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BREAKING: First Release of Data from Canadian Legalization Shows Significant Increase in Youth and Overall Use
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 3, 2019
Also finds concerning trends in marijuana-impaired driving and workplace use
(Alexandria, VA) – A new Canadian federal study released yesterday found a 27% increase in marijuana use among people aged 15 to 24 over the last year. Additionally, approximately 646,000 Canadians have reported trying marijuana for the first time in the last three months, an amount almost double the 327,000 that admitted to trying the drug for the same time period last year.
\”Last year, Canada flouted international treaties and allowed a predatory, addiction-for-profit industry to entrench itself nationwide – and now we are beginning to see the results,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder and president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and a former senior drug policy advisor to President Obama. \”It is stunning what has happened in such a short period of time: A doubling of first-time use of today\’s highly potent and addictive marijuana and a rise in use among young people. This is incredibly concerning for the implications it has on mental health.\”
The data, drawn from the newly released National Cannabis Survey, highlighted other concerning takeaways relating to marijuana use and driving:
- 15% of marijuana users got behind the wheel of a car within two hours of using the drug.
- Daily users were more than twice as likely to believe that it was safe for them to operate a vehicle within three hours of ingesting the drug.
- 20% of Canadians who reported driving under the influence of marijuana admitted to also consuming alcohol at the same time.
- About 13%, or half a million, Canadian workers who are active marijuana users admitted to using the drug either prior to or during work.
\”The initial results are in for Canada and what we see is increased use, more dangerous roads, and more unsafe workplaces,\” continued Dr. Sabet. \”This report comes on the heels of another study finding that the black market in Canada is absolutely thriving, with over 79% of marijuana sales in the last quarter of 2018 occurring outside the legal market. Lawmakers in the United States should take a close look at this data – which mirrors data in \”legal\” states – and ask if they want to see similar results for our country.\”
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IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 4, 2019
CONTACT: Luke Niforatos [email protected]303-335-7584
Colorado Legislature Passes Bill Exempting Pot Industry from Clean Indoor Air Act
Bill would allow marijuana smoking in hotels a
nd restaurants
(Denver, CO) – Yesterday, the Colorado legislature sent a bill to Governor Jared Polis\’ desk that would allow the pot industry to set up social consumption sites in hotels, restaurants and other indoor areas. These sites would be exempt from the Clean Indoor Air Act. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Senior Policy Advisor and Marijuana Accountability Coalition (MAC) spokesperson Luke Niforatos released the following statement:
\”Exempting the pot industry and smoking marijuana from the Clean Indoor Air Act would effectively take the state of Colorado back to the early 1900s. Didn\’t we all learn how bad it was to have smoking in airplanes, restaurants, and buses? Governor Jared Polis should consider the terrible lessons we learned from Big Tobacco and its widespread public health carnage and veto this unconscionable bill. Second hand marijuana smoke and second hand tobacco smoke both bring similar health harms, as the American Lung Association tells us.\”
About MAC: The Marijuana Accountability Coalition (MAC) is a coalition made up of individuals and organizations united for one common purpose: to fearlessly investigate, expose, challenge, and hold the marijuana industry accountable. If you care about the future of Colorado and holding Big Tobacco 2.0 (The Marijuana Industry) accountable, please join us.
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.
www.MarijuanaAccountability.co
There\’s nothing funny about today\’s highly potent marijuana. It killed my son.
Sally Schindel, Opinion contributor April 28, 2019
Modern medical marijuana is much more potent than your father\’s pot brownies of the 1970s, and that potency is taking a toll on mental health.
As attorneys argued over a section of an Arizona law that differentiates between marijuana and cannabis, the state’s Supreme Court justices joked about baking pot brownies in their kitchens.
They clearly do not understand how the marijuana industry has irresponsibly manipulated pot into dangerously high levels of potency.
My son could explain it to them. Or he could if he were still with us.
“I want to die,” he wrote before hanging himself at the age of 31. “My soul is already dead. Marijuana killed my soul + ruined my brain.”
Andy wanted to quit. He couldn\’t
Andy had been the class clown. He made parties come alive. He helped friends through tough times and served with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq.
Then he became addicted to pot, using a medical marijuana card that enabled him to buy enough pot for up to 10 joints a day. That would keep anyone baked all day. He was hospitalized in five mental health hospitals and did two stints of court-ordered mental health treatment.
He told me that to live, he needed to quit marijuana. He just couldn’t do it.
The marijuana industry doesn’t like to acknowledge people like my son, dismissing his case as an aberration. But he is not alone, and new research shows the toll marijuana takes.
A new study shows he\’s not alone
The peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet last month published a major study that found people who use high-potency marijuana daily are five times more likely to develop psychosis than those who never partake. The researchers compared data for more than 2,100 people in multiple countries.
Read more commentary:
Marijuana needs warning labels like tobacco for associated mental, physical health risks
Mental illness in the family raises marijuana risks. Parents, please talk to your teens.
Cannabis industry shouldn\’t expand until we fix marijuana\’s racial inequities, injustices
Today’s marijuana has as much similarity to the pot brownies of the 1970s as a smartphone does to a Texas Instruments calculator. Today’s marijuana is incredibly potent, powerful enough to destroy lives.
