The Perils of Pot

According to the most recent studies, some 24 million Americans have tried marijuana, and approximately 13 million smoke it at least occasionally. Last week the Government had both good and bad news for them. A White House adviser softened the Administration's stand against the abolition of legal penalties for marijuana use. But he suggested that the drug may well have serious effects on a smoker's health. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee, Dr. Robert L. DuPont, director of the President's special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention, warned that marijuana's effects on the body may be more widespread and persistent than had been previously suspected. His suggestion to those who might be considering trying marijuana: don't.

The idea of decriminalizing marijuana has strong support. Of eight expert witnesses testifying before the subcommittee, seven favored removing criminal penalties for possession or use of the drug. But DuPont, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, testified under instructions not to place the White House imprimatur on such a move. While expressing personal misgivings about the existing criminal penalties for marijuana, he said that any move to lessen the penalties might well be interpreted as a sign that marijuana is safe. That would be unwise, he said, in light of the contents of a 193-page report, Marijuana and Health, compiled by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare and presented last week to Congress. The report offers several arguments against marijuana. It cites a study showing that habitual use of marijuana can lower the levels of male sex hormones in some men. Those findings, coupled with other research indicating that lower hormone levels in rats can prevent their male fetuses from developing normally, have been of growing concern to doctors; they wonder whether pregnant women who smoke marijuana might harm their unborn babies.

Unknown Consequences. Other experiments noted in the report show that pot smoking has an adverse effect on drivers' coordination and perception, making them more likely to have accidents. There is further research indicating that pot may make smokers more prone to disease by interfering with the immune system. Concludes DuPont: "The health consequences of marijuana are unknown at this point and potentially quite severe."

DuPont acknowledges that considerable research must still be done to confirm these preliminary findings and determine if marijuana is, in fact, harmful. But until the questions raised in the report are answered, he urges abstinence.

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