Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana

Marijuana’s dark side a reality, doctor says

© 2018-Center Post Dispatch By Teresa L. Benns

ALAMOSA– Karen Randall, M.D., an emergency room physician working at a major hospital in Pueblo, spoke to concerned citizens gathered in Alamosa Saturday about the dangers of marijuana and her experiences with marijuana cases in the ER since the drug became legal in 2012.
Randall is one of several Pueblo physicians who supported an ad recently in Pueblo news publications regarding their concerns about the dangers of marijuana to the public, especially young people. The ad listed the following disturbing drawbacks to the drug that are seldom acknowledged by cannabis lobbyists and growers.
– Marijuana products have been found to be contaminated with fungus, heavy metals, pesticides and chemicals. A study conducted by concerned officials in Calaveras County, Calif. shows the problem in their state was widespread, and because of these and other concerns, Calaveras County shut down some 200 marijuana grow operations.
– Marijuana harms the unborn child and is concentrated in breast milk.
– Marijuana can trigger violence in those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or make PTSD worse.
– Marijuana smoke is associated with lung disease and some cancers.
– Marijuana use has been shown to decrease IQ in younger users.
– Marijuana can cause mental illness and is associated with the onset of schizophrenia.
– Marijuana can cause cyclic vomiting.
– Marijuana is linked to increased driving fatalities.
– Legal marijuana brought increased use by eighth and tenth graders in Washington, according to a report by JAMA Pediatrics, Feb. 2017.
– Marijuana harms the developing adolescent and young adult brain.
These statements are backed by scientific studies performed at recognized research institutions. Randall reminded her audience at the beginning of her lecture that the marijuana grown today is not the same drug smoked by those attending Woodstock nearly 50 years ago.
In the 1960s-1970s, a marijuana joint packed about 1-3 mgs. of THC, the psychoactive element in the plant. Today the average is 18 mgs., with dab wax or “shatter” levels running at about 60 mgs. Some varieties reportedly run as high as 99.9 mgs.

Cases of psychotic episodes related to THC
Randall related her own experiences with patients who have become psychotic after ingesting marijuana. One 16-year-old with no previous history of drug use who had used pot for less than a year was admitted to the behavioral health unit. He subsequently attacked the staff and stabbed a guard. Those on duty at the time were unable to restrain him.
Only marijuana was found in his system.
After leaving the unit he went home and eventually injured family members so badly they had to be placed in the ICU for head injuries.
Another woman from out of state experienced a frightening psychotic episode with edibles while driving on I-25. A grandmother was unknowingly fed marijuana edibles by family members and was admitted to the hospital vomiting, screaming and fighting with caregivers.
Another man was charged with an act of terrorism after staging a protest when his wife was refused admission to the ER several times. The real issue, Randall said, amounted to cannabis use which she wouldn’t address.
A widely publicized incident in the Denver area where a young man was shot by police for yielding a machete was later related to THC-induced psychosis, Randall noted. She added that roughly one-third of every ER shift is now dedicated to handling drug-related incidents.

For complete article https://centerpostdispatch.com/article/marijuanas-dark-side-a-reality-doctor-says

UK: As drug abuse rises, so do knife murders. I don’t think it’s a coincidence

This is Peter Hitchens\’s Mail on Sunday column

Sometimes we lose sight of what is important while we concentrate on things that are merely interesting or exciting. In any other week the murder of Sami Sidhom in an East London street would rightly have been major news. As it is, it has swiftly become background noise.

A much-loved young man, Sami was stabbed in the back in the dark in a part of our capital which, until recently, had been peaceful and safe for a century or more.

He is one of 62 killed in London already this year. Unlike most other crime statistics, violent death figures cannot be massaged or twisted. They cannot be exaggerated when the police are demanding more money, or minimised when the Government is claiming it has got on top of crime.

So we should think seriously about them. But we never do. They can’t really have much to do with police numbers. The forces with the biggest falls in numbers have not experienced the biggest rises in serious violence.

At the start of this century, knife crime rose in spite of increased police numbers. After 2008, though police numbers fell, recorded knife crime fell too.

I’d be amazed if police numbers had any effect on anything myself, as the police are almost entirely absent from the streets and, at many times and in many places, there is very little evidence that they exist at all. You might as well blame social changes in this country on falls and rises in the number of schoolteachers in Japan.

