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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 19 ,2 01 8 | 20 CROSSWORD CLUES ACROSS 1. Owns 4. Beef intestine 9. Expression of contempt 14. Expression of horror 15. Famed architecture couple 16. Escape 17. "The Raven" author 18. Chiefs' tight end 20. Removes 22. Pesto dish 23. One who roots against 24. Type of writer 28. Old woman 29. Early multimedia 30. This (Spanish) 31. Part of a play 33. Elephant's name 37. Home of the Flyers 38. Builder's trough 39. Tell 41. Google certification 42. Electric current 43. Belonging to them 44. Nostrils 46. Arranges 49. Commercial 50. Skywalker's mentor __-Wan 51. Single-reed instrument 55. Voodoo 58. World of Warcraft character 59. Paddling 60. Most agreeable 64.Chafed 65. A way to analyze 66. Remove 67. Metal-bearing mineral 68. Remains as is 69. Large predatory seabirds 70. The Science Guy CLUES DOWN 1. Central Chinese province 2. The marketplace in ancient Greece 3. Covered the sword 4. Cleanser 5. Body parts 6. Returned material authorization (abbr.) 7. Mega-electronvolt 8. One fromAsia 9. A superior grade of black tea 10. Thin 11. Circles of light around the head 12. General's assistant (abbr.) 13. Tiny 19. Evildoing 21. __ Connery, 007 24. British sword 25. Type of cyst 26. Musical composition 27. Advises 31. Herring-like fish 32. Chocolate powder 34. Somalian district El __ 35. Indicates position 36. Refurbishes 40. Exclamation of surprise 41. Football field 45. Hilly region in India near China 47. Come to an end 48. Most mad 52 Sheets of glass 53. Department of Housing and Urban Development 54. Stares lecherously 56. Consisting of a single element or component 57. Monetary unit of Zambia 59. Bones (Latin) 60. Frames-per-second 61. Tell on 62. Gall 63. Cologne ANSWERS TO TODAY'S PUZZLE Fun By The Numbers Like puzzles? Then you'll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Answers: With the legalization of recreational use of canna- bis coming into effect on a national level on Oct. 17, pot industry experts Dr. Paul Mallet and Dr. Sarah Wil- ner, of Wilfrid Laurier Uni- versity, offered their take on the federal legislation. Mallet, an associate pro- fessor in behavioural neu- roscience at Laurier, focus- es on issues related to can- nabis and its effects on the brain's endocannabinoid system. Mallet has more than 20 years of experience in studying the long- and short-term effects of drugs on the brain. "To be frank, I'm in two minds over this. On one hand, there's considerable research showing that at least chronic exposure to cannabinoid drugs such as those found in cannabis produce long-term changes in brain function," he said. "There are subtle but mea- surable memory impair- ments, and an increased risk of mental illnesses such as anxiety and psycho- ses. But having said that, if a person uses cannabis in relatively small amounts for short periods of time, it is unlikely to affect their physical or mental health." However, Mallet said, the bigger concerns are chronic use of cannabis as well as the age of those who consume it. Higher long- term risks are present when a 14-year-old uses cannabis as opposed to a 25- year-old. "As an academic, I don't take a political stand on it, (but) I'm certainly not con- cerned about it," said Wil- ner, an associate professor of marketing and Laurier Chair in Brand Communi- cation. "If I was, in my pri- vate life, to have to take a political stand for and against it, I'd definitely vote for it. I think it's long over- due and not a frightening thing." Wilner has conducted a plethora of research in the United States, and especial- ly in Colorado, where recre- ational use of cannabis was legalized in 2014. She says cannabis has become a replacement for alcohol and has created positive effects in the pro- cess. "Things like domestic vi- olence rates have gone down; driving under the in- fluence accidents have gone down in states like Colora- do," said Wilner. "There are two major (strains) of cannabis, and they have different influ- ences on the body, since they tend not to impair peo- ple in the way that alcohol does, it's usually become a safer product to be ingest- ing for recreational con- sumption." Mallet echoed this senti- ment, saying that "the liter- ature and scientific evi- dence is clear that heavy al- cohol use is more damaging to your health and your brain than is heavy canna- bis use." "From a harm-minimi- zation perspective, if people are going to use cannabis instead of drinking alcohol, that might not be such a bad thing," he said. "It's not that cannabis is completely safe, but we know that binge drinking and heavy alcohol use are much more damag- ing than heavy cannabis use. There's potential for addiction in both; but the risk for developing a sub- stance abuse disorder is greater for alcohol." Although recreational use of cannabis isn't legal for youth under age 19, Mal- let emphasized the fact youth continue to use it anyway, and it's even more concerning because the "black market" drugs they are using could be contam- inated with other drugs. With more control and regulatory action behind the sale of cannabis, there will be more knowledge of the ingredients of the prod- uct. "Even though my own research shows that canna- bis produces long-term ef- fects on the brain, I expect there will be societal bene- fits to legalization, such as better consumer knowl- edge of product contents and redirection of tax dol- lars from policing to pre- vention, treatment, and much-needed research," Mallet said. He says the resources al- lotted to policing the use of cannabis can be used for things such as prevention of drug use and treatment of drug abuse. Mallet remains con- cerned, though, about the consumption of cannabis by young people and thinks it makes sense to set the le- gal age of purchasing the product the same as the le- gal purchase age for alco- hol, which in Ontario, is 19, even though it "won't be 100 per cent effective." "The prohibition of alco- hol consumption by people under 19 years of age cer- tainly helps toward keeping alcohol out of the hands of our youth, but it's certainly not 100 per cent effective," he said. "It'll be interesting how the product is taken up in society by people who ei- ther have never consumed, or in the case of a lot of adults, consumed it or tried it in high school or universi- ty but not since," added Wil- ner. Wilner is also focused on the marketing, packaging and design of cannabis and cannabis-based products. In addition to Colorado, the recreational use of can- nabis is legal in Alaska, California, Maine, Massa- chusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Vermont and the District of Columbia have legalized its use, as well, with a re- striction of commercial sales. NEWS Industry experts weigh in on cannabis legalization Laurier professors explain advantages and disadvantages NAMISH MODI nmodi@waterloochronicle.ca