GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com

This leaves us as a society with the question: What to do about the recreational use of marijuana. It would seem to be magical and distorted thinking (ironically, an effect of marijuana use) to assume that the use of marijuana could be widely legally sanctioned and that its use would not spread by leaps and bounds throughout society. The presenter concurs with the authors of the 2012 Report of Organization of American States on “The Drug Problem in the Americas” when they discuss the profound implications of legalization and recognize that

….Even with relatively restrictive regulation, the result of le­galization is likely to be expanded use and dependency (p. 94).

A simple alternative to legalization if a society values the social and public health of its citizenry is to keep marijuana use illegal and use the justice system to remand users to “in lieu of prosecution” programs such as drug court programs and other counselling, educational, and treatment-oriented programs.  It such programs were completed and if individuals remained drug free, any criminal record and for drug use would remain permanently expunged.  By reorienting and refocusing efforts on discouraging drug taking behavior, both the individual and society would be the beneficiaries and the future viability of the nation would be far more certain.

I hope you find the material cited and quoted here and the material that is on this website and other websites referenced in this Open Letter of value to you and yours.

Paula D. Gordon

Appendices to the Open Letter:

Appendix A: An abstract of the article from the April 16, 2014 Journal of Neuroscience:
​http://jn.sfn.org/press/April-16-2014-Issue/zns01614005529.pdf

Neurobiology of Disease

Cannabis Use is Quantitatively Associated with Nucleus

Accumbens and Amygdala Abnormalities in Young Adult

Recreational Users

Jodi M. Gilman, 1,4,5 ; John K. Kuster,1,2 ;* Sang Lee, 1,6 ; * Myung Joo Lee, 1,6 ; * Byoung Woo Kim, 1,6 ; Nikos Makris, 3,5 ; Andre van der Kouwe, 4,5;

Anne J. Blood, 1,2,4,5  † and Hans C. Breiter 1,2,4,6 ;

†

1. Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Genetics, Department of Psychiatry,

2. Mood and Motor Control Laboratory,

3. Center for Morphometric Analysis,

Department of Psychiatry, and

4. Athinoula A. Martinos Center in Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital,

Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129,

5. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, and

6. Warren Wright Adolescent Center, Department of

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 06011

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, but little is known about its effects on the human brain, particularly on reward/aversion regions implicated in addiction, such as the nucleus accumbens and amygdala. Animal studies show structural changes in brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens after exposure to 9-tetrahydrocannabinol,but less is known about cannabis use and brain morphometry in these regions in humans. We collected high-resolution MRI scans on young adult recreational marijuana users and non-using controls and conducted three independent analyses of morphometry in these structures:

1. gray matter density using voxel-based morphometry,

2. volume (total brain and regional volumes), and

3. shape (surface morphometry).

Gray matter density analyses revealed greater gray matter density in marijuana users than in control participants in the left nucleus accumbens extending to subcallosal cortex, hypothalamus, sublenticular extended amygdala, and left amygdala, even after controlling for age, sex, alcohol use, and cigarette smoking. Trend-level effects were observed for a volume increase in the left nucleus accumbens only. Significant shape differences were detected in the left nucleus accumbens and right amygdala. The left nucleus accumbens showed salient exposure-dependent alterations across all three measures and an altered multimodal relationship across measures in the marijuana group. These data suggest that marijuana exposure, even in young recreational users, is associated with exposure-dependent alterations of the neural matrix of core reward structures and is consistent with animal studies of changes in dendritic arborization.

Governor Jerry Brown has summed up the seriousness of the implications of the spreading use of marijuana for the nation.  In theNational Journal (3-8-14, p. 44), he is quoted as saying the following:

“How many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?  The world’s a pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the
​potheads might be able to put together.”

The following excerpt is from
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/first-legalization-then-lawsuits_792870.html?nopager=1.

Highlights added.

