Scotland’s drug shame: Addiction is out of control — and nothing is being done
“Years ago, when I started selling it, I wouldn’t sell it to a woman if she had a kid in a pram,” a middle-aged drug-dealer tells me, within spitting distance of his MP’s constituency office in a Glasgow housing scheme. Like many dealers, this gentleman made his initial incursion into the grim, morally-ambivalent world of drugs as a low-level supplier, turning a modest profit by purchasing relatively small amounts from a bigger player to meet the local demand in his area.
Serious heroin addicts with a high tolerance for the drug become trapped in the hellish cycle of scoring drugs to escape withdrawal symptoms, which isn’t cheap. This is why criminality becomes a necessity for many.
Data recently published has revealed that in Scotland, drug-related deaths rose by a shameful 27% last year to 1,187. That means the death-toll in Scotland was equivalent to five Lockerbie bombings or fifty 7/7s. It is nearly three times that of the UK as a whole, and, per capita, the drug death rate in Scotland is higher than that of the U.S. Yet no national emergency has been declared.
These are called tranquilisers for a good reason. They induce a peace, serenity and sense of well-being that is difficult for even the most prolific and articulate drug-abusers to describe.
To the uninitiated, such a drug may hold an alluring curiosity. “How do the dealers come up with this stuff?” you may ask. But this drug is not the vulgar concoction of illicit dealers, it is a pharmaceutical-grade, state-approved chemical-compound. And one which was so widely prescribed by GPs in the Nineties, that addicts have been chasing its effects ever since.
That’s why, even though drug-abuse is so often framed as an issue for the feckless individual, we must also consider why and how these substances are created – and how thoughtlessly (and sometimes malignantly) they are introduced into society.
What risk-assessments were undertaken before drugs such as methadone, diazepam and tranquillisers were introduced through the NHS? Beyond the risk-benefit analysis on the individuals being legally prescribed them, what other factors were taken into consideration? When drugs are road-tested for approval, their broader social-implications are rarely contemplated.
In poorer communities, ill-health is more commonplace, increasing both the likelihood of treatment and the risk that a patient (or someone in the household taking the drugs) may become dependent. Society is awash with psychoactive substances in an age of chronic emotional and psychological stress. Increasing numbers are turning to drugs designed to treat chronic physical pain and mental health problems to self-medicate the emotional pain, stress and anxiety of poverty and social alienation.
I tell them I have never tried heroin, and they all warn me to keep it that way. Even though they have only just met me, because I have showed them a modicum of respect, they have a genuine concern for my well-being. For in their world of addiction, crime and social-exclusion, telling someone never to try heroin is an act of purest love.
For complete story go to Scotland’s Drug Shame (Uherd.com)
Also Read The absurdity of legalising drugs — Campaigners who say they want to legalise ‘all drugs’ and also regulate them are contradicting themselves
ALL FOR NOTHING, BECAUSE OF POT
I’ve been broke my whole adult life because of marijuana. I married the wrong woman and had a horrible 12-year relationship because of marijuana. I settled for a less than part-time, back- breaking job because of pot. I can’t have real relationship because of pot.
Since becoming a single dad in 2010, my teenage son has watched me fail time and time again in relationships. Without my parents, we would be on the streets with nothing. They’re enabling me, not sure they realize it. They help for my son’s sake, I believe.
I’m almost 41 years old now. I don’t wanna lose another 10 years. I have no true friends. Unless I go get high at a “buddy’s,” I won’t have any contact with outside world it seems. I was clean Sunday night thru Wednesday morning until I went to work on Wednesday. It was just a 3-day job helping on a bridge deck. Immediately that morning I was getting high with a co-worker whom I hadn’t seen in over a year. All for nothing.
I’ve ruined myself for nothing. I have a criminal record because of drugs in my 20s. The list goes on and on. I just don’t get it. At one time I had the most potential, but now I’m the disgrace of the family. My family probably still thinks I quit and assumes I’ve ruined my brain permanently. They don’t realize how bad it is inside me. With the stronger pot and vape pens nowadays it’s so easy and quick to get high. If it’s legal, more lives will be ruined.
