William L. Witham Jr. of Dover is a retired Kent County resident judge who served over 40 years in Delaware’s justice system.
No doubt the legalization of recreational marijuana is a welcome boon to a substantial portion of our community. The authorization bill was passed in 2021 and has since become a bit of a political football with the state and its counties and municipalities.
It seems that our lawmakers believe that expansion of a federally controlled substance would benefit our society, since it seems harmless in small quantities with lower levels of THC.
Culturally, it is now more socially acceptable. Some highlight its medical benefits as a pain reliever and believe it is no more hurtful than alcohol is. Also, our government officials believe that, as long as we control the quantity and quality, as well as the location, we will be safe. We now know that this is not the case.
It is apparent that many of our towns and municipalities do not want recreational marijuana in their jurisdictions, and the state has gone so far as to pass legislation to prevent Sussex County the power to determine where and how marijuana may be sold and cultivated.
Fortunately, our governor wisely vetoed this legislation, suggesting that Sussex take another look at ordinances to control the placement of cannabis businesses, as well as the restrictions to be imposed.
You may say, “We allow alcohol, so why not marijuana?” Generally speaking, most studies find that the risk is at least as significant as alcohol. A 2012 paper in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examined a federal survey of more than 9,000 children and found that marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic violence. A 2017 paper in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology examined drivers of violence among 6,000 British and Chinese men. It found that drug use — the drug nearly always being cannabis — translated into a fivefold increase in violence. This result is especially true when mixed with alcohol.
Today, the risk is translating into real-world impacts. Advocates have said that legalization would let police focus on hardened criminals rather than marijuana smokers and thus reduce violent crime. Our Delaware specialty courts — to include drug, mental and veteran courts — have dockets where a gateway drug like marijuana is present in many cases.
The first four states to legalize marijuana for recreational use were Colorado and Washington in 2014 and Alaska and Oregon in 2015. These four states had about 450 murders and 30,300 aggravated assaults in 2013, which then increased by 37% and 25% respectively, far greater than the national increase, even after accounting for differences in population growth.
It is difficult to know how much of the increase is related to cannabis, but police reports, news stories and arrest warrants suggest a close link in many cases.
In our own state’s drug and veteran treatment courts, we find that 80% of drug usage began with marijuana use. Scientific research reviewed by the National Association of Drug Court Professionals expresses concern over the legalization of recreational marijuana, prioritizes public health and safety, and advocates for caution with policy changes.
It also emphasizes the need for increased research to understand the long-term effects of cannabis on recovery and recidivism, especially for drug court participants. It suggests that any regulatory framework should prioritize evidence-based public health outcomes over commercialization.
The NADCP research notes that cases in which mental illness, such as schizophrenia or another psychosis, is diagnosed, cannabis is noted as a contributing factor. Cannabis is also associated with a disturbing number of child deaths from abuse and neglect — much more than alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamines and opioid use combined, according to reports from Texas, one of the few states to provide detailed information on drug use.
A rationale for licensing recreational marijuana for the state is the tax benefits, as well as control. Yet law enforcement knows that the drug is always cheaper if purchased off the street from drug dealers. The THC levels are ever-increasing, making the drug more potent, with greater risk of serious mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and suicidal tendencies.
Our legislators have failed to consider the devastating effects of the unbridled use of marijuana, which will be enhanced by the legalization of recreational marijuana. Along with alcohol, the drug that psychotic patients use more than any other is marijuana. A 2010 review of earlier studies in Schizophrenia Bulletin found that 27% of people with schizophrenia had been diagnosed with marijuana disorder in their lives. A Swiss study of 265 psychotic patients published in Frontiers of Forensic Psychiatry in June 2018 found that, over a three-year period, young men with psychosis who used cannabis had a 50% chance of becoming violent. This was four times greater than those with psychosis who did not use it, even after adjusting for factors such as alcohol use. The most obvious way that marijuana fuels violence in psychotic people is through its tendency to cause paranoia. This is something even cannabis advocates acknowledge that the drug can cause. The risk is so obvious that users joke about it, and dispensaries advertise certain strains as less likely to induce paranoia.
Delaware’s new marijuana law does nothing to protect those people who are psychotic. We are encouraging the substance’s use and increasing the prevalence of psychotic disorder, which fuels violence. No wonder the American Medical Association and most major health organizations oppose the legalization and medicalization of marijuana. It is not a Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine and has not passed standards of safety and efficacy. The Institute of Medicine has concluded that smoked marijuana should generally not be recommended for medical use (see “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base,” 1999, The National Academies Press). More recently, the shooting at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office uncovered a paper trail left by the shooter, Joshua Jahn. It showed that he had a high interest in marijuana, with a probable diagnosis of cannabis-induced psychosis. He had a history of intense playing of violent video games, one of which is called “Left 4 Dead 2.” Perhaps shooting violent zombies could have turned him into one.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that at least 85 people who frequented a Wisconsin restaurant in October 2024 experienced symptoms of THC intoxication. The restaurant shared a kitchen with a producer of cannabis edibles and mistakenly used THC-infused oil to prepare dough. Nearly half of those who got sick said they suffered paranoia, and a quarter reported hallucinating.
More research needs to be conducted into cannabis-induced psychosis and its relationship to violent behavior.
You would think that our legislators would prioritize science over ideology and social acceptance to protect our citizens. Yet, apparently, we are engaged in a social experiment that countries like Sweden and Denmark are now trying to address. These countries are experiencing high rates of absenteeism, with increased levels of violent behavior, directly related to the readily available use of cannabis. It will take months, if not years, to see the detrimental effects of this legalization.
We are in a Frankenstein moment in social history.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
