A month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to Governor John Hickenlooper questioning the legitimacy of the marijuana industry in this state, Smart Approaches to Marijuana,
a group dedicated to fighting marijuana commercialization, has issued a
report calling for feds to crack down on the industry's big players.
That report claims that the first three states to legalize adult-use
marijuana – Colorado, Oregon and Washington – have "failed to meet" the
mission of the Cole Memorandum.
An
Obama-era guideline, the Cole memo was designed to give federal
prosecutors clarity on when to take a hands-off approach in states that
had legalized retail marijuana. But in Sessions's letters to
Hickenlooper and other governors of states that have legalized
commercialized pot, he reasserted the Department of Justice's power to
enforce federal marijuana laws. Now SAM's report, published on the
four-year anniversary of the Cole memo's release, says that the states
haven't lived up to at least seven of the memo's eight guidelines, and
calls on the Trump administration and Sessions to go after
state-regulated marijuana industries.
"As
Attorney General Sessions considers what actions to take on marijuana
enforcement, we urge him to be smart on crime, not just tough on crime,
and to continue to focus any federal resources wisely," SAM President Kevin Sabet says. "It’s time for states to stop playing politics and start ’fessing up to the real challenges they face.
Here are the eight Cole memo guidelines that states with legal marijuana must follow in order to avoid federal intervention:
Preventing distribution of marijuana to minors
Preventing marijuana revenue from funding criminal enterprises, gangs or cartels
Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some form to other states.
Preventing state-authorized marijuana activity from being used
as a cover or pretext for the trafficking of other illegal drugs or
other illegal drug activity
Preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distributing of marijuana
Preventing drugged driving and the exacerbation of other adverse public health consequences associated with marijuana use
Preventing
the growing of marijuana on public lands and the attendant public
safety and environmental dangers posed by marijuana on public lands
Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property
SAM claims that Colorado has systematically failed at every guideline
except preventing possession or use on federal property, citing numerous
examples of when, where and how youth use, black-market sales, violence
and drugged driving is rising because of pot. Like the op-ed published in USA Today earlier this month by Colorado Christian University's Jeff Hunt, though, some of them don't hold up to scrutiny.
The
study SAM references in connection to rising youth use, for example,
was sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, and assessed use among Colorado kids ages twelve to
seventeen. It saw a rise of nearly 3 percent in use after legalization —
but that was compared to 2002-’03 rates. The SAM report also cites a
rise in marijuana-related emergency-room visits and arrests of black and
Hispanic youth in Colorado – both examples that have been labeled misleading or taken out of context by State Representative Jonathan Singer and regulatory attorney Tom Downey.
"Before
legalization, if a kid was caught with pot, parents wouldn't
necessarily take them to the ER, because it was illegal and parents were
scared," Downey says.
The report also cites data from the Rocky
Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Report, a study Sessions
cited in his letter to Hickenlooper that's been widely criticized by
media and public-health officials. "Every report needs to be looked at
with its own limitations," Singer said of the RMHIDTA report in an
interview earlier this month. "There are so many limitations to that
study that it's important to look at it in its context. Take a look at
our own validated Healthy Kids survey that's national recognized, and
see what that shows."
SAM President Kevin Sabet.
Courtesy of Smart Approaches to Marijuana
On multiple pages, the RMHIDTA report noted that data from before
2012 is incomplete for studies on marijuana-related traffic fatalities
and emergency-department visits. In a statement released earlier this
month, Washington Governor Jay Inslee called the RMHIDTA report
"incomplete and unreliable data that does not provide the most accurate
snapshot."
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The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey,
conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment,
studied marijuana use by middle- and high-school students from 2009 to
2015. It found that the rate of use remained relatively unchanged during
the time span, and that Colorado's youth currently use marijuana at a
rate lower than the national average.
Still, the SAM report raises
serious public-health and safety concerns about legal marijuana's
rising popularity, which sat at 61 percent in Quinnipiac's most recent
poll. But consumers aren't in SAM's line of fire...not yet, at least.
"Federal
resources should target the big players in the marijuana industry," the
report concludes.
"Individual marijuana users should not be targeted or
arrested, but large-scale marijuana businesses, several of which now
boast of having raised over $100 million in capital, and their financial
backers, should be a priority."
CYBERSPACE—According to media reports, researchers at the University
of Southern Australia recently published a study that found marijuana
users’ gait differs slightly from the way non-marijuana users walk.
Citing increasing cannabis legalization in the United States, media
outlets like MSN.com highlighted the importance of more substantial
studies on the effects of cannabis.
Media outlets, however, did not highlight current federal policies
that cripple efforts to conduct academic cannabis research in the United
States, and the stigma attached to cannabis by its designation as a
Schedule 1 narcotic.
The study, titled “History of cannabis use is associated with altered gait,” which was published in medical journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence,
followed two groups of subjects, each comprised of twenty-two
participants. One group did not use cannabis, and the other group had a
history of cannabis use (at least five incidents of use), but without
history of using other drugs like opiates or amphetamines.
By measuring knee movement in subjects, the researchers found that:
Cannabis users exhibit increased angular velocity of the knee during walking gait.
Cannabis users exhibit reduced shoulder flexion during walking gait.
Gait changes in cannabis users are not of a magnitude that is clinically detectable.
There was no measurable difference in balance. However, a 2008 study found that marijuana use did have an affect on users’ ability to balance, when measured by “body sway.”
Study co-author Verity Pearson-Dennett admitted to PsyPost.org the study
was limited by a number of conditions, and said, “This was a small
pilot study, therefore a number of questions need to be addressed. For
example, does a greater amount of cannabis use mean a greater level of
impairment?
Does the strain or THC/CBD content of the cannabis used
change the level of impairment observed?”
On PsyPost.org,
Pearson-Dennett also said, “The changes in walking were small enough
that a neurologist specializing in movement disorders was not able to
detect changes in all of the cannabis users. However, many of the
participants in the cannabis group were moderate-to-light cannabis
users, therefore heavier cannabis users may have greater impairments.”
MedicalDaily.com
also quoted Pearson-Dennett, who added that, “the physiological
mechanisms that underpin changes in movement are not well understood.”
The MSN.com post
(and others) also cautioned readers that several other physical and
neurological can be linked to cannabis, and said, “It’s known marijuana
can significantly impair judgement (sic), motor coordination, and
reaction time. Specifically, when it comes to driving, studies have
found there’s a direct relationship between blood THC concentration and
an impaired ability to drive.
Moreover, marijuana may cause orthostatic
hypotension (head rush or dizziness on standing up), possibly raising
danger from fainting and falls, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.”
Chronic marijuana users were found to have a “blunted” response to stress.
by Chris Moore
The
more research is done on cannabis, the more possibilities are
discovered for medical uses of the drug. A new research study exploring
the interaction of cannabis use and stress has found that chronic cannabis users have a “blunted” response to stress.
This research, although not entirely conclusive, may be the first step
towards creating a cannabinoid-based anxiety medication.
The study, published this month in Psychopharmacology,
measured stress levels by tracking the amounts of cortisol in the study
participants' saliva. Cortisol levels are a reliable indicator of
stress, and previous research has confirmed that higher cortisol levels
correlate with an individual's response to stressful situations.
Researchers assigned 40 daily cannabis users and 42 non-users to
randomly complete the Maastricht Acute Stress Test. The test manipulates
both physiological stress, by making participants put their hands in
ice water, and psychosocial stress, by making them solve difficult math
problems while being socially evaluated. The researchers found that both
subjective stress ratings and cortisol levels were significantly lower
in cannabis users than non-users.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the
effects of acute stress on salivary cortisol levels in chronic cannabis
users compared to non-users,” Carrie Cuttler, lead author of the study,
said. “While we are not at a point where we are comfortable saying
whether this muted stress response is a good thing or a bad thing, our
work is an important first step in investigating potential therapeutic
benefits of cannabis at a time when its use is spreading faster than
ever before.”
