Long-term potheads display on average an eight-point decline in IQ over time, an elevated risk of psychosis and permanent brain damage.

• MELANIE PHILLIP – The Times  – September 26, 2017

Well, yes. Does everyone agree that these men placed an irresponsible burden on a public service? Apparently so. Does everyone agree that the use of cannabis should be discouraged to reduce its irresponsible burden on society? Well, no; quite the opposite.

Last week Prince William raised the “massive issue” of drug legalisation. Although he expressed no opinion, merely to raise it was inescapably to express one, since the only people for whom it is a “massive issue” are those who promote it.

At the Labour Party conference yesterday the comedian Russell Brand called for drugs to be decriminalised. At next week’s Conservative conference, the free-market Adam Smith Institute will be pushing for the legalisation of cannabis. Legalisation means more users. That means more harm, not just to individuals but to society. The institute, however, describes cannabis as “a low-harm consumer product that most users enjoy without major problems”. What? A huge amount of evidence shows that far from cannabis being less harmful than other illicit drugs, as befits its Class B classification, its effects are far more devastating.

Long-term potheads display on average an eight-point decline in IQ over time, an elevated risk of psychosis and permanent brain damage.

Cannabis is associated with a host of biological ill-effects including cirrhosis of the liver, strokes and heart attacks. People who use it are more likely than non-users to access other illegal drugs. And so on.

Ah, say the autonomy-loving free-marketeers, but it doesn’t harm anyone other than the user. Well, that’s not true either. It can destroy relationships with family, friends and employers. Users often display more antisocial behaviour, such as stealing money or lying to get a job, as well as a greater association with aggression, paranoia and violent death. According to Stuart Reece, an Australian professor of medicine, cannabis use in pregnancy has also been linked to an epidemic of gastroschisis, in which babies are born with intestines outside their abdomen, in at least 15 nations including the UK.

The legalisers’ argument is that keeping cannabis illegal does not control the harm it does. Yet wherever its supply has been liberalised, its use and therefore the harm it does have both gone up. In 2001 Portugal decriminalised illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and cannabis. Sparked by a report by the American free-market Cato Institute, which claimed this policy was a “resounding success”, Portugal has been cited by legalisers everywhere as proof that liberalising drug laws is the magic bullet to erase the harm done by illegal drugs.

The truth is very different. In 2010 Manuel Pinto Coelho, of the Association for a Drug Free Portugal, wrote in the BMJ: “Drug decriminalisation in Portugal is a failure … There is a complete and absurd campaign of manipulation of facts and figures of Portuguese drug policy …”

According to the Portuguese Institute for Drugs and Drug Addiction, between 2001 and 2007 drug use increased by 4.2 per cent, while the number of people who had used drugs at least once rose from 7.8 per cent to 12 per cent. Cannabis use went up from 12.4 per cent to 17 per cent.

The latest evidence about Portugal, a study by the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies, shows “a rise in the prevalence of every illicit psychoactive substance from 8.3 per cent in 2012 to 10.2 per cent in 2016-17”, with most of that rise down to increased cannabis use. For complete article http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-times/thinking-is-warped-on-cannabis-legalisation/news-story/b557ae72f9e2d5959c259c38abf77e45

Many people fail to realize that alcohol, although legal, costs employers and taxpayers millions of dollars each year. In 2010, the cost of excessive alcohol use in the United States reached $249 billion, and two out of every five dollars of those costs were paid by federal, state, and local governments–all funded by the taxpayer. In fact, of this $249 billion drain on the American economy, $179 billion is directly associated to workplace productivity, and an additional $28 billion to health care costs. It is fair to assume that, as marijuana continues to be legalized, its costs will begin to equal or even surpass those of alcohol.¹

