Prediction: Here Are the 5 States That Will Legalize Marijuana Last
By Joseph Misulonas | March 2018 |
Every year, it seems like more and more states legalize marijuana. California implemented their recreational law this year, and Vermont and Massachusetts will follow later this year. And while there will probably be a few more states that add their name to the list this November, there are some states that may never change their laws.
Here are the five states that will likely legalize marijuana last:
For MORE — THE STILL SANE STATES! htps://www.civilized.life/articles/states-legalize-marijuana-last/?utm_source=notifications
A nation of pill poppers: Record 1.1 BILLION prescriptions written in 2017 as figures reveal the 20 most popular drugs but critics slam the NHS for spending millions on paracetamol
- Some 1.1 billion drugs were dispensed by pharmacists across England in 2017
- NHS Digital figures today show that statins were the most common prescription
- Campaigners blasted the statistics, which showed the NHS spent £9.1 billion
By Stephen Matthews For Mailonline PUBLISHED: 16 March 2018 |
A record number of prescriptions were dished out by the NHS last year, official figures reveal.
More than 1.1 billion drugs were dispensed by pharmacists across England in 2017 – the most since charts began 10 years ago.
Statins were the most common prescription across England – with more than 72.6 million prescribed. There were also 71.5 million prescriptions for high blood pressure and heart failure drugs.
Campaigners have today blasted the statistics, which also provided a full breakdown of the £9.1 billion the NHS spent on prescriptions last year.
John O\’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers\’ Alliance, said money was being \’wasted\’ on items available much cheaper in the supermarket.
The figures show health chiefs spent around £80 million on aspirin and paracetamol, which can be bought for pennies at supermarkets.
NHS Digital figures show that statins were the most common prescription across England – with more than 62 million prescribed
Each prescription of the 20 million paracetamol prescriptions cost the NHS £3.07. A pack of 16 tablets can be picked up for 20p at shops.
Number crunching by MailOnline shows the cash-strapped health service could have saved roughly £57 million by not giving out paracetamol.
On top of the higher prices, suppliers charge the NHS substantial delivery and administration costs to ship these products to pharmacies.
Figures also showed more than £16 million was spent on gluten free foods – which critics have previously claimed was a scandal.
Mr O\’Connell called for NHS bosses to \’think again\’ about their priorities.
He said: \’At a time when the NHS is failing to meet basic targets for cancer diagnosis, it can\’t be right that taxpayers\’ money is being wasted on basic items that are much cheaper to buy in the supermarket than they are to prescribe.
Scientists show cannabis TRIPLES psychosis risk: Groundbreaking research blames \’skunk\’ for 1 in 4 of all new serious mental disorders
- Researchers highlighted the dangers of a super-strength strain of cannabis
- A study found \’skunk\’ was responsible for a quarter of psychosis cases
- But weaker forms such as hash don\’t carry the same risk of mental illness
By Stephen Adams for The Mail on Sunday PUBLISHED: 15 February 2015
Super-strength strains of cannabis are responsible for up to a quarter of new cases of psychotic mental illness, scientists will warn this week.
The potent form of the drug, known as \’skunk\’, is so powerful that users are three times more likely to suffer a psychotic episode than those who have never tried it.
The study, leaked to The Mail on Sunday ahead of its publication, is set to reignite the debate around Britain\’s drug laws, and will add weight to calls for a tougher stance towards those caught dealing or in possession of cannabis.
Scientists are warning that super-strength strains of cannabis are responsible for up to a quarter of new cases of psychotic mental illness (file image)
According to Crime Survey figures for England and Wales, over a million youngsters aged 16 to 24 smoke cannabis. Regular users are most at risk, prompting experts to warn that youngsters need to be aware of the dangers of skunk, which has been specially cultivated to be four times as strong as the cannabis smoked by previous generations.
The researchers, led by a team at the Institute of Psychiatry at King\’s College in London, conclude there is an \’urgent need… to inform young people about the risks of high-potency cannabis\’ amid a worldwide trend towards relaxing drug laws.
