Esteemed members of the public, honored policymakers, and delegates,

We convene today not to debate personal freedoms, but to confront the stark, quantified realities of a failed policy experiment. Proponents of cannabis legalization ask us to accept a bargain: moderate tax revenue in exchange for unmeasured, manageable risk. Yet, the overwhelming body of epidemiological and clinical evidence demonstrates that this bargain is a profound and costly public health failure.

We must shift the conversation from gross revenue to net social cost. The data proves that legalization, as currently implemented, merely exchanges a burden on the criminal justice system for a vastly more expensive, complex, and tragic burden on our healthcare systems, our schools, and the future capacity of our citizens.

The argument is clear, precise, and documented: Legalizing commercial cannabis maximizes profit by maximizing human harm.

I. The Crisis of Addiction and Uncompensated Social Cost

The first, unavoidable consequence of commercialization is the rapid expansion of addiction. Legalization—driven by increased availability, reduced perception of risk, and the marketing of ever-stronger products—is an accelerant for Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD).[5][6][7][8]

Approximately one in five individuals who use cannabis will develop CUD.[6] This is not a minority problem; this is a public health epidemic in the making. Nearly 10% of non-dependent weekly users progress to dependence within a single year.[8] This rise in dependency requires chronic management, yet no pharmacotherapies have been approved for CUD, projecting a sustained, chronic burden on our psychiatric resources.[8]

When we assess the financial viability of legalization, we must look beyond the touted tax revenue (which reached nearly $3 billion nationwide in 2022).[9][3] This revenue is structurally insufficient to offset the gargantuan, externalized social costs.[10][10][10][11]

Rigorous policy analysis reveals that while economic metrics saw moderate growth (3% income per capita, 6% house prices) [10][11][12][13], these gains were immediately eclipsed by catastrophic social consequences in legal states:

  • Substance Use Disorders increased by 17% (Brown, Cohen, & Felix, 2023).[10][10][11][12]
  • Chronic Homelessness surged by 35% (Brown, Cohen, & Felix, 2023).[10][10][11][12]

The economic burden of addiction already costs the United States over $740 billion annually.[13][13] Legalization has simply added a 17% surcharge to this staggering figure. This policy is fiscally dishonest; it generates profit for a few while imposing chronic, uncompensated costs on us all.

II. The Neuropsychiatric Catastrophe of Potency

The gravest consequence lies in the unbridled commercial drive toward high-potency THC products—the very compounds proven to precipitate severe mental illness.[4][14]

1. The Psychosis Risk

The link between high-potency cannabis and psychosis is now robustly established.[6] Daily or near-daily cannabis use is associated with a 76% increase in the risk of developing psychosis compared to non-use (Risk Ratio 1.76) (Di Forti et al., 2019).[15] High-potency consumption (exceeding 10% THC) is the specific risk factor, with those presenting with first-episode psychosis being 6.8 times more likely to have used high-potency products.[4]

The most chilling statistic concerns our youth: researchers now estimate that as many as 30% of schizophrenia cases among young men aged 21 to 30 could have been prevented by averting Cannabis Use Disorder (NIDA, 2023).[16][17][18][19]

For those already diagnosed with psychosis, continued use places them in immediate danger. Patients with continued, higher frequency use of high-potency cannabis had the highest relapse rate of 58%, demonstrating an adjusted Odds Ratio of 3.28 for relapse.[3][20][20][20] THC is a clear trigger that exacerbates symptoms and worsens the course of schizophrenia.[21][22]

2. Irreversible Damage to the Adolescent Brain

Adolescence is a critical period of neurodevelopment.[23][1] Introducing cannabis during this time results in persistent, non-restored injury.[3][3]

  • Persistent adolescent-onset users who used cannabis until age 38 lost an average of 8 IQ points (Meier et al., 2012).[3][3][3]
  • The data is suggestive of a neurotoxic effect: cessation of use did not fully restore neuropsychological functioning.[3][3][3][24][25]

Longitudinal brain imaging studies link cannabis use during middle-to-late adolescence to accelerated thinning of the prefrontal cortex (Albaugh, 2024) [1][1][12]—the very seat of executive function, impulse control, and decision-making.[23] By endorsing the commercial model, we are willfully accepting a compromise on the cognitive capacity of a generation.

III. Acute Public Safety and System Strain

The regulatory structure of the legal market has proven grossly inadequate, leading to entirely preventable acute health crises.