….It’s not something to laugh about.
Sally Schindel lives in Prescott. She is co-founder of MomsStrong.org and a member of the Marijuana Victims Alliance. This column originally appeared in The Arizona Republic.
For complete story go to https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/04/28/medical-marijuana-arizona-supreme-court-thc-potency-column/3587406002/
Cannabis health warning messages
Part 1: Health warning messages for cannabis products that are dried cannabis or cannabis accessories that contain dried cannabis
- WARNING: Cannabis smoke is harmful. Harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke are also found in cannabis smoke.
- WARNING: Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding. Using cannabis during pregnancy may harm your baby and result in low birth weight.
- WARNING: Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding. Substances found in cannabis are also found in the breast milk of mothers who use cannabis.
- WARNING: Do not drive or operate machinery after using cannabis. More than 4,000 Canadians were injured and 75 died from driving after using cannabis (in 2012).
- WARNING: Do not drive or operate machinery after using cannabis. After cannabis use, coordination, reaction time and ability to judge distances are impaired.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. Up to half of people who use cannabis on a daily basis have work, social or health problems from using cannabis.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. 1 in 11 people who use cannabis will become addicted.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. Up to 1 in 2 people who use cannabis daily will become addicted.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Higher THC content can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Higher THC content can lower the age of onset of schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Young people are especially at risk.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. Early and regular use increases the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. Using cannabis as a teenager can increase your risk of becoming addicted.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. 1 in 6 people who start using cannabis in adolescence will become addicted.
Part 2: Health warning messages for all other cannabis products
- WARNING: Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding. Using cannabis during pregnancy may harm your baby and result in low birth weight.
- WARNING: Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding. Substances found in cannabis are also found in the breast milk of mothers who use cannabis.
- WARNING: Do not drive or operate machinery after using cannabis. More than 4,000 Canadians were injured and 75 died from driving after using cannabis (in 2012).
- WARNING: Do not drive or operate machinery after using cannabis. After cannabis use, coordination, reaction time and ability to judge distances are impaired.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. Up to half of people who use cannabis on a daily basis have work, social or health problems from using cannabis.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. 1 in 11 people who use cannabis will become addicted.
- WARNING: Cannabis can be addictive. Up to 1 in 2 people who use cannabis daily will become addicted.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Higher THC content can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Higher THC content can lower the age of onset of schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Regular use of cannabis can increase the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia. Young people are especially at risk.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. Early and regular use increases the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. Using cannabis as a teenager can increase your risk of becoming addicted.
- WARNING: Adolescents are at greater risk of harms from cannabis. 1 in 6 people who start using cannabis in adolescence will become addicted.
REFLECTIONS ON LOSING MY BROTHER TO MARIJUANA SUICIDE
May 2019
By BC, University of Texas If you told me five years ago that my brother would end his life in such a degrading state following marijuana-induced psychosis, I would have called you crazy. Unfortunately, I have lived with this reality every day for the past 5 months.
I am a business and pre-medical student at The University of Texas in Austin. David was my little brother, my confidant, and my workout partner. I always thought David would become an architect; he was exceptionally gifted at math and art. His life spiraled down a dark path when he started smoking weed and, on December 5th, 2018, at the age of nineteen, he became the first member of my immediate family to die. He shot himself in the head while in the restroom; he did not leave a note or give any warning. It happened four days after he left the hospital and started smoking weed, again.
Last summer, I studied for my medical school admissions exam and took a psychology class. Consequently, I learned a great deal about neurotransmitters and how they are modulated by drugs, which David and I discussed frequently. He told me that he wanted to find happiness outside of drugs, but could not imagine how. He told me that he felt incapable of giving up the high. He told me that the relapse was too hard. He told me his brain was different— since using drugs, he felt utterly low and despondent when he was sober. Ultimately, this helplessness prompted him to end his life altogether.
A whole family suffers, too
Weed not only ruined David’s life; my entire family is suffering. I cannot convey how difficult it is to see my parents’ sleep-deprived faces and increasingly frail frames. I cannot express how heartbroken I feel for my two 17-year-old brothers, who whole-heartedly looked up to their older brother. My 23-year-old sister struggles financially as she has taken off work for depression-related fatigue. Each member of my family is experiencing trauma similar to my own.
Now, when I sit in class, I constantly fight images of David’s brain exploding. I dread falling asleep each and every night because of the graphic, horrifying nightmares. It has been almost five months since David died, but the visions continue to haunt me. I wish I could say that my experience is unique; I wish I could say thousands of others have not experienced similar trauma. Unfortunately, marijuana-related suicides are on the rise.
I spent my spring break in California, where marijuana is already legal. I saw and smelled it everywhere. My friend took me to a Sacramento Kings game, and the entire row sitting behind us looked stoned and reeked of weed while a six- or seven-year old boy sat in front of us. Throughout the entire game, I could not stop thinking about what open marijuana consumption might do to the child and all of the children placed in harm’s way.
For complete story, go This IS Reefer Madness!
