Miriam Adelson: Cannabis is a gateway drug to opioids
“The normalization of cannabis in our society directly endangers its most vulnerable members: children,” said Dr Miriam Adelson.
By HANNAH HEPNERMiriam Adelson at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Policymakers and public health regulators must attempt to limit cannabis use, Dr. Miriam Adelson, founder and manager of the Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment & Research in Las Vegas has said.Adelson, an Israeli native, made the comments in her speech at the 20th anniversary of clinic.Adelson knew her stance might not be a popular one given Nevada’s legalization of recreational marijuana in 2017 and the lucrative marijuana business, but she felt that it was pertinent and required saying, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.“I must insist, cannabis is indeed a gateway drug to potentially deadly opioids," she said. "And the normalization of cannabis in our society directly endangers its most vulnerable members: children.“When kids see their elders using cannabis as if it’s normal, they are much more likely to partake themselves,” she added.According to research from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, children who first use cannabis between the ages of 14 and 15 have an 18 percent chance of becoming opioid addicts as adults.“That risk spirals to an astonishing 28 percent among those who use cannabis at age 13,” Adelson explained in her speech.“When children use cannabis, this imperils [brain] development, and they compromise their ability to exercise judgment, generating a vicious cycle of bad choices,” said Adelson.This stunted development is particularly concerning since the human brain typically continues developing until the early to mid 20s.Adelson's private nonprofit clinic, which has treated 1726 patients since its opening in 2000, provides medications like methadone, a synthetic opioid that prevents withdrawal symptoms without creating a “high,” in order to treat opioid addicts.She and her husband, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Sheldon Adelson, have worked to establish treatment clinics in Tel Aviv as well, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.Given all of her work with opioid addiction, the rising use in cannabis poses a serious concern to Adelson. She warns that cannabis “is a real and present danger to our children, the next generation, our future.”In order to combat this threat, Adelson urges public schools to take actions like conducting drug tests in order to reduce peer pressure to partake in cannabis consumption.
