

 

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