Previous studies on marijuana have found that cannabinoids can affect
levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter in the brain that helps control
anxiety. Traditional benzodiazepines prescribed for anxiety, like
Klonopin and Xanax, also work by altering GABA levels. Tolerance to
these drugs builds quickly, however, and can lead to dependency. This
new study suggests that scientists may be able to create a new,
cannabinoid-based anxiety medication that could mitigate stress without
the side effects of traditional benzodiazepines.
After several years of declines, overdose deaths among teens are on the rise, driven mainly by opioids.
Drug overdose deaths among older American teens rose in 2015, after declining for several years, a new federal report finds.
This comes even as overall drug use among this group continues to fall.
The report
this month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
found that between 1999 and 2015, drug overdose death rates for 15- to
19-year-olds more than doubled.
In total, there were 772 drug overdose deaths among older teens in 2015, with two-thirds more deaths among males than females.
Between 2014 and 2015, the overdose death rate for males in this
age group rose 15 percent. For women the rate increased 35 percent
between 2013 and 2015.
This follows earlier gains. The overdose death rate for males
declined between 2007 and 2014 before starting to rise again. In
females, the rate plateaued between 2004 and 2013, and then rose again.
The overall number of overdose deaths among teens is small, so data
from more years will be needed to see if this marks a new trend.
Over 80 percent of overdose deaths in the age group were
unintentional, with the rest due to suicides or homicides involving
overdose.
Opioids made up the bulk of deaths for all years, vastly outpacing
deaths due to cocaine, benzodiazepines, and psychostimulants with
potential for abuse.
The report also saw a spike in recent years in teen overdose deaths due to heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.
Overdose deaths due to non-methadone, semi-synthetic opioids — such
as the prescription pain medications oxycodone and hydrocodone — have
declined since 2010.
Opioids put more teens at risk
Dr. Steven Matson, chief of adolescent medicine at Nationwide
Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said that the CDC report fits
with the larger opioid trend.
“Originally it was a lot more prescription drugs that were being
snorted, and people were overdosing with regular things like Percocet
and OxyContin,” Matson told Healthline. “But now more people are
transitioning to heroin — and unknowingly fentanyl — which is obviously a
lot more deadly.”
Matson said that at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s substance
abuse program, most of the teens they see have been abusing heroin.
The CDC findings also mirror a trend
for all ages in which heroin overtook prescription opioids in 2015 as
the leading cause of opioid overdose among all age groups.
While the CDC report focuses on opioid deaths, teens often mix opioids with other substances, which can be particularly deadly.
The annual Monitoring the Future survey
for the years 2002-2006 found that 7 out of 10 twelfth graders who used
prescription opioids for non-medical reasons combined it with another
drug.
More than half mixed opioid pills with marijuana or alcohol. A
smaller number of teens mixed them with cocaine, tranquilizers, or
amphetamines.
Although heroin is the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in teens, prescription opioids are still a problem.
“Teens that we treat at Newport Academy for opioid addiction are
most likely those who were prescribed a prescription medication by their
physician for an opioid for an injury, which is often sports-related,”
said Barbara Nosal, PhD, a licensed therapist with Newport Academy.
The rise of prescription opioid addiction among teens — and other
age groups — has challenged notions about who is at high risk for
substance abuse.
Even a person taking opioids exactly as prescribed by their
physician has an increased risk of long-term opioid use after just five
days — and one month — of therapy, according to another CDC report.
A 2015 study in the journal Pediatrics
also found that teens who are prescribed opioids in high school are 33
percent more likely to misuse any opioid between ages 19 and 23.
Teens may be particularly sensitive to the addictive potential of
prescription opioids — simply because of their “nothing will harm me”
attitude.
“Unlike adults, teens don’t often consider whether the prescription
medication they’re taking might be addicting,” said Nosal. “So teens
are less likely to take a medication as prescribed or ‘as needed’ for
pain. Their tendency is to take more medication more often than
prescribed.”
So if teens are given a 30-day supply of pills for pain, they may
take the entire bottle, whether they need it or not. An adult, on the
other hand, may switch to an over-the-counter non-opioid pain
medication.
Teens moving on to heroin use
Teens who develop an opioid addiction after taking prescription
opioid pills — whether prescribed by their doctor or picked up at a
party — may eventually turn to heroin.
“Ultimately, we start seeing teens going to the less expensive
alternative, heroin,” said Nosal, “because they can no longer afford to
buy the pills that they were previously taking.”
The high price of prescription opioids on the street may be a sign
that efforts to “crack down” on the diversion of pills are working.
Several states have passed laws limiting how many opioid pills
doctors can prescribe at a time. And Prescription Drug Monitoring
Programs (PDMPs) allow doctors to check a patient’s prescription history
for signs of opioid abuse.
Although some teens begin with prescription opioids, others reach heroin after years of experimenting with other drugs.
“If we look at the people that we’re seeing [in our program] for
heroin-use disorder,” said Matson, “most of them started with cigarettes
at 10, and alcohol and weed at 12, and then continued to seek out
bigger highs, and then got onto pills and ultimately transitioned to
heroin.”
Not every teen who uses marijuana will go onto “harder” substances like heroin. But some research suggests that smoking pot is likely to precede the use of — and addiction to — other legal and illegal drugs.
Addiction, though, is a complex mix of biology and environment, which scientists don’t fully understand.
Still, Matson is concerned that legalization of marijuana “is going
to make weed more accessible to younger people, and that’s just going
to put them at risk.”
He advocates deterring teens from using drugs for as long as possible — giving their brains more time to fully develop.
“As a pediatrician, it would be nice to try to stop the transition
of substance use earlier, at the point of alcohol and weed,” said
Matson, “before teens get onto the opioids.”
Reducing overdose deaths in teens
There are signs that efforts to reduce drug use among teens are working.
The annual Monitoring the Future survey for 2016 found that overall, past-year drug use — other than marijuana — among teens is at its lowest point in decades.
Among 12th graders, past-year misuse of prescription opioids has
declined over the past five years. Heroin use among 10th- and 12th-grade
students remains very low.
Use of marijuana among 10th graders has also declined over the past five years, while holding steady for 12th graders.
For teens who end up with an addiction to opioids or other
substances, there are treatment programs that can help — although
finding one that focuses on teens can be difficult in some parts of the
country.
“It’s really hard to find [addiction specialists] that will see a
14- or 15-year-old, because the system is still pretty much driven by 18
and older,” said Matson.
Matson also warned that there are many “scam” treatment centers
trying to cash in on the addiction crisis in the United States. He said
pediatricians can help parents choose the best treatment facility for
their child.
Addiction treatment for teens is not just about getting them off the drugs or dealing with other destructive behaviors.
Some teens start or continue using drugs — especially ones as strong as opioids — to avoid uncomfortable feelings.
At Newport Academy, the health professionals also work on underlying causes that contribute to substance use in the first place.
“What’s really beneath this behavior? It’s a manifestation of
something,” said Nosal. “Teens are externalizing something — their low
self-esteem or self-worth — but in a really negative way, which puts
them at a high risk of substance use.”
Deb
Guy, 41, Lancaster, PA. Founded Lancaster chapter of NORML. After
giving up pain meds and discovering cannabis, she took up singing and
playing guitar. “Once I put down the opiates and found cannabis I picked
up a guitar and the music just kind of poured out.`` (Charles Mostoller
for Leafly)
Editor’s
Note: A few years ago the notion that cannabis could be an exit drug—a
tool to help people overcome opioid addiction—was considered fairly
radical. Now it’s becoming more widely accepted, thanks to more research
and the stories of experience shared by those doing the daily work of
recovery. Photojournalist Charles Mostoller set out to document the
stories of those who are using cannabis to leave opioids and point their
lives in a positive direction. Their experiences are recounted below.
