ONLINE COURSES ANNOUNCED
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“…To further enhance your knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts.”
Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. is an Educator, Writer, Strategist, Online Publisher (including http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com ), and Instructor of three online courses offered by Auburn University Outreach. The courses include the following:
- “The Effects and Impacts of Marijuana Use ~ Policies and Approaches Addressing the Challenges”
- “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing” and
- “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”
Further information concerning these online courses is included here and can also be found at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .
In a message that he disseminated widely throughout the world on February 5, 2020, Herschel Baker, the Director Drug Free Australia (Queensland Branch) and the International Liaison Director for Drug Free Australia (www.drugfree.org.au and [email protected]) wrote the following:
“Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. web site has very important research papers, references and (courses regarding marijuana and the) Opioid Crisis…. to further enhance your knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts…”
The courses that Hershel Baker refers to are described here:
- “The Effects and Impacts of Marijuana Use ~ Policies and Approaches Addressing the Challenges”: A Three-Week Online Course Offered by Auburn University Outreach (Six Offerings in 2020).
Offerings in 2020:
- March 9 — 29, 2020;
- May 4 — 24, 2020;
- July 6 — 26, 2020;
- August 3 -23, 2020;
- September 7 — 27, 2020; and
- October 5- 25, 2020
What are the effects and impacts of today’s high THC content marijuana? The latest findings are provided in this course. The course is designed to help expand the knowledge and understanding of those who are working to address the challenges of recreational drug use and addiction. The course is also designed to help inform policy makers and others in roles of public responsibility of the harmful effects that marijuana use is having. The course is designed as well to help increase the knowledge and understanding of parents, educators, researchers, and all others concerned regarding the harmful effects of marijuana and the substantial negative impacts its use has on individuals, families, communities, and society in general. The effects of marijuana on mental health, the connection with violence, and the effects on the human reproductive systems and on progeny are highlighted. 1 in 6 youth who use and 1 in 10 adult users are becoming addicted. The course should be helpful to policy makers and educators as well as users or would be users. Policy and program options that are working are highlighted. The role that use is playing in the opioid epidemic is highlighted.
Registration Fee: $300
A discount of 10% is available to groups of five or more. Register at https://lnkd.in/d8jF-h6 and https://lnkd.in/eDq6Nwt or call (334) 844-5100. Also see https://lnkd.in/-RbvKW.
The course is being taught on a pass/not pass basis. It is not taught in “real time” which means that those taking the course can complete assignments each week when it is convenient for them to do so. It is not necessary to be online at specific times each week.
The course is offered by the Office of Professional and Continuing Education of Auburn University Outreach. The course has been designed to help arm those who are concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana and about the negative individual and societal impacts of the legalization of marijuana is having on individuals, families, communities, and on society. The course has also been designed to help expand the knowledge and understanding of those who are working to address the problem of recreational drug use and addiction in America so that they can be as successful as possible in their efforts. The course is also designed to help those in the position of public responsibility understand what policy and program options have been working and what options might be tried to achieve the hoped-for outcome of turning around current trends involving the use marijuana in America.
Here are some additional particulars about the course: Participants in the course will study material drawn from a wide range of freely accessible resources including among others, the instructor’s website, http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com . The instructor’s “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment”, which includes copious scientific references will also be fully discussed in the course. (That Letter is posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com). Here is an excerpt from that Letter:
Marijuana with its active principle, (−)Δ9-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is a low to high level hallucinogenic drug with numerous harmful mental and physical effects, including idiosyncratic effects on mental health and mental functioning…Unlike the minimal or moderate use of alcohol and tobacco, the use of even a small amount of marijuana affects a person’s mental functioning in a variety of predictable and unpredictable ways. For example, it has triggered psychoses and schizophrenia in normal individuals…Contrary to popular belief, owing to the unpredictable effects it has been demonstrated to have, no amount of regulation could possibly ensure the “responsible” or “safe” use of this low to high level hallucinogen.
Topics to be addressed include the following: The need to defend the brain while nurturing mental and physical well-being; The need to foster a mental and public health approach to addressing the challenges of drug use and addiction; and The need to develop and implement comprehensive coordinated strategies aimed at stopping the use of marijuana and other psychoactive and addictive substances in the US. The course emphasizes the need for comprehensive and coordinated public health-oriented strategies involving all sectors of society, including government, the justice system, and educational institutions.
- “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing”: A New Four-Week Online Course (Two Offerings in 2020)
A New Four-Week Online Course on “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing” is also being offered.