I live in Illinois and on Jan 1 we will be a legal state which I fear is just going to make it harder for me. Around 2014-2015, the weed changed. It’s a different buzz, a different animal. I can totally relate to the horrid psychosis. I honestly can’t believe it’ll be legal. Many, many lives will be ruined.
![\"\"](\"http://www.dontlegalizedrugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SAM-LOGO1.png\" "\\"SAM"){kind=logo}
When we launched with Patrick Kennedy at the Denver Press Club in early 2013, we sounded the alarm that if legalization expands, it is only a matter of time until Big Tobacco fully invests in pot.
That time is now.
And boy, do I wish we were wrong.
As you know, our neighbor to the north legalized marijuana and created a nationwide commercial industry last October. Since then, we have seen massive investments from companies relying on addiction for profit. Altria, the parent company of Phillip Morris and maker of Marlboro cigarettes has already poured more than $2 billion into Canadian marijuana facilities. Alcohol-giant Constellation Brands has dumped in over $5 billion into the industry, too.
Just this week, another giant of Big Tobacco has entered the fray, Imperial Brands.
Imperial is the fourth largest tobacco company in the world, and they just invested over $100 million into Auxly, a marijuana developer. While the stake isn\’t as large, what\’s concerning is that these companies are now teaming up to work on marijuana vaping technology.
It is painfully obvious what is going on.
Cigarette sales are plummeting. As a result of years of work by public health advocates, millions are waking up to the reality of the harms of smoking. Tobacco giants know this, but they aren\’t going to give up…they are going to change their business model.
While cigarette sales are falling, rates of vaping are up. Specifically, youth vaping, driven in large part by Juul (which, by the way, is an offshoot of a marijuana company) is through the roof. And young people aren\’t simply vaping flavored nicotine. A recent survey in the British Medical Journal found that young people who vaped tobacco were significantly more likely to have ever vaped marijuana than their peers.
Additionally, according to the latest Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF), the percentage of eighth and tenth graders reporting vaping marijuana increased 63% between 2017 and 2018.
Ready for the cherry on the top? A recent Gallup poll found that young people are now more likely to smoke marijuana than cigarettes. This echoes MTF data from over the last ten years finding the same result.
Knowing this, ask yourself why Big Tobacco is investing such massive amounts of money into pot.
Friend, we don\’t have billions of dollars to go toe to toe with the industry and combat their lobbying and PR campaigns. But we have science, common sense, and grassroots activism – the same recipe that helped turn tobacco use around in this country. And, as you remember, we won in virtually every state this year, including New York and New Jersey.
Please, chip in today to help us continue to put public health over corporate greed by clicking here. By contributing to SAM, you can very well help save lives.
Thanks for all you do,
Dr. Kevin Sabet,
Founder and President — Smart Approaches to Marijuana
About SAM: Smart Approaches to Marijuana is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians, policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states.
The undeniable facts every would-be cannabis smoker should know
By Mary Brett August 5, 2019
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PREDICTABLY, the new Home Secretary Priti Patel has been accused of being ‘out of touch’ over her welcome new commitment to a zero tolerance approachto drug use after years of de facto decriminalisation — a ‘turning a blind eye’ policy.
Those genuinely concerned to eradicate the scourge of drugs that has afflicted so many children and corrupted so many communities however have greeted her comments with a sigh of relief.
For such a policy to work it also needs to be backed by a proper programme of prevention and education, meaning scientifically based drugs education in schools in place of the disastrous current ‘informed choice’ harm reduction approach, especially essential in the section which focuses on teens’ drug of choice, cannabis.
