I think that a critical component of the public health strategy has to be our campaign to get out the real message about marijuana. As we heard earlier in the testimony, there is a lot of cultural traction around the message that marijuana is safe, harmless, natural, and legal.
I'll tell you, in my experience, the state where I practise, which is Massachusetts, has recently passed legalization as well. Kids come in now and say, “Well, I know it's not that bad, because it's legal.” There's a lot of work that needs to be done there. “Safe” and “legal“ don't mean the same thing.
I think that because of where we are with marijuana, we can use tobacco as an analogy. It's legal. It's not safe. It's not healthful. It doesn't cause any overdoses, but that doesn't mean that it's safe for consumption. I think making those comparisons is really critical. It is important to have children, their parents, and the other adults who interact with them understand this and to give very clear messages.