Cannabis conflict

十大菠菜台子威廉·博蒙特医学院的一名二年级医学生是这项研究的主要作者，该研究被认为是对迦勒底美国人对大麻态度的首次研究.

The study, “Attitudes Towards Marijuana Among Chaldean Americans,在3月10日的十大菠菜台子研究生研究会议上首次提出.

Bianca Elias, M2, 是研究小组的一员，他们发现迦勒底美国人通常更支持医用大麻合法化，反对娱乐用大麻.

该研究还探讨了导致所谓“教会与迦勒底人之间的摩擦”的态度和信仰.” Specifically, 在那些试图利用密歇根州大麻法律的经济优势的人和那些仍然反对这种药物的人之间.

“As aspiring physicians, 对于医学生来说，重要的是带头研究他们的社区正在消费什么，以更好地了解对他们的病人的潜在影响,” says Elias.

“By gaining insight into these consumption and attitude patterns, 医学生可以决定如何最好地接近病人，并在医患互动中解决潜在的争议或敏感话题,” she adds.

“这就是为什么我们认为医学生领导这样一项研究是有意义的.” 

A ‘moral issue’

Chaldeans generally are people from northern Iraq, who speak Aramaic or Chaldean, and tend to identify as Catholic.

大约16万迦勒底人居住在密歇根州东南部，使其成为伊拉克以外最大的社区.

2018年，密歇根州选民将娱乐性使用大麻合法化. (根据美国《十大菠菜软件》，大麻仍然被列为附表1物质.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970.)

According to the study, 许多迦勒底人利用了密歇根大麻合法化带来的经济机会，包括开设药房出售大麻.

然而，与此同时，迦勒底教会的官员谴责了娱乐性毒品的使用.   

In a Chaldean News article called “A Growing Concern,” Most Reverend Francis Y. Kalabat, Bishop of the Chaldean Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle, 他强调说，目前不受限制的娱乐分销是不健康和不道德的, creating an epidemic that is sweeping through the community.”

“大麻本质上没有什么问题，”卡拉巴特说 Chaldean News. “But when it is being used for non-medicinal purposes, its brain-altering properties do more harm than good, and it becomes escapism. That’s a moral issue that needs to be addressed.”

That belief, 再加上一些迦勒底人想利用密歇根州的大麻法律, is causing conflict within the community.

“这在我们的社区中造成了很大的摩擦，我们真的想看看人们对此的感受,” she added.

Methodology and results

The study team consisted of three medical students (Elias, along with Anthony Cholagh and Anthony Mansour, both from Michigan State University), and an Oakland University graduate public health student, Angelina Selou. The team was advised by Flora Dallo, Ph.D.他是十大菠菜台子健康科学学院的教授兼副院长.

塞卢说:“(大麻)是一个非常热门的话题，所以我们想用一些数字来说明。. “每个人都认为他们知道其他人的感受……让我们把一些数据放在一起，看看人们的真实感受。.”

As a result, the team developed a 10-minute survey.

纳入标准包括那些自认为是迦勒底人的人，年龄在18岁以上. Data was collected between March 20 and April 20, 2022.

该调查通过迦勒底人的Facebook页面进行分发，并通过滚雪球和方便抽样的方式进行分发. The final sample size consisted of 637 respondents.

Results found that 49.2% support legalization of medicinal marijuana, while 23.5% support legalizing recreational marijuana.

Further, 16.6%的人多少或强烈反对医用大麻合法化，54%的人反对.3%的人多少或强烈反对娱乐性大麻合法化.

“We can clearly see that for medicinal marijuana, most people strongly or somewhat support legalization,” says Elias. “But when we look at recreational, 我们可以看到，情况完全相反，大多数人强烈或多少反对大麻合法化. We see a similar trend with morality.”

近86%的受访者表示药用大麻在道德上是可以接受的. 相反，近60%的人认为娱乐性大麻在道德上是错误的.

根据这项研究，可能解释结果的原因包括:

• A stigma that surrounds recreational use in the Chaldean community.
• Religiosity influencing attitudes toward marijuana.
• 医生信任迦勒底人将药用大麻作为一种治疗选择.

The study does have its limitations: the survey was completed only by Chaldean individuals who speak English and have access to the internet; missing data reduced the sample size from 963 to 637; and the researchers drew from a convenience sample.

尽管如此，该研究的作者认为这项工作是更好地理解的良好的第一步.

“因为在底特律大都会地区，医科学生遇到迦勒底病人的可能性很高, 对他们来说，阅读与这一人群相关的研究以进一步了解他们的病人是至关重要的,” says Elias.