VETERAN GRIEVES HIS MISTAKE – USING MARIJUANA FOR PTSD

JANUARY 14, 2019 EDITOR

Disabled Marine Says Marijuana is Not Preferable to Pharma Drugs By Andrew ,  a veteran’s testimony from Oregon

I wish there were better warnings and awareness on marijuana (there aren’t, currently, under Oregon regulations), especially in regards to mental health.

I am a 100% disabled combat veteran who served in the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War in 2003-2005. I never made any progress in my post-traumatic stress disorder when I was self-medicating under the elusive medical marijuana card.

When enlisted, I was 19-20 years old and had never used marijuana. I earned an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps so I had to be clean cut and sober from marijuana.  I finished my enlistment and only experimented with cannabis one time, getting the “munchies” which I thought a “cool experience.”

After my service, in 2006, I landed a bartender job and began to smoke marijuana with co-workers. Recreational use wasn’t legal at the time in Oregon, but I was discreet and avoided trouble with the law from it.  I also was a heavy drinker back then, being in my early twenties.

Struggling with health issues after the war, I went to a medical marijuana dispensary to meet with a doctor and got my medical marijuana card.  In Oregon this amounts to a discount card, since recreational marijuana is now legal for those 21 years of age and up.

Twenty -two veterans commit suicide a day. Marijuana is not safe for veterans with PTSD.

“Medical” marijuana doc failed to warn of side effects

I was never told the negative or possible side effects of it. My divorce from the mother of my children was a direct result of my marijuana-induced psychosis.  I feel good now that I’m taking prescriptions for my symptoms. While I self-medicated with marijuana, it was difficult to see how harmful marijuana can be. It took a doctor telling me some of the side effects to finally quit smoking it. I used to think it a good thing, but now I know better.

Even as someone who suffers post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I will not get on my high horse.  I won’t claim war trauma is the worst trauma out there. I understand people suffer rape or violence, and post-traumatic stress comes from many life experiences. Mine was a result of battle fatigue or shell shock similar to other military veterans throughout history.

I would regularly smoke marijuana to help with depression and anxiety, thinking “hey cool — it helps me to forget my traumatic experiences.”  In the beginning, I didn’t use very much, but I did consume a little daily. I hadn’t been given the full truth about marijuana even when I applied and received my “medical marijuana card.”

It is heartbreaking to me, because I believe my divorce is a direct result of my marijuana drug use. I can’t predict if marijuana will impact others like it impacted me.

I can confirm that without marijuana and taking the Veterans Affairs doctor’s prescriptions, I am doing well. These are the ones the marijuana culture claims they fight as “Big Pharmaceutical.”

Relationships suffer because of marijuana

It is embarrassing to admit, but while using marijuana, I was delusional and was a space case and didn’t know it.   I suffered a divorce and haven’t seen my kids in almost two years and got a ticket for driving under the influence.

Once under the care of a new doctor, I was politely fully advised of how marijuana can trigger psychosis. Nobody wants to hear that and nobody wants to struggle with mental illness. If you are a habitual pot smoker maybe it is time to see if you can put the weed away for a few months and get back to what the doctor I trust refers to as “clear thinking.”

If you want to live alone the rest of your life or somehow can get by without family and friends, then by all means indulge in marijuana. For the rest of us, who want good relationships, I would say consider my story before you choose marijuana. I was out of touch with reality and also emotionally unavailable.  As I struggled with marijuana-related mental illness, I committed my biggest crime by not being there for my loved ones.

I now abstain from alcohol as well and know that it has social ills related to it. I never made any progress in my post-traumatic stress disorder when was self-medicating under the elusive medical marijuana card.

And yet, politicians debate legalization to help veterans, and they seem to be unaware of the risks.