Britt Carpenter, 49
Philadelphia, PA. Runs a dog-care company. After going cold
turkey, he started an Instagram community page called Philly Unknown.
Carpenter does outreach with homeless people and heroin addicts. Britt Carpenter, 49, Philadelphia, PA. (Charles Mostoller for Leafly)
I was in a car accident about 15 years ago. I broke my shoulder in
five places, and I ended up not getting surgery but a lot of therapy. I
was in a lot of pain, and a friend’s girlfriend, who had an ACL surgery,
gave me this bag of pills. It was like a PEZ dispenser threw up in a
bag. With that and whatever I could get my hands on from a doctor, it
became like a smorgasbord.
Eventually I got away from them. But then about four years ago, I met
the wrong person, who introduced me to heroin. I started using heavily.
It was almost four years of using daily.
It was four years of hell. Four years of some of the most dark times
that I’ve ever experienced. Lying to everybody. Losing friends. Losing
jobs. Friends telling my parents about me.
I’m harvesting all the negative I had for years, and I’m putting it towards a positive.
The last OD I had, where they brought me back with Narcan, the cop
looked at me and said, “You’re lucky we aren’t busy tonight or you
wouldn’t be here.” And I thought, Wow, you need to change, to do something.
The next day I stopped using. But I didn’t put myself into detox or
rehab. I threw myself into photography. I always loved photography. I
had done work with the homeless and always worked for the underdog, so I
told myself if I go 30 days straight for the first time in four years,
that I would start a community page on Instagram and pay it forward to
the community. And after 30 days I did start it. And you know, I just
hit 19 months clean off heroin, alcohol, everything except for pot.
I went cold turkey just using cannabis at the time. It helped with
the shakes and with the paranoia. It helped with the sweats, helped my
appetite. I gained like 40 pounds.
The funny thing is that I don’t even want to smoke pot, but it helps
me. I don’t sleep a lot at night. I wake up, I’ll close my eyes, and I
see things I don’t want to see. I think about the things that I’ve done,
and it gets to me, it affects me. So I just use marijuana medicinally
to stay on an even keel and to function and have no social anxiety. To
be able to get out there and do the things I want to do.
So I started the Instagram page and it’s going strong, and I’ve
developed a nonprofit out of it. The community has rallied to it, and we
have over 7,000 organic followers. We do outreach in Kensington, and
already I’ve saved three people with Nalaxone. We have people doing
trainings next week. So I’m sort of harvesting all the negative I had
for years, and I’m putting it towards a positive. Paying it forward. —BRITT CARPENTER
Laura Sharer, 35
Wilmington, DE. Mother of two, medical marijuana patient
suffering from gastroparesis and fibromyalgia. After giving up opioids,
she became an activist and co-founded the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy
Network. Laura Sharer, 35, Wilmington, DE. (Charles Mostoller for Leafly)
I am a patient suffering from gastroparesis, fibromyalgia, and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Previously I was on pharmaceuticals,
some of them for decades, for lingering stomach issues.
Some for only a
few years—Dilaudid (hydromorphone), Tramadol, Percocet (oxycodone)—in
addition to dozens of antiemetics (anti-nausea), migraine medicine,
seizure medicine. It was completely “failure to thrive.” I was basically
wasting away with malnutrition, not able to keep solid food down,
constant nausea and vomiting. As a last ditch effort, I got turned on to
the idea that Delaware has this medical cannabis program, so I tried to
get my cannabis card and see if I could get clean and pure access to
cannabis, and if that would be different for me. Previously I was a
recreational smoker, but I never thought of it as medicine until I had
exposure through the program.
In February 2016 my card was approved. At that point, I weighed 96 pounds. I was only able to tolerate liquids.
What I was waking up with was an appetite, not a migraine.
Things got better. The doctor saw that it was an improvement and
decided to start trying to wean me off of some of the medications. The
Percocet went first, and then I tried to stop the Dilaudid, and that’s
when I realized that I was clinically addicted. Luckily, at that point I
had my cannabis card and jumped head over heels, full-throttle, into
every kind of consumption method I could think of.
Topicals on my skin
to alleviate the pain, right where it hurt, were very effective for me.
Then tinctures or edibles at bedtime to get me through the night sweats
and night tremors.
Instead of medicating myself to sleep with Valium, I was medicating
myself to sleep with cannabis. And what I was waking up with was an
appetite, not a migraine.
Withdrawal is withdrawal. I don’t care what you have to get through
it, it’s horrible, just horrible. The night sweats and body pain and
twitching. So I’m grateful that I found this option. Now we’re 18 months
into cannabis. It took me six months to wean off the 10 daily
medications I was taking, and so about a year now completely free—550
days today free of opiates, which is really, really cool. —LAURA SHARER
Bernadette Scarduzio, 38
Drexel Hill, PA. After giving up pain medicines and
discovering cannabis, she started physical therapy and is now sponsored
by an indoor therapy pool company. Bernadette Scarduzio, 38, Drexel Hill, PA. (Charles Mostoller for Leafly)
I have Charcot–Marie–Tooth disorder, which is a rare neurological
nerve and muscle deterioration disorder that affects the peripheral
neuropathy—which controls your hands and your feet, so how do you move
your body? There’s all different types of CMT. I have CMT type one,
which is the most common. It’s hereditary and my father had it.
I never saw pot as medicine. I was always told that pot is bad, it’s illegal.
Unfortunately I had it the worst of anybody in my family. I went into
the chair about nine years ago, just three months after my father had
passed. I had stopped doing things because everything was so hard. I
wouldn’t go out to the bar with my friends, anywhere shopping, it was
just too much for me. It was too painful.
I’ve had 28 operations. My first surgery was when I was 13 years old.
The doctors would usually prescribe Percocet. But then as an adult, I
realized I could go to any doctor I want. I didn’t have to take the
medicines and didn’t have to follow all this stuff I was brainwashed to
think. In my early 20‘s, between the anxiety and the pain I just didn’t
feel right. And I remember my friend one day was like, “Bern, you should
try marijuana.” I’d tried it, of course, but just a few times in high
school and it was very rare. But she was like, seriously, there’s all
different types, just smoke some with me. So I said all right. And
instantly, it was like I was different. I felt better, I didn’t feel
sick. And I actually felt hungry, which, usually after taking medicine I
couldn’t eat.
I never saw pot as medicine. I was always told that pot is bad, it’s
illegal. It was not allowed in my house; my dad would’ve killed me. It
was looked at as an illegal drug that’s bad for you. But as an adult, I
learned my dad was wrong. He was actually supportive of it once I told
him how it helped me.
I started to learn about it and that you don’t just have to smoke it
and that you can eat it, and I was like, wow, it helps me sleep, it
helps me eat, it helps me be more creative. It helps me be more like me.
—BERNADETTE SCARDUZIO
Michael Whiter, 41
Philadelphia, PA. Former Marine, diagnosed with PTSD after
leaving the military. After discovering cannabis and giving up pain
meds, he became a local cannabis activist and budding photojournalist. Michael Whiter, 41, Philadelphia, PA. (Charles Mostoller for Leafly)
After 11 years in the Marines, I started having some emotional
problems. I was depressed, I was having anxiety, I was skipping work,
which in the Marines you just can’t do. So I went to see a psychiatrist,
and the second that happened, it was like I wasn’t a Marine anymore. I
was ostracized from my unit, put on a bunch of pills—while I was still
in the Marine Corps. Shortly after that, I was put out on medical board.
