“As more states have adopted legalization, public support for this policy has risen dramatically among voters — regardless of party affiliation. Elected officials who refuse to take action to end cannabis criminalization do so at their own political peril.”
“These findings belie that claim that cannabis is a so-called ‘gateway drug’ and reinforces the notion that, for many individuals and for patients especially, it acts as a exit drug.”
Numerous studies assessing the long-term health impacts of cannabis smoke exposure belie the myth that marijuana is associated with the same sort of well established, adverse respiratory hazards as tobacco.
It is misleading at best and disingenuous at worst to imply that cannabis smoke exposure is either equal to or more hazardous to health than tobacco smoking, or to imply that long-term data on its respiratory effects do not exist.
Researchers concluded, “We see no evidence that liberalized cannabis policies are directly associated with increased smoking behaviors among young adults.”
The administration of oral CBD reduces cue-induced cravings and anxiety in subjects with a history of heroin use, according to clinical data published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Commenting on the study’s findings, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said, “These conclusions add to the growing body of evidence that cannabis and its constituents represent an exit away from the use or abuse of other controlled substances rather than a supposed ‘gateway.'”
Long-term exposure to cannabis smoke is not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function, according to clinical data published in the journal Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases.
In a just published “exit interview” with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Barack Obama opined that marijuana use should be treated as a public-health issue, not a criminal matter, and called the current patchwork of state and federal laws regarding the drug “untenable.”