The middle-class drug users who \’demand fairtrade coffee but ignore misery of cocaine supply lines\’
A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said that middle class drug users are \”more concerned about their fair trade coffee\” than knowing where their cocaine is coming from.
Mr Lloyd’s remarks echo comments by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, who has hit out at middle-class cocaine users who worry about issues like the environment and fair trade but believe there is “no harm” in taking the class A drug.
“They may never set foot in a deprived area. They may never see an act of serious violence, but their illicit habits are adding fuel to the fire that is engulfing our communities.”
For complete story go to Middle Class Scar-face Wannabes!
DRUG CRISES OVER THE HORIZON
Two important aspects of the drug epidemic are at the forefront of national attention. The first is the legalization of the production, sale, and use of marijuana. The second is the explosion of drug overdose deaths that has resulted in overdose becoming the leading cause of death for Americans age 50 and younger[1] and has led to a remarkable decline in U.S. life expectancy for the third consecutive year.[2] These are the poles of drug policy: efforts to relax and even eliminate prohibition of marijuana on the one hand and increasing restrictions on opioids to discourage use and to reduce overdose deaths on the other. As we consider present and future drug crises, we can learn useful lessons both from expanding the focus beyond marijuana and opioids and from exploring the path that has led the nation to the current drug epidemic.
Conclusion
While ending the modern drug epidemic is impossible, there are many good and practical ways to limit the damage caused by commercialized recreational drug use. The first crucial step is widespread recognition that recreational pharmacology–especially polydrug recreational pharmacology–is unhealthy and dangerous. A public health corollary is that national policy must aim to reduce the use of intensely brain-stimulating chemicals for personal pleasure.
Just as the human brain’s vulnerability to addiction is not limited to any particular subset of the population, the drug epidemic is not limited to any one nation. Drug-using behaviors and drug supply, both legal and illegal, also are global issues. Therefore, solutions to this modern public health threat must be global, based on the recognition of our shared vulnerability.
Recreational pharmacology, sadly, will claim many more victims. Heightened commercialization of recreational pharmacology must be avoided in the interests of the public health. This modern, rapidly evolving drug epidemic will reshape our political decisions. Our nation’s ability to deal successfully with commercialized recreational pharmacology will be tested for generations to come–as it has been tested for generations past. May we think clearly and act wisely to prevent the harms that we bring upon ourselves.
–Robert L. DuPont, MD, is President of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., and former Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Click here to download or print a PDF copy of this report
This report originally appeared on www.heritage.org
For complete blogpost https://www.ibhinc.org/blog/drug-crises-horizon-heritage
Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome, Without the Hype
Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is nothing new, but nonetheless lacks a diagnosis code. This means that nobody–including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is meant to track such things–knows the prevalence of the condition. It is, however, relatively rare. Medical sources say that it’s likely, as you’d expect, to become more common as nationwide cannabis use increases.
No one claims that CHS is lethal, but it is uncomfortable–and in an emergency room situation requires such medications as haloperidol, an antipsychotic, to relieve vomiting and pain. Business Insiderrecently reported the story of 29-year-old Alice Moon, who began using cannabis regularly to treat pain and nausea. She did so without problems for five years, but then began experiencing CHS symptoms monthly, and eventually weekly.
A study published last month, based on emergency room visits in a Colorado hospital, also found that CHS is more likely to be associated with smoked than edible cannabis. Of 2,567 ER visits that were at least partly attributed to cannabis use, 18 percent of patients who inhaled it were said to have CHS, versus 8.4 percent of those who ate it.
“The big issue is [CHS] is under-recognized,” said Marino, agreeing with Meltzer. “So a lot of patients get unnecessary testing.” For someone who comes in with a lot of nausea and vomiting, and is young and otherwise healthy, he says it’s important to ask about their marijuana use.
“I try to be as non-judgemental as possible” in asking those questions, he said. “I don’t care what people do in their free time, but in the medical history I try to include things that are pertinent.”
No Easy Cure
There was one medication which briefly showed promise for CHS–ribonabant–but it was removed from the market due to psychiatric side effects (suicidal ideation). “The target is so new,” Vemuri said. “But NIDA is definitely interested, and no one ever gave up on the target, and no one ever gave up on cannabis, and no one ever gave up on the antagonists. Recently I was at a conference where I got to know companies that are pursuing both CB1 and CB2.”
While hot showers may provide temporary relief, and anti-emetics and intravenous hydration can help “someone in the throes of repetitive vomiting,” for now, the best way for CHS patients to avoid further symptoms for good is to stop using cannabis, said Lisa Gangarosa, the gastroenterologist.
“That is always the recommendation,” agreed Marino. “It seems to be the only thing that makes it better or makes it go away. But it’s not always the easiest thing. It’s easy for me to say.”
The implications of quitting for people who use cannabis for medical reasons–and the difficulties for people who are addicted–are clear. But for now, the unknown minority of cannabis users unfortunate enough to experience cannabis hyperemesis syndrome have no other reliable recourse.
For complete story https://filtermag.org/2019/04/25/cannabis-hyperemesis-syndrome-without-the-hype/