USA: New York Medical Society Concerns over Cannabis Legalisation

 

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COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIALS V. MARIJUANA

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: Thomas J. Madejski, MD MSSNY President January 10, 2019

Colleagues:

MSSNY members are familiar with my strong concerns regarding legalization of recreational marijuana and potential severe consequences with regards to expanded use on our fellow citizens individually, and as a society. There are a number of financial considerations that continue to push for expansion of marijuana use.  Potential tax revenues are enticing. A 2018 state report estimates state and local taxes to range from $248 million — with a 7 percent tax — to $678 million if New York were to enact a 15 percent tax.  Big Tobacco is salivating about becoming Big Marijuana with the acquisition of commercial marijuana growers in other states, and obtaining novel delivery systems for a new potentially addictive substance.

This week I welcome the statement of the New York State Association of County Health Officials’ (NYSCHO) that MSSNY signed onto earlier in the week: “County Health Officials serve as the first line of defense in our communities, and they have seen up close the devastation associated with the abuse of legalized prescription opioid medications. While the addictive risk of opioids is different than marijuana, we are very concerned that the legalization of marijuana will similarly result in unintended, harmful consequences for countless New Yorkers.’’

For complete speech http://www.mssnyenews.org/enews/011119/

 

USA: Oregon UTTERLY FAILS to Regulate Weed!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 30, 2019

CONTACT: Colton Grace [email protected] (864)-492-6719

BREAKING: Oregon Utterly Fails to Regulate the Marijuana Market; SAM Calls for Moratorium on Sales

(Alexandria, VA) – Today, an audit conducted by the Oregon Secretary of State found that the recreational marijuana market has failed to stay up to date on mandated inspections, its testing system continues to allow exposure to harmful contaminants, and regulators of the industry have done next to nothing to stop legal marijuana from fueling the black market

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), an organization founded by former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, is calling for an immediate moratorium on \”legal\” marijuana sales, an independent commission to examine the problems with the \”legal\” market, a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on the shortcomings in Oregon, and the possible appointment of a special master by the federal government.

This remarkable report found that only 3% of Oregon\’s retail stores and only a third of its growers have been inspected for shortcomings, like molds, metals, and bacteria. In a remarkable statement for a legal-state government entity, the state admitted: \”Oregon\’s marijuana testing program cannot ensure that test results are reliable, and products are safe.\”

\”This earth-shattering report makes one thing clear: states cannot regulate the marijuana industry. Earlier this month, it was reported that Oregon was seriously considering exporting pot grown within its borders to other \”legal\” states. Now it comes to light that the problem is worse than we thought,\” said SAM President and CEO, former Obama advisor, Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”It is painfully evident that the state is not just failing to hold the industry accountable, they aren\’t even trying.\”

In response to this report, SAM is officially calling for the following:

  • An immediate moratorium on marijuana sales in the state of Oregon.
  • An audit of state inspection facilities
  • An independent state commission to examine problems
  • DOJ and/or special master intervention to ensure the state secures public health

SAM is also actively looking into various legal channels to put an end to this clear public health crisis since the state is dramatically failing to do so. In addition, today SAM will formally request a meeting with Governor Katie Brown.

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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.

 

Evidence shows that marijuana – which has skyrocketed in average potency over the past decades – is addictive and harmful to the human brain especially when used by adolescents. In states that have already legalized the drug, there has been an increase in drugged driving crashes, youth marijuana use, and costs that far outweigh pot revenues.These states have seen a black market that continues to thrive, sustained disparities in marijuana arrest rates, and tobacco company investment in marijuana.

 

Marijuana is not a harmless drug. View the stories of its victims here.

For more information about marijuana use and its effects, visit www.learnaboutsam.org

 

 

 

Global: Weed Creativity Killer – Ed Sheeran Finally Got It!

Ed Sheeran has quit smoking marijuana

January 15, 2019

Ed Sheeran has quit smoking marijuana because he prefers to be \”alert\”. The singer, who wrote song Sweet Mary Jane about his love of the drug in 2015, has now told reporters at The Daily Star that he has given up his smoking sessions as he found that the psychoactive substance clouded his creativity.

\”I\’ve stopped smoking weed,\” he said. \”I found myself just sitting at home watching films. I only ever create (when I\’m) sober – I like to be alert. I find most ideas happen when you have a cup of tea. For me, anyway.\”

Ed went on to explain that he has also decided to ditch alcohol until his live concerts are over.

For complete Story Ed Sheeran Quits Weed

 

GLOBAL: JOURNALISTS WHO CARE TO LOOK, CAN WEED!

This reporter took a deep look into the science of smoking pot. What he found is scary.

Alex Berenson’s new book delves into research linking heavy use with violent crime and mental illness. by Stephanie Mencimer Mother Jones (San Francisco), January 5, 2019.

It’s been a few years since Alex Berenson has “committed journalism,” as he likes to say. As a New York Times reporter, Berenson did two tours covering the Iraq War, an experience that inspired him to write his first of nearly a dozen spy novels. Starting with the 2006 Edgar Award-winning The Faithful Spy, his books were so successful that he left the Times in 2010 to write fiction full time. But his latest book, out January 8, strays far from the halls of Langley and the jihadis of Afghanistan. Tell Your Children is nonfiction that takes a sledgehammer to the promised benefits of marijuana legalization, and cannabis enthusiasts are not going to like it one bit.

