Sydney fast ferry services affected after some staff fail random drug test
By Nick Bonyhady July 5, 2019 – 5.28pm
The NRMA-owned Manly Fast Ferry has confirmed it stood some deckhands down after they tested \”non-negative\” for illicit drugs on Monday, as revealed by the Herald\’s CBD column on Friday.
With fewer staff available, the NRMA said it had been forced to reduce the frequency of some of its tourist services that travel between stops including Taronga Zoo and Darling Harbour on Friday.
But a spokeswoman said Manly to Circular services were unaffected and it expects normal schedule times to operate across the weekend.
\”Some deckhand staff returned non-negative results and others who did not make themselves available for the random drug test have been stood down indefinitely,\” a NRMA spokeswoman said.
\”We’ve done this to give our passengers assurance around safety and that we have a zero tolerance policy around illicit drug use,\” the spokeswoman said.
The NRMA, which operates 11 fast ferry vessels through a subsidiary, is locked in a dispute with the Maritime Union over worker pay which has lasted for months.
About 80 fast ferry workers have gone on strike several times this year in a campaign for higher wages after an enterprise agreement was struck down in January.
An NRMA spokeswoman said the CFMMEU, of which the Maritime Union is a part, was notified when the staff were stood down.
But the spokeswoman declined to say how many ferry workers were stood down or what drugs were allegedly in their system because the company has not informed other workers. It is understood that will happen on Monday.
The Maritime Union declined to comment.
For complete story https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-fast-ferry-services-affected-after-some-staff-fail-random-drug-test-20190705-p524li.html
Recent cannabis use tied to memory deficits, slowed mental processing
People who have recently used cannabis may be more likely to experience memory deficits or difficulties with cognitive function than those who don’t use the drug, a recent study suggests…cannabis users might have short-term impairments that aren’t easy to spot but could be dangerous in certain situations, said Mary-Ann Fitzcharles, a researcher at McGill University, in Montreal. That’s because the deficits aren’t verbal; they relate more to visual and spatial skills.
“The impairment is therefore assessed as being in the visuospatial domain which is not easily perceived to be an impairment by an individual,” Fitzcharles added. “For example, persons may believe that they are perfectly competent to drive a car, operate a crane, or respond quickly in an unexpected situation after cannabis use, but in fact are impaired and at risk.”
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2JPd6gq Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, online June 27, 2019. (For complete article go to In charge, but Stoned – VancouverSun!
GUILTY: Train-rage killer was schizophrenic cannabis-addicted gangster with 30 convictions who psychiatrist had ruled was NO DANGER to himself or others – just 24 hours before he stabbed father 18 times in front of his son, 14
- EXCLUSIVE: Darren Pencille ran with London\’s South Man Syndicate [SMS] gang
- Cannabis-addict was previously jailed for possession of a gun and a stabbing
- The 36-year-old murdered Lee Pomeroy, 51, on Guildford to Waterloo train
- Knife-obsessed killer brushed past his victim and later stabbed him in the neck
- Killer fled the train at the next stop where his girlfriend helped him escape police
- He was considered \’no risk to others\’ by a psychiatrist 24 hours before murder
- Pencille was a paranoid schizophrenic – but refused to take medication and smoked super-strong cannabis to treat it instead
Italy and Sweden: court decisions on low-THC cannabis products
Italy’s highest court says low-THC cannabis cannot be sold
On 30 May 2019, Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, published a note of information on the legality of selling low-THC cannabis. This followed attempts to prosecute entrepreneurs who were openly selling cannabis flower and other extracts. The products were marketed in a way to avoid the attention of law enforcement by using labels such as ‘collectors item’ or ‘not for consumption’. The sellers claimed that these cannabis products contained less than 0.2 % THC (the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis) and therefore were not controlled under the narcotics law. The Italian Law 242 of 2016 states that cultivation of certain varieties of hemp plants containing less than 0.2 % THC is permitted without any licence, and the plants could be used to produce various specified products including food and cosmetics. The court’s note of information stated that ‘the marketing of Cannabis sativa L. and, in particular, of leaves, inflorescences [flowers], oil, resin, obtained from the cultivation of the aforementioned hemp variety, does not fall within the scope of application of Law 242 of 2016’, which exhaustively lists the products that may be marketed. Therefore, sale and marketing to the public of products derived from cannabis is an offence under the Italian drug control law ‘unless the products are in practice devoid of narcotic effects’ (‘privi di efficacia drogante’). It is not yet known how this last phrase will be interpreted.
