THE ISSUE: Are there any health benefits to legalization, or will it just lead to increased health issues in the Tri-Towns and an uptick in use by teens? THE IMPACT: The debate around the health effects of marijuana, especially on young adults, will inform decisions officials and residents make with regard to implementation of the law.
Many residents and officials in the Tri-Towns view marijuana as a gateway drug that is addictive and should be kept away as much as possible, not just to protect youth but also because they see it as a threat to public health. But that is by no means the universal view. In fact, some say legalization of recreational marijuana may have positive impacts.
At the start of her career, Rogers said, opioids were not a major issue. Now, she gets calls in the middle of the night informing her that people have died.
“I can’t believe how much it’s changed in my relatively short experience,” she said.
Rogers believes marijuana can decrease the number of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts, and she points to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014 that showed, “States with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8 percent lower mean annual opioid mortality rate … compared with states without medical cannabis laws.”
While that study specifically looked at medical marijuana, Rogers believes recreational marijuana could have a similar effect. She doesn’t see it as a gateway drug, but rather just the opposite.
People often turn to drugs to self-medicate, to try to fix a health issue, such as anxiety or a mental illness, she said. Using marijuana may not be a perfect fix, but it is a way for people to avoid more dangerous substances, such as opioids, she said.
“In fact, marijuana, before it was even legalized,” she said, “it was a form of harm-reduction for the people I worked with.”
Public health
Middleton Director of Public Health Derek Fullerton, who is also president of the Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA), said he believes marijuana is a gateway drug and that people can come to depend on it in unhealthy ways.
Fullerton has seen the progression of drug use in family members, he said. His brother is an addict who has been clean for six years now, but a 26-year-old cousin died of a heroin overdose.
“I have a passion for substance abuse prevention, all the way from marijuana to heroin,” he said. “When it hits home and your family member has an addiction and you have to prevent it and create resources for it, it isn’t just a job.”
Fullerton said there are a number of public health issues with marijuana, including the risks of children being poisoned by marijuana edibles that look like traditional foods.
Among the challenges health agents face, Fullerton said, are educating kids against using marijuana when it’s legal, setting up programs to deal with prevention and addiction, and not knowing all the problems that might pop up with legalization.“We are where the rubber meets the road,” he said.
Youth and marijuana use
Masconomet Superintendent Dr. Kevin Lyons said, “I do believe marijuana is a gateway drug and that we’re dealing with an immense problem. Legalization just opens the door a crack wider to access and use and abuse.”
Tri-Town Council (TTC) Coalition Coordinator and Youth Programs Director Meredith Shaw agrees. She said she believes the legalization of recreational marijuana means youth will have increased access to the drug, not just through retail stores but also because of home-grow operations.
Shaw and TTC Executive Director Lisa Teichner said this is a concern because of the effect marijuana has on teen brain development.
They point to studies compiled by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that show regular ingestion of THC, one of the psychoactive compounds in marijuana, actually changes the teenage brain and can affect cognition and academic performance.
In addition, if kids start using substances in their teens, they said, they’re more likely to develop an addiction down the road. The immediate effects on youth, they said, include memory and attention issues, stress, anxiety and an increased tendency to engage in risky behaviors.
In the state of Colorado, where licensed marijuana retail shops began opening in 2014, the Department of Public Health and Environment conducts a similar youth survey. Healthy Kids Colorado Survey Coordinator Leo Kattari said that while admitted teen use was flat from 2013 to 2015, there was a decrease in student perception of marijuana consumption as risky behavior.
credit:middleton.wickedlocal.com
