The complicated marijuana debate

Kelly Burch

DOVER — These days it is difficult to avoid the conversation about marijuana in New Hampshire, and that's not just because the Granite State has one of the highest rates of marijuana usage in the country.

Recently the state government has been wrangling with pot legislation, ranging from medical marijuana to decriminalization and even complete legalization.

Often, the debate boils down to health issues surrounding the drug. Proponents and opponents debate the health merits of the plant, and weigh them against the disruptive affects of incarceration.

“I don't take it lightly,” said Representative Adam Schroadter (R-Newmarket), who sponsored the decriminalization bill that passed the House on March 12.

Like smoking cigarettes, marijuana smoking can affect heart and lung health. The drug also has additional long-term affects, especially in young users. A large, long-term study showed that heavy teen marijuana users lost an average of eight IQ points between the ages of 13 and 38, a loss that was not reversed when they stopped smoking pot as adults. However, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), people who began using marijuana as adults did not show a decline in intelligence.

Some people have a more dramatic adverse reaction to marijuana. For a small portion of marijuana users, the drug can cause a temporary psychotic reaction, which is characterized by hallucinations and paranoia. For users who were genetically predisposed to mental illness, marijuana use increased the likelihood of a psychotic episode and worsened the course of the disease, according to the NIDA. Again, the affects were worst for those who began using marijuana at a young age.

When Schroadter drafted the decriminalization bill he considered the health affects of marijuana, especially on young users, heavily.

“I definitely don't want more kids using,” he said. “Particularly, my concern would be with use by people under 18 or under 21.”

In addition to incorporating mandatory education for young offenders into the bill, Schroadter hopes decriminalizing the drug will lead to more open conversations about its use and its affects.

“What my wife says, and I took to heart, was that it's very possible that this restructuring of penalties could allow for better channel of communication between parents and kids about the issue,” he said.

Nearly a quarter of young adults between 18 and 25 in the state have used marijuana within the past month. Ten percent of teens regularly use the drug, according to the Partnership for a Drug Free New Hampshire, a rating. that is the fifth highest in the country.

Because of the prevalent use among teens, some people are cautious about decriminalizing the drug.

“Young people hear about our state, debating this issue, and may think that marijuana is safe,” said Shannon Bresaw, director of the Capital Area Regional Public Health Network. “Research shows when people don't perceive an action as risky they are more likely to engage in that risky behavior.”

However, Bresaw's fears may be unfounded. According to data complied from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration surveys,eight of the 10 states that had legalized medical marijuana saw a decrease in the percentage of teens using the drug during the period of 1999 to 2006.

This decrease in usage leads to another major concern for many people — the idea that marijuana is a “gateway” drug that leads to more serious drug use. If marijuana is more widely available, the worry goes, the use of so-called hard drugs will increase as well. However, research conducted at the University of New Hampshire has shown that marijuana's gateway status is overstated.

“There is research to show a correlation between marijuana use, and abuse of other substances,” said Karen Van Gundy, associate professor of sociology at UNH. “My work has tried to unpack that and look at causality. People assume marijuana is going to cause you to use other illicit substances, but that's not true when you control for other things.”

Research published by Van Gundy and her colleague Cesar Rebellon, also an associate professor of sociology at UNH, showed that the gateway affect among teen users fades when factors such as education and employment are controlled for. For users over the age of 21, there is no gateway affect.

“The really important thing I found was that once you're a young adult and have a job, it doesn't matter whether you used marijuana as an early adolescent,” Van Gundy said. “The fact is that once people are employed there is no gateway affect. So, it's important that we don't overly criminalize use,” with penalties that could disrupt employment opportunities, she said.

Despite her research findings, Van Gundy is cautious about the message that she puts out about marijuana usage.

“I'm not saying that everyone should go out and use it,” she said. “People who are prone to problems might be particularly harmed. There is such a thing as unhealthy use of marijuana. I acknowledge that.”

However, she noted that only a small portion of marijuana users go on to abuse the drug, which Van Gundy defines as having usage that interferes with an individuals' roles and responsibilities.

In fact, there has been some debate over whether marijuana is addictive, and how addictive it is. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 9 percent of people who use marijuana will become dependent, with about 1 in 6 teen users becoming addicted.

The 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that marijuana users make up 18 percent of people entering drug treatment programs, and 61 percent of people younger than 15 years old in treatment reported that marijuana was their primary drug.

Drug treatment is an issue that is important to Schroadter. The decriminalization bill that he sponsored requires treatment and rehabilitation classes for people younger than 21 who are caught in possession of the drug.

“That's something you don't run across a lot in New Hampshire,” he said. “Classes aren't all that prevalent.”

One area where the debate over pot has been settled is in regards to medical marijuana. The state legalized medical marijuana last year, and the first alternative treatment centers are required to be opened by next January.

“The medical marijuana arguments were very compelling,” Schroadter said. “Guys would stand up that you would never picture advocating for marijuana. They're talking about buying marijuana for their wives in pain, but they're buying it from a guy pulling it out of his boxer shorts. And it's a medication for their wives.”

The National institute on Drug Abuse says that the therapeutic effects of marijuana do not outweigh the drugs' health risks. In addition, because the marijuana comes from a plant and the effects can vary from one plant to the next, it does not qualify as a medicine according to the FDA. However, some drugs that are based on THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) are already approved, and researchers are looking into more medical uses stemming from the cannabis plant.

When the New Hampshire legislature was considering legalizing medical marijuana, the state Department of Health and Human Services took a neutral stance on the issue.

“Medical marijuana is different,” said Michael Holt, the rules coordinator at the department. “There is room within this world to have a position that isn't opposed to it or for it.”

Now that the law has passed, the department is working to establish the logistics of the program, many of which are specifically mandated by the law.

“The law is very prescriptive,” Holt said. “There is not a whole lot of room where the department gets to make discretionary decisions.”

Instead, the department is focused on implementing things that are called for in the law, such as licensing for patients, caregivers and alternative treatment centers.

For Holt, the main task is executing what the legislation has passed, rather than debating the pros and cons of medical marijuana.

“It's not my roll to tell people what to think. We're not advocates,” he said. However, he did mention two important considerations.

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