Category: Youth Impact

The science of impacts of youth use of marijuana.

Junk Science, Real Harm: the Marijuana Reality

Marijuana's junk science
Like Big Tobacco, the Marijuana Industry is using questionable “science” to justify benefits of its products.

We can already see the damage done by rising levels of increasingly potent marijuana use.

But quality science is catching up and is now methodically providing a body of evidence detailing the damage done by the drug.

From a policy perspective, pot legalization has produced the following results in CO:

What’s up?

  • black market sales and illegal drug diversion are up.
  • child drug exposures/poisonings are up
  • pot-related problems in schools are up
  • ER visits for adverse reactions to pot are up
  • marijuana-positive traffic deaths are up
  • workplace positives on drug tests are up
  • mj addiction treatment is up
  • butane hash oil explosions and fires are up
  • marijuana-related deaths are up
  • potency and concentration of THC are way up, hence new levels of damage being done by the drug
  • exposures during pregnancy, and hence infancy, are up

This list could be a lot longer, but that’s what we know so far. Continue reading Junk Science, Real Harm: the Marijuana Reality

Erasing the Inevitability of Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana legalization is not inevitable
ev·i·ta·ble adjective \ˈe-və-tə-bəl\
Definition of EVITABLE: capable of being avoided

Among other recent developments beginning to erase the mantra of “inevitability” for marijuana legalization, “medical” marijuana questions failed to make state ballots in Ohio and Arkansas in the 2014 election cycle.

Pot proponents now say they need paid signature gatherers. “You need paid help for an effort like this and what’s disappointing is that we can’t convince enough donors to contribute to get the necessary resources to put us over the top,” said John Pardee, president of the Ohio Rights Group.

If you have to pay people to get signatures to legalize pot, how is that “the will of the people?”

Continue reading Erasing the Inevitability of Marijuana Legalization

Can the USA Afford the Risk of Further Increases in Marijuana Use?

Marijuana's Effects on Brain, Body and Behavior
“Can the USA Afford the Risk of Further Increases in Cannabis Use? “Not if we want people  engaged in society” — Dr. Nora Volkow, NIDA

It’s been an interesting week across the country on the marijuana issue.

See link on the homeless migrating to Colorado in search of jobs in the marijuana industry, and the news of current federal executive agencies making marijuana banking easier, while science is getting clearer and clearer on the developmental damage done by this drug.

Dr. Nora Volkow of NIDA spoke to sold out drug education events on Monday, 9/22, at the Butler Hospital in Providence and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston on “Marijuana’s Effects on Brain, Body and Behavior”. Among the most recent scientific and research findings:

  • Past month marijuana use among 12th grade students now surpasses cigarette use.
  • Addiction is a developmental disease that starts in adolescence and childhood when the brain is most easily primed for the disease of addiction through early exposures to addictive substances.
  • Long-term effects: About 9% of marijuana users become drug dependent. One in six who begin marijuana exposures to the brain in adolescence (17%) become dependent on the drug. 25%-50% of daily users of marijuana are drug dependent .
  • Cannabis use and later life outcomes are dose dependent. When looking at the number of cannabis exposures during ages 14-21 in a population sample, those with 400 or more cannabis exposures represented 50-60% of the population sample who at age 21-25 were currently welfare dependent or unemployed. These high rates of marijuana exposure appeared in less than 2% of that same population sample that had gained a university degree by age 25. Inversely, those who had used marijuana zero times represented the largest percentage of the population with a college degree by age 25 at over 35%, while “never used marijuana” represented the smallest portion of the unemployed at ages 21-25 at below 25% of that group. Over 50% of that unemployed group had used marijuana 400 times or more during age 14-21, and nearly 60% of welfare dependent had used marijuana 400+ times during ages 14-21.
  • Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife.
  • Amotivational syndrome is linked to persistent marijuana use. Drive and ambition are negatively impacted.
  • Brain abnormalities are associated with long-term heavy cannabis use.
  • High potency cannabis use significantly increases risk of psychosis.
  • Regular cannabis use increases risk of schizophrenia in the genetically vulnerable.
  • As THC potency has increased significantly in recent years with marijuana commercialization, emergency room visits for adverse marijuana reactions have risen significantly as well.
  • the percentage of marijuana-positive fatal car crashes in Colorado nearly doubled during post-marijuana commercialization in 2009 going forward.
  • Perceived risk for marijuana use among 12th graders for regular marijuana use has been declining since the early 90’s. During this same time, daily use of pot by 12th graders has been rising and is at a 30 year high.
  • Marijuana use has been linked to higher drop out rates and stop out rates in both high school and college.

