Feds won’t decriminalize any drugs besides cannabis, despite calls from cities

Janice Dickson

The federal government says it will not consider decriminalizing drugs beyond marijuana, despite calls from Canada’s major cities to consider the measure.

As the opioid epidemic washes over the country, Montreal and Toronto are echoing Vancouver and urging the federal government to treat drug use as a public health issue, rather than a criminal one.

Montreal’s public health department has just thrown its support behind a report released recently by Toronto’s board of health which urges the federal government to decriminalize all drugs.

Mylene Drouin, the director of Montreal’s public health department, said last week that she is in favour of Toronto’s report and that decriminalization will be on the agenda at provincial and national health meetings.

A Health Canada report last month found that nearly 4,000 Canadians died from an apparent opioid overdose in 2017, including 303 opioid overdose-related deaths in Toronto. In Montreal, the number of deaths relating to probable opioid overdoses was 140 for a period of a little over a year, ending June 30.

Vancouver Mayor Greg Roberston has long called for the decriminalization of all drugs, which has been repeated by health officials and advocates across British Columbia. In Vancouver, there was an estimated 335 opioid related deaths in 2017.

Despite calls from three cities, the federal government is not budging on its position, insisting that decriminalization is not an option.

Thierry Belair, a spokesman for Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, said the federal government is not looking to decriminalize or legalize any drugs aside from cannabis.

Belair said the government understands that stigma and barriers to treatment need to be reduced, and Ottawa has taken steps in that direction.

He said the federal government has made it easier for health professionals to provide access to opioid substitution therapies; and the federal government has also approved more than 25 supervised consumption sites.

Fardous Hosseiny, national director of research and public policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association, which has advocated for decriminalization, said the organization welcomes the call from Vancouver, Toronto and now Montreal, and hopes it puts some pressure on the federal government.

“Given the scale of the opioid crisis in Canada, we know that we need to take bold action,” he said.

“We know that evidence tells us that the war on drugs hasn’t worked, so criminalization really stigmatizes people and creates barriers for them accessing treatment and accessing help when they need it.”

Hosseiny raised Portugal’s model as an example, which B.C. urged the federal government adopt. 

The EU country decriminalized all drugs by eliminating criminal penalties for small possession and consumption of illicit drugs in 2001.

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Petitpas Taylor may not be keen to add the decriminalization of all drugs to the election banner in 2019, their party’s supporters like the idea.

The Liberal convention in Halifax last April saw delegates adopt a resolution that supported decriminalizing all illegal drugs. The resolution put forward by the national Liberal caucus for debate at the convention called for illegal drugs to be treated as a public health issue. It also urged the government to adopt the Portugal model.

Petitpas Taylor said at the time that what works for a small country like Portugal wouldn’t work in a large one like Canada.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urged Trudeau last fall to decriminalize all illegal drugs and he also campaigned on a promise to decriminalize all drugs during his party’s leadership race.

Conservatives have been largely opposed to legalizing pot and would object to the idea of decriminalizing even harder drugs.

Cannabis Users Have Better Chance of Surviving Heart Attack, New Study Reports

Will a joint a day keep the doctor away, or send you to the E.R.? Medical research is still divided on the matter of marijuana and heart health.

by Chris Moore

Physicians have long debated whether or not cannabis use poses a risk to users' healthy hearts, but the body of scientific research on the issue is thin thanks to the federal prohibition on marijuana, which makes it extremely difficult for scientists to conduct research on the plant. But as more states legalize medical and recreational pot, an increasing number of researchers are digging deeper into the matter.

Many doctors believe that cannabis use can pose a risk to cardiovascular health, and a study from last year reported that marijuana users were at a higher risk of contracting heart disease. However new research on the topic, published this month in the scientific journal PLOS One, has found evidence to the contrary. A research team from the University of Colorado discovered that patients with a history of cannabis use were less likely to die from complications following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) — more popularly known as a heart attack.

Researchers examined hospital records of over 3,800 heart attack patients who reported or tested positive for cannabis use, comparing them to 1.2 million patients who had suffered heart attacks but didn’t admit to using pot. The researchers discovered that “marijuana-using patients were significantly less likely to die, experience shock,” or require an intra-aortic balloon pump following their heart attack than patients who did not use cannabis.

