Canada is already on its way in having recreational marijuana legalized, which caused a division among the pro-cannabis users and health care professionals, especially pediatricians. The Canadian Pediatric Society is asking for help from the government to make necessary precautions in terms of having recreational marijuana available among the youth.
Pediatricians urged the government to set up an age limit in regards to the availability of recreational marijuana. According to CBC News, health care professionals raised their concern through a statement on Thursday, which did not only focus on restricting recreational marijuana access among the youth, but limiting the access of products that contains THC such as edibles, and oil.
"We want to ensure that sales of cannabis products are prohibited to all youth under the legal age for buying tobacco and alcohol, so 18 or 19, depending on their location in Canada," said Dr. Christine Grant, an adolescent medicine specialist at McMaster University who co-authored the CPS position paper. "And importantly, we want the government to strongly consider limiting the concentration of THC in cannabis that 18- to 25-year-olds can purchase legally."
It was mentioned that pediatricians are highly concerned with the youth's brain development is quite rampant and healthy during the individual's 20's, which can be altered by the marijuana consumption. It was then mentioned that by increasing the age restriction in terms of having access to recreational consumption, healthcare professionals are hoping that they can potentially decrease the brain development risks.
"We know that our brains develop well into our 20s and also from science that cannabis has an effect both structurally and functionally on our brains and that when our brains are developing we're most vulnerable," Grant said Wednesday from Hamilton. "So by limiting concentrations of THC up until 25, we're hoping we can mitigate some of the risks."
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