Dr. Volkow’s parting rhetorical question was, “Do we really want half of America stoned?”  And her concerned reply? “Not if we want them fully engaged.”
Continue reading Can the USA Afford the Risk of Further Increases in Marijuana Use?

Marijuana Legalization: Not Looking So Good In Reality

Support for Marijuana Legalizaitn Drops. Good news for Teen Health, Public Health
Support for Marijuana Legalization Drops. Good news for Teen Health, Public Health.

With support for legalization slipping (down to just 44% from 51% a year ago) there is finally some encouraging news.

Legalization of another drug for recreational purposes might have looked like to good idea on paper to some drug policy and criminology intellectuals. But its not looking so great in reality.

Fortunately, there are now new resources to help Americans better understand the most misunderstood illicit drug in the country.

We don’t determine medicine by public opinion in this country.

And we should not have addiction for profit lobbying groups and wall street speculators pressuring America to legalize a third major addictive drug for “recreational” purposes.

The target market is always the most vulnerable. Predatory advertising targets the suffering and young people to create lifetime customers. Private profits soar, along with over-consumption and public health and safety fallout. Its time to get smart about the about the facts of this drug. Its not your Grandma’s Woodstock Weed anymore. Marijuana harms. Component medicines may heal — but that hasn’t been proven. Continue reading Marijuana Legalization: Not Looking So Good In Reality

Teen Marijuana Use: Is This A Price We’re Willing To Pay?

Parental attitudes critical in teen marijuana use
Kids are 6 times more likely to use pot simply because of a parental attitude of indifference

Its becoming increasingly common to hear proponents of marijuana legalization to say its “the government” who wants to keep this drug illegal. Understandably, if one cannot win an argument on the merits, then attack either A) the person making the better case, or B) the government or any other convenient conspiracy canard.

However — many doctors treating kids derailed by this drug, which is almost always a pre-cursor for their young patients and clients who move on to other drugs or developing other co-occurring mental health problems, think expanding the supply of this drug through open commercialization is a bad idea for public health.

The Lancet tells us why:

Dr. Muiris Houston emphasized the recent findings published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry regarding youth marijuana use, which included research showing teenagers who are daily users of marijuana are:

Continue reading Teen Marijuana Use: Is This A Price We’re Willing To Pay?

Mental Health Parity and Marijuana — Insurance Companies Will Have to Pay

 

Mental Health Parity is now the law of the land.
Mental Health Parity is now the law of the land. Insurance companies will have to cover the treatment costs for drug abuse and addiction when it strikes.

In the US, adolescent marijuana use is at the highest levels since 1992.  Canada’s stats look similar. And the marijuana they are smoking is at least 3 to 8 times more potent than the weed of previous decades.

What was happening in 1992 that led to some of the lowest rates of use of this drug over 40 years?

What was the messaging that persuaded kids not to use?

What was the funding for education, prevention and enforcement of marijuana laws?

What has changed?

Something was working then that is not working now . . . and our kids are paying the price. We are trending in the wrong direction with exposures to this drug.

Having pot profiteers waiting in the wings, advertising and glamorizing this drug — without consequence — is a very clear part of this picture.