I got out, went to the VA [Veterans Affairs], and they just started
piling me up with medications. For pain they had me on methadone, but I
didn’t like it so they put me on extended-release morphine. They would
send this stuff to my house. I could have just taken a whole bottle of
morphine and ended it all, but, you know… Anyway, they had me on all
that crap, and then they had me on Klonopin on top of that.
I was watching the National Geographic channel one day and I saw a
show about cannabis and veterans, and I decided I was going to stop
using all these medicines and start using cannabis and see what happens.
And here I am.
It wasn’t easy. I stayed very high the first two or three weeks. I
had to keep taking one of my antidepressants in smaller doses because I
was having withdrawal symptoms from it. It was worse than the opiates.
But I stayed pretty sick. I locked myself in my house until I got over
it.
Now I leave the house. I have friends that I care about, that care about me.
While cannabis does help you relieve some pain, it also helps you
feel, emotionally, again. When you’re on those painkillers you don’t
feel anything. It gets rid of the pain, but you are also drooling on
yourself. And you’re pretty apathetic about everything that’s going on
around you.
Cannabis is not going to dull the pain as much as the opiates are,
but it’s also not going to dull your mind. If you get off that stuff
you’re going to get sick as hell, but weed will help you through the
sickness and it also helps with the pain, with your mood. It will help
with everything that’s going on.
Because pain comes with depression and
anxiety. If you’re in pain long enough, it messes with your mind. And
cannabis helps with that.
When I was on all those pills, I just sat in a chair and I drooled on
myself. The shades would be drawn all the time. I never went outside, I
had my groceries delivered to me.
Now I leave the house. I have friends that I care about, that care
about me. I’ve got a pretty decent life that I live now, and I’m happy. I
care about what kind of life I want to live, and I think I’m doing a
pretty good job of living it now.
I’ll never say that cannabis cured me of anything. Because I did the
work to help myself. But cannabis really helped me engage with therapy.
It helped with self-reflection, to get to know myself better. Cannabis
gives me perspective on things. When I was using opiates and the other
medications, the only perspective I had was what I was seeing on TV.
It’s a totally different medicine. Cannabis helps people, and the other
stuff is killing them. —MICHAEL WHITER
Deb Guy, 41
Lancaster, PA. Founded Lancaster chapter of NORML. After
giving up pain meds and discovering cannabis, she took up singing and
playing guitar. Deb Guy, 41, Lancaster, PA. (Charles Mostoller for Leafly)
I’ve used cannabis off and on since I was a teenager, as kids do, but
when I was 28 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and degenerative joint
disorder.
I have early onset osteoarthritis. My grandparents on both sides and
my mother all had rheumatoid arthritis, and my doctors are trying to
prevent me from getting that. But in the meantime, they started
prescribing opiates on top of all the other medications I was on. It
started with Vicodin, but soon I realized you have to increase the dose
because you get used to it, so I started to take anywhere from three to
six pills a day. And that use kind of grew until the Vicodin wasn’t
helping anymore. I knew that my grandmother and my mother all had
oxycodone or morphine, and I started to palm them.
So I would get up in the morning and I would take two or three
Vicodin, and then later in the afternoon I might take two or three more,
or I would take an Oxy, or I’d take two Oxy. And then a few hours
later, if that wasn’t doing anything, I’d pop one of the small
milligrams of morphine and it was just a constant cycle. I was not
healthy at all. I couldn’t get out of the bed in the morning without
massive muscle cramping and spasms.
I got married and immediately got pregnant. My doctors were like,
“You’re fine on the medications you’re on, just reduce what you are
taking, but you can still take the Vicodin [and] the ADHD medicine.” And
I thought, OK, I’m going to listen to my doctors. And then four months later, I had a miscarriage.
When I was on the opiates, I didn’t want to sit up, I didn’t want to stand up. With cannabis, I love to just toke and run.
It was kind of a blessing in disguise. It made me realize that I
didn’t want to have children and that I was OK with it. It also helped
me realize that I wanted to get healthy. I threw the pills away and went
cold turkey. And it was the worst three weeks of my life.
I went through terrible withdrawal, but I smoked cannabis as often as
I could, almost immediately. And it helped tremendously. I got through
that first three weeks of sickness and massive withdrawal.
I started to
smoke cannabis in the morning like it was my coffee cup and then take a
walk. I started to do that, and every day I would walk a little further,
and within a year I had dropped 60 pounds. My body didn’t hurt nearly
as bad. The degeneration had slowed down a little.
My doctor was kind of shocked and asked me what I had changed. At the
time I didn’t tell him. I just said I was being holistic and healthful
and eating correctly and exercising and it seems to be reducing. When I
went back six months later I finally decided to tell him, because at
that point I had decided to become and activist and start a chapter of
NORML here in Lancaster.
This idea that cannabis makes you stupid or slow or lazy is just
ridiculous. because when I was on the opiates I didn’t want to sit up, I
didn’t want to stand up, I didn’t want to get out of bed in the
morning. With cannabis, I love to just toke and run. I love to get
outside, it got me out of the house. It got me standing up. —DEB GUY
Switching from alcohol to marijuana, for your health.
By: Trey Reckling
Photo by Julia Nastogadka via UnsplashIf alcohol were under the same
scrutiny for its health impact that marijuana continues to be, bars
would not be allowed to exist. After all, marijuana has been shown to be
more than 100 times safer than alcohol.
Is it any wonder that many Americans are reassessing their relationship
with alcohol and are now choosing to smoke some dank buds instead of
opening a Bud Light?
It’s hard to second guess the logic. What we know about alcohol from
impact studies shows it to be a public health crisis that continues year
after year. Excessive alcohol use has been tied to heart disease, fatty
liver, cirrhosis, depression, dementia and other life altering
conditions. As we know, it is far from the benign party enhancer that commercials sell:
Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive drug in the United States.
33 million Americans struggle with alcohol use disorder.
The Centers for Disease Control estimate that approximately 88,000 Americans die as a result of excessive alcohol use each year
10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired driving accidents In 2015 alone. That is 1/3 of all traffic deaths that year.
There are approximately 2,200 alcohol poisoning deaths each year in
the U.S. That is an average of six a day. Marijuana enthusiasts in the
know will be quick to remind you that cannabis is not considered lethal
at any humanly reasonable dose.
In addition to impact to individuals, binge drinking has real economic impact as well. In 2010 alone alcohol use was estimated to cost the US nearly $250 billion. In both American and Canadian
studies, about 40 percent of patients have shown to replace alcohol
with marijuana use when given the option. The studies seem to have been
foreshadowing of public choices in the marketplace.
The Cannabiz Consumer Group has shown that legal marijuana has
stripped nearly 7 percent from beer sales in markets where both legal
options are available. They predicted that the beer industry alone would
stand to lose $2 billion in annual sales if legal marijuana were
available in all 50 states.
Although millennials were the segment of the public expected to make
the switch to cannabis, seniors have also been shown to be a quickly
growing population. Considering the therapeutic qualities of the herb
for ailments often associated with aging, it should be no surprise that
many older consumers appreciate the value in this healthier intoxicant.
Consumers of all ages may appreciate and benefit medicinal qualities
of cannabis as a remedy for inflammation, chronic and neuropathic pain,
GI issues as well as insomnia and a host of others.
Large numbers of patients are ahead of the curve and have substituted their pharma meds for marijuana. Medicaid records have shown a substantial decrease in pharmaceutical reimbursements in states that have medical marijuana available.
The question seems to be not whether people will substitute alcohol
use with marijuana but how much they will do it. Though marijuana is not
without risk, it’s tough to argue against an intoxicant that is
exponentially safer than alcohol and not known to produce hangovers.
That is simple math for some. In time we’ll see just how many.
