Why the Feds Still Support Marijuana Prohibition —Reason #2

Why does the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) still want to continue to enforce marijuana prohibition? Recently they outlined their argument in a response to the New York Times’ editorial demanding an end to marijuana prohibition. And their argument is surprisingly weak says the Washington Post’s data journalist Christopher Ingraham. “It’s built on half-truths and radically decontextualized facts, curated from social science research that is otherwise quite solid,” he wrote in the Post’s WonkBlog. He also researched and brillianty refuted each point of the ONDCP’s poor or misleading arguments which we’re determined to promote. Check it out…

Why the Feds Still Support Marijuana Prohibition —Reason #2
Marijuana use is associated with cognitive impairment, including lower IQ among adult chronic users who began using marijuana at an early age.

Like the Fed’s first reason for maintaining marijuana prohibition, the same is true for alcohol and tobacco as Ingraham points out. He also point out that the study cited by the ONDCP looked at changes in IQ among heavy marijuana users, defined in this case as those who smoked marijuana at least four times a week. In general, the authors found a “small” IQ effect for people who had used marijuana heavily at some point in their lives, with the exception of those who showed consistent heavy use over a period of 20 years, for whom the negative effect was “medium.”

Again, this is a solid argument for a minimum age and moderate use. Tomorrow we’ll dispute the gov’s third farcical reason for continuing to enforce marijuana prohibition.

Read Reason #1

Let us know if you agree with the Government’s reasons for banning marijuana in the comments below…