Is this what we want for the coming generation? In the United States, Mental Health Parity is now the law of the land.  Insurance companies will have to cover the treatment costs for drug abuse and addiction when it strikes.  We know that one in six adolescents who use today’s marijuana will become addicted. And that risk of addiction goes up to 25-50% among those who smoke marijuana daily. Continue reading Mental Health Parity and Marijuana — Insurance Companies Will Have to Pay

Life and Learning Impaired: Marijuana and School Don’t Mix

Even a little pot increases college dropout risk.
Some say a 21-year-old age limit solves the problem of adolescent exposures to this drug. A ridiculous assertion. Society is a pourous. Where this is more pot, and more pot promotion, more of this drug falls into the hands of young people.d

Those who say a 21-year-old age limit on marijuana sales solves the problem of youth exposures are dreaming . . . society is porous . . . where there is more pot, more pot falls into the hands of young people.

Adolescent development is a stage where the brain does not process long term consequences, and it is a time of egocentrism and a strong need to figure out peer relationships and find a place to belong.

The euphoria of a cannabis high, when it falsely appears “all the kids are doing it” can trump what well intentioned adults have told their kids about the rules.

We are seeing the highest levels of youth marijuana use in 30 years. And it is a much more potent drug this time around as profiteers seek to deliver the most impactful high to eager consumers looking for just that.

Continue reading Life and Learning Impaired: Marijuana and School Don’t Mix

How Staten Island Is Fighting a Raging Drug Epidemic — Where does marijuana figure?

Marijuana-pathway-to-opiates….This article in the New Yorker, Sept 8, 2014, paints a poignant picture of the opiate crisis in one geography — Statan Island. It tells the pharmaceutical history of the chemical sources of the epidemic — and how Pharma companies engage in “tobacco-like” litigation to protect their sales. And how parents and churches take the lead in caring for addicts and work to prevent more addiction.

One topic missing this in this article is marijuana. Radio silence, again. Youth alcohol use is mentioned, pills, opiates, heroin.

Yet, in Massachusetts, each time we’ve spoken with groups of Learn to Cope parents of addicts in support groups, on average 28 of 30 say teen marijuana use preceded opiate addiction in their loved one. Continue reading How Staten Island Is Fighting a Raging Drug Epidemic — Where does marijuana figure?

Our Country Will Never Prosper by Disguising Marijuana Proceeds as Taxes and Fees

Protect youth from marijuana legalizationThe Honorable Mayor of Denver, Michael B. Hancock, expressed his concerns about the impact that drug legalization will have on public health and safety. He concluded with the following words:

“As a parent, I worry about how the increased presence of marijuana in our city will affect our children and our grandchildren. Despite a few lessons learned from medical marijuana, the long-term implications of that industry and the potential for an expanded industry will not be known to us for perhaps a generation or more. There is no denying, however, the potential for a negative impact on our kids — on their home lives, their health, their education and their future. We already know the toll substance abuse takes on so many of our residents. Sadly, many of them are parents. The cost of substance abuse on our healthcare system, our jails and in our courts is substantial. I want more for all of our kids and for all Denverites.”

Continue reading Our Country Will Never Prosper by Disguising Marijuana Proceeds as Taxes and Fees

Teen Marijuana Use at a 30 Year High. Like Tobacco, this is what the Pot Industry Wants

Teen marijuana use is at a 30 year highThe trends are very concerning. We are at a 30 year high for youth marijuana use. This is what the industry wants and is counting on. And the drug is much different this time around.

Prevention education will be more critical than ever for this drug. Sound drug policy, law and messaging should be driving use rates down, not up.

That will be the measure of success.

Here is an interesting infographic about youth marijuana use.

Continue reading Teen Marijuana Use at a 30 Year High. Like Tobacco, this is what the Pot Industry Wants

As Trafficiking From Pot States Proliferates, Wisconsin Girl Eats Dad’s 225g THC Bar from Colorado

Marijuana Legalization creates new source for drug traffickingFile under child poisonings, diversion to youth; interstate black market:

A young girl in Wisconsin found a marijuana chocolate bar in her dad’s bedroom which came from Colorado. After eating it, she was found intoxicated at school and barely had a pulse. Her father is charged with child neglect. Just another example of Colorado pot being exported to other states.

