10 Facts About Marijuana That Will Change Your Mind
What are the facts about recreational marijuana? Are you sure pot is harmless? And should it be legal?
While the multi-billion dollar marijuana lobby insists that cannabis is harmless, more and more researchers and medical professionals are reaching a different conclusion.
Based on facts and up-to-date science, this post will help you cut through the fog of misinformation and discover what recreational marijuana is doing to disrupt and destroy the moral and social fabric of America.
1. Marijuana Intoxication Warps Reality
Marijuana is a form of intoxication. Anyone who becomes intoxicated surrenders their ability to make sound moral decisions. Free will is either compromised or lost for a period of time.
However, people see this intoxication as a means to escape from reality. Pop culture worships immediate pleasure so much that it prods us to give up our most noble faculty -- reason -- in exchange for a mind-numbing "experience." Some people even risk their lives for a fleeting sensation of pleasure or excitement.
Drug abuse holds sectors of America hostage. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 192 families per day lost someone to a drug overdose in 2017.[1] That’s the same as a plane crash a day in the U.S.
2. Marijuana Fuels Crime and Violence
Many claim that the legalization of marijuana reduces crime. But it doesn’t. After Colorado legalized marijuana in 2012, violent crime rose by 20 percent. Over the same period, the national average of violent crime decreased by approximately 1 percent.[2]
Colorado is not alone. Alaska legalized marijuana in 2014 and saw violent crime rise by 30 percent. In 2014, Oregon also approved marijuana, and the crime rate there increased by 21 percent.[3]
Moreover, students who use marijuana were found to be three times more likely to engage in physically aggressive behavior, compared to those who do not use pot, reported The Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Again in Alaska, school suspensions in Anchorage increased by 141% from 2015 to 2017 due to marijuana use and possession.[4]
What are these numbers telling us?
3. Marijuana is a Burden to Public Health and Safety
Emergency rooms are overburdened because of marijuana use. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed nearly 10,000 emergency room visits to the University of Colorado Health's Anschutz Medical Campus over four years. Approximately 25 percent of all the hospital visits -- about 2,500 cases -- were related to marijuana use.[5]
Another study among postal workers published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) discovered that those who tested positive for marijuana had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and 75 percent greater absenteeism compared with those who tested negative.[6]
The number of motor vehicle accidents involving drivers on pot has also gone up in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, where recreational marijuana is legal.[7]
4. Marijuana Harms Brain Development
Marijuana harms normal brain development. According to the National Institutes on Drug Abuse, “when people begin using marijuana as teenagers, the drug may impair thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions.”
Pot consumption is especially harmful to young minds. The National Institutes of Health mention how teenagers who steadily smoked marijuana into adulthood lost an average of 8 IQ points.[8]
Other harmful side effects of cannabis include slowed reflexes, impaired motor skills, a distorted sense of time, mental impairment, suicidal behavior, and paranoia.[9]
5. Marijuana Affects Unborn Babies
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a warning: “Marijuana use during pregnancy can be harmful to your baby’s health. The chemicals in marijuana (in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) pass through your system to your baby and can harm your baby’s development.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is also clear: Pregnant mothers should not use marijuana before, during, or after pregnancy.[10] Nevertheless, 70 percent of cannabis dispensaries in Colorado -- nearly 280 stores -- intentionally market marijuana to mothers to treat morning sickness.[11]
Why are politicians pretending this is not a problem?
6. Marijuana Destroys Mental Health
Marijuana use has been linked to paranoia, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reports that “there is substantial evidence of a statistical association between cannabis use and the development of schizophrenia or other psychoses, with the highest risk among the most frequent users.”[12]
After conducting an international study, a team of scientists at McGill University concluded that “...young cannabis users are gambling with risk of depression or suicidal behavior.” [13]
For Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, the problem is not theoretical. “...Whenever I see a young adult patient who has psychotic symptoms, the leading risk factor I explore is the person’s history of marijuana use.”
7. Marijuana is Bad for the Economy
Cannabis is no financial boon. In states that legalized marijuana, hospitals, transportation firms, and construction companies struggle to find new employees who pass the drug test. Some companies are even bringing workers in from out of state.
Jim Johnson, for example, CEO of a large Colorado construction company, said: “This is a very troublesome issue for our industry, but I do not see us bending or lowering our hiring standards. Our workplaces are too dangerous and too dynamic to tolerate drug use.”[14]
Not only is the social damage high but also costly. For every $1.00 of tax revenue the state of Colorado collects from marijuana sales, $4.50 is spent by Coloradans to relieve the social problems created by marijuana use.[15]
8. Marijuana and Homelessness
What is the impact of marijuana on the homeless?
The National Coalition for the Homeless reports that: “Substance abuse is often a cause of homelessness. Addictive disorders disrupt relationships with family and friends and often cause people to lose their jobs…. two-thirds of homeless people report that drugs and/or alcohol were a major reason for their becoming homeless.”[16]
Is it a coincidence that in Seattle, Washington, where marijuana is legal, the homeless problem is ten times worse than the national average?[17] Although Seattle spends more than $1 billion annually on the homeless crisis, the problem persists.[18] Throwing more money at the crisis doesn’t fix the vicious circle.
As long as marijuana is consumed, we are guaranteed to continue having more homeless people.
9. Marijuana is a Gateway Drug
Marijuana opens the door for stronger drugs. Why? Because when drug users develop resistance to pot, they frequently turn to harder drugs to get high.
