Comment on this post and provide feedbacks what you think. Dear Mr. Vikhman, I am writing to you regarding your article “Wake and Bake” on The Walrus, where you showed the negative impact of cannabis on the psychic. On the one hand, its negative effect on the brain may seem evident; on the other hand it would remain a speculation without facts. Your experience proves that this harm does exist and can be detrimental for the mental health of young individuals and their life. Having seen a lot of cannabis smokers, I was able to notice the changes, which appeared in their social behavior, school progress etc., but I could not even guess that their habit may result in psychic disorders. From your experience, what can be done, if at all, to prevent psychosis or similar among the smokers? I had two classmates who were smart young people with good grades, after a regular usage of marijuana for half a year, they degraded so drastically that they were nearly expelled from school. I met one of them a decade ago and he didn’t seem to get back to normal. How long could it take to recover in case of a psychic disorder, if possible at all, of course? Often, when discussing dependence and drugs, relatives are not mentioned, although they are those who are hit hard. And you showed it very clearly how they can suffer not only emotionally, when being abused, or financially, when their addict relative steals something from them, but also physically, when being attacked. I wonder who suffers more in such circumstances, a person with addiction and mental health disorder or their relatives. You see professionally cases of mental health disorders and what they can cause to people on a daily basis. How can you be pro-legalization?! Even if the laws failed, it cannot be a reason to repeal them; they simply must be improved instead. If the state cannot win the war against hard drugs, for example, it is not an excuse to give up and legalize them, when it is clear that they do harm people. Especially, taking into consideration the fact that Canada has the highest youth cannabis consumption in the developed world, what you mentioned in the article, I can only wonder where it can lead our country.
