With marijuana legalization we usher in the gravest public health issue since smoking.
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?
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
It is one thing to have our neighboring states create marijuana chaos for themselves, but exporting it over the border to states that have the good sense not to surrender to the drug culture is despicable. Law enforcement, drug education and prevention people, and government officials take note.
Here are two articles that were published recently. This information should be very disturbing to anyone in our states who cares about marijuana and substance abuse.
AG Holder recently unveiled a list of eight marijuana violations the Justice Department will enforce. They include:
The intent of the following “entrepreneurs” is clearly diversion and trafficking. They will join other traffickers in Colorado with similar plans for Oklahoma. Your state next.
Continue reading Diversion to Non-Marijuana States is Pot Shop Business Plan
Don’t believe the hype: marijuana legalization poses too many risks to public health and public safety. Based on almost two decades of research, community-based work, and policy practice across three presidential administrations, my new book “Reefer Sanity” discusses some widely held myths about marijuana:
Myth No. 1: “Marijuana is harmless and non-addictive”
No, marijuana is not as dangerous as cocaine or heroin, but calling it harmless or non-addictive denies very clear science embraced by every major medical association that has studied the issue. Scientists now know that the average strength of today’s marijuana is some 5–6 times what it was in the 1960s and 1970s, and some strains are upwards of 10–20 times stronger than in the past—especially if one extracts THC through a butane process. This increased potency has translated to more than 400,000 emergency room visits every year due to things like acute psychotic episodes and panic attacks.
Continue reading Time for Reefer Sanity — Marijuana is Harmful
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
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
“To open Pandora’s box” means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences. [1]
The recent death of a student who jumped to his death in Colorado after ingesting a marijuana cookie is waking many up to what is really being unleashed in the misguided pursuit of marijuana legalization.
In her article in the LA Times, Jenny Deam sees a precautionary tale in the recent death last week of a student who jumped of a balcony after the effects of eating a marijuana cookie kicked in.
Many of her statements reflect the narrative of those who are looking beyond civil liberties, beyond nostalgia, beyond the false dichotomies of justifying another addiction-based vice industry with the evils of two others — tobacco and alcohol — to the downstream realities of legalized marijuana.
“The case has become a grim exhibit in a growing case file as Colorado health officials wonder whether, in the rapid rollout of legalized marijuana, adequate attention was paid to potential health risks of its use”
Continue reading Public Health and Pot’s Pandora’s Box — Death Raises Questions
In a most eloquent, most thorough, most thoughtful consideration of the issue, David Frum provides the case against marijuana legalization.
“Today, the experiment of state-by-state marijuana legalization is failing before our eyes—and failing most signally where the experiment has been tried most boldly. The failure is accelerating even as the forces pushing legalization are on what appears to be an inexorable march.”
Here’s the full text as published on Commentarymagazine.com: Continue reading Don’t Go To Pot — David Frum Weighs In
Is it really going to take a body count to stop Big Marijuana?
The tragic news yesterday of the death of a college student visiting Denver on a pot-themed Spring Break trip should sober us all.
If the evidence isn’t already sufficient to simply vote it down, States considering recreational marijuana legalization would do well to wait and see. Continue reading Student jumps to death after eating marijuana cookies
“Today’s marijuana is 300 to 800 percent more potent than the pot of yesteryear” claimed SAM New England’s Heidi Heilman in her commentary in Rhode Island’s Providence Journal on March 13, 2014.
It turns out she is right.
PolitiFact, the fact checking website, vetted this statement and rules it “TRUE” while providing the research to back up this judgment.
A 300 to 800 percent increase in potency reflects a 4 to 9 times increase over your Woodstock weed or baby boomer bong hit. Parents and voters would do well to ask what other facts SAM has got right. For example: Marijuana is addictive. Continue reading FactCheck: Marijuana Is 300-800% More Potent
“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.”
