Yesterday 01:25 PM
Good gosh, even though this is a "guest essay", it is still the NYT sort of allowing Trump to be vaguely praised about something. Look out the window to see if chthonian refugees are arriving due to Hell being snow and ice covered.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opini...=url-share
INTRO: President Trump ordered marijuana to be rescheduled under federal law on Thursday, shifting it out of the most restrictive drug category. The move would make it easier to conduct medical research on the drug, though it stops short of federal legalization. It has reignited familiar arguments about whether cannabis is harmless or dangerous, medicine or vice, success or failure.
That debate misses the point. Instead of choosing sides, we should acknowledge that policy moved faster than the evidence on public health effects. The challenge is whether we are willing to adjust course when we encounter unintended consequences.
Broadly, state-level legalization of recreational marijuana, now in 24 states and D.C., did what it was expected to do. It made marijuana easier to obtain and more socially acceptable. Arrests for possession in states that legalized the drug for recreational use dropped sharply, and many fewer people are going to jail or prison for marijuana use. These outcomes should be celebrated.
But all policy decisions have trade-offs, and cannabis legalization is no exception. Recent studies show that while overall rates of severe mental illness have not surged, a growing share of new psychosis diagnoses involves people with heavy cannabis use. Other research suggests that impaired driving risk might have increased in some places, even as measurement of road safety effects and enforcement lag reality. Emergency departments are seeing more cannabis-related visits, often tied to heavy use and dependence. It’s estimated that nearly a third of adult users have reported symptoms consistent with cannabis use disorder, meaning they continue to use despite significant negative effects on their lives.
These harms are not evenly distributed. They cluster among heavy users, younger people and those who are already vulnerable.
I come to this not only as a policy analyst but also as a pediatrician and a parent. I still believe, as I wrote more than a decade ago, that marijuana poses fewer risks than alcohol for most people. I also believe both deserve serious attention, especially among young adults whose brains and habits are still developing.
Marijuana legalization exposes a familiar tension in public health policy. Policy decisions often have to be made in the absence of complete evidence on their potential public health effects, especially when existing laws are clearly doing harm. Legalization reduced arrests and incarceration, but it also created a commercial market faster than we built the systems needed to monitor health effects, educate consumers or manage risk.
The solution is not to call for a return to the old system but to acknowledge the need to make new policies that can address the unintended effects of legalization. Hopefully, the president’s action will permit more research in that direction... (MORE - details)
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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/opini...=url-share
INTRO: President Trump ordered marijuana to be rescheduled under federal law on Thursday, shifting it out of the most restrictive drug category. The move would make it easier to conduct medical research on the drug, though it stops short of federal legalization. It has reignited familiar arguments about whether cannabis is harmless or dangerous, medicine or vice, success or failure.
That debate misses the point. Instead of choosing sides, we should acknowledge that policy moved faster than the evidence on public health effects. The challenge is whether we are willing to adjust course when we encounter unintended consequences.
Broadly, state-level legalization of recreational marijuana, now in 24 states and D.C., did what it was expected to do. It made marijuana easier to obtain and more socially acceptable. Arrests for possession in states that legalized the drug for recreational use dropped sharply, and many fewer people are going to jail or prison for marijuana use. These outcomes should be celebrated.
But all policy decisions have trade-offs, and cannabis legalization is no exception. Recent studies show that while overall rates of severe mental illness have not surged, a growing share of new psychosis diagnoses involves people with heavy cannabis use. Other research suggests that impaired driving risk might have increased in some places, even as measurement of road safety effects and enforcement lag reality. Emergency departments are seeing more cannabis-related visits, often tied to heavy use and dependence. It’s estimated that nearly a third of adult users have reported symptoms consistent with cannabis use disorder, meaning they continue to use despite significant negative effects on their lives.
These harms are not evenly distributed. They cluster among heavy users, younger people and those who are already vulnerable.
I come to this not only as a policy analyst but also as a pediatrician and a parent. I still believe, as I wrote more than a decade ago, that marijuana poses fewer risks than alcohol for most people. I also believe both deserve serious attention, especially among young adults whose brains and habits are still developing.
Marijuana legalization exposes a familiar tension in public health policy. Policy decisions often have to be made in the absence of complete evidence on their potential public health effects, especially when existing laws are clearly doing harm. Legalization reduced arrests and incarceration, but it also created a commercial market faster than we built the systems needed to monitor health effects, educate consumers or manage risk.
The solution is not to call for a return to the old system but to acknowledge the need to make new policies that can address the unintended effects of legalization. Hopefully, the president’s action will permit more research in that direction... (MORE - details)