Many apparent myths have sprung up following release of the motion picture, Reefer Madness, in the early 1900s that greatly exaggerated the ability of marijuana to cause outrageous changes in behavior. To what extent has such propaganda dismissing the dangers of cannabis made people complacent about its risks, and what will be the consequences?

The creation of such myths is quite unfortunate because the use of cannabis is taking an increasingly heavy toll on young people particularly, in misdirecting them, causing impairment of functioning sufficient to affect their future by increasing complacency, and lowering their ability to compete and show initiative in seeking employment, and maintaining employment and functioning at a high level. These severe episodes of things like memory loss and severe mental illness are a subset of outcomes statistically speaking, but because of their seriousness would preclude the use of such a substance in terms of it being allowed to be available to the general public without at least severe restrictions to keep it away from young people, for example, and to regulate behavior by having penalties for driving while using cannabis, and so forth. The long-term consequences will show quite clearly the sequence of events and the ways in which the story has been distorted again and again and again to minimize the downside. This is a manipulation being done from behind the scenes, and parallels the predictions in the dystopian views of books like Brave New World depicting the use of mind-altering substances as a way to keep the populace happy but pacified. This is very akin to what is taking place today with the widespread movement to legalize cannabis in all its forms. There will be many adverse consequences and this course of action will ultimately be regretted when the true costs become clear.