Dr. Robert L. DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, sees a correlation between marijuana use and other illegal drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine: “People who are addicted to marijuana are three times more likely to be addicted to heroin.”[19]
The National Institute on Drug Abuse identified a similar trend: Teenagers who smoked pot more than 40 times are 50 times more likely to start using cocaine.[20]
10. Marijuana Undermines True Freedom
Marijuana advocates claim that free access to drugs enhances individual freedom. However, just as the pro-abortion movement uses the slogan “my body, my choice” to justify the imagined right to kill the unborn, the drug lobby arguments could be summed up with the erroneous phrase: “my body, my drugs.”
How does marijuana undermine true freedom? Writing for The Federalist, philosophy professor Timothy Hsiao put it this way:
“Marijuana use attacks, degrades, and impairs the very thing that allows us to act freely: our brains.... Choices that are not under the control of reason are not free, but random and chaotic. Since intoxicating drugs interfere with our ability to reason properly, they are the very antithesis of liberty.”[22]
Therefore, legal drugs make America less free.
What’s the Solution?
About 12 million Americans currently use marijuana 300 times a year. The problem is real. But the more we use drugs, the sadder we become. Because the deepest yet most ignored problem in our culture is not material, but spiritual. We have become a culture without a soul.
America is like the prodigal son. We have squandered our inheritance on a dissolute life. We have exhausted our resources on a party we thought would never end. And now we find ourselves on the edge of an impending disaster.
The pursuit of false happiness without virtue has flung us into the pigsties of misery. If in this grave hour, we could only realize that we have sinned, it would serve to awaken in us humble and contrite hearts.
And if we return to our father’s home, we will find real solutions.
[1] Holly Hedegaard, M.D., Arialdi M. Miniño, M.P.H., and Margaret Warner, Ph.D. “Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999–2017,” National Center for Health Statistics, NCHS Data Brief No. 329, Nov. 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db329.htm.
[2] Steven Malanga, “The Marijuana Delusion,” City Journal, Spring 2019, https://www.city-journal.org/marijuana-legalization.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Charles Wohlforth, “Marijuana school suspensions more than doubled after legalization,” Anchorage Daily News, Jan. 11, 2018,
[5] Erin Brodwin, “A mysterious syndrome that makes marijuana users violently ill is starting to worry doctors,” Business Insider, Mar. 25, 2019, https://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana-syndrome-vomiting-nausea-chs-colorado-er-visits-2019-3.
[6] C. Zwerling, J. Ryan, and E. Orav, “The efficacy of preemployment drug screening for marijuana and cocaine in predicting employment outcome.” Journal of The American Medical Association, 1990;264(20):2639–2643.
[7] Jen Christensen, “States that legalized recreational weed see increase in car accidents, studies say,” CNN, Oct. 18, 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/marijuana-driving-accidents-bn/index.html.
[8] “What is marijuana,” Drug Facts, rev. June 2018, National Institute on Drug Abuse,
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana.
[9] Eric MacLaren, Ph.D., “Marijuana Abuse,” DrugAbuse.com, accessed May 30, 2019, https://drugabuse.com/library/marijuana-abuse/.
[10] “Marijuana Use During Pregnancy and Lactation,” ACOG Committee Opinion 2017 Number 722, Oct. 2017, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, https://www.acog.org/Clinical-Guidance-and-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Obstetric-Practice/Marijuana-Use-During-Pregnancy-and-Lactation.
[11] Tessa L. Crume, PhD, MSPH1, Ashley L. Juhl, MSPH2, Ashley Brooks-Russell, PhD, MPH3, Katelyn E. Hall, MPH4, Erica Wymore, MD, MPH5, Laura M. Borgelt, PharmD6, “Cannabis Use During the Perinatal Period in a State With Legalized Recreational and Medical Marijuana: The Association Between Maternal Characteristics, Breastfeeding Patterns, and Neonatal Outcomes,” The Journal of Pediatrics, June 2018, 197:90–96, https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(18)30181-1/abstract.
[12] "The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: The Current State of Evidence and Recommendations for Research (2017),” The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24625/the-health-effects-of-cannabis-and-cannabinoids-the-current-state.
[13] MUHC Communications, “Increased depression and suicidal behaviour risk for young cannabis users
New international study reveals percentage of young cannabis users are gambling with risk of depression or suicidal behavior,” McGill Reporter, Feb. 14, 2019, https://reporter.mcgill.ca/increased-depression-and-suicidal-behaviour-risk-for-young-cannabis-users/.
[14] “Drug Use A Problem for Employers,” The Gazette, Mar. 24, 2015.
[15] Centennial Institute, “The Economic and Social Costs of Legalized Marijuana” Centennial Institute, Nov. 18, 2018. http://cdn-centennial.pressidium.com/centennial/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Economic-and-Social-Costs-of-Legalized-Marijuana-v1.2.pdf.
[16] “Substance Abuse and Homelessness,” National Coalition for the Homeless, July 2009,
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/addiction.pdf.
[17] Scott Greenstone, “Homelessness rose just a bit this year in the U.S.: Here’s how Seattle compares,” The Seattle Times, Dec. 17, 2018,
[18] Christopher F. Rufo, “Seattle Under Siege,” The City Journal, Autumn 2018, https://www.city-journal.org/seattle-homelessness.
[19] Robert L. DuPont, “Marijuana Has Proven to Be a Gateway Drug,” The New York Times, Apr. 26, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/26/is-marijuana-a-gateway-drug/marijuana-has-proven-to-be-a-gateway-drug.
[20] Malanga, “Marijuana Delusion.”
[21] Bob Troyer, “It’s high time we took a breath from marijuana commercialization,” The Denver Post, Sept. 28, 2018, https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/28/colorado-marijuana-commercialization/.
[22] Timothy Hsiao, “7 Arguments For Legalizing Marijuana That No One Should Believe,” The Federalist, Mar. 7, 2019, https://thefederalist.com/2019/03/07/7-arguments-legalizing-marijuana-no-one-believe/.