'Pot Topics:' A conversation about marijuana legalization

Anna Butrico, 

A sociology professor, an economics lecturer, a clinical instructor, and a psychiatrist walk into the Kissam Multipurpose Room with one topic in mind: marijuana. That’s what happened at Warren and Moore’s “Pot Topics” discussion that was held tonight at Kissam.

The event, co-sponsored by the Office of Wellness Programs and Alcohol Education, aimed to address the legal and economic implications of legalizing marijuana, as well as its effects on the college environment and mental health.

Around fifty students attended the discussion, enjoying the chocolate-covered strawberries, small dessert cakes, brownies, hot chocolate, and apple cider catered by Campus Dining. There was a white notecard and a pen on every seat. Participants were invited to write questions that they had for the panelists after each gave a short introduction as to their expertise in the area.

Dr. Fuchs, the director of the Psychological Counseling center, dove into the science behind cannabis use, explaining that there are two genes that have been identified that increase an individual’s risk for developing major mental illnesses when they use cannabis. The AKT1 gene, that affects brain signaling for the neurotransmitter of dopamine, has three variations. The CC variation yields a seven-fold increase of psychosis when using cannabis. 

The other gene involved in increasing risk of developing mental illness while using cannabis is the COMT gene. Individuals with a specific form have a 15-fold increase in developing psychosis, a malady that is often unknown to the drug user.

Chance Allen, a nurse practitioner in psychiatry, added that these genetic variations affect the amount of dopamine released while using cannabis. The different intensities of these dopamine releases can predispose users to later addictions.

“The ones who have the greater dopamine release have more euphoria than people who don’t. So they might smoke a joint and go, ‘Wow, this was good,’ versus another person who might ask, ‘What’s the big deal?’ And so the person who are already predispositioned for that euphoria and then fall into those cravings and self-administration, they’re more likely to become dependent on a substance such as marijuana,” Allen said.

Allen and Fuchs stressed that medical considerations are only part of legalization issue.

“[This scientific evidence] doesn’t define whether it should or should not be a part of legalization, it should just be included as part of the conversation as you think about the science of the cannabis,” Dr. Fuchs said.

Professor Laurie Woods, a former narcotics agent in California for 21 years, who said she had “spent a couple of summers jumping out of helicopters and chopping down marijuana plants in northern California” took the floor to discuss the legal implications of legalizing marijuana.

She briefed the audience on the current status of marijuana legalization: currently 23 states, and Washington D.C., have modified their marijuana laws with regards to medical legalization. Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington allow non-medical possession and use for those 21 and over. But she warned that drug testing is still administered even in those states where marijuana is legal, and stressed the political implications of that.

“Employers can drug test, and do drug test, and can fire you for a drug test, even if you have a medical prescription, with the exemption of three states: Arizona, Delaware, and Minnesota. They have laws that safeguard employees if you are a qualified patient, which means you’ve been prescribed and have registered,” Woods said.

Even if Tennessee were to legalize marijuana — which Woods said is unlikely in the near future — students would most likely be prohibited from smoking on campus. This is true in those states that have legalized marijuana. 

“Colleges rely on federal aid in a variety of ways. Whether it’s federal student loans, or federal research grants, they do not want to run a foul of the federal government  so they just have said, ‘no marijuana,’” Woods said.

Isleide Zissimos, a lecturer of economics, explained how the legalization of marijuana would affect both American and Latin American economies. She offered the audience two statistics: Latin America is responsible for 30 percent of all the cannabis produced in the world. Eleven percent of the North American population uses cannabis.

“In North America, the youth suffers from economic consequences of illegal drug use. Latin American countries struggle with crime, the unacceptable levels of drug-related violence, and infiltration of organized crime in democratic institutions,” Zissimos said.

The War on Drugs, which is the American government’s attempt to repress supply of drugs in Latin America, has not led to an overall drug decrease.

“The governments now are starting to look for alternatives to this. One idea, then, the rationale behind legalization, would be to decrease revenues of the criminals. Those revenues would be transferred to taxpayers in the form of tax revenues,” she said.

Not only would legalization increase tax revenues, but it would also choke the black market drug trade, and stabilize struggling Latin American countries. These nations, if they legalized marijuana alongside American nations, would reduce the level of crime and violence, and would create a more stable political and economic environment.

“Productive investments would then start to flow to those countries. Then they will be able to grow their economies,” Zissimos said.

Audience members were then invited to ask questions. One student wondered about medical use of marijuana, and how that ties into the legalization debate.

“There’s a distinction between smoking dope and using medical marijuana,” Woods said.

Fuchs agreed, and said that medical marijuana can indeed alleviate symptoms for patients who are undergoing chemotherapy treatments, and can help control seizures. She stated that marijuana does indeed relieve anxiety symptoms to a certain extent, but self-medication often hides the greater mental health problems that lie underneath.

“The risk is there’s a bi-phasic process in response to cannabis,” Fuchs said. “In low doses it treats anxiety, not effectively long-term, but it brings down anxiety. But in higher doses, it increases anxiety, and people begin chasing their tale and making their anxiety worse. If medicinal marijuana starts being indiscriminate, then you start to miss opportunities to treat underlying problems in more effective ways.”

The medicinal facet of the legalization question aside, Fuchs said society needs to reconsider the subset of people who develop mental illness as a result to cannabis use.

“That small subset, not matter what the drug, where there is a problem with addiction,” she said. “In our society people are punished for addiction, rather than recognized as having an illness. The money goes to jail rather than development of appropriate treatments. No matter what the drug is, there needs to be an understanding that there is a subset for whom there an illness, and that should be treated it with respect.

The [illegal distinction of drugs] makes a focus on people being bad, rather than people having a problem.”