Carson's comments have since been blasted by marijuana advocacy organizations.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson
appeared to voice his opposition to marijuana use, which he claimed can "lead to lower IQs" at a recent public event.
Speaking before the Native American Housing Association's annual summer meeting in
Polson, Montana on August 21, Dr. Carson deviated from his remarks
about housing to address the opioid epidemic and its impact on
communities across the United States.
From there, he moved on to briefly address marijuana, which Dr.
Carson said he was "not all that enthusiastic about," citing "numerous
studies" which suggest that it could negatively affect IQ rates.
His
comments were dismissed by numerous pro-marijuana groups, which cited multiple examples of research that largely dispelled marijuana's potential to lower IQ as a long-standing myth.
Dr.
Carson's comments about opioids and marijuana were just one of several
tangential subjects he addressed during his speech at KwaTaqNuk Resort,
including economic growth in the United States, before segueing to
drug-related issues. In regard to opioids, Dr. Carson—who was a
pediatric neurosurgeon before his White House appointment—appeared to
express concern, saying, "As a doctor, few things break my heart more
than to hear of families torn down and torn apart by substances which
damage bodies and minds."
He then moved on to marijuana,
explaining that studies have shown that "exposing a developing brain to
marijuana can lead to lower IQs," before adding, "We already have enough
people with a low IQ, and we don't need any more." According to the Flathead Beacon
in Montana, he concluded his speech by stating that the answer to
community issues—especially those within Indian Country—was to reduce
government regulations.
The response to Dr. Carson's comments by marijuana advocacy organizations was epitomized in a blog post by
NORML's Political Director, Justin Strekal, who wrote that "the ongoing
stereotype of marijuana consumers may be funny in movies, but it runs
counter to evidence-based science.
" The post cited a slew of studies
which countered Carson's statements, including data from Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences, which stated, "We find little evidence
to suggest that adolescent marijuana use has a direct effect on
intellectual decline… deficits observed in marijuana users are
attributable to confounding factors that influence both substance
initiation and IQ rather than a neurotoxic effect of marijuana."
Some
research appeared to indicate that there was a tenuous connection
between adolescent marijuana use and lower IQs, but in these cases, the
study authors found that "there was little evidence that cannabis use
was associated with IQ decline from age 12 to 18. Moreover, although
cannabis use was associated with lower IQ and poorer executive functions
at age 18, these associations were generally not apparent within pairs
of twins from the same family, suggesting that family background factors
explain why adolescents who use cannabis perform worse on IQ and
executive function tests."
In its coverage of the comments, High Times
made a point of listing a number of other well-publicized statements
about science and history that Dr. Carson has given over the years, and
which have drawn criticism and even outright disbelief. The article
cites a 1998 commencement speech for
Andrews University in which Dr. Carson opined that the Old Testament
figure Joseph may have been responsible for building the pyramids of
Egypt to store grain.
The legalization of
recreational marijuana for adults was approved by the passing of
Proposition 64, but there are questions that remain as to the dos and
don’ts regarding the drug. Proposition 64,
Marijuana Legalization, was passed by California voters on Nov. 8, 2016,
by a margin of 57.13 percent in favor to 42.87 percent opposed, and it
went into effect the following day.
Here are some answers to questions that residents may have regarding the legal marijuana market:
Q: Who is allowed to have nonmedical marijuana?
A: Proposition 64 made it legal for anyone age 21 or older to possess recreational marijuana in California.
Q: Can minors use recreational marijuana?
A: No. Anyone under 21 is not
allowed to have, use, carry or grow marijuana. Minors found with
marijuana are subject to drug counseling and community service.
Q: How much marijuana can I carry with me?
A: According to the Tracy Police
Department, the legal limit you can have is one ounce of marijuana or up
to eight grams of concentrated marijuana.
Q: Can I grow my own marijuana?
A: Yes, as long as you are 21 or
older. Adults can grow up to six plants inside a household. For now, no
outdoor cultivation is allowed in Tracy.
Q: Who is going to sell it?
A: Retail sales for adult use
will not begin until Jan. 1, but local governments are allowed to
regulate or prohibit commercial marijuana businesses within their
jurisdictions after that date. Tracy city officials are in the process
of deciding what course of action they want to take before the January
deadline.
Q: How much will it cost to buy?
A: According to the Tracy police,
the legal price index is still being adjusted, but the average street
cost is $1,500 per pound or $90 to $100 per ounce. Sites that advertise
medical marijuana for sale list their products with varying prices,
depending on what is being purchased.
Q: Can I smoke marijuana in my car or in public places?
A: No. Adults 21 and older can
only smoke marijuana at home or in other private places and not in
public or while driving or riding in a vehicle. You can carry the legal
limit of marijuana with you in your car, much like sealed containers of
alcohol, but it cannot be consumed in a vehicle.
Q: What is the difference between medical marijuana and recreational marijuana?
A: Medical use of marijuana was
approved by California voters with the passing of Proposition 215, which
went into effect Nov. 5, 1996. It allows patients with a valid doctor’s
recommendation to possess a medical cannabis card to buy the drug at
licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. People will not need a card to
make recreational marijuana purchases, but it won’t be sold at licensed
dispensaries until the first of the year.
Q: Since medical
marijuana dispensaries are not allowed to sell marijuana for
recreational use, can someone with a medical marijuana card buy it and
sell it to me?
A: No, they can’t sell it to you — but they can give it to you free.
Based on a quick online search of
medical marijuana dispensaries in Tracy, several dispensaries and
delivery companies listed on Weedsta are reportedly operating in the Tracy and Mountain House areas.
The Tracy City Council is
expected to make a ruling regarding regulations involving marijuana
dispensaries before the January deadline. A public hearing
is scheduled at the next council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Sept. 5
at City Hall, 333 Civic Center Plaza. It is unknown at this time if the
council will allow dispensaries within city limits.
On a recent Friday at the Balfour Riverfront Park senior living facility
in downtown Denver, an unusual event took place among the day’s regular
activities. In between scrapbooking at the Sky Bar and water walking in
the Pompeii Pool, the facility was hosting a “cannabis 101” seminar in
the Moffat Depot community room.
As one of the 50 or so attendees bellows at his neighbors to quiet the chitchat, Joseph Cohen, medical director at Holos Health,
a Denver holistic medicine and medical marijuana evaluation center,
steps in front of the audience in the sunlight-filled room, tastefully
decorated with golden chandeliers, chenille couches, and potted mock
orange trees. “I will try to go slower than my usual pace for my talk,”
he says into a microphone, noting he’d be discussing cannabis’ uses for a
variety of age-related diseases.
“The idea is to minimize
psychoactive activity and maximize therapeutic effects,” he says, then
adds with a smile, “Unless you want to have psychoactivity. Then go for
it.”
This free seminar is the brainchild of Stratos,
a Colorado marijuana company that produces medical cannabis tablets.
Since launching in 2014, the firm has found its simple and discreet
product lines — which come in somber bottles with names like “Sleep,”
“Relax,” and “Energy” — are a hit among one demographic in particular:
seniors. “The baby boomer generation has been huge for us,” says Kate
Heckman, Stratos’ sales director, who’s watching Cohen’s presentation
from the side of the room.
Stratos stumbled upon a seemingly surprising phenomenon: According to a 2016 study,
seniors are the fastest-growing pot demographic in the country, with
marijuana use among those 55 and older increasing by 53 percent between
2013 and 2014. But the trend isn’t as unusual as it might sound: Many of
the ailments cannabis is most often used to treat are those that often
plague the elderly, such as joint inflammation and pain, insomnia,
muscle spasms, and decreased appetite.
