Legalizing it doesn’t make it safe.
That’s the message that New Brunswick’s doctors are hoping to impart to the public as the federal government prepares to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
The New Brunswick Medical Society has launched a public education campaign to caution against the health risk of marijuana including that it has been proven to significantly harm brain development for people under the age of 25.
“We know that research shows marijuana use correlates addiction, worsening substance abuse, cognitive impairment, it is associated with bringing out psychiatric disorder, attention deficit disorder, psychosis,” says NBMS president Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck.
She says doctors are worried that the health risks that come with marijuana are being lost in the noise of the new tax revenues for the provincial government.
“There’s a lot of potential health concerns and if you look at the revenue that may be gained from this, downstream we may be paying out a lot more to deal with the potential health effects that are there,” she says.
The medical society hsa given the province a series of recommendations on minimizing the health risks of pot which you can find more information on here.