For complete article http://www.poppot.org/2019/01/14/veteran-grieves-his-mistake-using-marijuana-for-ptsd/

Both the Mental Health Review Tribunal in NSW and the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre have said publicly that if cannabis was removed from the chemistry of young brains, the incidence of schizophrenia in this country would be dramatically reduced. Adolescents who start to use cannabis at any time are considered particularly vulnerable because the human brain does not complete its development until the early to mid 20s

High risks: cannabis and psychosis

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-24/high-risks-cannabis-and-psychosis/2729178

Medicinal cannabis a honey pot for crooks

The documents offer unprecedented insight into the challenges of establishing and regulating an industry where the product is traditionally ­illegal. Picture: AFP

SEAN PARNELL 12:00AM JANUARY 7, 2019

High demand for a stake in Australia’s medicinal cannabis industry – including from people with links to organised crime – has caught the regulator unprepared and under-resourced, an internal audit has found.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show independent auditors hired by the Department of Health found the level of resourcing for the Medicinal Cannabis Section in the Office of Drug Control was “unsustainable”.

The federal government anticipated there would be between one and 20 cultivators under the scheme, but in the first two years more than 30 licences have been granted and many more appli­cations have been considered.

The MCS spent much of its time over the first 18 months ­assessing applications. The documents reveal this was not only a regulatory function but also crime prevention, with “several cases where assessments have uncovered connections to ­organised crime”.

Amid a backlog of appli­cations, the auditors were not convinced that the MCS had enough resources to perform its current or future roles effectively.

“It is likely there will be further pressure on the limited resources in the future with the commencement of compliance inspections, permit application processing, regulatory adjustments, and a forecast reduction in staff as a result of department-wide funding allocations,” the auditors warned.

“MCS may not be able to effectively implement all of its roles in managing the scheme in the ­future within current resource ­restraints.”

The auditors did not comment on any risk of organised crime connections not being detected in the application process, or of drugs otherwise being diverted to the illicit market.

The department only partly accepted the auditors’ recommendation that the MCS have more clarity over its future resourcing: “Given the present fin­ancial situation of the department, it is unlikely that the effort in closely mapping the resourcing required would lead to an increase in resources for the medicinal cannabis program.”

Last month, however, the government quietly allocated a further $4.4 million over two years for “assessment and compliance activities”. It also flagged changes to cost recovery arrangements.

The department had grappled with the auditor’s suggestion that the MCS divert effort from applications assessment to other areas: “Given the end result that the number of compliance inspections, and/or the level of rigour put into application assessments, must necessarily fall under any rebalancing, there is a heightened risk of criminal diversion and criminal infiltration of the medicinal cannabis scheme.”

The documents offer unprecedented insight into the challenges of establishing and regulating an industry where the product is traditionally ­illegal.

Separate concerns that pat­ients faced unreasonable delays obtaining products prompted the Council of Australian Governments’ Health Council to agree to streamline processes.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has approved 2339 applications under a special access scheme for medicinal cann­abis. Patients have cancer pain, chemotherapy-induced sickness, neuropathic pain, spasticity, paediatric epilepsy or terminal illnesses, conditions for which there is evidence medicinal cannabis might be of benefit.

For Article https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/medicinal-cannabis-a-honey-pot-for-crooks/news-story/65df53e94711178a3618a74cf6acab7c

University won’t turn a blind eye to drugs

Nicola Woolcock The Times Dec 2018

Students will have to sign a form confirming that they are aware the Buckingham University campus is drugs-freeCHRISTOPHER KATSAROV/AP

Buckingham University aims to become Britain’s first drugs-free campus, as part of its vice-chancellor’s plans to tackle the mental health epidemic in higher education.

But Sir Anthony Seldon has far bigger plans: he wants students to adopt healthy eating, cut out heavy drinking and embrace the benefits of exercise so that they are at peak mental fitness. Buckingham announced last year that it would become Europe’s first “positive university” to address the crisis in student mental health.

The university’s drugs-free policy is explained to students at matriculation. Policies included in its handbook state that the campus is expected to be drugs-free, and students have to sign to confirm that they have read it.