Many older consumers have
disposable income to spend on marijuana, at least according to the sort
of luxury senior-living amenities on view at Balfour Riverfront. The
compound, nestled in the heart of Denver’s booming downtown and
surrounded by modern condos and lush riverfront gardens, feels more like
an all-inclusive resort than an assisted-living facility, with its
valet parking out front and open-air patio bars. For the most part, the
residents attending the cannabis 101 talk look hale and healthy,
boasting the poise and vigor of those who’ve earned a comfy retirement.
Cohen, with his comfortable short-sleeved shirt, well-manicured beard,
and grey ponytail, fits right in.
Balfour is part of a growing
trend of operations and organizations tackling the issue of seniors and
marijuana use. For years, Harborside Health Center, a prominent
dispensary in Oakland, California, has been hosting monthly support groups for patients over 50. In early 2017, New York City nursing home captured headlines
for allowing residents to store and use cannabis on site. The storied
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has
organized cannabis informational sessions and lobbying efforts geared
towards seniors under its so-called “Silver Tour.”
And earlier this year, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care
Medicine, a major organization of medical providers, discussed cannabis
use at its annual conference. Judging from the interest at this cannabis 101 seminar, events like these won't be the last of their kind.
Many
nursing homes, whose higher level of care is regulated by the federal
government, could be fearful of losing Medicare and Medicaid funds if
they permit cannabis use. But an assisted-living facility like Balfour
doesn’t have rules prohibiting its residents from consuming marijuana as
long as they don’t violate the facility’s no-smoking policy. (In other
words, no joints or bongs.) But there’s another barrier to entry for
even those at Balfour: A lack of education. After long being told
cannabis is no different than other dangerous street drugs, many could
be confused about this bold new world of legalized marijuana.
That’s
why, after some initial hesitation, Balfour agreed to Stratos’ proposal
to hold these seminars, several of which are also taking place at other
Balfour residences in the area. “For me, it’s really important for
communities like Balfour not to be some kind of gatekeeper or
paternalistic guardian,” says Balfour CEO Michael Schonbrun, who hasn’t
noticed anyone actively consuming cannabis at his facilities — but adds
that it doesn’t mean folks aren’t doing so. “We want our communities to
be places where people are exposed to new ideas. Let people make their
own decisions.”
Plus, adds Schonbrun, “When you get old, something
happens to your body. If this is something that can help with
arthritis, cancer treatments, diabetes, and a whole range of other
illnesses, why not bring it to people’s attention?”
According to
Cohen’s presentation, medical marijuana can help with all of those
ailments and many more. Over his hour-long talk, aided by a text-dense
PowerPoint presentation that’s devoid of psychedelic stoner images, the
physician holds forth on every aspect of the modern cannabis industry.
In a slow, droning voice, he covers marijuana research and the war on
drugs, cannabinoid receptors and terpenes,
transdermal marijuana patches, and ultra-high-potency “dabbing” (the
latter of which elicits a rumble of concern from the audience). Cohen
says his wife found relief from an autoimmune disease thanks to
cannabis, and he speaks of the plant like a true believer, listing
condition after condition it can be used to treat: Anxiety, opioid
withdrawal, diabetes, osteoporosis, psoriasis, neuropathy, muscle
spasms, Parkinson's, cancer. He even recommends low-THC,
high-cannabidiol strains for diabetic dogs.
But many of these
treatments aren’t yet supported by thorough research. Studies related to
marijuana use among the elderly are especially scarce, which is a
concern since many older people have conditions or take pharmaceuticals
that cannabis could impact in unexpected ways. “While they certainly are
not the target of the new Big Marijuana industry, there are health and
safety concerns [for this population],” says Kevin Sabet, president and
CEO of the major anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
“For example, older people are more likely to drive unsafe and have
weaker memories — marijuana, in particular THC, makes those things
worse.”
To the contrary, at least one recent study
suggested marijuana could actually improve cognitive functioning in
elderly brains. But that research was preliminary; there’s still a lot
we don’t know about cannabis’ potential benefits — and its risks.
According to Cohen in his presentation, that’s because the
“medical-industrial complex” and the federal government have long worked
with doctors and universities to suppress science around the plant.
“Welcome to America, folks,” he says with a wry smile.
At the end of Cohen’s presentation, an attendee stands up and
introduces himself as a clinical professor of psychiatry at Brown
University. “You do a very nice presentation, but you do yourself a
disservice when you talk about medical facilities suppressing medical
information,” he tells Cohen sternly.
A physician in the audience
concurs. “I am very suspicious of people like you who accuse the medical
establishment of suppressing medical research,” he says. “You said that
up front, and you lost me.”
These seniors, it turns out, don’t
need convincing that marijuana has been unfairly stigmatized for
decades. They’re already okay with legalized cannabis use. Now they just
want the facts, minus the hyperbole.
Cohen’s rabblerousing
doesn’t turn off everyone at cannabis 101. After the talk, several folks
approach Heckman about potential doses of Stratos capsules. Others will
likely take part in upcoming Stratos-sponsored shuttle rides to a
nearby dispensary.
Still, despite Cohen’s thorough presentation,
questions remain. When the doctor asks if audience members have
questions, a man with white tufts of hair sprouting above his ears
raises his hand.
“You have gone through this huge list of what it will
do,” he says. ”But will it grow hair?”
Marijuana growing in a Yi village above Weixi in central Yunnan province. Photo / Getty
By Stephen Chen
Every year in April, Jiang Xingquan sets aside part of his farm in
northern China to grow cannabis.
The size of the plot varies with market
demand but over the last few years it has been about 600 hectares.
Like every other hemp farmer in Hexin in Heilongjiang province near the Russian border, Jiang is growing the plant legally.
The growers sell the stems of the crop to textile factories to make
high-quality fabric, the leaves to pharmaceutical companies for drugs,
and the seeds to food companies to make snacks, kitchen oil and drinks.
For the farmers, the crop is green gold - hemp brings in more than
10,000 yuan (NZ$2,075) per hectare, compared to just a few thousand for
more common crops like corn. It also has few natural enemies so there's
little need for expensive pesticides.
"That's pure profit," Jiang said.
Jiang's farm is close to the Arctic Circle and one of the country's
major centres for the legal crop.
Authorities in the province turned a
blind eye to its production before legalising and regulating it last
year. Another major growing area is in Yunnan province where the plant's
production has been regulated since 2003.
Together, these areas account for about half of the world's legal
commercial cropland under hemp cannabis cultivation, according to the
National Bureau of Statistics.
Thanks to government support and a long tradition, China has quietly
become a superpower in the plant's production and research.
There are no official figures for the amount of the plant China
produces each year but plantations are flourishing - both for commercial
and illicit drug use.
This
growth has in part been made possible by scientists funded by the
government to study the plant's military uses, including as medication
and uniform fabric.
Over the
decades, the researchers developed various hybrid species that not just
survived but thrived in China's disparate environments, from the Arctic
conditions in Heilongjiang, to Inner Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the
subtropics of Yunnan.
In 2014,
the Ministry of Public Security said it found a large number of
unregistered hemp and marijuana plantations across the nation,
particularly in Jilin and Inner Mongolia.
Hemp cannabis is one variety of the Cannabis sativa plant, which also
includes types better known as marijuana. The difference between the two
is the amount of the psychoactive component THC, with hemp varieties
containing just trace amounts of it.
Both the hemp and marijuana strains of the plant also contain
cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound that has been used to treat a wide range
of conditions such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
Cannabis sativa has been cultivated in China for centuries, mainly for
the plant's strong fibres which can be turned into rope, fabric and
paper. Hemp fabric dating back more than 3,400 years has been found in
Shang dynasty tombs in Hebei and the fibre is believed to have been the
basis of the earliest forms of paper made in the country.
Other parts of the species, such as seeds and leaves, have been used in
Chinese traditional medicine - but with warnings of side effects.