They will reveal there is a key difference between potent skunk strains and \’hash\’. Those who used these \’weaker\’ forms did not seem to suffer the same increase in risks.
Psychosis is defined as a form of mental illness where people experience delusions, hallucinations, or both at the same time. Associated with conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, some people are so badly affected that they end up committing suicide or seriously harming others because they believe they are being ordered to do so by voices in their heads.
The findings will add substance to a 2012 report by the Schizophrenia Commission, which recommended the need for \’warnings about the risks of cannabis\’ to mental health.
That report was chaired by schizophrenia expert Professor Sir Robin Murray, who also played a key part in the new study. It looked at cannabis use in two groups, each containing about 400 people, from 2005 to 2011. Those in the first group had all suffered \’first-episode psychosis\’— a diagnosed first occurrence of the disorder.
The research appears to show a striking difference between the effects of skunk and the weaker form of cannabis, hash resin, revealing that hash seemed not to add to a person\’s risk of psychosis — even if smoked daily
The second group were volunteers who agreed to answer questions about themselves — including on cannabis use and mental health history — for a study. Some had suffered psychosis, others not. They were not told the nature of the project.
The academics found those in the first group were more likely to smoke cannabis daily — and to smoke skunk — than those in the second. The researchers say: \’Skunk use alone was responsible for 24 per cent of adults presenting with first-episode psychosis to the psychiatric services in South London.\’
This was almost double the previous highest estimate of psychiatric cases linked to the drug — 13 per cent — from a 2002 Dutch study.
The latest research, to be published in The Lancet, concludes: \’People who used cannabis or skunk every day were roughly three times more likely to have a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder than were those who never used cannabis.\’
Skunk is shorthand for around 100 strains of cannabis that contain a high proportion of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the drug\’s primary psychoactive compound. But the levels of another compound, cannabidiol — which may have anti-psychotic effects — are the reverse, high in hash and virtually zero in skunk.
The researchers speculate this could be due to the differing chemical make-up of the two forms: \’The presence of cannabidiol [in hash] might explain our results, which showed that hash users do not have any increase in risk of psychotic disorders compared with non-users.\’
Michael Ellis, a Tory member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: \’This powerful new study illustrates that those in government and the police must be careful to send out the right message. Cannabis isn\’t a harmless drug: it can ruin lives.\’
MARIJUANA IS POISONING MINDS OF AMERICAN YOUTH
March 13, 218 – A guest editorial which appeared in the Times of San Diego, on December 30, 2016, by Nardin Georgeos
In today’s society, we are all faced with obstacles, especially those of us who are young and still learning right from wrong, and good from bad. If someone were to offer me marijuana, I would immediately decline. I am a teenager and I have already been educated on this topic. I have developed my own choices and opinions.
Marijuana is a toxin. That does not prevent the youth of today from using it. It is the responsibility of adults to teach and encourage youth to make the right choice and not smoke weed.
This problem is mostly being ignored. Making marijuana legal – as California has done beginning Jan. 1 – does not make it less harmful. Teens usually make the decision to use marijuana based on one of four factors: curiosity, friends, self-medication or social media.
The Four Reasons Youth Use Marijuana
Many teens are merely curious about getting high and wonder what the big deal is. They begin by trying only for the experience, thinking they are invincible and they are not the type of people to get addicted.
Teens are mostly trying to fit in and find a place in their society. According to research, when teens were asked why they use marijuana, 29 percent said it was because their friends use it.
It is no secret that some teens are troubled. According to a recent article, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that one in five teens has a diagnosable mental health disorder, and about a third show symptoms of depression. To numb the pain, teens may turn to drugs.
Social media influences our lives in many ways, one of which is the sponsoring and promotion of marijuana in songs and ads. The music that teens listen to makes marijuana seem cool, according to 45 percent of teens who responded to a recent survey. And the same number of teens agree that movies and TV shows make drugs seem like an OK thing to do.
For more http://www.poppot.org/2018/03/13/marijuana-poisoning-minds-american-youth/
Parents\’ drug and alcohol abuse named among causes of family breakdown in Scotland
By BEN BORLAND March 10, 2018
A DAMNING new report has revealed the extent of the breakdown of family life for Scotland\’s most troubled children over the past decade.
