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and recreational substitute for alcohol. SAM’s March 2018 report Les- sons Learned from Marijuana Legalization in Four U.S. States and D.C. says on the first page that “today’s highly potent marijuana represents a growing and significant threat to public health and safety, a threat that is amplified by a new marijuana industry intent on profiting from heavy use.”72 The report also notes that in the four states (and the District of Columbia) that have legalized cannabis, “past-month use of the drug has continued to rise above the national average among youth aged 12-17.”
CAUTION ADVISED
Like opium and cocaine, marijuana and similar psychoactive plants
have played a role in traditional cultures—opium gum, taken directly from the poppy flower and not manipulated in any way, soothed the pains of the elderly in the Middle East, and a tea of coco leaves helped the peoples of the Andes Mountains survive in the rarified altitude. But these forms of the plants are a far cry from the concentrates and extracts that cause so much havoc today. Today’s marijuana, bred to have a highly concentrated level of THC, demands caution. These plants all have medi- cal uses—as anyone who has taken morphine to relieve the pain of kidney stones or a gallbladder attack can attest. However, many of the conditions that cannabis is said to help—from anxiety to insomnia—often disap- pear with improved nutrition (see “Nutrition and Our Endocannabinoid System,” page 32). If psychoactive drugs, including cannabis, are truly needed, they require supervision by a qualified health professional well aware of the potential dangers.
Kimberly Hartke is a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and a publicist focusing on health and wellness. She currently serves as publi- cist for a number of drug prevention nonprofits, including MomsStrong. org and PopPot.org. The Weston A. Price Foundation commissioned Kimberly to write this article.
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