Yale Psych Prof Warns Against Legalization

Hartford — A Yale expert on the health impacts of marijuana spent more than two hours cautioning legislators against legalizing the drug, saying a safe system might theoretically exist — but he hasn’t seen one.

Citing his own research and a recent report out of Colorado, psychiatry professor Dr. Deepak D’Souza warned members of the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee Wednesday during a public hearing on bills that would legalize recreational use of marijuana about the potential impact on teens, drivers and those with severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

The bills in question have the backing of lawmakers from New Haven, who cite the high level of support in the state for legalization and the potential profit for the state.

D’Souza spent nearly two and a half hours fielding questions, particularly from committee members from the Elm City.

D’Souza serves as the director of the Schizophrenia Neuropharmacology Research Group at the Yale School of Medicine and is the director of the Neurobiological Studies Unit for the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and the director of VA-CMHC Schizophrenia Research Clinic. And he has been studying the effects of drugs like marijuana on the brain for 25 years.

He told lawmakers Wednesday that there is ​“absolutely no question,” given the results of both human an animal scientific studies, that cannabis is addictive. Studies suggest that about 10 percent of people who will try marijuana will become addicted to it. He said there also is no question that the use of cannabinoids impairs driving. He cited growing evidence that adolescent exposure to marijuana puts them at risk for impaired cognitive function and at higher risk for more serious mental health problems.

His work at Yale involves placebo controlled double blind studies. Participants in the study are separated into groups. Some people are given different doses of cannabis; others are given a placebo and asked to perform tests. A study currently underway is looking at the impacts of people who take a drink and a dose of cannabis and simulate driving.

“I can tell you that in the studies that I’ve done over the past 25 years, I don’t see any people performing better under the influence of cannabis,” he told committee members. ​“They generally perform worse on most of the tests we do.”

D’Souza debunked a myth Wednesday that is popular among those who oppose legalizing marijuana: that cannabis is a gateway drug to more intense or harder drug use. He simultaneously debunked a myth popular among some supporters of legalization: that weed isn’t addictive.

He said people who are addicted to cannabis suffer withdrawal symptoms. But he also acknowledged that marijuana is not as addictive as, say, cocaine. In fact, when asked to rank the addictiveness of among legal and illegal substances including cocaine, opioids, alcohol and nicotine, he ranked marijuana at the bottom. But he also emphasized the results of a recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Health that found that one of three people who smoke marijuana on a daily basis reported problems associated with the use of cannabis.

Digging In

New Haven State Rep. Toni Walker asked D’Souza if he knows of a correlation between the 10 percent addiction rate and the 10 percent of people with addictive personality disorder classified in the the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). D’Souza responded that there is no correlation.

“Having an addictive personality and being addicted to marijuana are two completely separate issues,” he said. ​“You can have an addictive personality and never get addicted to anything.”

D’Souza said that addiction is part genetic liability, part environment and availability of the substance to which you become addicted.

Walker also asked why lawmakers should trust the data that he’s cited over other studies such as one done by AAA on traffic fatalities in Washington State, which legalized marijuana in 2012.

“I appreciate this is a very new and very controversial. However the use of marijuana has been around for centuries,” Walker said. In the studies that she’s read, particularly for Washington State, marijuana use was not the main factor in the crashes, she said.

“I’m just trying to point out is that there is sound foundational research that’s out there,” she said. ​“I’m not saying marijuana use doesn’t affect your ability to drive. But so does alcohol, so do [other] drugs, so does eating and distracted driving. I think we have to realize there is lot of different information out there just as much to contradict some of the things that you are saying.”

D’Souza respectfully disagreed — particularly, he said, if you look beyond Washington State and even the United States, to research from Europe and Australia.

“There is absolutely no doubt that exposure to marijuana results in higher rate of motor vehicle accidents,” he said.

New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter about about a common use for cannabis — the treatment of insomnia — and how prescribing marijuana might be any worse than prescribing potentially addictive drugs in the benzodiazepines like Valium and Ativan.

D’Souza said in his own practice he typically doesn’t prescribe any drug. He prescribes a better bedtime routine for insomnia. If that fails, he starts out with a low-risk drug such as Benadryl. He said there is a wide range of treatment to exhaust before he gets into benzodiazepines.

“What are the side effects of those drugs?” Porter asked. D’Souza replied that people can become disinhibited and a hangover effect. When asked about the impact of treating insomnia with cannabis, D’Souza suggested that in a current study at Yale looking at dependency the most common reason that people are using marijuana is to treat sleeplessness. The study has found so far that they can’t sleep without it.

New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield, who is a co-sponsor of a legalization bill for legalization with New Haven Sen. Martin Looney, dug deeper into the Colorado study. The study shows a 48 percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths, but also shows that Colorado went from fourth in the nation for teen marijuana use to first in the nation. (New Haven State Rep. Juan Candelaria is the sponsor of the House version of the bill.)

Winfield noted that the study covers a two-year period before legalization and the two years since marijuana was legalized for recreation use in that state. He pointed out that before legalization, Colorado had gone from 14th in the nation to fourth in the nation for marijuana use among teens. He asked if researchers should draw any conclusions about whether legalization had increased marijuana use among teens in a state that was already on the path to being the first in the nation in that regard.