Offerings in 2020:
- July 20 — August 16, 2020 and
- November 2 — 29, 2020.
The role that exposure to and the use of marijuana are playing in the opioid epidemic will be highlighted along with the role that cartels and the black market are playing. See the instructor’s “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment” which includes copious scientific references. This Letter will also be fully discussed in the course. (That Letter is posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com).
The course also reflects the following perspectives:
Statement on The End of Drug Abuse
The tidal wave of drug abuse and its aftermath will eventually end. The end to the scourge will come when more and more thoughtful, feeling human beings come forward, contribute to a critical mass of public wisdom and opinion, and effectively turn the tide. Many individuals have allowed themselves to be blinded to current realities. Many have allowed themselves to be conned and dehumanized. Some have succumbed to sheer greed, not caring or oblivious to the human and societal costs. When they become aware of what is going on, they will no longer give in to groupthink, social pressure, and denial. There is then a hope that human values will overtake the magical thinking and ignorance of proponents and users and that the materialistic values of those who are promoting the societally destructive efforts of “Big Marijuana” will give way to reason and human values. The challenge is to help coalesce the efforts of two forces: those who at their core realize what devastation this enchantment with altered states of mind has wrought and those who are not enticed by the promise of material gain who are neither uncaring nor in denial concerning the cost of the destruction of all human and societal values, potentials, and goals. Not only is the mental health of millions of human beings at stake, the very gene pool is in jeopardy.
Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. June 2, 2019
Why do nations schedule drugs?…… Nations schedule psychoactive drugs because we revere this three pound organ (of our brain) differently than any other part of our body. It is the repository of our humanity. It is the place that enables us to write poetry and to do theater, to conjure up calculus and send rockets to Pluto three billion miles away, and to create I Phones and 3 D computer printing. And that is the magnificence of the human brain. Drugs can influence (the brain) adversely. So this is not a war on drugs. This is a defense of our brains, the ultimate source of our humanity.
Dr. Bertha Madras April 14, 2016 Brookings Debate on the Scheduling of Marijuana
The tendencies of public officials to narrowly define the problem and not see the role that marijuana and poly-drug use are having in the drug addiction and opioid crisis are highlighted in the course. A broader way of defining the challenges associated with drug taking behavior and addiction will be featured, along with exemplary approaches to addressing the nation’s drug crisis.
Registration Fee: $400.
A discount of 10% is available to groups of five or more. For more information and to register, go to http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/emergencymgmt/#courses and https://opce.catalog.auburn.edu/courses/c190128 or call (334) 844-5100.
- “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”: A New Three-Week Online Course Offered by Auburn University Outreach (Seven Offerings in 2020)
A New Three-Week Online Course has also been added in 2020: on “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”.
Offerings in 2020:
- March 9 — 29, 2020
- April 6 — 26, 2020
- May 4 — 24, 2020
- June 15 — July 5, 2020;
- August 3 — 23, 2020;
- October 5 — 25, 2020; and
- October 26 — November 15, 2020
This course is designed to help leaders, managers, and drug abuse prevention activists hone their abilities and problem-solving skills in ways that help them have greater success in accomplishing their goals. Approaches to fostering healthy change; utilizing educational change strategies; communicating effectively; understanding the perspectives of those with differing values, information, and objectives; and resolving conflicts will all be addressed in the course. A focus of the course is on how these approaches can be applied most effectively to addressing the drug crisis. For a copy of the article that has given the course its name, see “Transforming and Leading Organizations,” published in Government Transformation, Winter 2004-05 issue posted at http://users.rcn.com/pgordon/homeland/transforming_orgs.pdf or see link at http://gordonhomeland.com.
Registration Fee: $300.
For more information and to register, go to http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/tlo/ and http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/tlo/#schedulereg or call (334) 844-5100.
Information about the Course Instructor:
The Instructor for the courses is Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. Dr. Gordon has been involved in the drug abuse prevention and drug policy fields for many decades. She had a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area that focused on addressing the drug problem particularly as it was affecting youth and young adults in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. At that time, she wrote a Guide to Ideas on Drug Abuse Policies and Programs. The Guide is still being distributed by the U.S. Education Resources Information Center. (A copy is accessible at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com).
