Last week former Rotarian Ben Forsyth addressed the club on the subject of marijuana. Ben is opposed to ballot initiatives legalizing marijuana and provided his arguments at the noon meeting.

 

Ben said the primary chemical in marijuana is THC, which has profound negative effects on the human brain. It reduces memory, awareness and motivation at the same time that it increases self-confidence.

 

Ben distinguished the chemical CDB, which is also in marijuana, from THC. CDB is the primary  ingredient in medical use of marijuana. It can be effective in treating the symptoms of a disease - the trembling in epileptics, for instance - but does nothing to address the underlying causes of the disease.

 

Four factors influence how dramatically a user experiences the effects of THC: the potency of the drug, how often it is used, how long it is used, and the age of the user. The effects on young users, whose brains are still being formed, is especially concerning. According to Ben, students in our public schools who use marijuana are discipline problems and can be violent, endangering their fellow students and their teachers. The negative effects of THC are also passed in utero to the unborn and through breast-feeding to infants.

 

Because of marijuana's social, psychological, medical, economic and criminal effects, Ben is opposed to both I-190 and CI-118, marijuana-related issues on the November 2020 ballot.