Continue reading As Trafficiking From Pot States Proliferates, Wisconsin Girl Eats Dad’s 225g THC Bar from Colorado

Marijuana? Now a Call to Legalize Heroin

Legalize marijuana and heroin?
Is the fact that 91% of Americans over the age of 12 don’t use drugs a failure or that only .01% or 200,000 people use heroin really a failure of prohibitive drug policies?

Pertaining to the Boston Globe’s recent publishing of an opinion piece advocating to “End Prohibition of Heroin”…

The Manipulation of the American Public

In 1912 the United States signed an international convention restricting the use of opium, heroin and cocaine and as a direct result of prohibitive drug policies, the use of these illicit drugs has remained below .5% for the American population.

Is the fact that 91% of Americans over the age of 12 don’t use drugs , and that only .01% or 200,000 people use heroin really a failure of prohibitive drug policies?

Continue reading Marijuana? Now a Call to Legalize Heroin

Marijuana Industry Works to Erase Data But can’t Hide The Truth

Marijuana Industry Influences CO Crime Data Manipulation
In the CDC’s latest report, issued late last week, the two states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use — Colorado and Washington — are not represented. As the chart below shows, Colorado data were not weighted, essentially meaning the state failed to provide CDC researchers a sample size suitable for analysis. The State of Washington didn’t participate in the survey at all.

You can try to erase the data, but you cannot change the truth.

The Medical Marijuana Industry Group is just the latest organization dedicated to influencing policy and policymakers in the goal of corporate greed–this time in profit from marijuana addiction.

This corporate marijuana lobby, in its latest deception, issued in June a list of data that is a gross misrepresentation of the facts as it relates to youth use rates and crime statistics in Colorado.

Does drug policy affect the levels at which young people use mind-altering drugs? History has shown that, yes, indeed it does. Not only are youth use rates highest in the United States in “medical marijuana states”, but elsewhere in world, Sweden for example, each time the country softened its drug laws youth use went up, along with public health harms. Continue reading Marijuana Industry Works to Erase Data But can’t Hide The Truth

Our Kids are the Canary in the Legal Marijuana Coal Mine

Kids are canaries in marijuana legalization coal mine
Sensitive to gases, canaries would chirp a warning before succumbing — warning miners to take precaution or back out of danger. Our youth, succumbing to the propaganda of the marijuana industry are similarly warning us to back out of the rush to legalization.

Our children are the canary in the coal mine of marijuana legalization.

Coal mines were/are dangerous places. Fumes can leak in undetected. Mining tragedies were not uncommon. Many miners were killed in explosions, asphyxiations or poisonings before they were aware that a hazardous substance had leaked into their midst.

But a tiny bird became their warning signal. A canary in a cage in the mine shaft, with its delicate constitution, would succumb to the hazard long before the men would sense it was there. When the canary showed signs of illnes, the miners new it was time to get out.

Continue reading Our Kids are the Canary in the Legal Marijuana Coal Mine

Marijuana, the Most Dangerous Drug Out There. Why?

Marijuana, the most dangerous drug out there
Why is marijuana the most dangerous drug out there? “Because everyone thinks it’s safe,”

Fascinating perspective from the chief of science at the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (who was speaking recently at a national conference in Washington DC). It is worth repeating.

———–
From www.addictionpro.com:

‘The most dangerous drug out there’

May 8, 2014 by Shannon Brys, Associate Editor

When you opened this blog post, what were you expecting to see as ‘the most dangerous drug out there’? Methamphetamine, opiates, oxycodone or crack cocaine? Continue reading Marijuana, the Most Dangerous Drug Out There. Why?

