Donnelly: Follow the latest science on cannabis policy

Ann Donnelly
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse has now linked cannabis use with schizophrenia, an illness with life-changing implications for individuals and cost impacts for communities. Studies in other countries have analyzed this link for years, but in the U.S. policymakers downplay its risks.

Since 1996, the legal cannabis industry has expanded from medical-only to recreational use in 22 states. Pending federal legalization is supported by members of both parties and the cannabis industry.

In Washington, recreational use of pot was approved in 2012. Expanding now to the workplace, a bill passed in 2023, taking effect in 2024, bans most employers from discriminating against a job applicant due to cannabis use off the job, despite long-lived potential risks to performance, judgment and mental health.

In 2018, as a mental health advocate, I testified to the Clark County Council regarding legalizing pot sales. I presented the science linking marijuana use and mental illness (Scientific American, October 2017).

Mike Cooke, then undersheriff, stated at the time, “Drugs have been destroying families for generations and will continue to do so … Unfortunately, now our local governments want to increase revenue on the backs of these poor families.”

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