In this July 24, 2017 photo, Noel Sola, a cultivation worker at Natural Ventures inspects marijuana plants in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Investors in Puerto Rico have spent more than 3 million to obtain licenses issued by the island’s health department to cultivate, manufacture and sell medical marijuana. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo)
In this July 24, 2017 photo, Noel Sola, a cultivation worker at Natural Ventures inspects marijuana plants in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Investors in Puerto Rico have spent more than 3 million to obtain licenses issued by the island’s health department to cultivate, manufacture and sell medical marijuana. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo) Credit: Ricardo Arduengo

Kate Frey makes some very good points about the price of big marijuana, most notably the impact on our workforce where more people would fail drug tests (Monitor Forum, Sept. 16).

First and foremost, I do not smoke marijuana (or cigarettes) or even use any vape products, but I understand we are all human and to each their own. So let’s together rationally move forward on the marijuana discussion by considering history.

There was a time when Coca-Cola contained some cocaine, and there was a time when hemp was cultivated for use in all sorts of fiber products, most notably rope.

In the early 1900s, as chemists created proprietary compounds for industry, many hemp products remained cheaper and thus a threat to the fortunes of big business. Lobbying forced legislation to make it illegal to grow hemp in the U.S. Fast-forward to the FDA approving sales of opioid painkillers and look where we are now with addiction, overdose and the impact on our workforce and economy.

True, not all pain that can be treated by opioids can be treated by cannabis, but it is also true very few smoke themselves to death. What we the people really need is Big Pharma to stop telling our government what’s good for Big Pharma and instead do what’s good for us.

The first thing we need is the FDA and NIH to fund open research on the effects of cannabis. The public needs to understand what pain marijuana is good to treat, and what are the side effects of its use, such as use of cannabis before age 26 (brain maturity) is linked to increased risk of psychosis and schizophrenia, and synthetic cannabis can cause substance-induced psychosis.

As with alcohol, we need to understand the effects of cannabis use on pregnant and lactating women and their children.

Cannabis doesn’t work like alcohol. With alcohol, there is a parallel between intoxication, blood alcohol content, and coordination because it is water soluble. Cannabinoids are lipid soluble and stored in fat. As you burn fat, you release cannabinoids into the bloodstream so the existence of cannabinoids in the blood is a poor indication of intoxication, coordination or performance. But let’s face it, a hangover is likely worse for job performance than having smoked a joint the night before so pain would subside and one could get a good night sleep.

In that respect, perhaps all workers before starting their shift should do a functional competency test, which also serves as a quick refresher for the skills needed for the day, just like pilots do a pre-flight check.

As a state and a nation, we the people must resolve to evolve together with empathy for all.

(Alexander Slocum lives in Bow.)