Families are more likely to breakup now than they were 10 years ago
The findings present a shocking picture of soaring drug and alcohol abuse, criminality and violence among today\’s feckless parents.
Also, the number of children being taken into care has risen and families are more likely to be broken up by the state than they were a decade ago.
More generally, across the whole of Scotland, young people are facing more \”complex\” lives as a result of growing ethnic diversity and widespread drug and alcohol abuse.
Researchers from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) took two sample groups of looked-after children, the first born in 2003 and the second born in 2013, and examined how their lives have changed.
They found the younger group were more likely to suffer \”family fragmentation\”, with more children living apart from their siblings and/or parents, instability as a result of the care system and \”problem parents\”.
Scotland\’s most troubled children are those who suffer \’family fragmentation\’
It is clear we all need to work together to make changes to improve the lives of some of our most vulnerable children
Malcolm Schaffer, SCRA’s Head of Practice and Policy
The children born in 2013 were far more likely to have a parent who was a drug abuser, involved in offending, in prison, a victim or perpetrator of violence or suffering from isolation, bereavement or mental illness.
Underlining the importance of our Crusade for the Children of Alcoholics, 45 per cent of the younger group had a parent with an alcohol abuse problem – up from 43 per cent of those born in 2003.
For complete article https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/929994/scotland-drug-alcohol-abuse-family-break-down-troubled-children
Military wrestling with marijuana legalization: Vance
February 26, 2018
OTTAWA – Defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance says the military is currently wrestling with the implications of marijuana legalization, including whether to set certain time periods between when a service member uses the drug and when they go on duty.
Vance says he does not envision a complete ban or prohibition on military personnel or even certain occupations such as pilots and that he plans to take a common-sense approach that follows the law of the land.
But he says service members do dangerous and serious work and he doesn’t want them to do it stoned, which is why certain restrictions will need to be adopted, as is already the case with alcohol.
For complete article http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/military-wrestling-with-marijuana-legalization-vance
Opioid crisis: overdoses increased by a third across US in 14 months, says CDC
Results show opioid overdoses increasing across all regions and in most states, for most men and women and most age groups
Jessica Glenza in New York @JessicaGlenza
Wed 7 Mar 2018 05.29 AEDTLast modified on Wed 7 Mar 2018 05.44 AEDT
The contents of a drug overdose rescue kit at a training session on how to administer naloxone, which reverses the effects of heroin and prescription painkillers, in Buffalo, New York, on 13 May 2015. Photograph: Carolyn Thompson/AP
Opioid overdoses increased by roughly 30% across the US in just 14 months between 2016 and 2017, according to a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC called the data a “wake up call to the fast-moving opioid overdose epidemic”. It recorded 142,000 overdoses in US hospital emergency departments between July 2016 and September 2017.
Although not all overdoses in the study were fatal, they are part of the grim toll opioids have taken. In the US in 2016, illicit and prescription drug overdoseskilled 64,000 people.
“Our results through September 2017 show opioid overdoses are increasing across all regions, most states for most men and women and most age groups,” said Dr Anne Schuchat, acting director of the CDC.
“We’re currently seeing the highest overdose death rates ever recorded in the United States.” Schuchat later added: “The infrastructure to fully tackle this problem is fragile.”
The CDC’s Vital Signs study looked at two data sets. The first, the Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) program, is a snapshot of emergency department data from 16 states.
Eight of those states included saw “substantial” overdose increases of at least 25%. Two states reported overdoses more than doubled — including in Wisconsin with 109% and Delaware with 105% increases. Another dramatic increase occurred in Pennsylvania, where overdoses went up 81%.
Overdoses also increased in “cities and towns of all types”, the report said. Overdoses are often associated with rural America but metropolitan areas with 1 million or more people saw the steepest increase, at 54%.
While the CDC did not look at the source of opioids, Schuchat said illicit fentanyl-laced heroin is “a very major problem right now”.
For complete article https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/06/opioid-crisis-overdoses-increased-by-a-third-across-us-in-14-months-says-cdc