Alex Berenson, and author of Tell Your Children: The Truth about Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, in a recent article that appeared in Hinsdale College’s Imprimis, states the following: “Almost everything you think you know about the health effects of cannabis, almost everything advocates and the media have told you for a generation, is wrong. . . . A mountain of peer-reviewed research in top medical journals shows that marijuana can cause or worsen severe mental illness, especially psychosis, the medical term for a break from reality. Teenagers who smoke marijuana regularly are about three times as likely to develop schizophrenia, the most devastating psychotic disorder.”

Our youth and young adults are particularly vulnerable to marijuana. Several studies indicate that marijuana, a mind-altering drug, can actually lower IQ by eight points and impair mental function later into adulthood. Young brains are still developing until 25 years of age. And cannabis can stay in the body for several days to several weeks depending on the level of use.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 1 p.m., a hearing on House Bill 481, Marijuana Commercialization, will be heard by the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. The N.H. Marijuana Legalization Study Commission has just recently announced that it is not supportive of this bill legalizing cannabis. I applaud their stance and courage. Show them your support. Write letters to your representatives in the Legislature, as well as to the governor’s office.

Legalizing marijuana is not okay. It is very harmful, even dangerous.

DAVID PROVAN

Meredith