Dr. Gordon was a major contributor to a White Paper on the Drug Problem prepared for the Domestic Affairs Council Staff of the White House. That was at a time in the early ‘70s when there was no Federal coordinating effort overseeing drug abuse prevention programs and policies. She later served as a full-time consultant in the Office of the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, when NIMH was given initial responsibilities for overseeing drug prevention efforts, the recommendation that she had initially made to the White House Domestic Affairs Council staff. She served as the full-time staff person to the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee. She also played a role in initiating and shaping the legislation that gave rise to the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) in the Executive Office of the President. SAODAP took the place of the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee. Later, SAODAP was replaced by the Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Her past experience in government has also included drug abuse prevention-related contracting and consulting roles with the Department of Justice. Owing to her efforts, a set of three Regional Conferences on “Alternatives to Drugs” was held under the auspices of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Her work can be found at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com. Included among the articles, presentations, and reports are lists of scientific research references on the harmful effects of on marijuana. Some of her work that is posted online includes the following:
- A Case for Protecting the Brain: Keeping the Federal Controlled Substances Act in Place and Providing Non-Punitive, Justice System-Based Public Health Options to Address the Use of Marijuana, Opiates, and Other Psychoactive and Mood-Altering Drugs in America. (October 14, 2016), a presentation given at the 2016 International Criminology Conference, in Washington, D.C.
- The Illegality of Legalizing Marijuana Use: An Open Plea to the President and All Other Sworn Federal, State, and Local Public Officials Concerning Marijuana Policies and Laws in the United States: What Part of “I swear to take Care that Laws be faithfully executed” or “I swear to support and defend the Constitution” Do You Not Understand? (August 4, 2014). An article published by Family Security Matters.
- The Harm Caused to Individuals and Society by the Use of Marijuana (December 29, 2009). An article also published by Family Security Matters.
- “Ways in Which Marijuana Use and Legalization are Fueling the Opioid Crisis” (May 30, 2019). A presentation prepared for officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration.) (Posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .)
- “Drugs, Homelessness and a Growing Public Health Disaster”, December 11, 2019, DomesticPreparedness.com at https://www.domesticpreparedness.com/healthcare/drugs-homelessness-a-growing-public-health-disaster/ and DomPrep Journal, December 2019.
- “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment”, December 16, 2019. (Posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .)
Also highlighted in the courses taught by Dr. Gordon will be a review submitted by S. Reece, M.D. to the FDA re cannabis arteriopathy, genotoxicity, and teratogenicity (Posted on http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com )
These courses are designed to help more fully inform and support those working to stop the spiraling use of marijuana and other psychoactive substances in our society. The courses are also designed to help inform policy makers and others in roles of public responsibility of the harmful effects that marijuana use is having. The courses are also designed to help increase the knowledge and understanding of parents, educators, researchers, and all others concerned regarding the harmful effects of marijuana and the substantial negative impacts its use has on individuals, families, communities, and society in general. Those who participate in the courses will be in a better position to help ensure that policy makers, legislators, and others are as fully informed as possible concerning the effects and impacts of drug-taking behavior. All who take the courses will be better prepared to develop and implement sound policies and programs. They will be able to enhance drug abuse prevention, intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation efforts and they will also be enabled to help ensure that current drug-taking trends are reversed. China was able to conquer opium.
The United States can surely be successful addressing the widespread use of marijuana, opiates, and other mind-altering and mood-altering substances that are threatening the rising generation as well as all others in society today. Indeed, current trends are threatening the very stability and future of our free society and our extraordinary experiment in maintaining a government that protects and preserves the freedom that Americans hold dear.
Mary Parker Follett has said that the definition of the purpose of democracy was “to unleash creative energies”. The subtext of her words was “to unleash creative energies for the benefit of humankind”. To borrow Dr. Bertha Madras’ words, it is essential that we “defend the brain” and protect the body and the moral fiber of the people of our great nation. If we fail to do so, we will have forsaken the promise that the nation’s Founders and all who have since protected our freedoms have helped secure and have given up so much to bequeath these freedoms to us.
Some Testimonials from Course Participants
Dr. Paula Gordon, an instructor for Auburn University’s Outreach, is offering an inexpensive on-line course on marijuana that I think is beneficial to everyone engaged in the battle to save our kids and nation from this insidious drug. Given the problems we have with marijuana in California, I highly recommend this course for anyone seeking to improve their knowledge.
~ Roger Morgan Take Back America Campaign (916) 434 5629 ______________________________________________________________________________
Wow! This is a terrific opportunity! Educators, social workers, those in the Criminal Justice system, policymakers, legislators, and community volunteers all need to take this course!! …I want to introduce you to Dr. Paula Gordon who developed this course on the harms of marijuana. We need to spread the word to all our colleagues about the value and importance of having this information, especially today in light of all the pro pot misinformation… Great Opportunity! A three-week online course on Harms of Marijuana begins soon. Sign up today! Please help spread the word, especially to those in the prevention and treatment fields!