For complete article https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/university-wont-turn-a-blind-eye-todrugs-s0n9n89d8

Study points to increased risk of harm from cannabis across Europe

by University of Bath

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Cannabis resin and herbal cannabis have significantly increased in potency and in price, according to the first study to investigate changes in cannabis across Europe.

The study, published today in the journal Addiction by researchers from the University of Bath and King\’s College London, draws on data collected from across 28 EU Member states, as well as Norway and Turkey by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The findings show that for herbal cannabis, concentrations of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (\’THC\’ – the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis) increased by a similar amount each year, from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2016.

For cannabis resin (or hash), THC concentrations were relatively stable from 2006 to 2011 (from 8% to 10%) but then increased rapidly from 2011 to 2016 (from 10% to 17%). The price of cannabis resin also increased, but to a lesser extent than for herbal cannabis.

Lead author Dr. Tom Freeman from the Addiction and Mental Health Group within the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, said: \”These findings show that cannabis resin has changed rapidly across Europe, resulting in a more potent and better value product.\” For complete article https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-01-cannabis-europe.html

INVESTIGATING AND REPORTING SHADY SIDE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

By Cannabis Activist

Read Part 1- A Budtender is Born, Part 2- Burn Thru It and Part 3- A Little Dab will Do You of Journey of a Budtender.

Part 4: I followed my gut and began investigating.  I went up to my co-worker and we started to talk.  We discussed how the marijuana’s appearance was getting worse, downright unnatural looking.  Patients and co-workers described worsening physical and mental effects. She told me about chemicals used to decrease marijuana plant growth time and increase yield.

I decided the flowers from my Corporation needed to be tested or I couldn’t continue working for the Corporation.

Third Party Testing

So I bought flower from my dispensary and drove it to a third party lab. The lab sent email saying that it passed, but that did not allay my fears.  I called and spoke with the lab owner.  I told him that this was expensive, high quality “medical” marijuana from a caregiver who said that it does not have any harmful contaminants. Was that assertion was really true, I asked.

He explained that Massachusetts only tests for 19 contaminants, while Nevada tests for 200. He told me that the dispensaries ordered him to not test for more toxins, or they won’t give him business.  It sounded like he was being bullied. I told him that, and he agreed.

It was undeniable that my Corporation’s products were toxic. I had seen the mold on the flower in the cultivation center and in the dispensary.  Multiple co-workers had seen flower stalks being dunked in barrels of hydrogen peroxide at the cultivation center.  The Corporation told us budtenders that the application of hydrogen peroxide to flower was an “industry standard.” I observed the escalating ill effects in patients and co-workers and experienced them myself.

Department of Public Health proves worthless

I resigned as a budtender for I could no longer be complicit with an unethical corporation pedaling toxic, harmful marijuana “medicine.”

Communicating with an ex-cultivator and ex-harvest manager from my Corporation, I found out both of them had been contacting state agencies about moldy flower rooms and plants without response. It was clear to me that the state lab testing was far from “stringent.”

Realizing the sham, the magnitude of the harm and deception, I vowed never to set foot in that “medical” marijuana dispensary again.  As a caring health care professional with the mantra “Do no harm,” I was horrified that I had pedaled poison to thousands, harming vulnerable patients.  I wanted to alert the state authorities, to stop the harm to patients.

Scared for myself, I immediately ceased consuming marijuana. It was a painful detoxification process, but my physical and mental health began to improve.  My first attempt to quit, though, didn’t last and I lapsed back into using marijuana a few times.

I wrote an email to the state Medical Marijuana Program informing them about toxic marijuana production, but received no response.  I started to ponder the litany of physical symptoms I observed in myself and other patients. These problems included GI and neurological issues, and mental symptoms of worsening mood and instability.

Heavy Metals Poisoning

I feared heavy metals most due to their adverse effects and their propensity to stay in the body long time.  Heavy metal poisoning often results in serious debilitating diseases such as cancer.

