When a mass shooting occurs, some people act as if the guns themselves are responsible rather than the people who use them, Other people respond with the statement: “Guns don’t kill people. People do.” The statement is true because guns cannot independently affect the operation of the human brain.
The brain is a complex system controlled by the interaction of various chemicals. People use marijuana because it is one of the chemicals .that can affect the operation of the brain. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to marijuana. In addition to creating the sensation of feeling “high”, marijuana can cause behavior that kills.
Marijuana has two ways of killing people. Marijuana reduces the brain’s ability to detect and respond appropriately to danger such as when driving a car. Sometimes the marijuana user dies from a traffic accident. Sometime the person who dies was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Marijuana is associated with homicidal behavior. Marijuana violence often involves firearms. Some of this violence is due to marijuana’s tendency to induce paranoia in some people. Marijuana heightens the sense of fear as it does the other senses.
The sense of smell can play a role in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]. Police officers who have had a bad experience with drug dealers or marijuana users could become overly fearful if they smell marijuana on someone they are dealing and be more likely to shoot than they would be otherwise. Government needs to finance research on this possibility.
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