~ Stephanie Haynes, Greater New Orleans Drug Demand Reduction Coalition SOS — Save Our Society from Drugs — Florida, Texas, Louisiana ______________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for providing such great instruction! The resources you provided and the ideas you “spurred” in my mind that will help me with my work in the future were invaluable… Thanks for a very interesting class! I have gained new insight that I believe will help me going forward….. As my first ever online class, you made it easy and fun!
~ Dr. Joe Godfrey, Executive Director Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) & American Character Builders ______________________________________________________________________________
The resources you’ve shared with all of us are a real boost to my program. Thank you so much! Thanks for the additional tips and references on understanding the perspectives of many people that are pro-legalization. I think many times people just aren’t informed or perhaps they heard some information on television and assumed it was correct…
~ Susan J. Short, Executive Director Covington County Children’s Policy Council Coalition Lurleen B. Wallace Community College Child Development Center Andalusia, Alabama
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Dr. Paula Gordon’s courses were critical to my fully comprehending not only the harmful properties of marijuana but also the societal elements and public policy that allowed this destructive addiction-for-profit industry to spawn and flourish. Her Effects of Marijuana course is a must for anyone involved in the marijuana prevention effort due to the wealth of information and resources presented. Dr. Paula Gordon’s effective personal instruction enables a layperson, such as a concerned parent, teacher or anyone questioning the health and safety of marijuana, a solid foundation in understanding the complexity of marijuana in our culture. The information and benefits I received in this course inspired me to take Dr. Paula Gordon’s Drug Addiction and Opioid Crisis Course, further enhancing my knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts.
~ Anne Hassel PT, previous marijuana user and marijuana industry worker, Massachusetts (For further background on Anne Hassel, see http://momsstrong.org/videos/whistleblower-videos/; https://poppot.org/2019/06/11/rip-the-pot-van-winkle-wakes-up/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_dU4ePKgw8&app=desktop; and http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/commercialization-thc.)
The True Cause of the Opioid Epidemic
New research supports the idea that economic distress led to an increase in opioid abuse. But some say the origins of the epidemic are far more complicated.
The triplicate paper, in essence, makes it look like the opioid epidemic was mostly the fault of Big Pharma’s marketing, not the result of an economic shock. But David Powell, a senior economist at Rand and an author of the triplicate paper, thinks both could be true. To get the worst drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history, he says, “you need a huge rise in opioid access, in a way that misuse is easy, but you also need demand to misuse the product.”
The next step will be for researchers to see how the marketing of opioids interacted with economic conditions to increase the likelihood that a given place would succumb to addiction. In the meantime, researchers working on the ground say opioid addiction looks like the result of a perfect storm of poverty, trauma, availability, and pain.
When Silva, the Bucknell sociologist, asked her subjects about their painkiller addictions, they would often link their problems back to the decline of coal. When the coal jobs went away, they said, families fell apart. Some people started drinking heavily and abusing their children–who then went on to be traumatized themselves and sought the relief of OxyContin. Some grew bored and aimless without a job, and they started abusing drugs to fill the time or to ease their sense of purposelessness. Some had to switch to other manual jobs, and days of heavy lifting eventually took their painful toll. OxyContin was just a short doctor’s visit away–in one case, a doctor would simply refill opioid prescriptions by phone. “The men and women in this book suffer from physical pain–muscles torn and backs worn out by heavy lifting and repetitive tasks,” Silva writes. But they also “turn to food and Percocet, heroin and cigarettes, to manage the feelings of anxiety, disappointment, and trauma from their pasts.”
Her interviewees had easy access to opioids, yes, but they also felt betrayed by the world. When Silva presented her work recently, an economist told her, “This is, like, an everything problem.”
“I thought that was a really smart way of putting it,” she told me. Indeed, in one of their studies, the Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who coined the “deaths of despair” hypothesis, noted that opioid overdoses, suicides, and alcohol abuse are the results of “cumulative distress,” or the overall “failure of life to turn out as expected.”
The solutions to this “everything problem” are not clear.
For complete storyhttps://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/01/what-caused-opioid-epidemic/604330/
\’Not clear\’? Maybe they are clearer than people want to admit?
When you excise not only purpose, but sustainable meaning from the human context, psychological break-down begins. One can attempt to assuage it with distraction and consumption, but it is vacuous cavern that isn\’t filled by such sociological pop-culture trinkets or maneuvers.
One must go \’beyond\’ the superficial facades to find real solutions to the \’everything problem\’, but will we really look?
