To: The Maine State House, The Maine State Senate, and Governor Janet Mills
Do Not Legalize Recreational Marijuana
We oppose the legalization of Marijuana for recreational use, as it is a known intoxicating substance which may impair judgement, learning and reflexes. Knowing how easy it is for youth to access the legal sustances tobacco and alcohol, and knowing that teens become addicted more quickly than adults, leads us to believe that the legalization of marijuana for recreational use would lead to a significant worsening of child and adolescent substance abuse, and the complications it causes.
Why is this important?
As a Pediatrician working mostly with youth taken into State custody, I find that a large fraction of the children are from substance abusing families, and that a large fraction of the teens evaluated are abusing tobacco, alcohol, marijuana and other harmful substances. I firmly believe that youths become dependant on, or addicted to chemicals more quickly than adults, and that the history of an individual's chemical dependency is generally a progression from tobacco to alcohol to marijuana--then sometimes tragically to harder drugs.