The book was seeded one night a few years ago when Berenson’s wife, a psychiatrist who evaluates mentally ill criminal defendants in New York, started talking about a horrific case she was handling. It was “the usual horror story, somebody who’d cut up his grandmother or set fire to his apartment — typical bedtime chat in the Berenson house,” he writes. But then, his wife added, “Of course he was high, been smoking pot his whole life.”

Berenson, who smoked a bit in college, didn’t have strong feelings about marijuana one way or another, but he was skeptical that it could bring about violent crime. Like most Americans, he thought stoners ate pizza and played video games — they didn’t hack up family members. Yet his Harvard-trained wife insisted that all the horrible cases she was seeing involved people who were heavy into weed. She directed him to the science on the subject.

We look back and laugh at Reefer Madness, which was pretty over-the-top, after all, but Berenson found himself immersed in some pretty sobering evidence: Cannabis has been associated with legitimate reports of psychotic behavior and violence dating at least to the 19th century, when a Punjabi lawyer in India noted that 20 to 30 percent of patients in mental hospitals were committed for cannabis-related insanity. The lawyer, like Berenson’s wife, described horrific crimes — including at least one beheading — and attributed far more cases of mental illness to cannabis than to alcohol or opium. The Mexican government reached similar conclusions, banning cannabis sales in 1920 — nearly 20 years before the United States did — after years of reports of cannabis-induced madness and violent crime.

For complete article URL: www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/new-york-times-journalist-alex-berenson-tell-your-children-marijuana-crime-mental-illness-1/

Tell Your Children:
The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence by Alex Berenson (New York: Free Press, 2019) Hardcover: 272 pages ISBN: 978-1982103668 RRP: US$26.00
Book description An eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drug — facts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis. For complete article : www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tell-Your-Children/Alex-Berenson/9781982103668

 

 

USA: Author Against Weed Gets Death Threats! But hey man! Weed is Chill???

Author of book claiming to \’prove\’ a link between the legislation of cannabis and a rise in violent crime receives death threats

  • Alex Berenson said there is \’conclusively\’ a link which he sets out in his book
  • \’ I\’ve been stunned by the backlash,\’ the author said following the controversy
  • The murder rate rose more than 44 per cent in Washington over four years
  • He has branded the legislation of cannabis as \’a catastrophic mistake\’
  • But critics of his book have branded it \’reefer madness\’

By CAROLINE GRAHAM FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY IN LOS ANGELES

PUBLISHED: 11:56 AEDT, 27 January 2019

The author of a controversial new book that claims to \’conclusively prove\’ a link between the legalisation of marijuana and a rise in violent crime has received a torrent of death threats.

Alex Berenson, 46, analysed dozens of studies comparing murders and violent assaults in US states where marijuana is legal for his book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness And Violence.

But the married father of two said he was \’unprepared\’ for the backlash, including death threats on social media and people ringing his home to threaten his children.

\’You can never be prepared for death threats but I\’ve been stunned by the backlash,\’ he said.

Reflecting on the lessons from his research, he warned that the rush to legalise marijuana in the UK is a \’catastrophic\’ mistake, adding: \’Those in the UK who are pushing to legalise cannabis should look at the US.

For more https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6636297/Author-faces-death-threats-cannabis-legislation-link-violence-claim.html

 

USA: VETERAN GRIEVES HIS MISTAKE — USING MARIJUANA FOR PTSD

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/

 

High risks: cannabis and psychosis Quentin Dempster

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

 

Australia: Cannabis Chaos Created, when you Negate the Therapeutic Watch Dog!

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

 

USA: RESOLUTION MONTH S.A.M.

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JANUARY THEME:
RESOLUTION MONTH!
It\’s a brand new year! This month, we are calling on you to reject Big Marijuana and resolve to educate others of its harms.
SAM is proud to release this toolkit to help in your work.
Some one-liners to share on social media:
  • Big Marijuana continues its profits-over-people business model to hook new users from the young to the elderly. For example, The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found monthly marijuana use for those 12 and older is up 42% in Nevada while the same study found more and more older Americans are using marijuana than ever before.
  • Education is the best line of defense- Knowing the facts about marijuana and its harms will shield people from addiction.
  • Addiction is real and treatable- Cannabis Use Disorder is linked to psychotic and depressive symptoms, but the National Institutes of Health has several options to kick the habit.
  • The Marlboro Man is investing in marijuana vaping- Altria is spending big bucks to grab a piece of Big Marijuana, investing 1.8 billion dollars in Canadian marijuana company Cronos Group, and there\’s word the e-cigarette company Juul could be next. There\’s good reason. According to the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, vaping marijuana is up 63 percent for eighth and tenth graders across America.
Videos to help end addiction and educate others:
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Sample tweets:
Sample Facebook post:
  • Make 2019 your best year yet! If that means stopping your marijuana addiction, then start now. Kick Big Marijuana out the door by learning the facts about recreational marijuana, not the lies from this profits-over-people industry. It\’s time to put your life back in your hands.
2019 is here, and with the new year ahead, many people are making resolutions for the next 365 days. Make one of them educating others on the hazards of commercialized marijuana, or if you are using, make it your goal to kick the habit.
Look to the future of a world without Big Marijuana and what it brings to society, including skyrocketing drugged driving, the targeting of  children and the  low-income communities as well as  arrest disparities.
Moreover, if you do know someone with a  Cannabis Use Disorder, use this information to inform them and give them hope from the hopeless brought by Big Marijuana.

 

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