1. Emergency Department Failures

Cannabis-associated Emergency Department (ED) visits have increased significantly, averaging a 12.1% annual increase between 2006 and 2014, and continuing to rise thereafter.[17][17] These rises are pronounced in vulnerable groups, including children aged 0–14 years.[26][26]

The proliferation of high-dose, unregulated edibles is a clear regulatory failure. Visits due to edibles intoxication have been found to be 33 times higher than expected when controlled for product sales.[27][1] Furthermore, packaging that mimics well-known snacks has led to unintentional poisonings in children, sometimes requiring hospitalization.[28] The system is failing to protect the most vulnerable from highly toxic products.

2. The Impaired Driving Threat

Cannabis consumption impairs driving performance similar to low blood alcohol concentrations.[29][20] The presence of acutely impaired drivers has translated directly into public safety incidents:

  • Acute consumption is associated with an increased risk of a motor vehicle crash, with an Odds Ratio of 2.10 for fatal collisions (Asbridge et al., 2012).[30]
  • Legalization has been associated with a 6.5% increase in injury crash rates and a 2.3% increase in fatal crash rates (Sacks & Safford, 2023).[31][32]
  • In one state, fatalities involving drivers testing positive for high levels of THC nearly doubled between 2019 and 2022.[33]

IV. Systemic Cardiovascular and Fetal Harms

Cannabis is an independent cardiotoxin and poses specific, unique risks to pregnant women and children.

1. Independent Cardiovascular Risk

The cardiovascular risk of cannabis is now established as being independent of tobacco co-use.[34][2][35][34][36] Among never-tobacco smokers, daily cannabis use was associated with an adjusted Odds Ratio of 1.49 for Myocardial Infarction and an even higher aOR of 2.16 for stroke (Sadr-Azodi et al., 2024).[34][2][34] Furthermore, chronic use—in smoked or edible form—significantly reduces blood vessel function to a degree comparable to tobacco smokers (Mohammadi & Springer, 2025).[37][38] We are allowing a new generation of users, often young, to dramatically elevate their risk for premature cardiac events.[39][40]

2. Maternal and Fetal Liability

We must issue an unwavering caution against cannabis use during pregnancy.[41][42][43][20]

  • Prenatal cannabis exposure is significantly associated with greater odds of Preterm Birth (aOR 1.42) and Small for Gestational Age (aOR 1.76) (Gowing & Skeritt, 2024).[18]
  • It increases the requirement for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission (OR 2.51).[44]
  • Postnatally, THC is transferred via breast milk, increasing the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and negatively affecting infant motor development.[38][45]

V. The Illusory Therapeutic Promise

Finally, the foundation of medical necessity for legalization is crumbling.

The evidence base for medical use remains weak, while the harms are increasingly clear.[46] For chronic pain, there is only very low certainty evidence of efficacy, but adverse events are common, with approximately 26% of users experiencing at least one, and 13.5% experiencing psychiatric adverse events (Macleod & Busse, 2022).[47][48][28][26]

For psychiatric disorders like anxiety and PTSD, the evidence is insufficient to recommend its use.[49][50][21][50] Disturbingly, small trials of THC for depression found that anxiety and psychotic symptoms emerged in over 50% of participants (Roebuck & Budney, 2020).[49]

Most critically, the early, influential claim that Medical Cannabis Laws reduce opioid overdose deaths has been demonstrably refuted.[51][52][34][46] Newer data showed a 22.7% increase in opioid overdose deaths in MCL states, suggesting the initial finding was spurious.[52][34] Policymakers must stop using this flawed statistic to justify policy that may steer patients away from evidence-based care.[52]

Conclusion

We must reject the false choice between prohibition and commercialized chaos. The evidence dictates that we must, at minimum, adopt a public health-first model based on the science.

We must act now to mitigate the human costs created by this policy:

  1. Mandate Maximum Potency Limits to combat the psychiatric risks of psychosis and relapse.
  2. Require Immediate Reform of Product Safety, including strict child-proofing and the elimination of candy-mimicking edibles, to stop the flood of pediatric poisonings.
  3. Dedicate Tax Revenue Exclusively to Social Cost Amortization—specifically to offset the 17% increase in Substance Use Disorders and the 35% surge in chronic homelessness our current policy has generated.

The health drawbacks of cannabis legalization are profound, quantifiable, and escalating. To ignore them is to fail in our fundamental duty to protect public health and the future capacity of our society.

References (APA Style - Categorized)

Category A: Clinical Epidemiology and Addiction Burden

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Category B: Psychiatric Morbidity and High-Potency Risks

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Category D: Neurodevelopmental and Cognitive Impairment

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Category E: Prenatal Exposure and Adverse Neonatal Outcomes

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Category G: Therapeutic Claims and Policy Conflicts

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