The Divine Farmer's Classic of Materia Medica, a pharmaceutical text
complied in the first or second century AD, warns: "A person will see a
ghost after an overdose, [and] run around like mad ... After moderate
long-term intake, [he or she] will be able to communicate to God."
After the establishment of the people's republic, the communist
government classified the plant as an illicit drug and introduced some
of the world's toughest rules against its production, trade and
consumption. Anybody with more than 5kg of processed marijuana leaves,
10kg of resin, or 150kg of fresh leaves can face the death penalty,
under Chinese criminal law.
Despite the tough laws, authorities have usually turned a blind eye to
farmers growing their own low-THC varieties because they were an
important source of income for some farmers. The farmers have largely
been spared in drug crackdowns but in some areas such as Xinjiang bans
on the crop - even the low-THC trypes - have been strictly enforced due
to concerns about drug abuse in the region.
Research into the plant really took off in China in the late 1970s when
the country went to war with Vietnam, according to some scientists. The
government needed researchers to develop a fabric that could keep
soldiers clean and dry in Vietnam's humidity, and cannabis hemp offered a
fibre that breathed and was antibacterial. Other studies explored the
plant's use as a drug in field hospitals.
As a result of that research, more than half of the world's 600-plus
patents related to the plant are now held in China, according to the
World Intellectual Property Organisation. This has prompted concerns in
the Western pharmaceutical industry that the Chinese government or
Chinese firms might take advantage of the patent barriers.
China police say 'giant marijuana plantation' spotted by satellite may be legal hemp farm
On
market analysis site InvestorIntel, Dr Luc Duchesne, an Ottawa-based
businessman and biochemist, said: "Because cannabis in Western medicine
is becoming accepted, the predominance of Chinese patents suggests that
pharmaceutical sciences are evolving quickly in China, outpacing Western
capabilities.
"[Chinese
traditional medicine] is poised to take advantage of a growing trend.
The writing is on the wall: westernised Chinese traditional medicine is
coming to a dispensary near you."
Yang Ming, the head scientist of China's Cannabis sativa research
programme at the Institute of Industrial Crops at the Yunnan Academy of
Agricultural Sciences, said many farmers who used to grow flax in the
province had quickly made the leap to hemp cannabis, thanks to the much
higher returns.
But just how many farmers or how much land was devoted to the crop was a national secret.
"It's a big figure. It cannot be revealed to the public. Many farms
are, strictly speaking, illegal under current law and regulations," he
said.
To start growing the crop, farmers need a special licence and so far they're restricted to growers in Heilongjiang and Yunnan.
"In other provinces [hemp] farmers might plant varieties with THC
levels higher than 0.3 per cent, an internationally accepted benchmark
beyond which it is considered unsafe," Yang said.
The central government last year considered issuing regulations to
outlaw these farms but dropped the idea because there were so many of
them and the move could trigger massive protests by farmers, he said.
Yun Chunming, professor with the Institute of Bast Fibre Crops at the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Hunan, said the legality
issue would remain a major challenge to the Cannabis sativa boom in
China.
"We have seen the
growing enthusiasm of farmers, and they are indeed planting low-THC
varieties.
But cannabis is cannabis. However low the THC concentration,
massive plantations can increase the risk of drug abuse and lead to many
social problems," he said, suggesting that the THC could be
concentrated if enough of the crop were grown.
Tan Xin, president of Beijing-based Hemp Investment Group, one of the
largest Chinese companies advocating the commercial pharmaceutical use
of the plant, said the company had partnered with the People's
Liberation Army to take the Chinese technology and product to the world.
A drug to treat traumatic stress disorder jointly developed by the
company and the Chinese military was nearing completion of clinical
trials, and it was just one of the many products from the plant with
global market potential, according to a statement on the company's
website.
"We expect the sector will grow into a 100 billion yuan industry for China in five years' time," he said.
With offices in the United States and plans to branch out into Canada,
Israel, Japan and Europe, Tang said the company was taking the plant to
all member countries in China's "Belt and Road Initiative", an
infrastructure scheme to link China with the rest of Asia and beyond.
Back in Heilongjiang, Jiang said he and family had tasted the vegetable oil made from hemp seeds.
"It has a very strong fragrance and tastes good, but we felt dizzy after dinner," he said.
Despite cannabis' history infolk pharmacopoeias,
clinical studies of its medicinal impact remain limited in many areas.
Based on some promising early results, researchers are now calling for a
closer look at its applications for certain mental health conditions
for which more 'traditional' treatments have come up short.
According to recent studies, the cannabis-derived chemical cannabidiol (CBD) may offer meaningful relief with schizophrenia, a frequently chronic condition which can significantly interfere with how we think, feel, and behave.
At the University of Wollongong, researchers first discovered that
CBD could provide new kinds of symptom relief for schizophrenic
individuals by examining what science has uncovered about the chemical
so far. To get a sense of CBD's impact on cognitive function in relation to schizophrenia, Dr. Katrina Green, Professor Nadia Solowij, and Wollongong Ph.D. candidate Ashleigh Osborne conducted a detailed review of 27 extant studies on the chemical and uncovered some "fascinating insights" about its potential therapeutic value.
In a release,
Green commented that CBD could provide direct neurological support for a
range of conditions affecting the brain, from schizophrenia to
dementia. “From this review, we found that CBD will not improve
learning and memory in healthy brains, but may improve aspects of
learning and memory in illnesses associated with cognitive impairment,
including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as neurological and
neuro-inflammatory disorders," including hepatic encephalopathy,
meningitis, sepsis, and cerebral malaria.
Green, who led the review, also noted that CBD may well be
capable of reducing cognitive impairment that has been associated with
THC, the main psychoactive component of cannabis, which has previously
shown a potential to aggravate aspects of schizophrenia, anxiety, and
other mental disorders.
Following the review, the researchers decided to put CBD's potential
for easing cognitive schizophrenia symptoms to the test with their own study using a rat model. With help from Senior Professor Xu-Feng Huang and Ph.D. candidate Ilijana Babic, what
they found was that "chronic" administration of CBD seemed to attenuate
the cognitive deficits and social withdrawal that often afflict persons
with schizophrenia, which the team simulated in rats using prenatal
poly I:C infection.
“We found that CBD was able to restore recognition and working
memory, as well as social behavior, to normal levels,” Osborne said in a
release. "These findings are interesting because they suggest that CBD
may be able to treat some of the symptoms of schizophrenia that are
seemingly resistant to existing medications. In addition, CBD treatment
did not alter body weight or food intake, which are common side effects
of antipsychotic drug treatment.”
Osborne also explained to ABC News Australia,
"This is really important because current antipsychotic drugs don't
address the cognitive deficits, which approximately 80% of patients with
schizophrenia experience."
According to the Australian team, the results of their review and
study indicate some promising possibilities for treating schizophrenia
with CBD, but also that more scientific research is definitely in order.
"This is the first study to prove Cannabidiol can be used to treat
symptoms of schizophrenia that aren't addressed by current medications,"
Osborne told ABC News. "These findings are really promising but further
research is needed to see if these findings translate to people
suffering from schizophrenia."
She added, "Ultimately, we hope that these findings lead to new improved medications."
According to arecent studyon schizophrenia and cannabis use, people with a greater risk for schizophrenia are likelier than others to keep trying the plant for themselves in the meantime.
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
In recent years, cannabis has also shown promise as a treatment forTourette Syndrome, characterized by involuntary physical or verbal tics that are often physically or socially painful to endure.
A preliminary study
published this year provided a retrospective evaluation of cannabis'
effectiveness and tolerability in treating adults with Tourette
Syndrome. Conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto with
support from the Tourette Association of America,
the study found that 18 of 19 participants were at least "much
improved" after a regimen of inhaled cannabis, while tics scores for the
whole group decreased by 60%.
