{"id":2382299,"date":"2024-12-20T12:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T17:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elton-john-is-right-marijuana-legalization-was-a-great-mistake-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T12:46:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T17:46:29","slug":"elton-john-is-right-marijuana-legalization-was-a-great-mistake-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elton-john-is-right-marijuana-legalization-was-a-great-mistake-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Elton John is right, marijuana legalization was a \u2018great mistake\u2019 &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Felton-john-is-right-marijuana-legalization-was-a-great-mistake-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2382299&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent \u2064interview with *Time Magazine*,Elton John expressed strong opposition to marijuana legalization,claiming it was \u200ba major societal mistake. He described marijuana as addictive \u200dand noted that using \u200bit impairs normal thought processes. John reflected on his \u200bown experiences, stating \u200cthat legalizing cannabis in the U.S.\u2064 and Canada is among the greatest errors of all time. He\u200c highlighted a common \u200btrajectory among marijuana \u200cadvocates: initial use,support for legalization,and ultimately,a realization of its negative impacts.Despite its popular portrayal, research has\u2062 linked regular marijuana use with various health issues. John&#8217;s comments\u200c serve as a cautionary\u2064 reminder about the potential dangers of \u200clegalization, despite its current acceptance in popular culture.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Elton John is right, marijuana legalization was a &lsquo;great mistake&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1916907\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Like a &ldquo;candle in the wind,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elton-john\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Elton John<\/a> extinguished the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">contemporary positive chatter surrounding marijuana legalization<\/a> in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/time-magazine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><em>Time<\/em> Magazine<\/a> published last week. He claimed efforts to legalize the drug were a huge societal error. Apparently, he finally realized what anti-weed proponents have known for quite some time: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marijuana\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Marijuana<\/a> is harmful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;I maintain that it&rsquo;s addictive. It leads to other drugs,&rdquo; said <em>Time<\/em> Magazine&rsquo;s &ldquo;Icon of the Year&rdquo; for 2024. &ldquo;And when you&rsquo;re stoned &mdash; and I&rsquo;ve been stoned &mdash; you don&rsquo;t think normally. Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>John&rsquo;s epiphany on marijuana represents, shall we say, the &ldquo;circle of life&rdquo; of many marijuana legalization proponents. First, they use the drug. Then, they support legalizing the drug. Then, after enough harmful things have occurred as a result of using the drug, they realize marijuana was terrible all along. Then, they acknowledge it should have never been legalized.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But while many marijuana enthusiasts might tell the rock and roll Hall of Famer to &ldquo;don&rsquo;t go breaking my heart,&rdquo; they should heed his advice. Despite its rebranding in pop culture as a kind of benevolent drug, studies have found that the regular use of marijuana has been linked to many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-is-what-happens-when-you-stop-eating-sugar-for-14-days\/\" title=\"This Is What Happens When You Stop Eating Sugar for 14 Days\">harmful health conditions<\/a>. One of the first was published shortly after Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in 2012.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Consider this study by Northwestern Medicine in 2013, which found a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.northwestern.edu\/stories\/2013\/12\/marijuana-users-have-abnormal-brain-structure--poor-memory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">link<\/a> between regular marijuana use by adolescents and &ldquo;abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks.&rdquo; Moreover, damage to the brain includes memory-related structures that &ldquo;appeared to shrink and collapse inward,&rdquo; with a possible decrease in brain neurons, according to the study. Additionally, these abnormalities became synonymous with &ldquo;schizophrenia-related brain abnormalities.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, Northwestern Medicine released another study about the dangerous effects of marijuana use. This <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.feinberg.northwestern.edu\/2023\/07\/18\/marijuana-use-linked-to-epigenetic-changes\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">research<\/a> found that &ldquo;recent and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marylands-recreational-marijuana-market-opens-up-amid-public-health-concerns\/\" title=\"Maryland&#039;s recreational marijuana market launches despite health worries.\">long-term marijuana<\/a> use&rdquo; is linked to &ldquo;changes in the human epigenome.&rdquo; Epigenetics analyzes the effects of behavior and the environment on human genes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The observed marijuana markers were also associated with cell proliferation, infection, and psychiatric disorders,&rdquo; said <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.feinberg.northwestern.edu\/faculty-profiles\/az\/profile.html?xid=16388\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lifang Hou, MD, PhD<\/a>, one of the researchers of the study.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Other studies have found that marijuana has been linked to an increase in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-year-old-girl-pepper-sprayed-during-interaction-with-rochester-police\/\" title=\"9-Year-Old Girl Pepper Sprayed During Interaction With Rochester Police\">mental health issues<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-introduces-gun-control-bill-psych-evaluations-ammo-bans-federal-gun-registry\/\" title=\"Democrat Introduces Gun Control Bill: Psych Evaluations, Ammo Bans, Federal Gun Registry\">including depression<\/a>, anxiety, schizophrenia, and suicide ideation. Still, other studies have found that marijuana has been connected to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC7893511\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a decrease in IQ<\/a> and an <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/news\/2024\/02\/28\/marijuana-use-linked-to-higher-risk-of-heart-attack-and-stroke#:~:text=%22Our%20study%20shows%20that%20smoking,conventional%20tobacco%20use%20is%20decreasing.%22\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">increased risk<\/a> for &ldquo;heart attacks and strokes.&rdquo; Another <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7893511\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> discovered that marijuana use was linked to &ldquo;psychotic disorders,&rdquo; &ldquo;poorer mental health outcomes including increased risk of mood disorders, self-harm and suicidality,&rdquo; and &ldquo;associated with <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7893511\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approximately 12 and 15 excess<\/a> life-years lost in women and men.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>There are many more negatives associated with using marijuana than positives. Polluting the body with marijuana leads to many dangerous health matters that could otherwise be avoided. And, even though one can use the drug, avoid the pitfalls associated with it, and say to people, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m Still Standing,&rdquo; it would be wiser to listen to Elton John and realize using marijuana is a mistake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1916907\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1916907\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elton John believes marijuana legalization was a major mistake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2707,"featured_media":2382300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Elton-John.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[46863,47172,37502],"class_list":["post-2382299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-elton-john","tag-great-mistake","tag-marijuana-legalization"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Elton-John.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2382299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2382303,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2382299\/revisions\/2382303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2382300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2382299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2382299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2382299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}