Google the terms “teen mortality Canada.” What makes the front page?

Car crashes. Suicide. Prescription drug overdoses. Alcohol overdoses. What you don’t see is: Marijuana.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. …In 2017, 2,364 teens in the United States aged 16-19 were killed, and about 300,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. That means six teens aged 16-19 died every day due to motor vehicle crashes, and hundreds more were injured.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System). US Department of Health and Human Services; September 2019. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Accessed 2–3 October 2019.

Among Canadians aged 15 to 24, suicide ranked second among the most common causes of death during 2003-2007, accounting for one-fifth of total mortality.

As for substances that are legally bought and sold, according to the latest figures, the number of teen deaths from prescription drugs in Canada is second only to the United States. And heavy drinking, often an aggravating factor in death amongst teens, is so dangerous Ontario’s health ministry has said, “Alcohol-related trauma is a significant and preventable cause of death among young Canadians.”

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The big ironic thing about teen mortality in Canada is with one policy change our government overlords would likely be able to reduce teen deaths from car crashes, suicide, prescription drug abuse and alcohol abuse is to give teens safe places to smoke pot in, remove the stigma from teen pot smoking, teach the genuine relative dangers of every drug and teach teens how to smoke pot properly so they get the maximum benefit from it. Those who care about teens should be saying this.

It’s all a smokescreen. Those who want to whip up parental hysteria and use it to their own advantage will keep lying about increasing psychosis and shrinking I.Q.s (that never seem to appear in the general population stats). This theory is a fear-tactic, and it’s been proven thoroughly wrong.

It’s interesting to note that 300,000 Canadian children have food allergies – sometimes leading to death – but level of hysteria produced by our public health officials regarding this very real threat to human life is tiny in comparison to concern over cannabis – which unlike other accepted, popular, trendy products does not kill anyone.

The crazy thing is growing evidence indicates cannabis doesn’t even get pre-teens high.

In personal experience, it certainly helped me survive my teen years without the need for much more dangerous synthetic anti-depressants or relaxants. And truly, all evidence identifies cannabis is the safest and most effective anti-depressant and relaxant in the world.

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Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?

By David Malmo-Levine on January 20, 2017