The ongoing public discussion on the number and locations of cannabis dispensaries is important in deciding the type of community we create for our children. As pediatricians we want to share what we are seeing regarding the effects of marijuana on the patients of our practice. To be very clear: there is no doubt that THC, a major chemical in marijuana, is harmful to the brains of children, adolescents and young adults. Numerous studies have confirmed that THC use by youngsters is associated with psychotic illness, a severe vomiting syndrome, decrease in life satisfaction, and poor school performance as well as abuse of other substances.
The younger a person starts using THC, the more likely they are to become addicted. In addition, overdosing by our patients and children across the United States on THC edibles has risen dramatically over the past few years along with the emergency room visits for these dangerous ingestions. In our own practice, we are personally seeing an increase in these overdoses. Grooming by commercial tobacco and alcohol interests has unfortunately been effective in normalizing use of their products by next generations of customers. Regrettably, similar perceptions of normal THC use are held by some of the teenagers we see.
The debate around the number of dispensaries in our community is clearly important, and not black and white. But we believe it is important to be very clear that marijuana is not good for our children. Any discussion about dispensaries needs to start with this premise. Every effort needs to be made by adults to help our children stay away from this substance.
Drs. Jonathan Schwab, Peter Kenny, Diana Johanson, David Steele, Peter Everett and Kristen Deschene, on behalf of all the pediatric providers at Northampton Area Pediatrics.