The Presidency Goes to Pot ~ Irresponsible Obama.  The Weekly Standard, Feb 3, 2014, Vol. 19, No. 20

…… Obama clearly suggests that the racial and socioeconomic disparity in enforcement discredits drug laws and those who defend them. He has not faced the fact that there are racial and socioeconomic disparities in crime and punishment, but they are not caused by drug laws, and they will almost certainly get worse as drug use expands. The pervasive, willful denial of all this is a powerful driver of the moral argument for legalization.

An even stronger driver of legalization may be the simple inability of former users to admit to themselves and to others that what they did was wrong and dangerous, even if they were lucky to avoid serious harm. It is just not cool to say such things, and certainly from the point of view of the many users who were not harmed, marijuana seems harmless. To speak of the harms as a public figure is to criticize many who are just like you and who feel the risks are really not so great. This is a tricky business of denial, however. Virtually everyone has a loved one who has been a victim of substance abuse. We have all watched celebrities and public figures destroy themselves and pass in and out of treatment. We also know of or live in parts of our country that have been devastated by drugs and crime.

Antidrug liberalism has been based on protecting the vulnerable from victimization, but it has lost its way in substituting demographics for moral principle and character. Antidrug conservatism also sought to protect the vulnerable and to preserve individual freedom from addiction and self-destruction. Today some conservatives confuse the institutions and laws needed to preserve freedom with the threats to freedom—they equate willfulness with freedom.

American democracy has always needed leaders who know the truth and have the courage and skill to bring the truth to our public deliberations. That need is greater today than it has been in some time.

The following is excerpted from an article by John P. Walters in the Weekly Standard:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/presidency-goes-pot_775329.html?nopager=1

Highlights added.

An Open Letter to Those Who Believe that Marijuana is Either Harmless or
​“Relatively” Harmless to Users and to Those in Their Environment

by Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.
​May 21, 2014

A May 21, 2014 Open Letter

• ​Resolving the Controversy Regarding the Effects of Marijuana Use
  

• Promising Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention and Early Intervention
  

• The Role of Drug Abuse Prevention Educators in Addressing the Drug Problem
  

• School-Based Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention and Early Intervention
  

• Master of Arts Degree in Drug Abuse Prevention
  

• Cigarette Smoke and Marijuana Smoke as Environmental Health Hazards and Infringements on the Civil Liberties of Those Subjected to Passive Inhalation (This paper also includes a discussion of research bearing on contact high and "flash back" phenomena.)
  

• An Alternative Approach to Drug Abuse Prevention Evaluation ​(Professional Paper Submitted to the National Institute on Drug Abuse)  (81M056825701D)
  

Additional publications of possible interest including

• Guide to Ideas on Drug Abuse Programs and Policies
  

• The State and Territorial Guide to Substance Abuse Prevention in Declared Disasters  Primary Authors: Tara Kelley Baker, M.S.W., Magdalena Hurwitz, and Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.,
  

• A February 13, 2014 Open Letter to Users, Prescribers, and Proponents of the “Medical” Use of Marijuana
  

• The SpiritualHarmofMarijuana.com Website:A Website Devoted to the Harmful Spiritual Effects of Marijuana and Other Psychoactive Substances

End of appendices and excerpted material

You can watch a video of my conversation with the Dalai Lama here:
​http://dalailama.com/webcasts/post/300-mind-and-life-xxvii---craving-desire-and-addiction/4588

Appendix B:

The following is from Dr. Nora Volkow’s government blog. Dr. Volkow is the Director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse. I think it is the most educational exchange that I have ever seen on the topic of substance use and addiction. Those who are engaged in drug use may well be jarred to their senses on seeing this video. Those engaged in treating individuals caught up in drug-taking behavior stand to gain enormous insight into the process of becoming addicted and into ways of helping individual escape the trap of addiction and the initiative and will power that is so readily undermined by drug use. The excerpt is from
http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2013/11/talking-to-dalai-lama-about-addiction-science

Talking to the Dalai Lama about Addiction Science

November 12, 2013

Recently, I had the privilege of visiting Dharamsala, India, for a dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama about addiction science, as part of a five-day conference at his Mind and Life Institute. I was very impressed at the Tibetan Buddhist leader’s personal interest in the brain, and in his desire to convene a small group of scientists from around the world along with Buddhist contemplatives and other scholars to discuss the topic of craving, desire, and addiction.

