Among the masses are those who argue that marijuana is just a plant, so how harmful could smoking it be?
According to experts, that statement couldn’t be further from the truth as their concerns continue to mount in what feel likes a race against time before marijuana is legalized in Canada later this year.
Although it’s projected to be good for the economy, authorities say at what cost?
“Do I really want to have the potential for these really debilitating lifelong mental illnesses?” said Michael Szafron, assistant professor with the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) School of Public Health.
“Maybe not – but it’s about educating the public so they know the risk so they can make the decision that’s right for them.”
At this point, there is a lot unknown about how cannabis will be legally introduced in this country and it’s sparking forums like the one held on Tuesday at the College of Law on the U of S campus.
Hundreds listened to three experts in their field on the potential impacts of the drug, which, in turn, ignited even more questions from the audience when the presentation was done.
“Some of the questions that were asked here kind of raise the concerns that I have,” Ron Piché, criminal defence attorney with Piché and Company, said.
“One of the common ones is what is the shelf life or half of THC, how reliable are these instruments, where are police going to get these training for these things.”
Kevin Wilson, a partner with MLT Aikins LLP, hammered home what types of company policies will need to be in place when pot is legalized, especially among safety sensitive work environments, since what someone does on their Sunday off could still effect their judgement come Monday morning.
According to Health Canada, impairment can last more than 24 hours and one Australian study proved it.
In the study, 10 pilots who were marijuana users were trained on a flight simulator-based landing task for eight hours.
They smoked a joint with standard THC content and their performance was assessed 24 hours later; in one case a pilot missed the runway entirely when he went to land.
Furthermore, the pilots were not aware of any impairment of their flying performance a day after smoking weed.
According to Szafron, pot today is much, much stronger than ever before.
THC levels in weed during the 1970s would have been at most four per cent whereas now a typical street variety would have 20 per cent, and some groups have developed strains as high as 30 per cent.
Hence, why he said he would like recreational use legalized to those 21 years of age and older although that still doesn’t address what he sees as a massive mental health crisis on the horizon.
“What we kind of saw historically doesn’t apply any more – again if people are using this high level, what is the long-term impact? We don’t know.”
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