OPINION:
More than 48 million Americans used marijuana in the United States in 2019, making it the most commonly used federally illegal drug in the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. And its use is rising — particularly among those aged 65 and older.
Add to that the growing youth-dominated abuse of Adderall and other ADHD-inspired drugs and it’s clear: America is becoming a nation of druggies.
Whether these drugs are prescribed, illegal, legalized for recreational use or a combination of all three, the minds of Americans, both young and old, are being compromised. There’s no way to look at that reality without also acknowledging a larger societal effect.
And it ain’t a good one.
From Fox: “More than a decade ago, only 1% of people 65 and older reported having used marijuana in the past month compared to five times that number in 2021.”
Part of that rise in use is due to the legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational uses in states across the nation. Feds may still not accept marijuana as legal, but the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment passed in 2014 that prohibits the federal prosecution of medical marijuana users who are acting in compliance with state law pretty much moots that point.
Nearly two dozen states have legalized recreational use of cannabis, the psychoactive compound in marijuana; almost 40, including the District of Columbia, allow for medical prescriptions of marijuana for a variety of ailments. In most of these states, marijuana possession that goes above and beyond the amounts allowed by law is still treated as minor traffic offenses — if even. More than 100 local governments in a dozen states have decriminalized marijuana possessions to the point where police turn blind eyes to most offenses.
At the same time, many states — and the federal government — have enacted strict regulatory controls on prescription opioids, so much so that those suffering from the very pains and ailments that opioids were created to address are often left suffering, without their pills.
“Chronic pain patients struggle to get opioid prescriptions filled, even as CDC eases guidelines,” CNN wrote in March. “Many have struggled to get opioid prescriptions written and filled since 2016 guidelines from the [CDC] inspired laws cracking down on doctor and pharmacy practices. The CDC recently updated those recommendations to try to ease their impact, but doctors, patients, researchers and advocates say the damage is done.”
Medical cannabis is not a pain patient’s best friend; in trials, researchers found self-reported pain levels did not differ much between those administered marijuana and those given placebos. But it’s still — in the minds of those living with daily pain — worth a try.
“Among adults with chronic pain in states with medical cannabis laws, 3 in 10 persons reported using cannabis to manage their pain,” JAMA Network wrote in January. “Most persons who used cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain reported substituting cannabis in place of other pain medications including prescription opioids.”
Entirely understandable.
Those who live with daily pain — those who can’t sleep at night because of their pain — are the ones who need prescribed pain medicine, and it’s a shame of this nation that drug abuse has led to the unintended consequence of shutting out those who really need their pain addressed to live even half-normal lives.
These are not the druggie problem.
These are: “According to the 2015 College Prescription Drug Study from Ohio State University, 71% of undergraduate students state that it is easy or very easy to obtain prescription stimulant medications,” Today wrote in 2020. “Many students can easily find stimulant drugs through other students who have a prescription.”
That same study found almost 19% of undergrads admitted using stimulants without a prescription.
The American Addiction Centers lists the cause of Adderall abuse on college campuses as stress-induced — that overworked kids trying to keep up with their studies need help to stay up late. Whatever. If that were the real motive, maybe the college graduation rate in 2022 would have been much higher than 62.3%. Much more likely is the widespread use of stimulants like Adderall on college campuses due to a) they’re easy to get; b) they keep the party going; and c) for women, especially, they cause weight loss.
“Users claim they can stay up later and that the drug makes them feel more talkative,” American Addiction Centers wrote. “This helps them feel more comfortable at parties.”
Hmm. So there’s a pill that can make me thin, extroverted and fun?
No wonder “the number of [Emergency Department] visits involving ADHD stimulant medications increased significantly for adults aged 18 or older between 2005 and 2010,” the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported.
No wonder “the number of emergency department visits involving attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder stimulant medications increased from 13,379 to 31,244 visits” between 2005 and 2010, SAMHSA wrote.
That was a decade ago — before COVID, before mass legalization of marijuana, before the even easier easy-peasy prescription of stimulant drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin leading to the easier easy-peasy misuse of these same stimulants. Now?
Mental health visits to hospitals are on the rise.
Depression, suicides, self-injury statistics are on the rise.
Anxiety diagnoses are on the rise.
And that means pill prescriptions are popping, as well.
“From 2020 to 2021, the number of stimulant prescriptions filled rose by more than 10% among females ages 15 to 44 years and males ages 25 to 44 years,” NBC News reported in March. “Among women ages 20 to 24, there was a nearly 20% increase. Diagnoses for all mental health disorders increased during the pandemic.”
Big Pharma is the only big winner here.
Big Pharma and politicians who like nothing more than a nation of sheep to herd and control, that is to say — Democrats. Democrats do love a nonthinking, compliant voter base. Big Pharma execs do love a nonthinking, even frightened population only too willing to take the next medical treatment, no matter how ill-advised; no matter how experimental; no matter how unnecessary. COVID shot, anyone?
The peril to society at-large is this, though: Both young and old are being conditioned to believe in the power of drugs.
That can’t bode well for a country that needs an educated, active, informed and committed patriotic population to keep individualism, not collectivism, as the driving force behind proper governance.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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