experience with the other stuff, but i do have that concern about the gateway issue. your thoughts? so, first, chris, you hit the nail on the head. most of us know about this issue anecdotally. so what we need, chris, is we need to know what the science tells us. the science of public health. so, i think the president needs to speak to his nih director in charge of drug abuse, nora volcow. because she would tell the president that, in fact, today s modern, genetically modified marijuana, so it s much higher thc levels, far surpass the marijuana that the president acknowledges smoking when he was a young person, so that he is wrong when he says that it isn t very harmful, because the new marijuana is not the old marijuana, and, of course, the president is making this decision based upon his anecdotal experience. we need to have presidential decisions made, based upon public health and the sound science that the federal government s invested in, which shows that this is very harmful. i
your thoughts? so, first, chris, you hit the nail on the head. most of us know about this issue anecdotally. so what we need, chris, is we need to know what the science tells us. the science of public health. so, i think the president needs to speak to his nih director in charge of drug abuse, nora volcow. because she would tell the president that, in fact, today s modern, genetically modified marijuana, so it s much higher thc levels, far surpass the marijuana that the president acknowledges smoking when he was a young person, so that he is wrong when he says that it isn t very harmful, because the new marijuana is not the old marijuana, and, of course, the president is making this decision based upon his anecdotal experience. we need to have presidential decisions made, based upon public health and the sound science that the federal government s invested in, which
it has been for so long. i think the studies are changing because more people have done it. it s a demoralizing attitude people have about the human relationship. when people ask you is it addictive it is? believe or not believe i ve been struggling with it my patients for 25 years. i ve treated 10,000 addicts in my career. probably 5 to 10% of them have marijuana addiction. as you say it s very uncommon. they said 1 out of 11. it s nowhere near that. do you agree with that? 9%. that s absolutely addictive. that s not saying much. alcohol is addictive, tobacco is addictive. the vast majority of people who smoke marijuana, 90% do not get addicted. the vast majority of people who even use heroin don t get addicted. you said the statistic that the person interviewed quoted about the high thc levels, you said that s factually incorrect? yes. he said that the average thc concentration in cigarettes is 30%. the average is about 5 to 6%.
i ve treated 10,000 addicts in my career. probably 5%, to 10% of them have marijuana addiction. as you say it s very uncommon. they said 1 out of 11. it s nowhere near that. do you agree with that? 9%. that s absolutely addictive. that s not saying much. alcohol is addictive, tobacco is addictive. all of these things are potentially addictive. the most important thing is is that the vast majority of people who smoke marijuana, 90%, do not get addicted. the vast majority of people who even use heroin don t get addicted. you said the statistic that the person interviewed quoted about the high thc levels, you said that s factually incorrect? that s factually incorrect. he said that the average thc concentration in cigarettes is 30%. the average is about 5% to 6%. so that s just hyperbole. that s what we get in this discussion oftentimes is hyperbole. do you believe all drugs should be decriminalized? yes.
as you say it s very uncommon. they said 1 out of 11. it s nowhere near that. do you agree with that? 9%. that s absolutely addictive. that s not saying much. alcohol is addictive, tobacco is addictive. the vast majority of people who smoke marijuana, 90% do not get addicted. the vast majority of people who even use heroin don t get addicted. you said the statistic that the person interviewed quoted about the high thc levels, you said that s factually incorrect? yes. he said that the average thc concentration in cigarettes is 30%. the average is about 5 to 6%. so that s just hyperbole. that s what we get in this discussion oftentimes is hyperbole. do you believe all drugs should be decriminalized? yes. explain why. the vast majority of people who use these drugs are not