Marijuana is not just impacting driving and positive drug tests. \”Based on data from the Seattle Police Department, property crime rates within Seattle (e.g., burglary, motor vehicle theft, and larceny) have been rising at a precipitous pace since possessing an ounce or less of marijuana became legal on Dec. 6, 2012. In 2012, the number of property crimes documented by the Seattle Police Department was a little over 32,000. By 2013, the number of property crime reports rose to 36,815. Last year, property crimes in Seattle jumped once more to 40,666 incidents. All told, property crimes have increased by more than a quarter in the two years following the legalization of marijuana, with motor vehicle theft witnessing the biggest increase–up more than 50 percent in two years.\”³

In 2012, Denver County documented 56,522 total crimes. In 2013, after the November 2012 legalization of recreational marijuana, the county reported a 29 percent increase in total crimes, to 72,644, and another jump of 15 percent–making the total crime incidents 83,730, in 2014. Crime is a complicated issue, but it is impossible to ignore these numbers.

In addition, marijuana has a yet-undefined impact on health care. We know that smoking one joint is as damaging as smoking five cigarettes and that marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogens than tobacco. We know that there is an impact on focus and learning and that smoking marijuana has an impact on short-term memory, links to depression, and impaired coordination. All of this adds up to higher health care costs that are, again, paid in large part by taxpayers and employers.

Even if marijuana is legalized solely for recreational purposes–and were to follow the model of the 21st Amendment that gives states the right to allow the manufacture and sale of alcohol, govern importing into and out of the state, control distribution, and monitor and enforce possession–it could not be legalized in its current form. The Federal Alcohol Administration Act sets labeling and advertising rules and prevents consumers from being deceived by misleading statements as to the quality and identity of a product. Following the alcohol standards, it would also require marijuana sold in individual states to indicate the content sold in each product. But, again, marijuana is not following those standards.

For employers, the costs are real: workers\’ compensation claims, higher health care and liability insurance premiums, litigation expense. All of these will impact the bottom line, making drug testing and a sound drug policy even more critical. Drug testing, when consistently applied, will assist in protecting an employer from claims of negligent hiring. Failure of an employer to conduct a reasonable investigation of an employee who impacts the safety of co-workers, or the public at large, could result in the additional cost of negligent hiring claims.

Taxpayers and employers alike need to educate themselves, advocate on their own behalf, and protect themselves against the costs of marijuana legalization. They need to reconsider the idea that legalization is a harmless, personal decision For complete story https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2017/09/01/What-Legalized-Marijuana-is-Going-to-Cost.aspx

The Bill and the report

The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 passed through the Dáil on 1 December when the government chose not to oppose it.

The bill would allow for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. It proposes the establishment of a Cannabis Regulation Authority which would manage and licence the sale of cannabis for medicinal use.

The bill also contains provisions for cannabis to be prescribed by general registered doctors and for cannabis to be removed from the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The Joint Health Committee report is strongly critical of the bill on multiple grounds.

It states that the establishment of a Cannabis Regulation Authority would undermine the current framework for regulation for medicine in Ireland. As things stand, new medicines are regulated by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA).

The report also criticises the provision around removing cannabis from the Misuse of Drugs Act, saying that this could have “unintended policy consequences” like decriminalising cannabis in non-medicinal circumstances.

It also says access to cannabis would be too loose under the bill, meaning that it could be potentially harmful for patients.

Finally, the committee notes that an approach is already being considered by government over medicinal cannabis under existing laws. A HPRA report published in January found that there was insufficient evidence for its benefits to prescribe cannabis generally. For complete article http://www.thejournal.ie/medicinal-cannabis-bill-3-3607028-Sep2017/

BY TPN/ LUSA, IN NEWS · 20-09-2017

Consumption of alcohol, tobacco and illegal psychoactive substances, mainly cannabis, have increased in the last five years in Portugal, according to a study by the Intervention Service for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD).

\”We have seen a rise in the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption and of every illicit psychoactive substance (essentially affected by the weight of cannabis use in the population aged 15-74) between 2012 and 2016/17, according to the 4thNational Survey on the Use of Psychoactive Substances in the General Population, Portugal 2016/17.