“These results suggest that, contrary to our hypothesis, marijuana use was not associated with increased risk of adverse short-term outcomes following AMI,” the researchers wrote. 

 “Furthermore, marijuana use was associated with decreased in-hospital mortality post-AMI.” This research on its own is not entirely conclusive, as the researchers did not have access to post-discharge data on long-term mortality or hospital readmissions. The team also noted that “it is highly likely that marijuana use was significantly underreported,” and that among the users who admitted to using pot, the frequency and dosages of marijuana were unknown.

“Given the increasing prevalence and acceptance of marijuana use, these findings suggest that additional study is warranted to further investigate these discoveries and to identify potential mechanisms by which marijuana is associated with improved short-term outcomes following AMI and for mitigating the possible negative effects of concomitant substance use,” the study concluded.

The debate over cannabis and cardiovascular health made headlines recently after comedian Kevin Smith claimed that pot saved his life during a heart attack. Smith suffered a massive heart attack earlier this year and survived despite the 80% fatality rate associated with his specific condition. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, the comedian said that his doctor told him that weed likely saved his life by helping him relax during the incident.

Smith's claims outraged some members of the medical community. Cardiologist Pravin Patil, director of the cardiovascular disease training program at Temple University’s Katz School of Medicine, cast shade on Smith's claims, arguing that it was unlikely that weed could have saved his life, and that Smith’s pot use probably even made his heart attack more likely.

Debates like these are likely to continue until the government frees the medical community from the shackles of prohibition, allowing them to conduct research that will determine exactly what risks or benefits cannabis may have for human health at large.

Federal government set to approve first device for testing drivers' saliva for cannabis

Roadside saliva-testing devices were authorized by Bill C-46, a massive overhaul of Canada's impaired driving laws that passed in June

 

By Brian Platt

The federal government’s crackdown on drug-impaired driving has taken a big step forward, as the Justice Department is set to give its blessing to Canada’s first roadside saliva test.

Once in use, police officers will be able to swab a driver’s mouth to test for the presence of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

Roadside saliva-testing devices were authorized by Bill C-46, a massive overhaul of Canada’s impaired driving laws that passed in June.

But before police could order any devices, a model had to be approved by Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould — and she has been waiting for the advice of an independent committee made up of toxicologists and traffic safety experts.

That advice has finally come, and Wilson-Raybould has now given 30-day notice of a ministerial order to approve the Draeger DrugTest 5000, produced by a company based in Germany. The device is already approved in other countries, including the United Kingdom and Germany, though a Justice Department spokesperson noted it may be configured differently to meet Canadian standards.

The notice to approve the Draeger device means it was tested in a National Research Council laboratory and passed an evaluation by the Canadian Society of Forensic Science. It’s possible more devices will be approved for use later on.

In addition, Public Safety Canada and the RCMP ran a pilot project last year on oral fluid screening devices and concluded they were “a useful additional tool for Canadian law enforcement.” The Draeger device was not one of the two used in the pilot project.

Currently, police check for drug-impaired driving at the roadside by using a standardized field sobriety test, which can involve tests such as standing on one foot or walking in a straight line.

The saliva-testing device, which is also approved to test for cocaine, provides police with a powerful new tool to detect recent drug use (within approximately the last six hours). A failed test gives police reasonable grounds to bring a driver in for further testing, including a blood test or an examination by a drug recognition expert.

The science around detecting drug-impaired driving is much less established than it is for detecting alcohol-impaired driving, and the reliability of the devices is likely to be challenged in court by defence lawyers.

One particular concern is how well the devices will operate in the harsh Canadian winters. The pilot project included using the devices in the dead of winter in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. It concluded they were largely effective, though “there were some temperature-related issues that arose when the devices were used in extreme cold temperatures.”

Officials have suggested police may be able to conduct the tests inside their warm cars when temperatures drop far below freezing.

It took longer than expected for a device to be recommended for use. Testifying at a Senate committee last February, government officials estimated the testing would be finished by March; they later acknowledged that had proven optimistic.

