Reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug--facts that the author believes have been ignored as the U.S. rushes to legalize cannabis.

"An eye-opening report that reveals the link between extensive marijuana use and mental Illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence linked to the drug. With marijuana use soaring, and states from coast to coast legalizing the drug, award-winning author and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson warns that the media and cannabis advocates have misled Americans about the drug's safety. For decades, advocacy groups--aided by credulous journalists--have pushed dangerous myths about cannabis: that it can treat many different diseases; that it can somehow solve the American opioid epidemic; that no one has ever died from marijuana use; and worst of all, that the drug is not just harmless, but beneficial for people with mental health problems. Americans have listened. Since 2006, and especially in the last few years, marijuana use has spiked. The United States now has higher rates of use than any other major country--and cannabis itself is far more potent than it was even twenty years ago. Unfortunately, the growth has happened in the face of powerful new evidence that marijuana can be deeply harmful to mental health. Scientists now agree cannabis use can lead to psychosis--mental breaks that sometimes produce terrifying violence. Berenson has interviewed some of the world's foremost experts on marijuana and mental illness--and illustrated their views with stories of the real-world harm that marijuana can cause. Taking readers from a prison on Colorado's hardscrabble eastern plains to a research institute in the heart of London, Berenson builds a case that grows more compelling study by study, story by story, and chapter by chapter. Deeply researched and meticulously written, [this book] reveals the hard truths that cannabis legalizers would prefer to ignore. Whether or not you use, it will open your eyes to the real risks of marijuana--and make you question whether legalization is worth the risk."--Dust jacket.