Marijuana Smoking Linked to Terrorism

At least one of the Paris terrorists and the Colorado Planned Parenthood gunman have been described in the media as heavy marijuana users.  In another high profile and brutal murder in England a few years ago, the killers of the British soldier also were serious potheads.  Hmm.

Correlation is not causation.  But researchers have long noticed the connection between crime and marijuana use.  Reports from the United States, England, and Australia show that approximately 60% of arrestees test positive for marijuana use and that marijuana is the drug most frequently found in arrestees’ urine.  And despite the common assumption that pot makes you mellow, many of these criminals are violent, too. 

Here's an interesting Rand study from 2004 that does suggest a causal link between marijuana and violent crime, at least when the researchers ran some of the data:  RAND: Marijuana and Crime   (As usual with statistical social science, no definitive conclusions and more study needed!)  

The useful blog site Crime in America posted these stats correlating crime and marijuana use: more-on-marijuana-and-crime-crime-statistics/

Common sense suggests we continue to treat marijuana as a harmful substance with little proven social benefit, but with a great potential to do harm.

In the US we have been seeing a headlong rush to brand marijuana as harmless, and even therapeutic.  This flies in the face of nearly all evidence. See this post from Columbia University researchers on why voters should  be wary of medicinal marijuana:  why-you-should-think-twice-voting-yes-medical-marijuana

The Food and Drug Administration still considers it a harmful drug and has not approved it for medical use.  By smoking marijuana, how do you regulate the dosage?  Since when is smoking a legitimate way to take medicine?   Medical pot is a crock. 

Congratulations to the people of Ohio for rejecting legalized marijuana in a state referendum a few weeks ago.