Sweden’s Supreme Court says CBD oil containing THC is a narcotic preparation
On 18 June 2019, the Supreme Court of Sweden ruled on a case involving possession of ‘CBD oil’ extracted from industrial hemp. Under Swedish law industrial hemp, defined as any variety of cannabis eligible for EU support, is exempt from the narcotic control laws. However, the oil contained THC (the concentration was not determined). THC and preparations containing it are covered by the narcotic control laws. The offender was charged with a minor case of possession of a controlled drug (a preparation of THC). The court ruled that, while industrial hemp is exempted from coverage, preparations made from it that contain THC are not exempted, and are therefore included in narcotic control laws.
For complete story go to http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/news/2019/italy-and-sweden-court-decisions-low-thc-cannabis-products_en
WE URGE CONGRESS TO VOTE AGAINST STATES ACT
Parents Opposed to Pot urges Congress to reject the STATES Act, which would allow states to break federal law in order to become drug dealers. Senators Gardner and Warren and Representatives Blumenauer and Joyce introduced bills into their respective houses of Congress. Some states like California and Colorado feed illicit drug markets throughout the country. We should not sanction this rampant lawlessness, because it leads to terrible public health and safety consequences.
Congress should not allow STATES Act which sanctions a deviant, criminal pot industry.
Most of Senator Gardner’s and Senator Warren’s constituents have buyer’s remorse over the way marijuana fails at regulation. Marijuana commercialization fails the public health tests in every state that has a commercial pot industry, while supporting a handful of investors who make money. It can’t solve any state’s financial issues, and California collects 1/3 of the taxes promised to the voters. The fallout of car crashes, mental illness and homelessness are worse than anyone ever imagined.
POPPOT.org, has over 50 testimonies from parents, individuals and families who report about the harms of marijuana, which caused mental illness, addiction and suicide in many of these cases.
Dangers of Marijuana
Dr. Martien Kooyman of the Netherlands stated, in 2014: “The damage to the brain from chronic use is worse compared with chronic use of heroin.”
MENTAL ILLNESS: No serious psychiatrist denies that marijuana use can trigger schizophrenia, according to Sir Robin Murray, one of the world’s leading researcher into mental illness. Yet most young people ages 13 — 35 believe the claim that marijuana is ‘harmless.”
GATEWAY DRUG It’s the foundation drug for all other drug use. As an adjunct drug, it is used to intensify the highs of alcohol, Xanax, heroin, cocaine, and to lessen the withdrawal effects of meth, heroin. This companion drug is also the great “enabler” drug of our current addiction epidemic.
While pot industry cheerleaders use surveys to claim that youth use doesn’t go up with legalization, we believe people in the trenches. “Horrible things are happening to kids,” said Dr. Libby Stuyt, one of our professional advisors. Jennifer Oldham interviewed Dr. Stuyt for a Washington Post article, “Potent pot, vulnerable teens trigger concerns in first states to legalize marijuana.”
A lawsuit in Oregon over the death of a 20-year-old who died while in psychosis demonstrates that our emergency health system doesn’t have the capacity to take care of the mental health victims who used pot prior to their breakdowns.
Claims that marijuana prohibition is racist lack merit
Mexico outlawed marijuana in 1920. A worldwide call to ban marijuana came from Egypt in the 1920s. Minorities have the most to lose by using drugs, because of the many ways people become disabled from – in education, on the job, mental health and in relationships. Arrests for Black and Hispanic youth went up after legalization in Colorado, although it went down for white youth.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE –there are ways to reform criminal justice without legalizing drugs.) Marijuana legalization is not a racial or social justice issue. Many leaders in the African — American community oppose legalization, saying that it amounts to companies “pimping” blacks and Hispanics.
In powerful testimony for a House subcommittee, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out marijuana legalization for compounding the racial wealth gap.