As NORML reported,
all of the study's participants experienced "clinically significant
symptom relief," including reductions in irritability, impulsivity,
anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and rage outbursts. The drug was
also well tolerated by the participants, with mostly minor side effects
being reported.
Overall, the researchers wrote, “These study participants experienced
substantial improvements in their symptoms, [which] is particularly
striking given that almost all participants had failed at least one
anti-tic medication trial. … In conclusion, cannabis seems to be a
promising treatment option for tics and associated symptoms."
As NORML pointed out, research has previously
determined that oral doses of THC have helped to decrease tics and
obsessive-compulsive behavior in patients with Tourette Syndrome by a
hearty margin. Patients using inhaled cannabis, however, have "generally
shown greater overall improvement."
Given that cannabis and the chemicals it contains have
demonstrated promise or proven effectiveness in treating such ailments
as pain, nausea, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, neuropsychiatric
disorders, epilepsy, and various symptoms thereof, many patients and
practitioners are hoping that the Trump Administration will allow more research on the plant going forward.
In recent months, however, members of the administration have
indicated a desire to rather crack down on the drug's medicinal and
recreational usage, at times due to the opinion--or, perhaps more
accurately, the notion--that marijuana is not a medicine.
According to Merriam-Webster, a medicine is "a substance or preparation used in treating disease;" according to our own CDC, medicines are "used to treat diseases, manage conditions, and relieve symptoms."
As the CDC points out, medicines can also contain a number of
different drugs, and thereby pose different health risks depending on
each patient. For example, over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicines like
Tylenol and Excedrin contain the drug acetaminophen, which can easily be
overdosed on (and/or do real liver damage) by doubling the dose once or
twice, regardless of its interactions with other drugs, while over-dosing or incorrect use of OTC's like Advil and Aleve, which contain drugs called NSAIDs, cause tens of thousands of hospitalizations each year, and thousands of deaths, though exact estimates vary.
Nevertheless, these drugs continue to be available as medicines
because their perceived benefits are thought to outweigh the risks
involved in taking them--an assessment which is critical for both
doctors and drug manufacturers to perform, according to the FDA.
And since research and experts have consistently suggested
that the potential benefits of cannabis would far outweigh the risks
and side-effects involved--enough to warrant further study, in the very
least--hopefully our elected officials and appointed administrators will
realign their sense of the plant with science's definition soon.
Fentanyl
is serious business. The synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than
heroin and is linked to huge numbers of opioid overdose deaths. It may
be mixed in with heroin or other powder drugs, producing a more potent
high than users expect, and the results are too often fatal.
So it’s not surprising that claims that fentanyl has shown up in
marijuana causes alarm bells to ring. But there’s not a scintilla of
evidence for it, and the claims are doubly damaging. Scaring pot smokers
away from a substance that has no overdose potential is not a good
thing, and neither is raising fears about opiated weed when weed may actually help people suffering from opioid addiction.
Still, like a vampire, the myth of marijuana laced with the deadly
opioid fentanyl refuses to die. It first went nationwide in June, thanks
to an Ohio U.S. senator’s press conference, and while a VICE debunking
at the time should have driven a stake through its heart, it has reared
up once again this month, most recently thanks to a local prosecutor in
Tennessee.
“There
are some marijuana dealers that will tell their clients that I have no
doubt there is fentanyl in it and some of the more addictive folks,
especially folks that also use other drugs, will get that marijuana
laced with fentanyl in hopes of getting a better high,” District 24
Attorney General Matthew Stowe told a credulous WKRN-TV
in an interview last week. “The bottom line is, anyone, anywhere could
mix fentanyl and marijuana and there’s no way of knowing it until it’s
too late.”
But wait, there’s more: “Marijuana laced with fentanyl can be
extremely deadly and to anyone who touches it, taste it, smokes it [or]
anything else of that nature,” Stowe claimed. “If it’s laced with
fentanyl, marijuana can be the deadliest drug there is.”
Marijuana laced with fentanyl would be deadly—if such a thing existed. There is no evidence it does.
There are a couple of reasons such a concoction is unlikely. First,
fentanyl is typically a white powder and, unlike drugs such as heroin or
even cocaine, which are also powders, marijuana is green plant
material. Buds adulterated with white powders would look like buds
adulterated with white powders.
Secondly,
no one even seems to know if smoking fentanyl in weed would even work.
Chemist Kirk Maxey, who helps law enforcement agencies like the DEA test
suspected synthetic opioids, told VICE he doesn’t know if it’s scientifically possible.
“Documenting the pipe chemistry of fentanyl in leaf material would be
a research paper,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s been done yet.”
Still, such obvious objections haven’t stopped the spread of the myth, which may have originated in a February Facebook post
from the Painesville Township Fire Department in northeast Ohio. That
post, which quickly went viral, reported that three men had reported
overdosing after smoking “marijuana laced with an unknown opiate.” It
was picked up by a local ABC TV affiliate, which reported “three
separate incidents, but all with the same result—overdoses from
opiate-laced marijuana.”
It wasn’t true. As Cleveland.com reported
shortly afterward, toxicology results showed that “the three people who
claimed they had overdosed on marijuana laced with an unknown opiate
actually used crack cocaine and other drugs.”
The
media hubbub died down, but the seed was planted, growing through the
spring in the fertile soil of an Ohio gripped by a deadly opioid
epidemic and filled with policemen and politicians willing to fertilize
it with healthy doses of manure. In June, it blossomed.
“Marijuana laced with fentanyl: police warn of another potentially dangerous drug mixture,” News 5 Cleveland reported
on June 14. There weren’t any actual cases of the pot/fentanyl mixture
showing up, but “police said the warning was necessary to alert people,
especially parents, to the potential risk.”
And politicians. Five days later, Ohio U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R)
held a Cincinnati press conference on the opioid crisis with Hamilton
County Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco, whose reported remarks helped give the
myth new life.
“We have seen fentanyl mixed with cocaine,” said Sammarco. “We have also seen fentanyl mixed with marijuana.”
The comment rocketed around the web, rousing alarm and raising the
specter of innocent pot smokers felled by deadly adulterants, but there
was less to it than meets the eye. When, unlike other media outlets that
simply ran with the story, VICE actually reached out to Sammarco, the
story fell apart.
Sammarco said her quote had been misinterpreted and that her office
hadn’t actually seen any fentanyl-laced weed. Sammarco told VICE that
Sen. Portman had mentioned to her that it had been spotted in northeast
Ohio—apparently based on that erroneously News 5 Cleveland report.
When VICE contacted Portman’s office about the origin of the
fentanyl in weed story, spokesman Kevin Smith replied only “I don’t
have anything on that” before hanging up the phone.
Despite the baselessness of the claim, it was back again this month. Police and health officials in London, Ontario,
sent out warnings after people who claimed to have only smoked pot came
back positive for opioids on urine drug tests, without ever considering
the possibility that those people weren’t telling the truth.
Canadian Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott had to step in to put a
stop to the nonsense: “We have confirmed this with chiefs of police
[and] law enforcement officials across this country—there is zero
documented evidence that ever in this country cannabis has been found
laced with fentanyl,” she told the London Free Press. “It’s very important that we make sure that that message is clear.”
That didn’t stop police in Yarmouth, Massachusetts,
from generating a similar story just days later.
It was another case of
a man who overdosed on opioids claiming to have only smoked pot. Police
there said they “believe that is possible that the marijuana was laced
with fentanyl, which police are starting to see more and more across the
country.”
Except they’re actually not. That first batch of fentanyl-laced
marijuana is yet to be discovered.
But that hasn’t stopped prosecutor
Stowe any more than it’s stopped the other cops, politicians, and
hand-wringing public health officials from propagating the
misinformation.