With the legalization date pushed back to Oct. 17, there is now a better chance police will be equipped with them in time. But the ministerial order still needs to wait for a 30-day notice period, and then the devices need to be ordered and frontline officers need to be trained on their use.

A Public Safety spokesperson said the federal government is making $81 million available over five years for provinces and territories to buy screening devices and train more officers to recognize drug impairment. The federal government also plans to have a standardized price and procurement process for the devices that provinces and territories can opt into.

Once the ministerial order is signed, “law enforcement across Canada will be able to order the drug screener immediately,” the statement said. “Each province and territory will determine the number of drug screening devices required to meet their own needs.”
 Brian Platt
The roadside screening devices are only one part of the government’s strategy to prevent drug-impaired driving. It has also budgeted $62.5 million over five years on a public education strategy, including advertising campaigns.

It also brought in “per se” limits for drug blood levels, a legal shortcut that means police can lay criminal charges based solely on a driver’s level of THC in the blood, without having to further prove impairment.

When it comes to alcohol, C-46 controversially gave police the ability to demand a roadside breath sample without needing suspicion the driver has been drinking — a measure critics have blasted as unconstitutional. However, police will still need grounds to suspect a driver has consumed drugs before demanding a roadside saliva test.

CORRECTION: While the Attorney General has given notice of her intent to approve the device, it has not yet been formally approved. This story has been updated.

Georgia Quietly Becomes the Latest Country to Legalize Cannabis Use

Georgia’s Constitutional Court has ruled that cannabis consumption is not a threat to public health and safety.

By A.J. Herrington

Wikimedia Commons

 

Georgia has quietly become the next country to legalize cannabis use after action from the nation’s Constitutional Court on Monday. The court’s ruling was handed down in a lawsuit brought by political activists. The decision eliminates administrative penalties such as fines as punishment for the consumption of marijuana.  However, the court’s ruling does not legalize cannabis cultivation or sales in the nation of nearly 4 million people at the crossroads of Asia and Europe.

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili contended that the use of cannabis is a personal decision that does not put others at risk.

“It can only harm the health of the consumer, who is responsible for the results of the action,” the lawsuit read.

Constitutional Court Agrees

In its ruling, the panel of four judges agreed, deciding that the use of cannabis is not a threat to society at large.

“According to the applicants (Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili), the consumption of marijuana is not an act of social threat,” the court said. “In particular, it can only harm the users’ health, making that user him/herself responsible for the outcome. The responsibility for such actions does not cause dangerous consequences for the public.”

However, the court also found that there are some situations where cannabis consumption can affect those in the proximity of the user. In those cases, administrative penalties for the use of cannabis do not violate the nation’s constitution and may continue to be imposed by the government.

“In addition, the Constitutional Court highlights the imposition of responsibility of marijuana consumption when it creates a threat to third parties. For instance, the Court will justify responsibility when marijuana is consumed in educational institutions, public places, such as on public transport, and in the presence of children,” the court continued.

Court Decriminalized Pot Last Year

Monday’s decision by the Constitutional Court of Georgia follows a ruling last year that effectively decriminalized cannabis use. The court ruled then that harsher sanctions were not constitutional for the use of marijuana and other forms of cannabis.

But the court at that time upheld the right of the government to impose administrative penalties such as fines for cannabis consumption. Monday’s ruling now protects marijuana use in private settings.

Activists Celebrate Ruling

After the court’s ruling, plaintiff Zurab Japaridze recognized the activists who had made the lawsuit possible.

“I would like to congratulate everybody on the decision made by the Constitutional Court,” Japaridze said. “Through this decision, Georgia became a freer country. Administrative punishment for consumption of marijuana was revoked by the Constitutional Court, which means that consumption of marijuana in Georgia is now legal.”

Japaridze is the leader and a founder of the The New Political Centre—Girchi party, a liberal political group that split from the United National Movement is 2016. In April, he announced his intention to run for president of Georgia in the elections to be held later this year in October.

After Monday’s ruling, Japaridze said the lawsuit was a matter of personal liberty.