The results of my test revealed heavy metal poisoning: 3x the norm for lead, high in cadmium, nickel and elevated in thallium.  Marijuana grown using cheap low-grade hydroponic nutrients, fertilizers and pesticides increases the amount of heavy metals present when made into BHO concentrates.  It was a bad decision on my part to switch from flower to dabs.  When I was dabbing, I ingested 10x more toxicity than I did when I only was ingesting flower.

Before I could be tested for heavy metals, I found relief by taking hot showers multiple times a day.  Had I not received the diagnosis of heavy metal poisoning, medical professionals would have diagnosed me with CHS (Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome) due my mental and physical symptoms.  The only treatment for CHS is cessation of marijuana and hot baths and showers.  Once I received the diagnosis of heavy metal poisoning, I emailed the Department of Public Health’s Medical Marijuana Program.  They did not respond.

State authorities, other officials and OSHA

My Corporation asked the Department of Public Health for an extension to a granted waiver from pesticides and heavy metals in finished marijuana products.  Despite research showing that “medical” marijuana often contains heavy metals and pesticides which are dangerous to ingest, the health department granted their wish.

The CCC (Cannabis Control Commission) heard testimony about practices of moldy plants being dunked in caustic hydrogen peroxide and inadequate testing regulations at a “listening” session. Despite what they heard, they did not make any changes at all to testing regulations for recreational marijuana.

The Corporation even sold to pregnant women.  After I quit the dispensary I saw young, 20-ish parents dabbing repeatedly in a small room with their 8-week old non-responsive baby present.  When I asked if her baby was OK, she said, “He’s fine.  I dabbed during my entire pregnancy.”

At first, I still thought the problems with “medical” marijuana were only with my dispensary.  However, I found a Smithsonian Magazine article explaining the toxins and contaminants in today’s marijuana, heavy metals and fungus.

Over the next year and a half, I phoned, wrote letters  and emailed the following:  MA Department of Public Health, the Cannabis Control Commission, my senator, my state representative, President of the Senate, the Governor, the DEA, the MA Attorney General, the US MA District Attorney and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  I received no response whatsoever, or was referred back to the Medical Marijuana Program.

When I contacted state authorities, I also wrote to the Boston Globe and other mainstream press. They chose not to write about it.  Only one pro-cannabis journalist published an online article about my experience.

For complete Article go to The ‘cannabis circus continues’

Supreme Court rules mothers\’ drug use in pregnancy isn\’t child abuse

Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled Friday that mothers who use illegal drugs while pregnant cannot be considered perpetrators of abuse against their newly born children under the state’s child protection law.

The decision is the latest addition to the debate over how to address the prevalence of substance use, and particularly opioid use, during pregnancy. One camp, including some prosecutors and some child protective services, views drug use as irreparable harm to the fetus and seeks to address it punitively. The other camp, including some medical providers and civil liberties advocates, views pregnancy and maternity as an opportunity to treat addiction.

The Supreme Court\’s ruling adds to a run of successes for the second camp. The court majority said the law’s definition of a child does not include fetuses or unborn children, and victims of perpetrators must be children under the Child Protective Services Law.

The decision comes on the heels of an August Superior Court ruling that upheld a Butler County judge\’s decision that a woman could not be charged with assault against her fetus for overdosing on heroin while pregnant. The 1997 statute that makes it a crime to hurt or kill an unborn child specifically exempts pregnant women, alongside abortion providers and medical personnel, from being charged for hurting their own fetuses.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge William Shaffer called that woman\’s alleged act \”senseless, selfish and heinous\” but said he was constrained by the law. Butler County prosecutors appealed his ruling, but did not appeal the Superior Court ruling.

The rulings set precedents that could be increasingly relevant.

According to a report released this month by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, opioid use during pregnancy is more than five times more common then it was at the beginning of this century, and now makes up almost half of all maternal substance use. Opioid use was present in almost two percent of Pennsylvania maternal stays from 2016 to 2017.

An even bigger fraction of Southwestern Pennsylvania pregnancies involve opioid use. In Allegheny County, the rate was over 2.5 percent in that period.