Magical Notion: Legalization of Marijuana will keep it away from kids

Pot brownie edible as "medical" just another part of the marijuana farseThe magical notion that legalizing marijuana is going to help to keep the drug out of the hands of kids is a pipe dream. We need much smarter policy solutions, which lower use rates and drive down demand for this drug.

Only two states have have legalized pot recreationally and yet diversion to youth is getting worse everywhere–the following story from NJ.

Even as this dangerous drug is promoted through legalization campaigns, uncontrolled supply is increasing, intentionally confusing messaging about the risks associated with use of marijuana are lowering perception of harm, and promotional media messaging is driving up demand.

When the novel solution (drug legalization) is making a bad situation worse, its time to find another way. Continue reading Magical Notion: Legalization of Marijuana will keep it away from kids

Teen Marijuana use highest in “medical” marijuana states.

Teen Marijuana use highest in "medical" marijuana states.
Teen Marijuana use highest in “medical” marijuana states. (Click to enlarge or download the .pdf)

Medical marijuana states have the highest rates of youth use in the nation. As marijuana availability increases, and perception of harm decreases, more kids use.

The reality is that 95% of users who frequent “medical” marijuana stores are simply drug-seeking individuals with vague unverifiable symptoms of “pain”, or “intractable pain”, or “chronic pain”. The amount allowed per patient is more than can possible be personally consumed. The rest is diverted — often to youth.

We end up with a large illicit supply and rising youth use rates.

Continue reading Teen Marijuana use highest in “medical” marijuana states.

Video: Understanding Addiction as a Disease — Your Teen and Marijuana, Alcohol and other Drugs

From Bluepic Studios and wait21.org, this video is a great primer on addiction.

Why does the body crave a drug over more healthy options?

Why does exposure to alcohol, marijuana , tobacco, and other drugs before age 21 dramatically increase the odds of addiction?

Continue reading Video: Understanding Addiction as a Disease — Your Teen and Marijuana, Alcohol and other Drugs

Even a little pot use ups college dropout risk

Even a little pot increases college dropout risk.There is a lot of new evidence about the health impacts of high potency 21st Century marijuana. But the rise in its use among young people is perhaps the most problematic.

Student debt had risen dramatically in the past decade, so making the most of that very expensive education is more critical than ever.  That makes the following news even more compelling.

Pot has a serious negative impact on the return on investment of those education dollars.

Here’s the scoop at Health Day:

 


Continue reading Even a little pot use ups college dropout risk

First, Do No Harm — Gupta, Weed, Ethics, & Science

Guptas say vape. Are this his "patients"
Are these the “patients” Sanjay Gupta will help with his “non-science, non-evidence-based suggestion that vaping may be the way to consume weed? Source: Reuters/Kimberly White

Since CNN sensationalized his “Weed” reports, Sanjay Guptas has continued to erode his own credibility, for example, in his statements about vaporizing marijuana.

The biggest concern about Dr. Gupta is his relationship with science-based medicine. Being a medical correspondent is a tough job to have and still stay true to science and evidence-based medicine. The temptation to “sex up a story” or to do credulous puff pieces about the latest “alternative” medicine in order to drive ratings is strong, and it takes a strong commitment to be able to resist them.

It seems that Gupta’s weaknesses as a science-based or evidence-based professional were known even as he was being considered for surgeon general in 2009 (see article below). He didn’t make the cut then.

His carelessness in promoting marijuana to his broad TV public with no regard for the impact on public health and increasing abuse of marijuana bares out that skepticism about his professional judgement. Continue reading First, Do No Harm — Gupta, Weed, Ethics, & Science

Am I a Marijuana Addict? Weed, Addiction & Legalization

Weed is addictive
Regardless of the marijuana industry propaganda, weed is addictive and it does lead you to other drugs.

Is marijuana addictive? Yes. Period.

And the marijuana industry, like the tobacco industry, is counting on it.

Organizations like Marijuana Anonymous are founded for a reason.

They are founded to address a need.  The need is coping with and recovering from marijuana addiction, also referred to as marijuana dependence syndrome.

