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EMCDDA releases its first analysis on monitoring drug-related homicide in Europe
An EMCDDA Paper released today provides an overview of the information available on drug-related homicide (DRH) in Europe. This first snapshot provides practitioners and policymakers with the current state of the art on this topic. It is part of the EMCDDA’s efforts to expand its monitoring in the drug-related crime area in order to fully comprehend the broader ramifications of the drugs phenomenon.
Since 2013, the EMCDDA has been working on improving its framework for monitoring the supply side of the drugs problem to reflect the changing nature of drug markets and their wider harms and impact (1). The effects of drugs and drug markets reach beyond those who are directly exposed to drugs in terms of health or social problems. The issue is of serious concern in relation to the overall security situation in Europe and deeply affects communities at large, as drug use and drug markets can act as cross-cutting facilitators of acts of violence.
For complete article http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/news/2018/emcdda-releases-analysis-monitoring-drug-related-homicide-europe_en
1000 BIBS PLACED OVER DISPENSARIES IN DENVER
31/5/18
Doctors tell women not to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol when pregnant, so why would anyone think it’s ok to smoke pot? It turns out that 69% of marijuana dispensaries in Colorado were giving this bad advice.
Marijuana Accountability Coalition (MAC), in partnership with Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), launched the “Don’t Hurt Our Future” Campaign. CBS TV in Denver featured their activity on the nightly news. Watch the video of May 30, 2018 from the TV clip:
Coalition Places Baby Bibs On Marijuana Dispensary Doors
As recently reported, nearly 70% percent of marijuana dispensaries in Colorado were found to be recommending high-potency THC products to mothers. These dispensaries and some websites promote pot as a remedy for symptoms of morning sickness.
Volunteers from MAC and SAM began at the governor’s mansion and distributed 1,000 bibs on the doors of pot dispensaries in Colorado.
The problems with marijuana in pregnancy
According to the Centers for Disease Control, marijuana use during pregnancy could result in low birth weight and other developmental issues in the womb. Parents Opposed to Pot tracks reports of babies who died in infancy because the moms smoked pot during pregnancy. Pot smoking leads to low birth weights and more fragile babies. Nine of 106 child abuse deaths we found over five years included low birth-weight babies who had THC in their system.
For complete article http://www.poppot.org/2018/05/31/1000-bibs-placed-over-dispensaries-in-denver/
New Report Advises Parents about Teen Marijuana Use
May 29, 2018
Talking to your teens about drug use can already be a little uncomfortable. But what if you live in a state where using recreational marijuana is legal for adults? That can certainly make the conversation a little bit trickier, especially considering such laws make many teens believe the drug isn’t harmful.
Washington is one of the states where recreational marijuana use is legal for adults over the age of 21 (Although, keep in mind, marijuana use is still ILLEGAL on the federal level no matter where you live). “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Underage Marijuana Use,” a publication produced by Seattle Children’s Hospital and the UW Social Development Research Group, provides good guidance for parents on how to talk to teens about marijuana, the effect of the drug on the teenage body, and the answers to some commonly asked questions about marijuana such as:
Isn’t marijuana natural and therefore OK for teens to use?
There are many natural things that are not good for our bodies. Regardless of it being “natural” or not marijuana can harm youth health.
Isn’t it better for my child to consume marijuana at home where I can make sure they stay safe?
Research shows that teens who use alcohol at home are actually more likely to abuse alcohol when not at home. The same holds true for marijuana.
What about marijuana brownies and cookies? Aren’t they safer than smoking marijuana?
Marijuana, no matter how it is used, is harmful to teen health. Some marijuana products that are eaten or vaporized are more potent than smoked marijuana.
I smoked when I was a kid, why deny a rite of passage?
Keep in mind that most teens do not use marijuana, so it is not really a rite of passage. Today’s marijuana is more potent than the marijuana that was available in the past. In addition, some marijuana products being sold are “concentrates” and are even more potent and dangerous to teen health.
Read more in “A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Underage Marijuana Use.”
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Mental Health and Drug Abuse
May is Mental Health Awareness Month May 29, 2018
Scientists have long made the link between mental health disorders and substance abuse. In fact, the co-existence of both is referred to as “co-occurring disorders.”
According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 8.2 million adults over the age of 18 had co-occurring disorders (see a diagram from the survey below).
Schizophrenia: Consider schizophrenia. About 50 percent of people suffering from the disorder have also abused illegal substances at some point during their lives, according to the article “Treating Substance Abuse among Patients with Schizophrenia” published in Psychiatry Online.
