Health experts closely watching youth, seniors, pregnant women, people prone to mental illness – Many people in the medical field agree that with legalization Canada has opened the door to an unprecedented glimpse into the effects of cannabis on health.
What they don’t agree on is whether that’s a good thing.
Cannabis legalization is “a national, uncontrolled experiment,” family physician Dr. Diane Kelsall wrote in an editorial for the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
“Given the known and unknown health hazards of cannabis, any increase in use of recreational cannabis after legalization, whether by adults or youth, should be viewed as a failure.”
But many public health experts see the “experiment,” which began today, as a welcome development that will allow experts to learn more about cannabis and its effects on health — and remove the stigma for the many Canadians who already used marijuana.
“We are not inventing cannabis with this,” said David Hammond, a professor of applied public health at the University of Waterloo.
“Whether people are for or against it, one of the upshots of legalization is that we are able — and in fact forced — to talk about a lot of things that we should have been addressing many years ago.”
Nicole Ireland – CBC News – Oct 17, 2018.
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