Review: Smokescreen by Kevin Sabet (with footnotes) 4/13/2021
As someone who’s experienced a marijuana-induced psychosis, and as a result has suffered the after-effects of unrelenting mental illness for decades, I have a special interest in Kevin Sabet’s book, “Smokescreen - What the Marijuana industry Doesn’t Want You To Know.”
Around 2014, as the recreational legalization movement was gaining momentum, I begin my own investigation into what many were saying was a “harmless” substance that cured all kinds of conditions - vs. what research and stories in the media were indicating.
I found out for example, that major health organizations were already issuing warnings about marijuana’s dangers as far back as 2000, and that as far back as the 1970s, pediatricians observed that pregnant woman who used marijuana were giving birth to babies with anomalies to areas of the brain concerned with logic, reasoning, and critical thinking. (1)(2)(3)
In far greater detail, Smokescreen, in its nineteen chapters, covers all this and much more.
Most sad for me was discovering all the grieving mom’s and parents, in fact whole groups of them, who’d lost loved ones, as a direct result of marijuana.
Most disturbing was my direct contact with the marijuana lobby, who summarily denigrate grieving parents - and in fact anyone who points out the very real dangers of marijuana, as being “obstructive, lying prohibitionists.”(4)
The marijuana lobby justifies this with the accusation: “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana.”(5)
That would include U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health (which includes the National Library of Medicine), all which have data and who have issued warnings about marijuana’s risks, especially to pregnant women and adolescents.(6)(7)(8)
Then to fill the gap, they provide their own “Medical Research Library,” a collection of assumptions, misinformation, distorted facts, denigrations, and half-truths, whose nefarious intent is clearly transparent to the educated, unbiased person.(9)
Upon investigating the document, “Recent Medical Marijuana Research” (NORML), I’ve so far discovered that five of the “Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids” were refuted, denied or listed risks by health organizations representing those ailments.(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)
What frightens me most, is the realization of just how much politicians and businessmen are compromising the mental and physical health of this nation’s youth, for the sake of huge profits - profits that make those of the tobacco industry in its heyday seem small by comparison.
This is a cruel recklessness that’s completely devoid of any sense of human decency, an effort at encouraging a slavery to addiction in order to guarantee future profits - It is something that unless stood up to and halted now, will effect our nation for decades to come in the future.
If you take away anything from Smokescreen, let it be a sense of urgency for Americans to not only become fully aware of this horrid deception by the marijuana industry, but in order to protect our nation’s youth from this virulent, deliberate campaign of misinformation, the necessity of informing ever legislator, politician, and media person, with what you’ve learned.
“Smokescreen” is a must-read book that every parent, health professional, legislator, politician, media person, or anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read.
“I have a 15, a 13, and a 9-year old, and I absolutely as a physician, as a dad, as the Surgeon General of the United States, wouldn’t want them exposed to these products (marijuana), and wouldn’t want them to falsely believe they’re safe.”
- Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General
(1) Triggering Myocardial Infarction by Marijuana
- http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/103/23/2805.long
(2) Pueblo Physicians Code Red, Dr. Steven Simerville
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4bcl9FqfIs
(3) The Environment and Schizophrenia: The Role of Cannabis Use
- http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/3/608.full
(4) Steve Hawkins - Marijuana Policy Project
- https://ashevilleprogressive.com/site/uncategorized/24762/
(5) NORML, “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana”
- https://norml.org/marijuana/library/truth-report/
(6) U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory -Marijuana Use and the Developing Brain
- https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/addiction-and-substance-misuse/advisory-on-marijuana-
use-and-developing-brain/index.html
(7) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - “Marijuana and Public Health”
- https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects.html
(8) The National Library of Medicine - “The adverse health effects and harms
related to marijuana use: an overview review”
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6182105/
(9) NORML - “Medical Research Library”
- https://norml.org/marijuana/library/
(10) Cannabis & PTSD
- https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/consult/2016lecture_archive/11162016_lecture_slides.pdf
(11) Eight Things Rheumatologists Should Know About Medical
Marijuana
- https://www.rheumatologynetwork.com/view/eight-things-rheumatologists-should-know-about-medical-marijuana
(12) Influence of Cannabis Use on Severity of Hepatitis C Disease
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184401/
(13) Marijuana linked to high blood pressure risk
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/marijuana-linked-to-high-blood-pressure-risk
(14) National Multiple Sclerosis Society “Risks of Marijuana”
- https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Treating-MS/Complementary-Alternative-Medicines/Marijuana/Marijuana-FA
Around 2014, as the recreational legalization movement was gaining momentum, I begin my own investigation into what many were saying was a “harmless” substance that cured all kinds of conditions - vs. what research and stories in the media were indicating.
