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Marijuana and School Failure

Social Fabric by from Hudson Institute, May 18, 2015

A shortened version of this article was published in Real Clear Education on May 18, 2015.

The dose makes the poison. -Paracelsus

According to a new Pew survey, political support for legalizing marijuana is strongest among the generation known as the millennials (those born after 1980). Pew’s survey showed fully 68 percent of them want legal dope (in contrast, only 29 percent of the “Silent Generation”—born between 1928 and 1945—support legal marijuana). By this political support, millennials may be paving their own pathway to a problematic educational future.

The impact of high-potency marijuana use on American educational achievement, competitiveness, and even military readiness has been overlooked, if not dismissed. Yet there are serious reasons for concern.

While marijuana use has long been a variable affecting school performance, education and health research has neglected evidence that a substantial increase in marijuana potency over the past twenty years is today producing much greater harm.

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