Notwithstanding a century of prohibition, marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in Canada. Due to the growing public acceptance of recreational marijuana use and ineffectiveness of the existing control system in Canada, the issue surrounding legalizing this illicit drug has received considerable public and political attentions in recent years. Consequently, the newly elected Liber...

Inanarti cle published concurrently with this editorial, Verrico and colleagues (1) report that D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient of marijuana, administered to monkeys for 6 months during their adolescence, impairs development of spatial working memory. Normal development of spatial working memory was observed in adolescent monkeys administered only saline. The spatial workin...

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States and is considered by young adults to be the illicit drug with the least risk. On the other hand, marijuana smoke contains several of the same carcinogens and co-carcinogens as the tar from tobacco, raising concerns that smoking of marijuana may be a risk factor for tobacco-related cancers. We reviewed two cohort studies and 1...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of marijuana use to mortality. METHODS The study population comprised 65171 Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program enrollees, aged 15 through 49 years, who completed questionnaires about smoking habits, including marijuana use, between 1979 and 1985. Mortality follow-up was conducted through 1991. RESULTS Compared with non...

Last fall, voters in Colorado and Washington approved measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. In the near future, residents of these states who are 21 years of age and older will be able to purchase marijuana at retail stores (Donlan, 2013). Although it can be challenging to predict future behavior, Mark Kleiman, a prominent drug policy expert, described what might be characteriz...

OBJECTIVES To describe marijuana use by Canadians and their perceptions of risk and harm. DESIGN A cross-sectional, structured, online and telephone survey. PARTICIPANTS A nationally representative sample of Canadians. METHODS This survey used random probability sampling and targeted respondents based on age, sex, region and their expected response rate. RESULTS Of the 20% of respondent...