Q&A: Surgeon General Jerome Adams on the opioid epidemic and legalizing marijuana

As U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams has made the opioid epidemic a key issue. And as Illinois yesterday became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana, Adams is also cautioning against embracing it too quickly. I caught up with Adams at the Aspen Ideas: Health conference this past weekend: 

Philadelphia could soon be home to the nation’s first supervised injection site. Do you think that’s a good way to deal with the opioid crisis? 

We need more naloxone. We need more syringe service programs. We need more [medication assisted treatment]. And so before we go and stack on something else that's controversial and unproven in that environment, let's make sure we maxed out or at least reached reasonable levels of these other things that are evidence-based. 

Why should we be cautious about the wave of marijuana legalization happening now? 

Folks are thinking of the marijuana of Woodstock. They're not thinking about kids using Shatter [a marijuana concentrate] and vaping it and getting 85-90% THC. There [are] some very real health concerns and the problem is a lot of them you're not going to see ‘til years down the road.