In my experience as a biology teacher, I found the best way to make an impression on both children and adults, and to prevent them from starting to take the drug in the first place, was to provide a simple scientific explanation of how cannabis causes its damage. Not only did my grammar-school boys express their appreciation of this approach, so did their parents. I have had the same reaction following the talks I have given to youth clubs, to staff in schools around the country and perhaps, most movingly of all, to deeply drug-damaged young men, in rehabilitation, in recovery from their addiction. Why, they asked me, in all the lessons at school had no one ever informed them of these scientific facts, especially the way cannabis impacts on the brain and mental functioning? Why hadn’t they been told what they would be doing to themselves, the results of which they were suffering?
None was aware before beginning their cannabis careers that when the cannabinoid THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive ingredient giving the ‘high’ in cannabis, enters the brain, it sets in motion a chain of reactions that are inevitable, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Nor, despite using the drug for years, were they even familiar with the terminology. They were totally ignorant about both the drug and what it was doing and had done to them.
I found that simply telling people that cannabis can cause addiction and psychosis, affect learning and memory and cause vehicle accidents was not enough. They needed to understand the biology and the chemistry and the factual results and conclusions of an ever-growing body of confirmatory scientific research that cannot be disputed.
I have yet to hear other teachers, policy advisers or even drug treatment counsellors adopt this ‘explain the science’ tactic in public, when to me it is sheer common sense.
Would members of the general public, parents and politicians still be perfectly happy to see cannabis legalised — and therefore more available for their children’s use — if they knew these infrequently shared facts?
When a joint is smoked, THC immediately enters the brain and takes control, replacing anandamide, one of the most important neurotransmitters (chemicals that carry messages from cell to cell). This controls by suppression the levels of other neurotransmitters all carrying differing instructions. Unfortunately the fat-soluble THC is many times stronger than anandamide and stays for weeks in the brain cells still exerting its influence. There are no enzymes to break it down. This ‘dumbing down’ of the brain’s activities has various damaging results.
These include messages carried to the hippocampus, the centre of learning and memory. These messages fail to reach its cells; some die and the hippocampus shrinks. Learning and memory are badly affected and grades fall. No wonder they call it ‘dope’. Reaction times are slowed, so driving accidents, including fatalities, result. The supply of serotonin, our ‘happiness’ neurotransmitter, decreases and depression can set in, sometimes leading to suicide.
In mental illnesses such as psychosis, schizophrenia and paranoia which can sometimes result in violence or murder, the mechanism is the same but slightly more complex. THC first suppresses GABA, an inhibiting neurotransmitter which normally depresses dopamine (a feel-good neurotransmitter) so dopamine surges. Excess dopamine is found in the brains of people with psychosis and schizophrenia. It is widely thought that genetic vulnerability plays a part in some cases of schizophrenia. Many cases of violence and homicide are increasingly linked to the use of cannabis by the perpetrator.
Why cannabis is addictive: If a person stops using the drug, the anandamide receptor sites on the cells are left empty. This gives the withdrawal experience with all its nasty consequences: irritability, anxiety, restlessness, sleep problems, depression etc. The body needs time to resume its production of anandamide. According to addiction specialists, teenage cannabis addiction has proved to be the most challenging to treat; even more worrying, the addiction rate with teenage users has been found to be one in six, as opposed to one in ten of adults.
Rarely mentioned but surely the most disastrous effect of cannabis is that THC affects DNA (our genetic code — the instructions for life). Astonishingly this has been known (but not disseminated) since the nineties when it was found that new cells being made in an adult body (sperm, foetal and white blood cells) were fewer as ‘apoptosis’ (programmed cell death) occurred prematurely. Impotence and infertility have been documented and the immune system is impaired.
More recently it has been found that THC disrupts cell division. The strands required to pull apart the chromosomes to form the new cells fail to form properly so the chromosomes are unable to separate correctly. They may break up and re-join haphazardly, causing genetic mutations that can be very harmful and frequently fatal to the dividing cells.