Former Baltimore lawmaker and WEED Legalization Advocate scheduled to be arraigned on Fraud!
January 22, 2020
BALTIMORE (AP) – A former state lawmaker who represented Baltimore and was a leading advocate for legalizing marijuana in Maryland is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on bribery and fraud charges.
Former state Del. Cheryl Diane Glenn is expected to appear in federal court in Baltimore. Prosecutors accused her last month of accepting more than $33,000 in bribes in exchange for various legislative actions, including work on measures relevant to the marijuana industry.
The veteran Democratic lawmaker abruptly resigned her job as a state delegate days before her charges were unsealed Dec. 23. Her attorney did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment.
For more https://apnews.com/3d32f324f1b40afece316aeec211de3e
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Like we are shocked that pro-drug weed advocates are law-breakers! In for a penny in for a pound!
Break the law to get the law changed so you can continue to use capacity and ethics/morality diminishing psychotropic toxins with impunity!
Making it ‘legal’ only increases the permitted harms on many fronts.
When the drug pushers are controlling the judicial levers, we have serious problems. But for the sober majority, this is was already understood!
AOC AND SENATOR CRAPO HOLD KEY TO MARIJUANA BANKING
Social justice failure of legalizing weed
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exposed the fact that marijuana legalization fails as a social justice issue. https://youtu.be/kW7fWM04Uyc The Congresswoman spoke to the House Committee on Financial Services on February 13, 2019. She pointed out that 81% of dispensaries in Colorado are owned by whites, and that only 3% of dispensaries in Massachusetts are minority owned. Representative Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a House committee meeting discussing access to banking services for the marijuana industry.
Senate considers SAFE Banking Act
Senator Mike Crapo and the Senate Banking Committee are now considering the SAFE Banking Act. According to a secret recording of April 2018, Ukrainian businessman Lev Parnas urged President Trump to support the SAFE Banking Act. It is assumed that Parnas wanted to own or invest in American marijuana businesses.
Some people claim that allowing marijuana businesses access to national banks will reduce crime at pot shops. Like the social justice arguments, this claim is a false promise advocates use to promote a political agenda. James Graham in the Atlantic wrote about how and why it legalization increases crime: “People are getting shot over this plant. All legalization did here was create a safe haven for criminals,” (quoting a deputy sheriff of Humboldt County, California.) Another sheriff also commented on California’s 2016 ballot to legalize pot: “We haven’t seen any drop in crime whatsoever. In fact, we’ve seen a pretty steady increase.”
Access to banking will not reduce crime associated with commercialized marijuana, nor take away the dangers of using marijuana. Moms Strong urges its followers to sign the petition against marijuana banking.
Communities and businesses near or adjacent to marijuana dispensaries suffer needlessly with more crime. Even child abuse increases with proximity to medical marijuana shops.
Drug use devastates
When the House passed the SAFE Banking Act, legislators wanted to encourage minority ownership. That outcome isn’t at all likely.
Drug use devastates communities, whether legal or illegal. It causes lasting harms to individuals. The United States and Canada have 54% of the world’s drug users. Drug use leads to crime – not because drugs are illegal – but because drugs affect the brain and trigger scores of mental health issues. So far, Senator Crapo is only considering a bill that would allow banking for companies that limit the potency of cannabis to 2% THC. (The marijuana products sold in Colorado and Washington pot shops average more than 20% THC, and can get up to 80 or 90% THC.)
None of the states with legalized marijuana markets give proportionate minority ownership to their state-regulated pot stores and businesses. Representative Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the folks who profited off of the for-profit prison industry are the ones who have advantage in the marijuana industry. “Are we compounding the racial wealth gap right now based on who is getting first mover advantage?” she asked in the House hearings last February. Ocasio-Cortez explained the “big picture” – the folks who profited off of incarceration are the first to reap the benefits of access to banking. It would be delusional to think the SAFE Banking Act can change this outcome. In fact, corrupt people want to use the SAFE Banking Act to cover their corruption.
When Illinois passed legalization in May, 2019, supporters claimed to have “social equity” provisions built into its legislation. That promise proved to be hollow.
States claim social equity provisions, but lock out minorities
When Illinois opened stores on January 1, the state gave existing “medical” pot shops all the licenses. Social-equity applicants for marijuana businesses were locked out the initial phase of pot commercialization, because Illinois marijuana growers spent $630,000 on political donations leading to the pot legalization vote. More than $120,000 went to campaign and political funds tied to state Senator Don Harmon of Oak Park, a main sponsor of the 2018 bill expanding medical marijuana in the state.