Marijuana industry follows opioid pain pill industry
The former president of Purdue Pharma now runs a marijuana company.
Marijuana Industry follows playbook of OPIOID PAIN PILL industry:
- Promotes illness, give hope to people who can’t get relief from other medications
- Sell doctors on it and get advocates in Congress
- Create front organizations that are patient advocacy groups. Americans for Safe Access fulfills the same function for the marijuana industry as pain groups did for the opiate industry.
- Hire KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) to speak for them. John Boehner, Howard Dean and Rick Steves act as spokesmen for the marijuana industry. Former politicians now serve on the boards of marijuana companies.
Don’t repeat the mistake: Congress allowed the opiate industry to push pain pills and then waited far too many years to take action when it turned out to be a problem. Most (90%) of the young people who die of drug overdose began their drug use with marijuana. At least 68,000 people died of drug overdose last year. Over-prescribing by doctors is only one of the reasons for this problem. We believe that it’s also related to marijuana legalization, fraudulent practices of the medical marijuana industry and the message that “drugs are harmless.”
Keith Humphreys and Chelsea Shover published a study showing that medical marijuana doesn’t lead to fewer opioid deaths, as previously claimed.
States that legalized pot found out that marijuana industry is impervious to regulation.
For complete article, go to Stop the Wizard of Pot
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 17, 2019
BREAKING: Another Study Links Marijuana and Psychosis
(Alexandria, VA.) – Today, a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry further links the use of marijuana with the onset of severe mental illness such as psychosis and schizophrenia. “This study is big as it is just one more in the scientific pile on connecting today’s potent pot with psychosis,’ said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former senior drug policy advisor to the Obama Administration. The evidence is mounting; marijuana legalization is a failed experiment and continuing to expose people to the substance is paving the way for the next public health crisis.”The study followed over 7,600 individuals for a mean of 84 months. Among these, the cumulative risk for progression to schizophrenia was 11.3%. The risk for onset of mental illness was highest among marijuana users and lowest for alcohol abusers. This is just the latest in a string of data highlighting marijuana’s harmful impact.
From previous, recent research we know that the use of high potency can increase the risk of psychosis five-fold.
In addition, a study released just this week found that young people living near a marijuana dispensary are more likely to have used the drug in the past month and hold favorable opinions of the substance. “At a time when the supporters of Big Marijuana are calling on Congress to legalize the drug, the science continue to point to marijuana being a harm to health and safety,” continued Dr. Sabet. “It is time to put commonsense and public health above the corporate greed of Big Pot.
About SAM
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) 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. Media
Contact: Colton Grace (864) 492-6719 E: [email protected]
Spice vape: Warning as nine collapse in Greater Manchester
16 July 2019
Image copyright GREATER MANCHESTER DRUG ALERTS PANEL Image caption Chemicals tested in the liquids were found to contain the same chemicals found in Spice
Nine young people have collapsed after unwittingly using a vaping liquid containing the synthetic drug Spice, it has emerged.
Health agencies have warned people to avoid products sold as \”THC vape juice\”, \”THC vape pens\” or \”THC oil\”.
Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel said it knew of six incidents since February where people had been taken to hospital after inhaling the drug.
Greater Manchester Police is investigating.
The vaping liquid, marketed as a \”natural cannabis\”, has also been sold as \”cannabis oil\” or \”cannabis vape juice\”, the panel said.
It was sold as both a 10ml bottle and a ready-filled cartridge.
Two incidents in the Oldham area led to five school-age children collapsing and being rushed to hospital.
Michael Linnell, who coordinates Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel, said the liquids contained the same chemicals as found in Spice.
- Spice \’putting pressure\’ on police
- Police \’helpless\’ against drug Spice
- Child sick after \’spice sweets\’ sold
The panel, which brings together police, NHS, local authorities and drug user support agencies, said incidents occurred in Rochdale, Oldham and Bury between February and June.
Manchester has faced problems with the widespread use of the drug in recent years, with one MP describing the situation as a \”crisis\” and asking for government help.
Also known as Mamba, Spice was formerly referred to as a \”legal high\”, before it was outlawed in 2016.
For More https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-49001669
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