I doubt claims that nasty material on social media has encouraged violence. But two very important things have changed. One is that the violent person has no fear of serious punishment if he kills. He will probably not be caught, and if he is he will suffer nothing worse than a few years in a prison run by people like him, where the drugs he likes are readily available.

The other is that he is in some way out of his mind because of those drugs. Anyone can pick up a knife, as they are everywhere and could not possibly be banned. But hardly anyone is unhinged enough to drive a sharpened steel blade into the body of another human being.

For complete article http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2018/04/peter-hitchens-as-drug-abuse-rises-so-do-knife-murders-i-dont-think-its-a-coincidence.html

Over 100 Child Abuse Deaths Found Related to Cannabis, with Rise of Commercial Industry

Shortly after Colorado commercialized marijuana in 2014, stories of three tragic deaths of toddlers related to their parents’ use of marijuana emerged. The month Washington legalized possession of marijuana, a two-year-old drank from his mother’s bong and died. After investigating, state officials determined that the toddler had ingested lethal amounts of both THC and meth, enough to kill an adult.

“As articles in popular magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Oprah Winfrey’s \’O\’ portray cannabis as the \’it\’ drug, parents are being led to believe that a serving of marijuana is no more dangerous than a glass of beer or wine,” explains Dr. Ken Finn, a medical advisor to PopPot.org. “However, three sets of twins died in fires when parents abandoned these toddlers for reasons related to their marijuana use.”

The promotion of marijuana as a way to relax is inappropriate for parents or caregivers of small children, and the promotion of marijuana for pregnant women with morning sickness is a dangerous trend.

Marijuana use impairs executive functioning — which led to poor judgement and forgetfulness in many of these deaths. Greater acceptance means more use, and more use means more addiction.

Eleven deaths occurred in Colorado, while 10 took place in California. In both states, at least one child died where butane hash oil (BHO) labs operated, and numerous children were injured in BHO fires. The two most recent deaths in Colorado occurred last summer when a mother followed a cult leader to a marijuana farm. No one knows how long the two girls had been dead when they were discovered locked in a car covered in tarp last September. They were starved to death. An unusual death in California occurred when a babysitter went to her cousin’s car to smoke pot, leaving a 16-month-old boy inside. The toddler eventually came outside and the visiting car ran over him…

For complete article https://www.einpresswire.com/article-print/443572809/over-100-child-abuse-deaths-found-related-to-cannabis-with-rise-of-commercial-industry

Why marijuana fans should not see approval for epilepsy drug as a win for weed

April 20, 2018

A Food and Drug Administration panel recommended approval of a drug made of cannabidiol on April 19 to treat two types of epilepsy. The FDA is expected to decide in June whether to accept the panel’s 13-0 recommendation to approve Epidiolex, which would would become the first drug made of cannabidiol, a compound in the cannabis plant, to gain approval from the FDA.

While the panel’s unanimous decision is not binding, the action will no doubt heighten public debate about the use of cannabidiol, medical marijuana, medical cannabis and hemp oil. Should cannabidiol, or CBD, or marijuana be legalized for medical purposes? What is the evidence that these products are beneficial? Are these products safe to use?

Those who support the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes might have found the timing of the panel’s ruling interesting. National Weed Day is April 20.

But weed is not cannabidiol, even though both come from cannabis.

As a professor of pharmacy with a special interest in epilepsy, I find it important that CBD may be a new option for the treatment of epilepsy. This new use has led me to carefully study published literature on CBD and discuss it as an option with patients who have epilepsy. Additionally, I have been involved with the American Epilepsy Society’s ongoing review of CBD as a possible treatment for epilepsy. From this perspective, I believe that CBD may offer benefits for patients with some types of epilepsy and possibly other disorders.

No high, but healing?

The cannabis plant produces hundreds of different compounds, many of which have differing effects in the body. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the substance that is most known for its psychoactive effects, or the “high” associated with marijuana.

However, there are many other substances from the cannabis plant that also produce effects in the body. Many of these differ from THC in that they are not psychoactive — and they do not produce a “high.” Cannabidiol, or CBD, is one of those substances.