An effort by Chicago’s minority alderman to delay opening for six months in Chicago failed. The Black Caucus hoped that by waiting six months, social equity applicants would gain equal footing with existing dispensary owners. Chicago city council rejected the Black Caucus bid to delay recreational marijuana sales by 6 months.
In Michigan, many minorities find themselves almost shut out of Michigan’s marijuana business. Anqunette Sarfoh, co-owner of a medical marijuana dispensary said: “We found that so many out-of-state investors had come in and had bought up all the properties in Detroit’s green zone and were just sitting on them.”
Big marijuana is king
California and Massachusetts have social equity provisions in their marijuana programs, but they aren’t working. The large amount of capital requirements needed to own a dispensary are a big hindrance to minority ownership. On the federal level, the MORE Act claims to address social justice issues in the marijuana industry. If states can’t figure it out, even when the states directly pay all capitalization costs for minorities to get into the weed business, how would the federal government be able to fix it?
Capital requirements allow huge national and international marijuana businesses to buy up the market. No amount of social equity laws and provisions will change the fact that BIG MARIJUANA will dominate the market. Access to banking would allow international cartels into the banking system and give access to foreigners, oligarchs and players such as Lev Parnas.
Please tell Senator Mike Crapo and the Senate Banking committee not to support the SAFE Act. We encourage our readers to sign a petition to Senator Crapo, chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Neither the social justice arguments to legalize marijuana, nor the crime reduction arguments hold up to scrutiny. Don’t allow any more access to banking, the SAFE Banking Act and the MORE Act.
https://poppot.org/2020/01/26/aoc-and-senator-crapo-hold-key-to-marijuana-banking/
Lorry driver, 30, who got high on cannabis and cocaine before ploughing into a cyclist, 50, and killing him instantly is jailed for three-and-a-half years
- Joseph Large, 30, ploughed his Volvo skip loader into Paul Thompson who died
- Mr Thompson was cycling along Culwick Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
- He told police he didn\’t see Mr Thompson, 50, because he was dazzled by sun
By AMELIA WYNNE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED:, 27 January 2020
A lorry driver has been jailed after he killed a cyclist in his 32-tonne refuse truck while high on cocaine and cannabis.
Joseph Large, 30, ploughed his Volvo skip loader into Paul Thompson, 50, who was crushed to death in the horror crash.
Police arrested Large at the scene and tests revealed he had taken cannabis and had 158mcg of cocaine in his blood – three times the permitted level.
Mr Thompson was cycling along Culwick Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, at 2.30pm when Large collided with him, killing him instantly.
He initially told police he did not see Mr Thompson because he was dazzled by the sun when he pulled out of a junction.
But following a trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, Large was found guilty of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drugs.
On Friday, Large, from Coseley in the West Midlands, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and banned from driving for two years.
The judge told him: \’You had a duty of care whilst driving a vehicle of that size, especially to vulnerable road users.
Vape Devices Like Juul \’Reversing\’ Efforts to Keep Youth From Tobacco: Study
The research, published Jan. 21 in JAMA Pediatrics, was conducted by the anti-tobacco advocacy group Truth Initiative.
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\”Youth tobacco use is at its highest in nearly 20 years, primarily driven by e-cigarettes resulting in over 5 million youth now vaping across America,\” Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, said in a news release.
\”Years of progress in the fight against youth tobacco [use] have been reversed,\” Koval added, \”with millions of teens, most of whom were not smokers, now using a high-nicotine tobacco product.\”
For complete article Another Harm Reduction method failing – Legalizing Cannabis & Promoting e-cigarettes is increasing tobacco use and creating more harms
States need to wake up to public health risks from cannabis
By ROSALIE LICCARDO PACULA JANUARY 21, 2020
Cannabis is on the march. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational use of cannabis for adults over 21, and others are considering it. More than 37 million Americans use cannabis each year in one form or another: flowers, concentrates, edibles, and the like.
The Food and Drug Administration ensures the safety of only a handful of cannabis products, mostly those available by prescription. It does not oversee any of the plants, foods, oils, or tinctures sold in cannabis dispensaries throughout the U.S. This is a problem because the agency with the most expertise for monitoring food and medicals products in terms of their contents and consumer safety is not doing so, leaving the job to state agencies that lack experience and technical expertise.
Colorado, Oregon, California, and Nevada have had to use public health advisories and recall cannabis products after harmful pesticides were found in them, due to improper behavior of growers, producers, or testing labs. Emergency departments in states where cannabis use is legal are seeing a growing number of visits involving cannabis, including cases of “cannabinoid hyperemesis,” – nonstop vomiting related to cannabis use, even among experienced users.
