More evidence comes from research in animals. Rats given THC, the chemical that puts the high in marijuana, show persistent cognitive difficulties if exposed around the time of puberty—but not if they are exposed as adults.

For one thing, recent studies show that cannabinoids manufactured by our own nerve cells play a crucial role in wiring the brain, both prenatally and during adolescence. Throughout life they regulate appetite, sleep, emotion, memory and movement—which makes sense when you consider the effects of marijuana.

A slew of studies in adults have found that nonusers beat chronic weed smokers on tests of attention, memory, motor skills and verbal abilities, but some of this might be the result of lingering traces of cannabis in the body of users or withdrawal effects from abstaining while taking part in a study.

We know that being high impairs attention, memory and learning.

"We hear all the time in pop culture things like, 'Maybe I'm a better driver when I'm high'," Otte said. "I think people just aren't aware, as much as they are with alcohol, that there is such a risk associated with driving under the influence of marijuana or other drugs, and I think a lot of it comes down to awareness."

And unlike alcohol testing, there are no objective measures of impairment linked to marijuana, so it's not possible to accurately account for the role marijuana plays in car crashes, he said.

They found that after legalization, but before retail pot sales started, the rate of car crashes with injuries jumped nearly 7%. After sales began, the crash rate dipped slightly (less than 1%), but the rate of fatal crashes shot up about 2% before and after retail sales began.

"Marijuana, like alcohol and just about every other drug, changes how you feel and how you behave. That’s the purpose of a drug. And that changes how you drive. We all need to realize that driving after using marijuana is a bad idea,"

Griner testified this week that when she was arrested in Moscow on Feb. 17, her rights were not read to her, as is required under Russian law. “I had no intention to break the law,”

Russian prosecutors argue that the 0.702 grams of cannabis reportedly found in the vape cartridges in Griner’s baggage constitutes a “significant” amount and have charged her with “large scale transportation of drugs,” which can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

A 2020 ACLU report found that marijuana arrests account for more drug arrests in the United States than any other drug class; in 2018, the last year for which the report analyzed data, law enforcement made nearly 700,000 marijuana arrests, more than for all violent crimes combined as reported by the FBI.

While many seize on Griner’s incarceration to criticize Russia’s harsh drug laws, U.S. practices should not be ignored. Congress and state legislatures could take a major step forward by making drug legalization laws retroactive, such that they would allow for the early release of the tens of thousands of Americans who remain locked up for behavior that most states — and most Americans — no longer consider to be criminal.

Griner testified on Wednesday that she needed the oil to help with pain and inflammation of injuries sustained over her career — it’s worth noting that U.S. prosecutions can be similarly harsh.

Another important area for methodological and data improvements is in understanding how cannabis legalization relates to driving safety. There exist challenges to reliably measuring THC impairment in drivers (for example, in blood), and uncertainty remains over what level of THC in the blood leads to impairment.

Further, the 2020 vaping crisis associated with diluted THC-containing products raises concerns around unregulated cannabis markets in both legalized and nonlegalized states, heightening the need to study the public health effects of legally versus illegally produced cannabis products. Notably, cannabis markets vary at the local level, and the cannabis industry will continue to evolve in response to federal and state policy changes. Thus, establishing data systems capable of capturing local characteristics of cannabis markets over time will be essential.

Researchers should also consider the public health effects of different characteristics of the legal cannabis supply, including product type, price, potency, and sourcing. Cannabis legalization, particularly commercialization, has the potential to transform the cannabis market.

Research investigating the relationship between cannabis legalization and driving safety typically leverages fatal crash data. However, less than 0.5 percent of crashes are fatal, so research using data sets that fail to capture nonfatal injuries underreport traffic accidents associated with driving under the influence of cannabis.

Potential increases in car accidents involving cannabis use are a chief concern among those disfavoring legalization. Simulation studies suggest that cannabis intoxication impairs driver reaction time, spatial perceptions, and decision making. Detection of cannabis in drivers has tripled from 4.2 percent of fatally injured drivers in 1999 to 12.2 percent in 2010, although it remains unclear how much of this increase can be attributed to cannabis policy liberalization.

legalization may reduce the likelihood that an individual will self-report symptoms of cannabis use disorder

Although it is claimed that cannabis and its derivative substances improve outcomes for many disorders, there is only strong scientific evidence suggesting that it is an effective treatment of three conditions: in treating chronic neuropathic pain in adults, as an antiemetic after chemotherapy treatment, and for improving patient-reported multiple sclerosis symptoms.