Fueled by an aggressive profit motive backed by billionaires, and with the goal of creating and profiting from the next big addiction-based industry, marijuana addiction as a substance use disorder is rapidly growing. Continue reading Am I a Marijuana Addict? Weed, Addiction & Legalization

Left Turning Against Big Pot. Son of dealer, now dad, reflects on marijuana legalization

Left Turns on Marijuana LegalizationThe left is finally turning against Big Pot. We’ve been waiting. Patrick Kennedy’s message (Project SAM‘s message) is finally gaining traction.

Marijuana legalization means commercialization, which means more potent pot, more pro-pot marketing, more youth exposures, more public health fallout, and yet another vice-based industry preying on vulnerable populations.

80% of their profit comes from the 20% of their customers who are chronic users. And the youth market is the target market for building a life-long customer base.

See the video and read the interview with a thoughtful young man coming of age as a new father, and coming to terms with his own father’s legacy as a major drug dealer.

Continue reading Left Turning Against Big Pot. Son of dealer, now dad, reflects on marijuana legalization

Outright Lies from “Big Marijuana”

Ed Wood is among many who are waking up to the manipulations and outright lies of Big Marijuana.  In his letter to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Wood writes:

________________
Pot Taxes May Help State Income, but Problems Remain
Regulation does not keep pot out of the hands (and bodies) of youth whose brains, still being in the formative stages, are most susceptible to permanent harm. Continue reading Outright Lies from “Big Marijuana”

Is Marijuana Addictive? Bet Your Heroin on it.

"Cannabis Use Disorder" or marijuana addiction is real and number one reason teens seek substance use treatment.
“Cannabis Use Disorder” or marijuana addiction is real and the number one reason teens seek substance use treatment.

Dr. Adi Jaffe is just the latest to expose the underlying lie in the pro-pot playbook of Big Marijuana.  Yes, marijuana is addictive. And Big Marijuana is counting on it.

Just like Big Tobacco before them today’s Pied Piper’s of Pot are selling a carefully crafted lie on which their industry is based.  The reality is that they need to hook our youth in order to reap their profits. Continue reading Is Marijuana Addictive? Bet Your Heroin on it.

Parents Are Fooling Themselves When it Comes to Marijuana/Alcohol

Teens Are More Likely to Drink (and Use Drugs) Around Relatively Unsupervised Settings


“I think parents are fooling themselves,” said Dave Melton, managing director of global road safety for Liberty Mutual. “In some cases, parents are thinking of their own teen years and not realizing that things have changed drastically since then.”

Three friends hurt, one still on life support in marijuana impaired car crash

Those that have succumbed to the decades long indoctrination of the Cannabis Cult love to spout the notion that drugged driving on marijuana has not led many car accidents at all, let alone life-threatening ones. They go so far as to say that marijuana mellows you out and, if anything, makes you drive slower and therefore more carefully. Here’s a very typical comment that might show up on any story on drugged driving:

“pot heads have been driving our roads since it became widely used in the 60’s. this is nothing new. you don’t hear of many wrecks from pot.”

Well tell that to the friend of a stoned driver in Halifax, MA who is still on life support…here’s the story from CBS:

Continue reading Three friends hurt, one still on life support in marijuana impaired car crash

Marijuana: Another Human Clinical Trial but With No Consent Form

Marijuana: Clinical Trial with No Consent
A generation of susceptible youth may be transformed and derailed by the drug’s consequences: addiction, IQ reduction, psychosis, cognitive impairment, educational underachievement. They will have no legal recourse with the perpetrators of this human biological experiment, as do participants in a clinical trial.

The United States is on the threshold of yet another national experiment, a human experiment that tests the health and safety of yet another drug, this time marijuana.

“a generation of susceptible youth may be transformed and derailed by the drug’s consequences: addiction, IQ reduction, psychosis, cognitive impairment, educational underachievement.”

Continue reading Marijuana: Another Human Clinical Trial but With No Consent Form