I found out for example, that major health organizations were already issuing warnings about marijuana’s dangers as far back as 2000, and that as far back as the 1970s, pediatricians observed that pregnant woman who used marijuana were giving birth to babies with anomalies to areas of the brain concerned with logic, reasoning, and critical thinking. (1)(2)(3)
In far greater detail, Smokescreen, in its nineteen chapters, covers all this and much more.
Most sad for me was discovering all the grieving mom’s and parents, in fact whole groups of them, who’d lost loved ones, as a direct result of marijuana.
Most disturbing was my direct contact with the marijuana lobby, who summarily denigrate grieving parents - and in fact anyone who points out the very real dangers of marijuana, as being “obstructive, lying prohibitionists.”(4)
The marijuana lobby justifies this with the accusation: “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana.”(5)
That would include U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health (which includes the National Library of Medicine), all which have data and who have issued warnings about marijuana’s risks, especially to pregnant women and adolescents.(6)(7)(8)
Then to fill the gap, they provide their own “Medical Research Library,” a collection of assumptions, misinformation, distorted facts, denigrations, and half-truths, whose nefarious intent is clearly transparent to the educated, unbiased person.(9)
Upon investigating the document, “Recent Medical Marijuana Research” (NORML), I’ve so far discovered that five of the “Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids” were refuted, denied or listed risks by health organizations representing those ailments.(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)
What frightens me most, is the realization of just how much politicians and businessmen are compromising the mental and physical health of this nation’s youth, for the sake of huge profits - profits that make those of the tobacco industry in its heyday seem small by comparison.
This is a cruel recklessness that’s completely devoid of any sense of human decency, an effort at encouraging a slavery to addiction in order to guarantee future profits - It is something that unless stood up to and halted now, will effect our nation for decades to come in the future.
If you take away anything from Smokescreen, let it be a sense of urgency for Americans to not only become fully aware of this horrid deception by the marijuana industry, but in order to protect our nation’s youth from this virulent, deliberate campaign of misinformation, the necessity of informing ever legislator, politician, and media person, with what you’ve learned.
“Smokescreen” is a must-read book that every parent, health professional, legislator, politician, media person, or anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read.
“I have a 15, a 13, and a 9-year old, and I absolutely as a physician, as a dad, as the Surgeon General of the United States, wouldn’t want them exposed to these products (marijuana), and wouldn’t want them to falsely believe they’re safe.”
- Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General
(1) Triggering Myocardial Infarction by Marijuana
- http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/103/23/2805.long
(2) Pueblo Physicians Code Red, Dr. Steven Simerville
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4bcl9FqfIs
(3) The Environment and Schizophrenia: The Role of Cannabis Use
- http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/3/608.full
(4) Steve Hawkins - Marijuana Policy Project
- https://ashevilleprogressive.com/site/uncategorized/24762/
(5) NORML, “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana”
- https://norml.org/marijuana/library/truth-report/
(6) U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory -Marijuana Use and the Developing Brain
- https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/addiction-and-substance-misuse/advisory-on-marijuana-
use-and-developing-brain/index.html
(7) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - “Marijuana and Public Health”
- https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects.html
(8) The National Library of Medicine - “The adverse health effects and harms
related to marijuana use: an overview review”
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6182105/
(9) NORML - “Medical Research Library”
- https://norml.org/marijuana/library/
(10) Cannabis & PTSD
- https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/consult/2016lecture_archive/11162016_lecture_slides.pdf
(11) Eight Things Rheumatologists Should Know About Medical
Marijuana
- https://www.rheumatologynetwork.com/view/eight-things-rheumatologists-should-know-about-medical-marijuana
(12) Influence of Cannabis Use on Severity of Hepatitis C Disease
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184401/
(13) Marijuana linked to high blood pressure risk
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/marijuana-linked-to-high-blood-pressure-risk
(14) National Multiple Sclerosis Society “Risks of Marijuana”
- https://www.nationalmssociety.org/Treating-MS/Complementary-Alternative-Medicines/Marijuana/Marijuana-FA