State authorities urgently need to start pairing their desire for a new era of legal cannabis use with stronger regulations that inform and protect users.
I have seen the impact of unrestrained cannabis marketing firsthand in my work as president of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy, a health economist at the University of Southern California, and former co-director of the RAND Corporation’s Drug Policy Research Center. The evidence for public health risks is clear, including increases in impaired driving, increases in adverse effects among pregnant and/or nursing women who use cannabis, increases in acute psychosis and emergency department visits, increases in cannabis use disorder and dependence, and increases in vaping-related lung injuries.
The notion that cannabis is not harmful – which is strongly promoted by the expanding cannabis industry – has taken particular root among the young, who are vaping nicotine and cannabis in record numbers. Even though use of cannabis among non-adults is illegal, a new study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 21% of 12th graders had vaped cannabis in the past year, as had 19% of 10th graders and 7% of 8th graders.
States can step up their regulatory game in a number of ways. For starters, here are three trends that deserve high-priority attention.
Frequent users
In every year from 2000 to 2016, daily and near-daily users of cannabis represented at least 75% of all use, as measured in days of use. So as cannabis use in general is rising, cannabis use days among frequent users is also climbing, up from 1.4 billion days of use in 2000 to more than 3.5 billion days of use in 2016.
In the world of commerce, frequent customers sustain for-profit businesses. That is certainly true for cannabis, where sellers have clear incentives to develop more daily and near-daily users. To counter that trend, state legislatures that are contemplating legalization should consider alternative market models, including sole-source or government monopolies, nonprofits, social clubs, or public benefit corporations. These models reduce competition – which in turn reduces marketing and promotion – raise prices and, for some models, force companies to consider the community impacts of selling their product while making a safe product available to consumers.
Hospitalizations and emergency department visits
Cannabis-related emergency department visits have increased substantially, especially in states with more liberal policies. In Colorado, hospitalizations among cannabis users doubled after legalization of medical marijuana, and emergency visits doubled after legalization of recreational marijuana, notably for pediatric ingestion, acute intoxication, uncontrolled vomiting, acute psychosis, and burns from butane hash oil.
Most state regulatory agencies haven’t paid enough attention to the development of cannabis products that can be mistaken for non-cannabis merchandise or that target younger users. Edibles and extracts – cannabis oils, vape cartridges, and concentrates – are surging in recreational markets and deliver substantially more concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (60% to 80% THC) than dried flowers (20% to 30% THC).
Pregnancy and nursing
Cannabis components easily cross the placenta and the blood-brain barrier. Newborns can also receive them through breast milk. Physicians agree that women who are pregnant or who are nursing infants should avoid using cannabis, but the trend line is going in the wrong direction. Increasing numbers of pregnant women report using cannabis to self-treat nausea, anxiety, depression and vomiting.
One study found that more than two-thirds of cannabis stores called at random in Colorado recommended cannabis products for easing morning sickness. Dispensaries should not be the place where people get their information on the potential benefits or harms of cannabis.
To help protect pregnant women, their babies, and everyone else who uses cannabis, all states should do these three things:
- Train board-certified pharmacists who are knowledgeable about cannabis products and require that they be on staff at dispensaries, as is the model now in Minnesota, Connecticut, and New York.
- Require health departments to proactively engage in community education of physicians, parents, and patients about the known health benefits and risks of cannabis, providing a strong counter to the false information being provided by some cannabis dispensaries.
- Impose significant financial penalties on producers and/or retailers – as well as their employees – who communicate inaccurate health information to consumers.
For complete article go to. https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/21/states-public-health-risks-cannabis/
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Dear Concerned Citizen
We have released an opinion piece I wrote this week for the Wall Street Journal laying out how the marijuana industry is to blame for more cases of this debilitating illness than was initially thought, using recent data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
As you know, the marijuana industry has been working non-stop to push the fact that its \”regulated\” products are not involved in the ongoing marijuana vaping crisis. But as more data are released, and the picture becomes clearer, it becomes clearer that our efforts have never been more crucial.
Please share this far and wide to help combat Big Marijuana\’s spin.
You can read the Wall Street piece here .
Please consider chipping in a tax-deductible gift to SAM today to help keep us on the front lines in this fight for public health, safety, and commonsense.