Instead, Hudak argues that the illicit market will continue to thrive in legal states as long as cannabis remains federally illegal.

There are as many suggested solutions to southern Oregon’s weed problem as there are factors creating it. Some say tweaks to federal and state hemp regulations — and more money for law enforcement — will get the illicit grows under control. Others argue that only federal decriminalization will solve the problem, because it would reduce the market for illicit weed.

The illicit market isn’t just a law enforcement problem, however; it’s actually having an effect on the environmental health of the region.

“I and my husband both voted for cannabis legalization. I’m liberal, [an] old hippie type. I don’t want people to go to jail for smoking pot or dealing a little weed.”

The one exception in federal law is for hemp, a low-THC cannabis plant which looks virtually identical to the naked eye. Officials say that some of Oregon’s illegal farms are masquerading as hemp producers to escape federal oversight. There are just more than 1,000 licensed marijuana and hemp farms in Jackson and Josephine counties, but a recent test of the region’s hemp farms found that more than half were illegally growing marijuana — not the low-THC hemp.

“If you reduce the price, then there’s no, or little, or less, incentive [for consumers] to participate in [the] illicit market because you’re getting the price that you want … that’s the tipping point.”

The impact of the booming illegal trade is being felt by overburdened law enforcement that can’t keep up with the illegal operations that seem to sprout with abandon, but it is also exhausting the patience of residents who were key to making Oregon one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana in the late 1990s.

Even though marijuana cultivation has been legal in Oregon since 2014, Jackson County Sheriff Nate Sickler says there could be up to 1,000 illegal operations in a region of more than 4,000 square miles.

Black people are significantly more likely than white people to be locked up for drugs, even though Black and white Americans sell and use drugs at similar rates.

Legalizing cannabis at the state level has spurred impressive business growth with direct and indirect benefits.

While attitudes about marijuana use once presented a challenge, this is no longer the case. Most Americans support the legalization of recreational and medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana is now legal in 19 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and medical cannabis is legal in 37 states.

The authorization of grants for state and local governments to consider mitigating factors when deciding whether to expunge or seal convictions for marijuana possession. This is another important step for remedying disparate, race-based treatment by law enforcement and the courts of marijuana users. 

Nevertheless, the legislation is a major step toward justice. This is especially true for people of color, who have been subjected to the most devastating institutionalized discrimination in the justice system, even though they consume drugs about the same rate as white people.

The revised Senate legislation includes important decriminalization efforts, such as removing marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act, as well as removing it from the purview of the Drug Enforcement Administration to that of other agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration.

►No one should go to jail or be targeted by police for a nonviolent marijuana-related crime when its use is legal in most states – a point made even more obvious when we look at how ineffective, costly and harsh the enforcement of drug laws are depending on the community.

“I’m such a fan of hers, to see her with that big, tall body to be able to move the way she does. She’s changed the game of the W.N.B.A.,” he said.

But in the United States, thousands of people are in prison for using or selling marijuana, and it remains illegal at the federal level even as dozens of states have legalized it for medicinal use or recreational use. It is banned in the W.N.B.A.

Her legal team said she was authorized to use medicinal cannabis in Arizona, where she has played for the Phoenix Mercury since 2013.

Griner, a W.N.B.A. star, was detained in Russia in February after customs officials said they found vape cartridges with hashish oil, a cannabis derivative, in her luggage. Cannabis is illegal in Russia, and Griner, 31, faces a 10-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on drug trafficking charges if she is formally convicted. She has pleaded guilty,

Griner, the W.N.B.A. star detained in Russia on drug charges, is one of many athletes who have said cannabis helps with sports injuries. But it is banned by sports leagues and illegal in many places

Kemp, who is 6-foot-10 and was upward of 230 pounds during his 14-year career of highlight-reel dunks, mostly with the Seattle SuperSonics. He said the drug seemed to help with inflammation in his knees and other joints.