For Buddhists, craving is the source of human suffering; the misery of those ruled by extreme cravings for drugs is just an extreme form of the attachment to material things that compromises any person’s happiness. The Dalai Lama was interested to learn what I had to say about dopamine and the addicted brain, and the loss of self-control that comes when drugs change crucial brain circuits involved in emotion, pleasure, memory, and judgment.

The Dalai Lama put these brain changes in terms of the “action cycle” of karma in Buddhist belief: Once you make a choice to use drugs, consequences are unavoidable. The powerful changes that occur with the abuse of drugs reinforced the Dalai Lama’s belief that it is necessary to “put up the barrier before the floods come”—that is, to focus as much as possible on prevention. His feeling is that education is central to preventing drug use.

He stressed that education must create an environment in which children will have the opportunity to develop themselves, and young people should be taught in such a way that their brains can achieve their full capacities. The environment should also instill a sense of purpose and connectedness, rather than the materialistic values that, he says, cannot produce happiness. “We must bring to children a sense of wonderment about the world, rather than so much negativity,” he said. “And we must bring more simplicity.”

The Dalai Lama said that Buddhism can help best with this goal of preventing drug abuse, both through training the brain to balance emotions and self-restraint (for instance through meditation) and through promoting education and working to create a less materialistic society. He acknowledged that once a person becomes addicted, Buddhism may have less to offer, and said that medical science may be the best solution to treating their disease.

It was gratifying to see the powerful common ground between the Buddhist approach to suffering and addiction science. Both perspectives agree that prevention is critically important and that the emotional part of the brain is crucial to understanding what can go wrong. It led me to think about what we might learn from a discipline like Buddhism about training the brain—particularly given recent research showing benefits of meditation in smoking reduction—as well as how we might devise new neuroscience-based technologies to assist in strengthening self-control circuits.

Whether coming from the perspective of neuroscience or meditation, our aim is to understand how we can encourage self-control, manage our emotions, and offer children a purposeful life that will prevent substance abuse.

First Legalization, Then Lawsuits ~ Can marijuana retailers survive the tort bar? May 26, 2014, Vol. 19, No. 35 • By JOHN P. WALTERS and TOM RILEY

…With the open sale of formerly illegal drugs, the number of users will grow. Some advocates expect legalization to destroy criminal markets by providing cheaper drugs, which should boost sales. If the legal market does not produce discounts, however, the black market will continue to operate in parallel with the new higher-end market—a kind of “fast-food” network persisting alongside the new “gourmet” outlets. Either way, the result is increased use and increased profits.

But communities are not helpless before this onslaught. Even when the criminal law has been compromised at the state level, resort to civil procedure might offer protection. Legal or illegal, marijuana injures users—researchers call it a “neurotoxin”—and those who distribute it for profit are liable for its known effects. Its production and distribution, after all, are still federal crimes. America’s tort attorneys could respond by suing drug retailers for the harm done by their product to particular addicts, then collecting damages for the clients and legal fees for themselves.

This approach would not depend on the president or federal, state, or local government policy. It would require only a victim, a drug trafficker, a capable lawyer, and a sympathetic jury. Some law firms could afford to take such cases as a pro bono service to families. They already see for themselves that growing drug addiction makes their communities unattractive to legitimate businesses. Philanthropies concerned about the disadvantaged could also push this initiative forward.

Some clever attorneys might partner directly with treatment providers for referrals. Others might advertise on billboards, buses, television, and radio. They might find that YouTube and sites on the Internet are a vast repository of self-incrimination.