For complete article Portugal Experiment continues to fail!

\”Permission – Greatest Drug Pushing Measure Ever!\”

The Opioid Crisis Is Taking a Toll on the American Labor Force

By Eric Levitz@EricLevitz

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Since the mid-1990s, the percentage of prime-age American men who don’t have a job – and aren’t looking for one – has risen dramatically. Over the same time period, per-capita sales of opioid painkillers in the United States has more than quadrupled. A new study suggests that there may be a relationship between these two facts.

In a paper published by the Brookings Institution on Thursday, Princeton economist Alan Krueger compares county-level data on opioid-prescription rates and labor-force participation, and finds that the more opioids were prescribed in a given region, the more likely that region was to have seen a significant decline in workforce participation.

The correlation was so dramatic, Krueger estimates that rising opioid prescriptions could plausibly account for one-fifth of the decline in the labor-force participation among American men between 1999 and 2015. For complete article  Daily Intelligencer

Dear Editor Mirror UK

Dr. Miriam Stoppard makes a fundamental mistake in her deduction that Canada and other regions with legalize marijuana for medical purposes are harming modern medical practise. Here in Canada, where marijuana for a medical purpose is legal countrywide, we have every form of charlton peddling hallucinogenic pot for use to relief ever medical condition including constipation and sleepless nights.Canadian kids who were surveyed that they think pot cures cancer, makes you a better driver and is in essense harmless herb.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Canada has high rates of child suicide, depression and mental illness and one of the highest rates of use by youth. The Canadian government lead by Justin Trudeau, an admitted pot user, is about to legalize marijuana for non-medical use for 12 years of age and up .

This breach with established international treaties and violation of The Rights of the Child Treaty could cost Canada an opportunity of joining the Security Council of the UN. It should lead to sanctions. All of this was orchestrated by an aggressive marijuana industry and has little if anything to do with the sovereign rights of an adult. It is all about greed, and those politicians who play along will be held accountable in the years and decades ahead, as they are now being named and shamed for their role in Big Tobacco.

Pamela McColl Vancouver BC Canada September 15 2017

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/uk-view-cannabis-harming-medicine-11129682

Dear Sirs,

The article by Miriam Stoppard published in your paper on the 7^th September is totally inaccurate.  Ms. Stoppard should be ashamed that as a doctor she has written an article that is so out of date.   The reason why cannabis is not legal in the UK is because it is far from harmless.   There are now thousands of research studies that show that this substance can cause a myriad of physical, emotional and social problems to individuals and society.

The use of extracts of cannabis — rich in CBD and with no or very little psychoactive effects in users — can indeed be very useful as a medicine — provided it is pharmaceutically produced and prescribed by responsible doctors.  Such medicine already exists and is being provided for patients whose GPs believe it would be helpful to them.   However, no doctor would suggest anyone, let alone a patient whose health is compromised,  should use a substance by smoking it.

The latest research information beginning to be taken seriously by eminent scientists and doctors is that of genotoxicity.

This shows that with heavy use of cannabis the DNA is altered and the genes of children and grandchildren can be adversely affected.     So if parents thought it was ok for their children to use cannabis — because it was recommended by Miriam Stoppard they should think again.   Parents should look up genotoxicity online to read the latest research — there is even a simplified explanation at:      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroschisis

There is also a  wealth of accurate information about cannabis, and other drugs both legal and illegal on www.drugprevent.org.uk

Yours faithfully.  Ann Stoker,   National Drug Prevention Alliance

WFAD (World Forum Against Drugs) Sept 2017 update: The CANNABIS ISSUE

New data around drug use has arrived from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the US. The survey sees an increase in the number of daily or near daily users of cannabis. Almost twice as many 12-17 year olds are using cannabis compared to cigarettes. Of all American 10,6 percent use illicit drugs in the past 30 Days, and as many as 1 in 4 of the Young adults use an illicit drug. The full report can be found here.