“It is widely assumed that patients with schizophrenia use substances to reduce psychotic symptoms and alleviate the sedating side effects of neuroleptics. However, the most common reasons given for use of alcohol and other drugs are to \”get high\” and to reduce negative affective states including social anxiety and tension, dysphoria and depression, and boredom.”
Researchers have made a connection between schizophrenia and marijuana use in particular. Use of the drug causes symptoms of schizophrenia — like hallucinations and paranoia — to get worse.
Teens dealing with a social anxiety disorder are more likely to start using marijuana at an earlier age, according to a study from Case Western Reserve University School.
What are reasons for the connection? There are young users who take the drug to appear more fun and to “alleviate the social anxiety of making friends,” according to the recent “Canadian Youth Perceptions on Cannabis” report, where interviewers spoke to youth participating in the study. In addition to that, both “cannabis intoxication” and withdrawal from the drug can lead to anxiety.
For complete article https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/family/mental-health-and-drug-abuse?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
Cannabis puts 27,000 people a year in hospital: Rise in admissions could be due to increase in use of super-strength \’skunk\’, warns MP
- There were 27,501 admissions linked to cannabis in England in 2016/17, a 15 per cent rise in just two years from 23,866 in 2014/15
- Medical journal The Lancet takes unprecedented step of branding cannabis a ‘huge risk to health’
Tens of thousands of people are ending up in hospital with cannabis-related health problems, official figures have revealed.
There were 27,501 admissions linked to cannabis in England in 2016/17, a 15 per cent rise in just two years from 23,866 in 2014/15.
Labour MP Jeff Smith, who requested the figures on cannabis-related hospitalisations, said the large increase was ‘a concern’.
The influential medical journal The Lancet has just taken the unprecedented step of branding cannabis a ‘huge risk to health’.
The journal was reflecting on results from the 2018 Global Drug Survey, which asked 130,000 people in 44 nations about their use of drugs. The Lancet said: ‘Globally, cannabis is still the top illicit drug used and, with the concurrent use of tobacco, remains a huge health risk.’
Opioid News & Tool kit
News:
- FDA approves the first non-opioid treatment for management of opioid withdrawal symptoms in adults https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm607884.htm
- (New York Times) Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html
- Opioids Found in Seattle Mussels Could Put Salmon, Other Fish at Risk https://www.ecowatch.com/opioids-seattle-marine-life-2573300534.htNew
Opioid Resources from Drug Free America Foundation
Opioid Toolkit https://dfaf.org/Opioid%20Toolkit.pdf
Opioid Use During Pregnancy https://dfaf.org/Opioid%20Toolkit.pdf
Opioids in the Workplace https://dfaf.org/Opioids%20in%20Workplace_85x11.pdf
Justin Trudeau stated he would legalize marijuana if he became prime minister. Instead of taking on Big Tobacco and pushing for a financial settlement for the damage inflicted on the Canadian public by the tobacco industry, a settlement worth in the tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars, Trudeau decided once in power to focus his government’s energies on commercializing an additional smoked product.
Bill C-45, the draft legislation to legalize pot in Canada for adults of 18 years of age and older, allows for marijuana to be consumed through smoking devices for the first year of implementation. Access to edibles will follow.
Norman Bosse, the Child and Youth Advocate for New Brunswick, prepared a risk assessment of Bill C-45, recommending that it be amended to better protect children. Bosse called for a ban on the smoking of marijuana in homes where kids reside. This wasn’t given serious attention by either provincial or federal parliamentarians.
The Senate, the chamber of sober second thought, passed over the right children have to security of self under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by not making amendments to address kids’ exposure to second-hand smoke in the home. Officials engaged in months of discussion over far less important aspects of the legislation than the pivotal issue of the protection of children from the consequences that can befall them from adult use of marijuana, a psychotropic, genotoxic and carcinogenic product.
The gold standard in tobacco prevention is de-normalization strategy. De-normalization aims to tackle the predatory behaviours of addiction for profit industries. Legalization discussions in the House of Commons and the Senate ignored de-normalization strategy and the lessons learned from decades of tobacco control.
Discussions swirled around prosperity for the emerging marijuana industry and funding opportunities for hungry research institutes, institutes who survive on government grants and corporate dollars, which places them in a precarious position when asked to weigh in on the government’s pot agenda.
For complete article http://theprovince.com/opinion/op-ed/pamela-mccoll-xxx