In the draft DPH marijuana regulations a “verified financial hardship” definition includes any individual on MassHealth, or Supplemental Security Income, or with an income not exceeding 133% of federal poverty level.
In November of 2012, the Small Property Owners Association foresaw the problems with the proposed Massachusetts “medical” marijuana laws. Now with draft regulations offered up for comment by the Massachusetts DPH, the SPOA is weighing in. “The DPH has met 20 different groups privately. Why not landlords?,” they ask in a letter to MA DPH.
“Under federal law, property owners are liable for fines, imprisonment, and “civil asset forfeiture” of their property to the federal government if they are knowingly involved in the use or growing of marijuana or their property is so involved. In other words, we are being asked – or told – to risk our property and serious penalties due to marijuana use or growing operations in our apartments.”
Read theiir letter here: MPOA_Ltr_to_legislators_on_MMJ_4-16-2013.
Why should the marijuana industry be exempt from basic food and drug safety standards?
Why should we expose the Masschusetts public to unregulated sources of food and drugs?
The draft regulations issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the purpose of regulating the “medical” marijuana industry in Massachusetts contains the following language: Continue reading Should we exclude marijuana laced foods from our basic food and drug safety standards and guidelines in Massachusetts?! What does DPH say in its draft regs?
“Is there a familiar aroma emanating from your kid’s room? Do you shake your head and ignore it thinking, “Hey, I got high when I was a teen and I turned out OK, right?” Well, think again.”
The research on 21st Century Pot and its health effects is pouring in, and the news is not good.
Continue reading Latest News on Teen Marijuana Use from Psych Today
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
“As a result of false promises and unheeded warnings, Arizona is now dealing with blatant recreational use and promotion of marijuana, fights to keep dispensaries out of neighborhoods, and costly litigation.”
New Hampshire legislators, are considering a “medical” marijuana bill. The New Hampshire Legislature passed a “medical” marijuana bill during their last session, but it was vetoed by then-Governor Lynch. Their new Governor, Maggie Hassan, is believed to be generally supportive of such a law. A vote in the full New Hampshire House is imminent.
Continue reading A Cautionary Letter on Marijuana from AZ to NH Legislators
Massachusetts, get some updated youth behavior risk data — locally — from the Metrowest Health Foundation. And new evidence of physical and mental health harms associated with this drug is mounting.
This is not a benign drug.
Continue reading Youth use rates in Massachusetts have been rising each year since decrim.
You can’t have an addiction-based industry without youth. Big Tobacco knew this. Big Pot does too. Here’s the big tobacco playbook:
Lorillard: “The base of our business is the high school student.”
Phillip Morris: “Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential regular customer…
Continue reading Today’s teenager is tomorrow’s potential regular customer…
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The early 1990’s showed the lowest youth use rates in decades.
We can reasonably conclude that supply reduction and education was working.
Continue reading What were we doing right? Youth Use Rates Lowest in 1992
Fair warning to other states who are considering this ill-conceived social experiment with the future of our children – don’t go there.
Under the heading “We told you so” is this revelation that youth marijuana use is going up because of drug legalization campaigns.
Continue reading High schoolers twice as likely to smoke pot as cigarettes
Less than 5% of people in states with “medical” marijuana programs have HIV, glaucoma, or cancer.
The bottom line is that the law was written by advocates, not doctors or DPH, so the proposals about allowing anyone to get marijuana for any reason still stands.
Continue reading In Response to Mass. DPH Draft Regs for “Medical” Marijuana
During this YouTube Q&A, the President responded to a question from a member of LEAP stating that he is not in favor of legalization though he does support addressing drug use as a public health concern, considering drug courts and other alternatives for non-violent drug offenders, reducing demand and getting resources to treatment.
It is encouraging to hear a nuanced, thoughtful, and sensible position from the President and we encourage him to continue to find the courage and fortitude to follow this up with real policy change while putting the brakes on the legalization march at the State level.
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Here’s the full transcript:
Continue reading Obama on drugs: “I am not in favor of legalization.”