29 May, 2017
In an editorial published Monday, the interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr. Diane Kelsall, argues that the government is ignoring the health risks marijuana poses to the developing brain and that the minimum legal age is too low.
"The bill as it is written should not pass", says Dr. Diane Kelsall, editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. "Bill C-45 is unlikely to prevent such tragedies from occurring and, conversely, may make them more frequent".
The Canadian Paediatric Society cautions that marijuana use in youth is strongly linked to "cannabis dependence and other substance use disorders; the initiation and maintenance of tobacco smoking; an increased presence of mental illness, including depression, anxiety and psychosis; impaired neurological development and cognitive decline; and diminished school performance and lifetime achievement".
The adverse effects she is talking about are not proven to be caused by marijuana but are associated in those who use it regularly. For some, it can become a gateway to more serious drugs.
"That is why I wrote this editorial".
Bill C-45 is set to legalize recreational marijuana by July of next year for people 18 and over with no limits on potency.
In April, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government introduced legislation that would allow adults to possess, share and purchase marijuana, while also strengthening penalties for those who give or sell the products to youth.
But Kelsall says that while the government says the bill tackles the legalization from a public health perspective, it doesn't. "What is going to happen over time is you're going to have people with four very, very (potent) plants and there's no way that you would know that youth aren't accessing those plants".
"There is some understanding at this point from epidemiological studies that certainly marijuana is a trigger", said Mizrahi. This is seen as being particularly true for young brains.
The journal takes the position that since the human brain keeps developing until the age of 25, Canada's pot laws should restrict the sale and use of marijuana for people under the age of 21. Kelsall calls these "pragmatic recommendations", that balance the need to protect the developing brains of young people with the reality that young people who can't buy it legally will buy it from illegal sources.
Says Kelsall, the federal government said it would pass a marijuana bill that would protect public health, but this version fails to do that.