A study of the legal market in Washington State, USA concludes that the legal cannabis market is dominated by high-THC cannabis flowers. Another consequence of the legal market in Washington state is that price on cannabis has fallen dramatically. Prices of cannabis have fallen every single quarter since it was legalized in 2014 and the current retail price is 67 percent cheaper in just three years of legalization. Cannabis has become dramatically cheaper to consume and can be one of the principal factors for the increase in use that is found in the recent survey.

Another interesting study that was published in 2016 concludes that continued use of cannabis causes violent behaviour as a direct result of changes in brain function that are caused by cannabis use over many years. The study has followed the same individuals for over 50 years and can provide support for a casual relationship between exposure to cannabis subsequent violent outcomes across a major part of the lifespan. Here you can find a summery of the study.

Finally, in September two meta-studies were published on the Medical use of cannabis.  The first study looks at the effects on chronic pain. The study finds limited evidence that cannabis may alleviate neuropathic pain and insufficient evidens for other types of chronic pain. The study also finds limited evidence that cannabis is associated with an increased risk for adverse Health effects. The second study looked at the benefits and harms of plant-based cannabis for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The study concludes that evidence is insufficient to draw conclusions about the benefits and harms of plant-based cannabis preparation in patients with PTSD, but several ongoing studies may soon provide important results.

Drug Free America Foundation launches new Marijuana and the Workplace Tool Kit

For information contact:  John Pastuovic  312-925-9092   [email protected]

For Immediate Release

St. Petersburg, FL — Tuesday, September 19, 2017- Drug Free America Foundation launched its new Marijuana and the Workplace Tool Kit this morning at a forum co-sponsored with Drug Free Manatee and the Manatee Chamber of Commerce at Pier 22 in Bradenton FL.  The forum featured a presentation by Amy Ronshausen, Deputy Director of Drug Free America Foundation who unveiled the Tool Kit and discussed how the implementation of Florida’s medical marijuana program will affect employers in the state. The forum also included a panel discussion with a group of experts that includes healthcare and labor attorneys, insurance representatives and a state legislator.

As marijuana legalization efforts gain traction around the country as it has in Florida, the business community needs to be prepared.  “Employers must be diligent and proactive in understanding how the use of marijuana affects individuals, the overall influence to their business, and the level of financial liability that is acceptable,” according to Calvina Fay, executive director of Drug Free America Foundation.  “It is critical that an evaluation be completed based upon legitimate science, the safety-sensitive nature of the business, and risk analysis as opposed to perception and emotion,” she said.

Employees that use marijuana and other drugs negatively impact the bottom line for employers due to increased workplace accidents, injuries, and other effects, increasing the cost of doing business.  “The safety of all employees, vendors, customers, other drivers, pedestrians, or generally anyone encountering an employee while driving under the influence of pot could be impacted,” said Fay.

The tangled web of conflicting and diverse laws and statutes being drawn across the country varies from state to state, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, making this issue very confusing for all concerned.  No two states’ marijuana laws are identical, further complicating the issue.

Identifying and defining liability related to marijuana use is perhaps one of the most evolving areas of risk management and insurance practices.  “From the viewpoint of an insurer, the conflicting laws are particularly troublesome for insuring a business against unexpected loss with no clear best practice and can potentially impact workers compensation claims and well as health, life and other business insurance coverage and premiums,” Fay suggested.

A smart approach for employers is to implement workplace practices that encourage safe, healthy lifestyles, and discourage behaviors that are counter-productive, both from a personal and a business standpoint. “In this tumultuous time of conflicting laws, confusion, and change, employers are encouraged to stay the course where a drug-free workplace is concerned,” continued Fay.  “We also encourage employers to remain consistent and fair in the application of workplace rules and procedures and to regularly review their program in relation to applicable laws, regulations and statutes that may have changed,” she concluded.

The Marijuana and the Workplace Tool Kit can be found at http://www.ndwa.org/resources/marijuana-in-the-workplace-toolkit/