Compared to THC, CBD works at different receptors in the brain and other parts of the body. In this way, CBD is very different from THC and may offer new mechanisms of treatment. For this reason, CBD has received a great amount of attention as a possible treatment for many different disorders.

However, there are two well-designed, large studies that indicate CBD is effective in two different epilepsy syndromes. In these studies, about 40 percent of patients taking CBD had a significant reduction in specific types of seizures.

For more https://theconversation.com/why-marijuana-fans-should-not-see-approval-for-epilepsy-drug-as-a-win-for-weed-95222

Also see  THE ONLY REAL CANNABIS BASED MEDICINE — Pharmaceutically Tested, not ‘home spun quackery’!

But caution still very much needed as CBD and CBN continue to have \’red flags\’ around their potential teratogenic and mutagenic properties!

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 42,000 opioid-overdose fatalities, including an unknown number of suicides. Notably, two populations that are more likely than others to receive opioid prescriptions – patients with chronic pain and those with mood disorders – are also at greater risk for suicide. Patients with a substance use disorder are at increased risk for suicide as well, and although opioid overdoses are uncommon among suicide attempts in such patients, suicides by poisoning are far from rare. Difficulties in ascertaining the manner of death probably result in the underreporting of opioid-overdose deaths as suicides.¹

The distinction between unintentional and volitional deaths may be blurred among people with OUD, whose motivation to live might be eroded by addiction. Such erosion can have a range of effects, from engagement in increasingly risky behaviors despite a lack of conscious suicidal intent to frank suicidal ideation and intent. This entire spectrum can lead to opioid-overdose deaths, but little attention has been given to its contribution to overdose mortality.

Of the estimated 44,965 suicides in the United States in 2016, about 50% were carried out by firearm and about 15% by drug overdose, according to the CDC. The proportion of suicides that were opioid overdoses rose from 2.2% to 4.3% between 1999 and 2014, with the highest increases occurring among people 45 to 64 years of age.² On the other hand, 17% of drug-related deaths (all drugs, not only opioids) in 2010 were classified as suicides.³ Similarly, an analysis of opioid-overdose deaths in Utah in 2008 and 2009 showed that 21% of 2086 such deaths were attributed to suicide and 16% were classified as undetermined.⁴ Even people deemed to have died of an “unintentional overdose” frequently had suicide risk factors: depression, substance use disorders, and financial problems. Among those who died from an overdose of an illicit drug (including opioids), the age-adjusted rate of intentional overdose (suicide) increased by 61% in urban areas and 84% in nonurban areas between 1999 and 2015.³Nonetheless, the percentage of the estimated 42,000 opioid-overdose deaths in 2016 that were suicides is not well documented.

One challenge in determining the manner of death in opioid-overdose fatalities is that the medical examiner or coroner cannot know the decedent’s intent with certainty. Absent a suicide note, determinations are based on autopsy, information collected at the scene of death, and circumstantial evidence. Indeed, percentages of overdose deaths classified as undetermined vary greatly from state to state, ranging from 1% to 85% between 2008 and 2010, with an average of 8%.⁵ Sources of variability include individual factors (e.g., observer bias, fear of litigation), system factors (e.g., variability in definitions, death-scene investigations), and state-level factors (e.g., variation in classification of multidrug overdoses). The CDC recently called for actions such as standardization of definitions and practices and protection against litigation to reduce this variability.⁵ Although the percentage of deaths classified as undetermined dropped to 6.7% between 2011 and 2014, the absolute number of deaths from overdoses of undetermined intent has increased significantly as overdose fatalities have more than tripled between 1999 and 2016.

Similarly, 2014 data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health showed that an OUD involving prescription opioids was associated with an increase of 40 to 60% in the risk of suicidal ideation, after controlling for overall health and psychiatric conditions. People using opioids regularly were at greatest risk: they were about 75% more likely to make suicide plans and twice as likely to attempt suicide as people who did not report any opioid use. Though suicidal ideation and attempts are not the same as suicide deaths, they are predictors of eventual suicide.

Perhaps of most relevance, 2006—2011 data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample that include information on more than 250,000 emergency department visits by adults for opiate overdose show that only 54% of the overdoses were classified as “unintentional”: 26.5% were deemed intentional, and 20.0% were “undetermined.” The data also document a steady annual increase in opiate-overdose visits to emergency departments. Together, these data suggest that the true proportion of suicides among opioid-overdose deaths is somewhere between 20% and 30%, but it could be even higher.