Together, we can help save lives,
Dr K Sabet (Co-Founder SAM)
The role of alcohol, drugs, and despair in falling U.S. life expectancy
January 16, 2020 By Mark Gold, MD
After 2014, U.S. life expectancy fell for 3 straight years. This striking trend is not associated with other wealthy countries in the world and has given rise to a cottage industry of speculation on causes, with varied social, cultural, and political actors making use of the findings for preferred narratives. Some of this speculation arose after Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton coined the term “deaths of despair,” an easily misunderstood phrase. Case and Deaton used the term to refer to fatal drug overdoses, alcohol-related diseases, and suicides. “We think of all these deaths as suicides, by a very broad definition,” these economists have written,“and we attribute them to a broad deterioration in the lives of Americans without a college degree who entered adulthood after 1970.”
What did this study find about U.S. life expectancy?
This study found that U.S. life expectancy, between 1959 and 2016, rose to 78.9 years from 69.9 years. But, following 2014, life expectancy began declining. “A major contributor,” this study’s authors write, “has been an increase in mortality from specific causes (eg, drug overdoses, suicides, organ system diseases) among young and middle-aged adults of all racial groups, with an onset as early as the 1990s and with the largest relative increases occurring in the Ohio Valley and New England.”
This study also finds that:
- Mortality increases are concentrated among Americans at “midlife”, or those between 25-64 years of age. The all-cause mortality rate rose by 6% between 2010-2017 for Americans between these ages.
- Rising mortality between 2010-2017 led to 33,307 excess deaths.
- More than 32 percent of these deaths happened in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia–or the Ohio Valley states. The upper New England states also had some of the largest mortality increases, though they account for a lower share of the overall total.
- These rising mortality figures are found among all racial groups in the U.S.
These trends do not reflect significant changes in violent crime. The U.S. is much less violent than it used to be, and although it still has higher violent crime rates than other rich countries, things have gotten much better in the last 30 years. Other medical conditions, such as infectious diseases and cancers, were also not behind these changes, as outcomes for certain medical problems actually improved.
What’s going on?
It’s a tough question. The authors write, “The largest relative increases in midlife mortality occurred among adults with less education and in rural areas or other settings with evidence of economic distress or diminished social capital.” But these observations aren’t necessarily explanatory factors in our life expectancy decline. This review considers different explanations and evidence in their favor. Isn’t it really just our drug epidemics – the rising death toll from heroin in the sixties and seventies, cocaine in the eighties, and then the three-stage opioid epidemic of prescriptions, heroin, and synthetics? Well, the authors say, this is a significant part of the story, but far from complete. Suicides and alcohol-related liver diseases have also contributed substantially and the timing is off because our life expectancy divergence started in the eighties, “and involved multiple diseases and nondrug injuries.” They also point to 2 studies suggesting that only 15 percent of our life expectancy divergence can be explained by fatal overdoses.
What about smoking? Americans smoke less than we used to, but smoking more decades ago could still kill more people today. And Americans are often more obese than their peer country counterparts, so could that account for the differences? This review points to research on other countries, like Australia, that resemble the U.S. in smoking and obesity but haven’t followed our marked life expectancy divergence. Health care? The U.S. famously spends more to cover fewer people than its peers, and Americans also face higher costs of care, but the authors note that this wouldn’t account for why we have more deaths from some diseases and not others, and from suicides or obesity-related deaths “which originate outside the clinic.” Might the problem be “deaths of despair” after all, then, or a large increase in psychological distress? There’s “inconclusive evidence” that depression and anxiety, which can also harm physical health, rose over the relevant time period, and, the authors say, it’s also hard to figure out the link between conditions like depression and all the rising specific causes of death.
The authors say these various possible causes “are not independent and collectively shape mortality patterns.” They call for the accumulation of more rigorous evidence, gathered from machine learning, migration research, and cohort studies, and interdisciplinary research, given how many different areas may contribute, and attempts to answer comparative questions about why some states and regions have worse life expectancy than others, and why other rich countries do better. These are sensibly modest conclusions but gravely important – they affect our view of the most important challenge we face.
Many death certificates tell a different story. Around 75,000 people died in the U.S. in 2017 from liver disease and alcohol-related conditions, a steep rise from 1999, when 36,000 died from those causes. Women used to die at lower rates from these conditions, but that gap has closed.2 As reported first by Case and Deaton and reiterated in their upcoming book, rising morbidity and mortality among whites due to accidents, drug overdoses, alcoholism, liver disease, and suicides means reduced overall longevity. These deaths are alarming businesses, too, as there are more suicides in the workplace than in the past.3 I expect that suicides, as well as overdose deaths, are undercounted. The most recent Florida data suggests that 1 out of 3 opioid overdose deaths, and an even greater share of cocaine deaths, are not reported.
For complete article go to Addiction Policy Forum