The resulting foetal defects can be varied and include gastroschisis (when a baby is born with its intestines outside the body), which disturbingly appears now to be rising in the geographic areas where cannabis has been legalised either fully or for so-called medical purposes. A critical paper is available here. Anencephaly (absence of brain parts) and shortened limbs also appear to be associated. Oncogenes (genes that cause cancer) can be switched on. Bladder, testicle and childhood cancers such as neuroblastoma have all been reported. The DNA in mitochondria (energy producers in cells) can be damaged.
For complete story go to Stop the Pot Rot
This letter is to advise you that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed your website at the Internet address https://curaleafhemp.com External Link Disclaimer in April and June 2019 and has determined that you take orders there for the products “CBD Lotion,” “CBD Pain-Relief Patch,” “CBD Tincture” (5 versions), “CBD Disposable Vape Pen” (5 versions) and “Bido CBD for Pets” (3 versions), all of which you promote as products containing cannabidiol (CBD).1 We have also reviewed your social media websites at www.facebook.com/CuraleafHemp External Link Disclaimer and https://twitter.com/curaleafhemp External Link Disclaimer; these websites direct consumers to your website, https://curaleafhemp.comExternal Link Disclaimer, to purchase your products. FDA has determined that your “CBD Lotion,” “CBD Pain-Relief Patch,” “CBD Tincture,” and “CBD Disposable Vape Pen” products are unapproved new drugs sold in violation of sections 505(a) and 301(d) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FD&C Act), 21 U.S.C. 355(a) and 331(d). Furthermore, these products are misbranded drugs under section 502(f)(1) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 352(f)(1). FDA has also determined that your “Bido CBD for Pets” products are unapproved new animal drugs that are unsafe under section 512(a) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 360b(a), and adulterated under section 501(a)(5) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 351(a)(5). As explained further below, introducing or delivering these products for introduction into interstate commerce for such uses violates the FD&C Act. You can find the FD&C Act and FDA regulations through links on FDA’s home page at www.fda.gov.
Unapproved New and Misbranded Human Drug Products
Based on our review of your website, your “CBD Lotion,” “CBD Pain-Relief Patch,” “CBD Tincture,” and “CBD Disposable Vape Pen” products are drugs under section 201(g)(1) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1), because they are intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease and/or intended to affect the structure or any function of the body.
Examples of claims observed on your website and social media accounts in April 2019 that establish the intended use of your products as drugs include, but may not be limited to, the following:
On your product webpage for CBD Disposable Vape Pen (Relieve):
– “[F]or chronic pain.”
On your product webpage for CBD Tincture (Relieve):
– “[S]oothing tincture for chronic pain.” …..
Glasgow MSP Adam Tomkins revealed drug addicts have told him: “The one thing you do not want to do is to make it easier for us to take heroin”.
![\"\"](\"http://www.dontlegalizedrugs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/JunkieSpoon.png\" "\\"JunkieSpoon\\"")
PaulPaladin
The Home Office has said it will not sanction the widespread opening of drug consumption rooms, amid pressure from pro-legalisation MPs to do so.
Last month, the Government approved a trial ‘shooting gallery’ in Cleveland, where drug addicts will be able to inject themselves without fear of arrest.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform, alongside seven police commissioners, called on the Government “to allow the relevant local authorities the discretion to proceed with locally developed, closely evaluated pilots”.
‘No plans’
The group, co-chaired by Crispin Blunt MP, who also heads a lobby group which has indicated support for decriminalisation, said the Government “must urgently escape the simplicity of ‘drugs are bad, they are banned’”.
But the Home Office responded: “Our drug strategy is bringing together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover.”
It added: “The UK Government has been clear that there is no legal framework for the provision of drug consumption rooms and there are no plans to introduce them.”
Scotland’s epidemic – for complete article go to https://www.christian.org.uk/news/home-office-rejects-proposals-for-drug-shooting-galleries/
SENATOR HARRIS MORE BILL LIKE PROP 64 IS ANOTHER GIMMICK
Yesterday Senator Kamala Harris and Representative Jerrold Nadler introduced the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, a bill to federally legalize, commercialize, and tax the use of marijuana.
