The truth about marijuana is finally being revealed. Even the liberal New York Times has been forced to reverse its position on marijuana.

The New York Times editorial board just published an opinion called “It’s Time for America to Admit That It Has a Marijuana Problem.” The editorial board admitted it has long supported marijuana legalization and even published a six-part series comparing the federal ban on marijuana to the prohibition of alcohol, advocating for the ban to be repealed.

Marc Tamasco, writing for Fox News, says the Times admitted “Much of what we wrote then holds up – but not all of it does.” At the time, supporters of legalization predicted that it would bring few downsides. In our editorials, we described marijuana addiction and dependence as ‘relatively minor problems.’ Many advocates went further and claimed that marijuana was a harmless drug that might even bring net health benefits. They also said that legalization might not lead to greater use.”

Despite these prior claims, the Times argued that it is “now clear that many of these predictions were wrong,” and that the legalization of the drug “has led to much more use.” The outlet cited data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which suggested that approximately 18 million Americans have used marijuana almost daily, or about five times a week, in recent years, up from about 6 million in 2012 and less than 1 million in 1992.

This dramatic uptick in marijuana consumption in the United States has “caused a rise in addiction and other problems,” according to the Times.

“Each year, nearly 2.8 million people in the United States suffer from cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, which causes severe vomiting and stomach pain. More people have also ended up in hospitals with marijuana-linked paranoia and chronic psychotic disorders. Bystanders have also been hurt, including by people driving under the influence of pot,” the outlet pointed out.

Professor Bertha Madras of Harvard University, in a letter to The Wall Street Journal, tells us cannabis use disorder, or CUD, is neither rare nor benign. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the prevalence of CUD among adolescents and young adults (15.8%) is comparable to that of alcohol use disorder (14.4%)—even though the number of alcohol users exceeds the number of marijuana users and the proportion of the population affected by CUD far exceeds that of other illicit substance use disorders. An estimated 25% to 30% of users develop CUD, with adolescents doing so at roughly twice the adult rate.

Research published in the journal Psychological Medicine found that a shocking 30% of schizophrenia cases among men aged 21 to 30 could have been thwarted if they had averted cannabis use disorder (CUD). Scientists examined recent cases of schizophrenia, an abnormal interpretation of reality resulting in hallucinations, delusions or disordered thinking. The study’s authors stated that in 2021, CUD played an integral role in 15% of cases occurring in men aged 16 to 49, and in 4% of cases affecting women in the same age range. This new study examined data concerning 6.9 million people ages 16 to 49 collected in Denmark from 1972 to 2021.

The truth is the cannabis being used today is not your cannabis of the hippie era in the 1960s. The concentration of THC is roughly 20 times that of the marijuana in the hippie era.

This is not news to those who have been reading my blog. Previous posts on this subject include High-THC Cannabis Linked to DNA Changes, Marijuana and Violence, Marijuana and Traffic Deaths, and Cannabis and Schizophrenia. These articles can be viewed by using the search engine for my archives.

Here’s some good news for a change – life expectancy is getting better!

Jennifer Calfas, writing in The Wall Street Journal, tells us life expectancy in the U.S. reached a record high in 2024 following a substantial decline of drug-overdose deaths, according to figures released by the federal government recently.

The life expectancy at birth for the average American was 79 years old in 2024, up 0.6 year from the year prior, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The increase signals a rebound from declines in life expectancy during the coronavirus pandemic and progress in combating the opioid crisis.

The agency reported that deaths related to drug overdose decreased by more than 26% between 2023 and 2024, marking the largest year-to-year drop in those types of fatalities recorded by the federal government.

What are the current life expectancy rates for men and women?

How long can we reasonably expect to live? The Bible tells us people lived over 900 years at one time. Methuselah lived 969 years! But after the great flood that destroyed mankind except for the family of Noah, life expectancy sharply declined. According to Psalm 90:10, “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.”

Improvements in healthcare have improved these numbers slightly, but if you live to be eighty you should be thankful. Here are the latest statistics for America: The average life expectancy at birth for women and men in 2024 increased to 81.4 years and 76.5 years, respectively, the report said. While the U.S. has made progress in lengthening its life expectancy, it still lags behind peer nations. The drug-overdose epidemic and stalled progress in cardiovascular disease mortality rates have played a role in slowing the U.S.’s momentum.

