“It needs to be emphasized that regular cannabis use, which we consider once a week, is not safe and may result in addiction and neurocognitive damage especially in youth,” said Krista Lisdahl, director of the imaging and neuropsychology lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at the Aug. 9 annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

Meanwhile, states all over the country, including Maine, race headlong to join Colorado and Washington to legalize use of marijuana. We should stand in firm opposition to legalization.

If eventually approved here in referendum, we will become complicit in aiding in the proliferation of young pot users, leading their lives the way they think life should be — “buzzed” — all the time. Few limit marijuana use; many become addicted.

The APA studies show that young people who become addicted to marijuana use lose an average of six IQ points by adulthood. A New Zealand study of frequent pot users in adolescence showed a loss of eight points.

So much for the pot promoters contention that the substance is not harmful. The facts are that marijuana is much more powerful (and harmful) than ever before, often containing five times the amount of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) as it did in the 20th century. THC is a dangerous psychoactive drug, causing serious increased health risks.

Colorado, the state pioneering unrestricted recreational use of marijuana, is experiencing some real horror stories. Two deaths, including a murder and an unrelated suicide, have been linked to ingestion of edible marijuana. Intoxicated driving arrests are rising and some hospital officials say they are treating growing numbers of children and adults sickened by potent doses of edible marijuana, according to reports out of that state.

Abuse of medical marijuana laws has been studied in Oregon, where only nine doctors approved more than 56,000 prescriptions in a year. In Los Angeles, “Some medical marijuana clinics have been taken over by illegal for-profit businesses that sell recreational marijuana to healthy young adults and attract crime,” Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said in September.

The argument that cannabis use is no different from alcohol or tobacco use and therefore should be legalized is specious at best. Making bad things legal has never reduced their use but instead has caused their use to proliferate. Legalization of marijuana will provide approval of another dangerous drug and lead to its abuse.

As guardians of our nation’s youth, their health and safety, we are now faced with an impending decision. Will we embrace a dangerous and incorrect assumption promoted by marijuana referendum supporters that this is a relatively safe drug?

Or will we rely on the evidence and the professionals in the field who take seriously the science of marijuana and say our teens will be marked for life by irreversible damage to their brains?

That is the question posed in a new book, “Going to Pot.” I highly recommend this report for education on this subject. It is authored by Bill Bennett, former secretary of education and the country’s first national drug control policy director.

Another good source is David Frum, author of the 2012 novel “Patriots.” From Frum, “an isolated, underachieving kid starts smoking marijuana, then descends deeper into isolation and underachievement … Prospects for young people have narrowed — they want to start life, but instead are being offered only narcotic dreams.”

Psychic harm from marijuana is proven to be even more serious than physical damage. Dependency leads to despondency, and the downward spiral can progress to the harder drugs, heroin and cocaine. Studies have proven that our brains are hard-wired for addiction. Triggering that addiction eventually will overthrow all reasoning and moral behavior. The illegal marijuana market is twice as large as the market for coffee. Legalization will expand it. I think it is safe to assume that marijuana retailers will be found mostly in our poorest neighborhoods. What has happened with the importation of hard drugs into our state offers evidence that the youth of rural Maine would appear to be the most susceptible for an explosion of cannabis use if the drug is legalized.

In conclusion, I would ask, what value do we place on our children and their future? Haven’t we learned from the experiences of our own youth? Will we fight for them, or allow profit motivation to ruin their lives, while creating a descent into a nation of young zombies?

Don Roberts, a former city councilor and former vice chairman of the Charter Commission in Augusta, is a trustee of the Greater Augusta Utility District.

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