In addition, the retailers of marijuana as medicine—whether for smoking or eating in baked goods, candy, and ice cream—should be easy targets of legal action. There is scant evidence of legitimate medical efficacy and much evidence that “medical marijuana” is a calculated fraud producing large profits. Far from approving it, the FDA has written a letter denying that smoked marijuana is medicine.

If you think trial lawyers made a windfall on tobacco, just wait until they get a handle on marijuana. The scientific and medical evidence against marijuana now dwarfs what we knew about tobacco at the time of the surgeon general’s report of 1964. No warning label in the world could shield marijuana growers and sellers from the tsunami of tort liability they should face from distributing a product with so many known harmful effects.

Everyone loves the tale of Robin Hood because it is a story of justice—taking from oppressors and giving to the oppressed. That story is about to be reenacted with a drug-dealing-retailer near you. The rule of law is a beautiful thing; it can protect our democracy in times of danger even when national leaders and government institutions fail.

• A May 30, 2014 article on Some Comments and Questions for Proponents of Marijuana Legalization
  

• A May 21, 2014 Open Letter to Those Who Believe that Marijuana is Either Harmless or “Relatively” Harmless to Users and to Those in Their Environment with Appendices to the Open Letter
  

• A May 27, 2009 article (revised December 27, 2009) in Family Security Matters on The Harm Caused to Individuals and Society by the Use of Marijuana
  

• Statements Made by John Walters and Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy on Mr. Obama’s January 2014 Comments Concerning the Effects of Marijuana, Comments that were Ill-Considered and Without a Scientific Basis.
  

• A Must-See Video of an Extraordinary Exchange in India in the Fall of 2013 between Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Dalai Lama
  

• An Outstanding PSA and Video on the Harmfulness of Drug Use by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
  

• December 12, 2012 Position Statement on Marijuana of The National Association of Drug Court Professionals
  

Other Drug Abuse Prevention-Related Articles and Reports by Paula Gordon, including Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

• Approaches to Drug Abuse Prevention
  

• Alternatives to Drugs Approach to Drug Abuse Prevention
  

• An extensive Working List of Selected References and Resources Concerning the Harmful Effects of Marijuana initially compiled May 31, 2014 and periodically updated. ​Compiled by Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.
  

• Selected Abstracts and References on the Harmfulness of Marijuana (Focusing on Psychosis, Bi-Polar Disorders, and Other Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders)
  

• Some Outstanding Websites about Marijuana, Including Some Websites Tracking Developments in Jurisdictions Where Marijuana Has Been Legalized
  

• The Complaint Filed in December of 2014 by the States of Nebraska and Oklahoma Against the State of Colorado to Settle the Question:  How can Colorado circumvent federal law that bans the cultivation, trafficking and possession of marijuana?
  

• A presentation at the December 5, 2014 Dupont Summit in Washington, D.C. on “Marijuana Legalization: A Man-Made Public Health Disaster Currently Unfolding in Two States in the U.S.”Presentation by Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D.
  

• An excerpt from the October 30, 2014 testimony by Paula Gordon before Joint Committees of the Washington, D.C. Council
  

• A presentation on November 3, 2014 at The George Washington University ~ University Seminar on Reflexive Systems on Viewing Marijuana Use and Policy from a Public Health Perspective
  

• An October 4, 2014 article in the PA Times Online on Marijuana Legalization: a Man-Made Public Health Disaster Currently Unfolding in Two States in the U.S.?
  

• An August 4, 2014 article in Family Security Matters on the The Illegality of Legalizing Marijuana Use: An Open Plea to the President and All Other Sworn Federal, State, and Local Public Officials Concerning Marijuana Policies and Laws in the United States…

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) LISTS OF REFERENCES AND RESOURCES ON MARIJUANA, KEY LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS, PRESENTATIONS,​

TESTIMONY, ARTICLES, REPORTS, AND OPEN LETTERS