In Allegheny County, the non-punitive approach has held sway. County Department of Human Services spokeswoman Elaine Plunkett said that the Supreme Court\’s ruling matches existing practices by county Children Youth and Families.

It is also consistent with the approach medical systems are taking.

In 2014, Magee-Women\’s Hospital of UPMC introduced concurrent treatment for opioid dependency to prenatal care at its Pregnancy Recovery Center, which it expanded to five outpatient treatment centers in 2017. Last summer, it added a Parent Partnership Unit, which offers extended postnatal stays to new moms whose babies are born in withdrawal from opioids.

Patty Genday, executive director of women\’s services at Magee-Womens, told the Post-Gazette at the time that pregnancy and new motherhood is an opportunity to get women with opioid dependency into appropriate care.

\”Every woman wants to have a healthy baby,\” Ms. Genday said. UPMC did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Two justices dissented from the Supreme Court child abuse decision. They wrote that the child protection law should apply to injuries to the child that become evident after birth, even when the actions that caused the injuries occurred during the pregnancy.

“The facts in this matter more closely resemble neglect cases where the injury manifests at some point in time after the neglect as in cases of malnourishment from lack of food, or suffering from a severe diaper rash from failure to routinely change diapers,” wrote Justice Sallie Mundy, joined by Justice Debra Todd.

The case involves a newborn girl who spent 19 days last year in Williamsport Hospital, where she was treated for drug dependence that caused severe withdrawal symptoms. Her mother had relapsed into drug use after getting out of jail, and two weeks before the girl was born in January 2017 the mother tested positive for opiates, marijuana and benzodiazepines, Justice Christine Donohue wrote.

That\’s not an unusual hospital stay for a child exposed to opioids in the womb. The average newborn with neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS, stays in the hospital over 17 days, versus 3.5 for all other newborns, according to the council. NAS babies are more likely to be born premature, at low weights, and to have difficulty feeding and breathing.

While the baby in the Supreme Court case was hospitalized, Justice Donohue wrote in the majority\’s decision, the mother did not check in on her or stay with her. Clinton County Children and Youth Services was granted protective custody. In May 2017, the county judge determined the law did not provide for a finding of abuse for what occurred before the girl was born.

The Clinton County child welfare agency argued that a finding of child abuse would help protect other children if the mother were to become pregnant again.

The mother’s lawyer, David S. Cohen, called the Supreme Court\’s decision a victory for public health and the rights of women and children.

“There are many states that have decided by statute to label this type of behavior child abuse, but the majority do not,” Mr. Cohen said Friday. “We think that’s the right way to approach this, because this is a health issue and the worst thing you can do with a health issue is punish people. It drives people from treatment and it results in worse outcomes for everyone.”

The decision overturns a Superior Court ruling that a Clinton County judge erred in deciding the mother’s drug use did not qualify as child abuse.

Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Moulton wrote a year ago that a mother’s substance abuse while pregnant “may constitute child abuse” if authorities can prove she “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly caused, or created a reasonable likelihood of, bodily injury to a child after birth.” Judge Moulton wrote the word “after” in boldface.

While the case was in family court and not criminal court, if the woman had been deemed a perpetrator, that would have put her on a lifetime registry and would have affected her employment and ability to volunteer around children, Mr. Cohen said.

Mr. Cohen said his client does not have custody of her daughter.

Sara Rose, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, told the Post-Gazette in July that women should not face criminal charges for using drugs while pregnant.

\”It deters women from seeking prenatal care,\” Ms. Rose said.

The ACLU of PA did not respond to a request for comment from the Post-Gazette regarding the latest Supreme Court Decision.

Christopher Huffaker: 412-263-1724, [email protected], or on Twitter @huffakingit. The Associated Press contributed.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2018/12/28/Pa-Supreme-Court-Court-rules-mothers-drug-use-in-pregnancy-isn-t-child-abuse/stories/201812280145