Senator Harris owns much responsibility for the marijuana problems that plague the state of California. When she first ran for Attorney General in 2010 she promised not to go after the marijuana industry. She kept the hands-off approach, allowing illegal growers whose plants continue the destruction of the environment in California. Four federal district attorneys still prosecuted marijuana growers, despite Harris’ opposition.
More blame should laid on her than anyone else, because she wrote the ballot to legalize marijuana in California. Ultimately, she was responsible for the 100-word description that was put on the ballot:
“Legalizes marijuana under state law, for use by adults 21 or older. Imposes state taxes on sales and cultivation. Provides for industry licensing and establishes standards for marijuana products. Allows local regulation and taxation. Fiscal Impact: Additional tax revenues ranging from high hundreds of millions of dollars to over $1 billion annually, mostly dedicated to specific purposes. Reduced criminal justice costs of tens of millions of dollars annually.”
Senator Harris (or employees in her office) wrote Proposition 64 as a fiscal initiative expected to bring in $1 billion annually, while reducing costs of criminal justice by tens of millions of dollars. We don’t know legalization’s effects on criminal justice costs. But we do know that 80% of the marijuana in California is still sold illegally and the state is only collecting 1/3 of the promised revenue.
The Sacramento Bee reported that NO ONE was in jail for possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2016, the year Harris’ ballot passed with its misleading ballot language.
SAM explains the law as full legalization, not decriminalization
Though articles in the press called this bill decriminalization, that characterization misleads the public. Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana said,
“To be clear, this bill is not a decriminalization bill. This is a bill to legalize the sale of addictive, high potency marijuana candies, gummies, ice creams, soda, waxes, dabs, and concentrates nationwide. It is irresponsible to confuse these two different policies.
“Expunging previous records is commendable, but it is counterproductive to pair that with the commercialization of marijuana that has led to very real negative impacts in the handful of states that have chosen to legalize the drug. Being from California, Senator Harris must know that just last week, her state admitted it has failed to regulate the marijuana industry.
He continued: “Encouraging drug use in disadvantaged communities is in fact a social injustice…they (pot shops) are disproportionately located in low income and minority communities. What’s more, less than one percent of the marijuana industry is minority-owned. The individuals most harmed by previous drug laws are not the ones benefited by commercialization.”
As a Libertarian publication reports, the Harris-Nadler bill takes legalization and commercialization much further than any other marijuana bill.
The social justice gimmick
![\"\"](\"http://poppot.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Ken-Finns-drug-abuse-deaths-in-Colorado.jpg\")
The chart tracks the rise in Colorado drug deaths through 2017. Notice the sharp rise in methamphetamine deaths that came after legalization in 2014.No state created racial equity or social justice by legalizing marijuana. Legalization states have brought more addiction to all kinds of drugs, for all races, with marijuana as the foundation drug. There’s also the increase in murder, other crimes and traffic deaths that accompanies an impaired populace, many suffering with hallucinations.
In California, pregnant women use marijuana at an alarming rate, apparently oblivious to the harms it may cause to fetuses. The rise occurred under Harris’ tenure as Attorney General, and it affected the young women, low-income women and African-American women.
Getting more pregnant women to use pot is not a win for social justice, but, rather, an agent of inequality.
Representative’s Nadler’s home state, New York, rejected social justice reasons for legalizing, while expunging marijuana convictions. We can support social justice reform without giving the green light to the marijuana industry.
Senator Harris probably knows that the “joy” marijuana initially brings deteriorates rapidly. The rest of the country rejects her marijuana mistakes. Harris’ gimmick of revenue promoted Prop 64, and now she uses the social justice ploy to deceive the public.
https://poppot.org/2019/07/24/senator-kamala-harris-more-bill-is-a-gimmick/