While writing this week’s column, I found myself randomly recalling the lines to an old song. The lyrics go like this, “Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones. Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy.”

The word groovy simply has to be a byproduct of smoking weed, don’t you think? Maybe the lyrics were also birthed while smoking weed, because there’s some comparisons that can be made. Let me explain. …

I’ve been listening to Dr. Harold Kalant, who works on an addiction research foundation in Ontario and began studying marijuana back when ‘groovy’ was a cool word. He describes marijuana as a pace setter for the activity of cells of body tissue. Essentially, it does exactly what the song says: it slows down the level of body tissue activity that is moving too fast, in which case the drug proves to be medically beneficial.

However, if the tissues are acting normally, as is generally the case in teens and young adults, the tissue activity is damped down by the drug and causes harm. Why is this a concern?

[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see the Mar. 2 print edition of The Cross Roads.’]

Kalant explained that brain development primarily continues until age 24 or 25 years of age. The brain matures in stages, the latest of which is the executive stage, when abilities such as problem solving, judgment, learning, memory and reasoning develop. Performance studies, brain imaging and electrical activity studies have shown that kids who use marijuana in their teens suffer academically. By legalizing the drug for 18-year-olds, young adults have seven years of legal use of marijuana, while their brains are still developing.

According to Kalant, any harm that these young adults sustain will be long lasting, because stopping use of the drug won’t allow them to regain what they have lost.

It’s too late. In addition, I listened to a man in his early 30s who admitted to using marijuana throughout his teen years and early 20s. After being clean from the drug for nine years, he still has difficulty with his short-term memory.

Back in the groovy era, when Kalant first began his research, the drug was much less potent than it is now, so much so, that second hand smoke in close quarters can be harmful for children. Although the drug is useful, doctors usually prescribe it when all other remedies do not work, and it always has side effects.

The doctor also explained the difference between legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing it. Decriminalizing means getting stopped by the cops for possession of the drug would be like getting a driving offence and would be treated as a civil offence. Many Canadians agree that such an offence is not worthy of receiving a criminal record.

However, the doctor noted that marijuana use would increase dramatically once legalized. This accelerated use could last for a couple of years or longer.

So I have to ask: why the rush?

Slow down, you’re moving too fast. That’s what law enforcement and municipalities are saying.

It’s time for the government to put into practice those executive stage brain developments of reasoning, judgement and problem solving, so the next generation will have a better chance of experiencing the executive stage of brain development.

Wouldn’t that be groovy?

[/emember_protected] marijuana