U.S. life expectancy decreased by 1.8 years during the pandemic in 2020, with Covid-19 becoming the third-leading cause of death at the time.

The overall mortality rate in the U.S., adjusted for age, dropped in 2024 by nearly 4%, from 750.5 deaths per 100,000 Americans in 2023 to a rate of 722.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2024. Death rates decreased across races and ethnicities. Heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries remained the top-three leading causes of deaths, the agency said, while Covid-19 was no longer among the top 10 causes of death. Death by suicide was the 10th-leading cause of death in 2024, the report said.

With improvements in healthcare and better understanding of what causes disease, we may see further improvements in life expectancy. But only God knows how long each individual is going to live.

America has a healthcare crisis. Democrats tried to fix the problem their way in 2010 when they passed the Affordable Care Act during the Obama Administration. Today we know that legislation as ObamaCare.

But ObamaCare has not lived up to its promises of reducing healthcare costs for the average American family. ObamaCare has only succeeded in putting more people on another government entitlement, greatly increasing the enrollment of Medicaid. The costs for everyone else keep going up forcing politicians to push for more government subsidies. But throwing good money after bad is no solution to a problem.

John C. Goodman is a healthcare economist. He offers some solutions to the problem along with co-author Pete Sessions (Congressman from Texas) in an article published by The Hill. They say in order to fix a problem you have to first acknowledge a problem exists.

According to Gallup, one in four Americans are fully aware American has a healthcare crisis. This crisis is most evident on the Affordable Care Act exchange. These authors tell us since 2014, premiums in Affordable Care Act plans have increased twice as fast as employer plan premiums and three times as fast as overall inflation. Last year, the average deductible in the most commonly selected plan was $4,572, more than twice as high as in an average employer plan ($1,787). The maximum out-of-pocket expense in the average exchange plan also was more than twice as high ($9,450) as in the average employer plan ($4,750).

For most people enrolled in an exchange plan, the insurance is free, or almost free. Four out of five enrollees (19 million) are paying $10 or less per month, and more than half of those are paying no premium at all. If you are healthy, the only care you need is preventive care, which is also free.

Unfortunately, exchange plans are not accepted by many of the best doctors and medical centers. Without changes, this year the out-of-pocket exposure in all Affordable Care Act exchange plans will be $10,600 for an individual and twice that for a family. So in other words, ObamaCare is a bargain for those who don’t really need insurance. But for patients who are chronically ill or require expensive medical care, it can be a financial disaster.

Sessions has proposed the Healthcare Fairness for All Act as a solution to the problem. It contains the following basic elements:

A real market for health insurance. Let insurers do what they are not allowed to do: offer a wide variety of products so people can purchase the insurance that best suits their needs with their own money. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, people who purchase alternatives to Affordable Care Act insurance are paying less than half of the premiums charged in today’s exchange.

So, what if people choose a plan that doesn’t cover a problem like substance abuse because they mistakenly think no one in their household has that problem? Let a family that discovers a medical condition not covered by their chosen insurance plan, but covered under ObamaCare, enroll immediately in a benchmark exchange silver plan.

Tax credits. People who purchase insurance outside the exchanges should receive a refundable tax credit, which in most cases would cover more than half the cost of the insurance. As an alternative, people could have a tax credit equal to the subsidy they would have received if they had entered the ObamaCare exchange. Tax credits also could be used to pay premiums and make deposits to Roth Health Savings Accounts.

Special needs plans for the chronically ill. State governments should offer safety net health plans designed for residents with costly chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, etc. This should be similar to what happens in the Medicare Advantage program.

Roth Health Savings Accounts. These accounts should be flexible enough to meet the needs of the chronically ill. After a period of time, withdrawals for non-medical purposes should be without taxes or penalties — allowing patients to reap the economic rewards from being smart shoppers in the medical marketplace.

Employer plans. Employers should have the discretion to stay in the current system of tax subsidies or move to a tax credit system. Under the latter, employees could convert wasteful health care spending dollar-for-dollar into higher take-home pay.

These are all good solutions to the current healthcare crisis. The real problem right now is getting both political parties to agree we have a problem.