“I’m trying to make sure that the data set is actually useful,” he said.

D’Souza said there will never be ideal data, because no one is going to take a group of 100 people and let them get stoned and get on the highway and another 100 people on a marijuana placebo to see what happens.

“We have to rely on these data sets and controlled things like simulated driving to make a decision,” he said.

“I don’t think there is a perfect data set, but what we have in this study … is not even close to enough to make a conclusion,” Winfield said.

D’Souza said that people are being myopic by looking only at Colorado. In all the states that have legalized recreational use, he said, adolescent use has increased.

“You can contribute causality to anything, but I’m fairly convinced that there is some relationships that need to be looked at,” he said.

“Is it possible that legalization happened in places where they were already high, like in Colorado,” Winfield pressed.

“It’s conceivable,” D’Souza said.

After his testimony, D’Souza was asked if he can imagine a scenario under which it might be OK for Connecticut to legalize marijuana, such as controlling for the amount of THC in the marijuana manufactured and distributed, restrictions on the type of marijuana based products manufactured such as strict licensing and quality control, and raising the age of legal use to say 25.

“Maybe,” D’Souza replied.

“But no state has shown that it has been able to do that.”

Following is a status report on bills of particular interest to New Haven before the state legislature this session:

The 2017 Agenda

Bill #	Status	Summary	Sponsors
SB11/ HB5539	Committee Denied	Would legalize, tax recreational use of marijuana.	Candelaria Dillon Lemar Walker Porter et al
SB 17	Committee Approved	Would make certain undocumented immigrant students (DREAMers) eligible for state college financial aid.	Looney
HB 5434	Committee Approved	Would have CT join with other states to elect the President based on popular, rather than Electoral College, vote.	Winfield, Porter Albis Elliott D’Agostino et al.
HB 5458, HB 6058	Committee Approved	Would establish electronic tolls on state highways.	Genga
HB 5575/HB 7126	Passed Senate	Would regulate companies such as Uber and Lyft.	Scanlon
HB 5589	Passed House	Would expand disclosure requirements for contributions to campaign funds.	Dillon Lemar D’Agostino Elliott et al.
HB 5591	Passed House	Would require equal pay for employees doing comparable work.	Dillon Walker Lemar Albis D’Agostino Elliott et al.
HB 5703	Committee Denied	Would have CT enter into an agreement with other states to limit ​“poaching” of each other’s businesses.	Lemar
HJ 13/HJr 95	Passed House	Would amend the state constitution to permit early voting.	Lemar
HJ 16	In Commitee	Would amend the state constitution to permit absentee voting for all voters.	Lemar
SB 1/HB 6212	Committee Approved	Would require employers to provide paid family and medical leave for their employees.	Looney
SB 2	Committee Approved	Would make the education funding formula more equitable.	Duff
SB 8	Committee Denied	Would allow municipalities to adopt a 0.5% sales tax.	Looney
SB 10/HB 5743	Passed Senate	Would strengthen hate crime laws.	Winfield
SB 13/HB 6208/HB 6456	Committee Approved	Would increase the minimum wage.	Looney Winfield et al. Albis Candelaria D’Agostino Elliott Lemar Paolillo Porter Walker
SB 137	Committee Denied	Would expand birth-to-three and provide universal pre-school, among other things.	Gerratana
SJ 5/HJ 1	Passed House	Would amend the state constitution to create a ​“lock-box” for transportation funding.	Duff
HB 5588	Committee Denied	Would limit certain bond allocations.	Dillon Lemar Albis Walker Elliott et al.
HB 5912HB 6127	Committee Denied	Would establish a 1‑cent/ounce tax on sugared beverages.	Lemar Elliott et al.
HB 6554	Committee Denied	Would tax carried interest as ordinary income.	Porter Albis Lemar Elliott Winfield Candelaria Dillon D’Agostino et al.
HB 5831	Committee Denied	Would provide bonding for transitional housing for NH female ex- offenders.	Porter Candelaria Lemar Winfield Looney Paolillo
SB 631	Committee Denied	Would provide bonding to make structural improvements to the Shubert Theatre.	Winfield Looney Walker Porter Lemar Candelaria Paolillo
HB 6863	Committee Denied	Would authorize bonds for renovating the Barbell Club as a youth/ community center.	Canelaria Porter Paolillo Lemar Winfield
SB 649	Committee Approved	Would allow local building officials to impose fines for building w/o a permit.	Looney Winfield Walker Candelaria Lemar Porter Paolillo Et al.
SB 590/591	Committee Denied	Would limit police ccoperation w/Immigration and Customs Enforcement (590); establish an immigrant’s bill of rights	Winfield
SB 20	Committee Denied	Would require affordability to be considered in reviewing proposed health insurance rate hikes.	Looney
HB 6352	Committee Approved	Would establish a deposit system for car tires.	Ritter Gresko McCrory
HB 6901	Committee Denied	Would impose a surtax on large employers that pay an average wage less than $15/hour.	Elliott
HB 7278	Passed Senate	Would convey various parcels to New Haven, among other things.	Gov’t Administration and Elections