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NORTH CENTRAL OHIO — While April 20th has become known as a holiday celebrating the consumption of cannabis, the day is also associated with tragedy. This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Columbine school massacre involving the shooting of twelve Colorado students and a teacher. Both student shooters also took their own lives that day, and one admitted to smoking marijuana. With so many stories of marijuana users at their wit’s end, April has formally been designated as a month to bring awareness about mental health problems associated with this dangerous drug.
“Marijuana use beginning in the teen years or younger may affect brain development,” says Commissioner Jim Justice. “This may impair thinking, memory, and learning. Additionally, teenagers who use marijuana may be less likely to graduate from high school or college,” the Ashland County Commissioner said in a proclamation commemorating National Cannabis Awareness Month.
The Ashland County leader was not the only area commissioner sounding off on the issue. The Richland County Board of Commissioners unanimously declared the Month of April as National Cannabis Awareness Month as ‘a measure to preserve and protect Richland County’s upstanding quality of life, and the strength and prosperity of our communities.’
According to Richland Commissioner Darrell Banks, “In 2023 alone, the Richland County Children Services Agency conducted 279 drug tests of minors with 137 teenagers testing positive for marijuana along with children as young as four days’ old testing positive,” he said. “The Executive Director has said parental drug use is the number one reason children are temporarily removed from their parents.”
All four county commissioners pointed out that “People who use marijuana may develop temporary psychosis involving hallucinations and paranoia and also long-lasting mental disorders like schizophrenia.” These mental disorders are resulting in a pattern of psychotic behavior that is unmistakable.
“I hate drugs, and I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana and doing all these drugs and causing racism and violence out in the streets.”
Nikolas Cruz, convicted Florida school shooter of 17
According to an analysis of targeted school violence by the U.S. Secret Service on K-12 schools between 2008-2017, half of the thirty-five attackers had a history of substance use and/or abuse, and the most frequently-used substance was marijuana.
This past January a California woman was sentenced to probation for fatally stabbing her boyfriend over one hundred times after taking a hit of potent marijuana from a bong.
As a dramatic increase in potency and use of marijuana has occurred, violent acts involving marijuana are becoming more and more common: In 2018, a mass shooting in California involved Ian David Long murdering twelve at a restaurant. In 2019, a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, involved Connor Betts murdering nine and injured seventeen at several nearby bars. In 2018, a mass shooting at a Florida high school involving Nikolas Cruz murdering seventeen and injuring seventeen. In 2017, a mass shooting in Texas involving Devin Kelley murdering twenty-six at a church. All the attackers had a history of use and/or abuse of marijuana.
During his sentencing, convicted killer Nikolas Cruz commented about cannabis, saying, “I hate drugs, and I believe this country would do better if everyone would stop smoking marijuana and doing all these drugs and causing racism and violence out in the streets.”
While not everyone who uses marijuana becomes a mass murderer, erratic behavior has been observed to be associated with cannabis. Excessive use of high-THC pot and concentrated oil is linked to psychotic episodes that in some cases develop into full blown schizophrenia. A study by USA Today from interviews of medical professionals and a dozen parents whose children suffered mental breakdowns found a link between vapes and cannabis-induced psychosis. The study also cited a 77% increase in suicides among ten to nineteen year-old Colorado youth with marijuana in their systems. But that is not all.
According to a 2022 systemic review of available studies, the use of high-potency cannabis is associated with an increased risk of psychosis and severe addiction known as Cannabis Use Disorder. In their proclamation, the Richland County Board of Commissioners referred to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s definition of ‘Cannabis Use Disorder’ as “the inability to stop using marijuana and signs of the disorder include trying but failing to quit using marijuana, or giving up important activities, friends, and/or family in favor of using marijuana.”
Commissioner Banks stoically warned, “We encourage citizens to be mindful of the dangers associated with cannabis.”
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in Philippians Chapter 4, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to GOD; and the peace of GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
View video of presentation by Benjamin Mutti to Richland County Board of Commissioners on problem of cannabis. (15 min.)
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