Educational campaigns to increase public awareness of suicide risk could engage family and friends in interventions to prevent suicidal overdoses by seeking medical assistance. Campaigns to reduce the double stigma associated with suicide and drug addiction might make patients more willing to seek treatment.

In parallel, research to evaluate the mechanisms underlying the high rate of suicidal behavior in patients with chronic pain and in those with OUD could help guide development of prevention and therapeutic strategies. Research should also evaluate which are the most effective treatment interventions in people with OUD who are also at high risk for suicide, as well as interventions targeting risk factors that have only recently begun to be studied, such as low motivation to live. Finally, research aimed at the development and validation of screening tools to help characterize suicide risk along a continuum of awareness regarding suicidal intent would improve identification of persons who are at greater risk.

The significant increases in both opioid-overdose deaths and suicide rates in our country have contributed to reduced life expectancy for Americans. These two epidemics are intermingled, and solutions to address the opioid crisis require that we tailor interventions to preventing opioid-overdose deaths due to suicidal intent.

For complete article http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1801417?query=TOC

Think it\’s harmless? Now nine in ten teens at drug clinics are being treated for marijuana use

• Cannabis is responsible for 91% of drug addiction cases involving teenagers
• Skunk – high-potency herbal cannabis – causing more people to seek treatment
• Backs up research that skunk is having detrimental impact on mental health

By Stephen Adams and Martin Beckford for The Mail on Sunday PUBLISHED: 22 April 2018

Cannabis is responsible for 91 per cent of cases where teenagers end up being treated for drug addiction, shocking new figures reveal.

Supporters of the drug claim it is harmless, but an official report now warns the ‘increased dominance of high-potency herbal cannabis’ — known as skunk — is causing more young people to seek treatment.

The revelation comes amid growing concerns that universities — and even some public schools — are awash with high-strength cannabis and other drugs.

The findings also back up academic research, revealed in The Mail on Sunday over the past three years, that skunk is having a serious detrimental impact on the mental health of the young. At least two studies have shown repeated use triples the risk of psychosis, with sufferers repeatedly experiencing delusional thoughts. Some victims end up taking their own lives.

The latest UK Focal Point on Drugs report, drawn up by bodies including Public Health England, the Scottish Government and the Home Office, found that:

Cannabis is responsible for 91 per cent of cases where teenagers end up being treated for drug addiction, shocking new figures reveal (file photo)

• Over the past decade, the number of under-18s treated for cannabis abuse in England has jumped 40 per cent — from 9,043 in 2006 to 12,712 in 2017;
• Treatment for all narcotics has increased by 20 per cent — up from 11,618 to 13,961;
• The proportion of juvenile drug treatment for cannabis use is up from four in five cases (78 per cent) to nine in ten (91 per cent);
• There has been a ‘sharp increase’ in cocaine use among 15-year-olds, up 56 per cent from 16,700 in 2014 to 26,200 in 2016.

Last night, Lord Nicholas Monson, whose 21-year-old son Rupert Green killed himself last year after becoming hooked on high-strength cannabis, said: ‘These figures show the extent of the damage that high-potency cannabis wreaks on the young.

‘The big danger for young people — particularly teens — is that their brains can be really messed up by this stuff because they are still developing biologically. If they develop drug-induced psychosis — as Rupert did — the illness can stick for life.’

Lord Monson said: ‘We really need Ministers to get a grip and launch a major publicity campaign about the dangers.’

For complete article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5642917/Nine-ten-teens-drug-clinics-treated-marijuana-use.html#ixzz5DYOjIVWJ

Why are we here? BECAUSE, PERMISSION MODELS FROM THE SO CALLED CONFUSED ‘GROWN UPS’ ARE SENDING MESSAGES OF ‘IT’S OK TO USE WEED’ — SO, GUESS WHAT? THE KIDS USE WEED!

TIME FOR THE PEOPLE PROMOTING POT BE PROMPTED TO PAY FOR THE PERNICIOUS HARMS DONE BY THIS TOXIN!  MAKE THE PROMOTERS/PUSHERS PAY!