Several recently published studies have established that marijuana use interferes with brain development, which continues until about age 25. Thus, the effects of marijuana use are the most pronounced in the group most likely to experiment with it.
One of the documented effects of marijuana use by young people is that it precipitates psychotic/schizophrenic disorders. Psychosis is often linked to criminality. Schizophrenia, of course, can cause complete disability.
My sense is that as the casualties grow in the form of increased numbers of young people incapable of doing anything productive, this vast experiment with legalizing marijuana will end.
No, all that's documented is a correlation - which is equally well explained by disorders precipitating pot use or (as some research suggests) a genetic factor increasing both the likelihood of pot use and the likelihood of disorders.
My sense is that as the casualties grow in the form of increased numbers of young people incapable of doing anything productive, this vast experiment with legalizing marijuana will end.
As pot use has grown over the past decades, schizophrenia has remained flat.