Alcohol use and offending behaviour often go together. Data from the Alcohol and Crime Commission indicates that 70% of the prison population in the UK, who are mostly young males, reported that they had been drinking when they committed their offence.
Eight states in the U.S. have legalized recreational use of marijuana, 11 are considering loosening their laws this year, and even Congress is half-heartedly looking at ending the federal restriction on state marijuana laws. And yet the effects of marijuana on the brain, whether positive or negative, are poorly understood and in desperate need of further study in order to address important public health concerns.