“This wasn’t a fight for cannabis, this was a fight for freedom,” he said.

How legal cannabis actually made things worse for sick people in Oregon

The medical marijuana market is in a downward spiral as businesses, lured by big money, shift to recreational

Melanie Sevcenko 

In 2015, Erich Berkovitz opened his medical marijuana processing company, PharmEx, with the intention of getting sick people their medicine. His passion stemmed from his own illness. Berkovitz has Tourette syndrome, which triggers ticks in his shoulder that causes chronic pain. Cannabis takes that away.

Yet in the rapidly changing marijuana landscape, PharmEx is now one of three medical-only processors left in the entire state of Oregon.

On the retail end, it’s also grim. At the height of the medical marijuana industry in 2016, there were 420 dispensaries in Oregon available to medical cardholders. Today, only eight are left standing and only one of these medical dispensaries carries Berkovitz’s products.

Ironically, Oregon’s medical marijuana market has been on a downward spiral since the state legalized cannabis for recreational use in 2014. The option of making big money inspired many medical businesses to go recreational, dramatically shifting the focus away from patients to consumers. In 2015, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) took over the recreational industry. Between 2016 and 2018, nine bills were passed that expanded consumer access to marijuana while changing regulatory procedures on growing, processing and packaging.

In the shuffle, recreational marijuana turned into a million-dollar industry in Oregon, while the personalized patient-grower network of the medical program quietly dried up.

Now, sick people are suffering.

“For those patients that would need their medicine in an area that’s opted out of recreational sales, and they don’t have a grower or they’re not growing on their own, it does present a real access issue for those individuals,” said André Ourso, an administrator for the Center for Health Protection at the Oregon Health Authority.

The woes of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) were outlined in a recently published report by the Oregon Health Authority. The analysis found the program suffers from “insufficient and inaccurate reporting and tracking,” “inspections that did not keep pace with applications”, and “insufficient funding and staffing”.
 
Operating outside of Salem, Oregon, PharmEx primarily makes extracts – a solid or liquid form of concentrated cannabinoids. Through his OMMP-licensed supply chain, he gets his high dose medicine to people who suffer from cancer, Crohn’s, HIV and other autoimmune diseases. Many are end-of-life patients.

These days, most recreational dispensaries sell both consumer and medical products, which are tax-free for cardholders. The problem for Berkovitz is that he’s only medically licensed. This means recreational dispensaries can’t carry his exacts. Legally, they can only sell products from companies with an OLCC license. Since issuing almost 1,900 licenses, the OLCC has paused on accepting new applications until further notice.

Limits on THC – a powerful active ingredient in cannabis products – are also an issue, according to Berkovitz. With the dawn of recreational dispensaries, the Oregon Health Authority began regulating THC content. A medical edible, typically in the form of a sweet treat, is now capped at 100mg THC, which Berkovitz says is not enough for a really sick person.

“If you need two 3000mg a day orally and you’re capped at a 100mg candy bar, that means you need 20 candy bars, which cost $20 a pop,” he said. “So you’re spending $400 a day to eat 20 candy bars.”

 

All the people that we made these laws for – the ones who are desperately ill – are being screwed right now

Karla Kay, PharmEx

“The dispensaries never worked for high dose patients, even in the medical program,” continued Berkovitz. “What worked was people who grew their own and were able to legally process it themselves, or go to a processor who did it at a reasonable rate.”

But with increased processing and testing costs, and a decrease on the number of plants a medical grower can produce, patients are likely to seek cannabis products in a more shadowy place – the black market.

“All the people that we made these laws for – the ones who are desperately ill – are being screwed right now and are directed to the black market,” said Karla Kay, the chief of operations at PharmEx.
Kay, who also holds a medical marijuana card for her kidney disease, said some patients she knows have resorted to buying high dose medical marijuana products illegally from local farmers markets – in a state that was one of the first to legally establish a medical cannabis industry back in 1998.

Moreover, the networks between medical patients, growers and processors have diminished.
The OMMP maintains a record of processors and the few remaining dispensaries, but no published list of patients or grow sites – a privacy right protected under Oregon law, much to the chagrin of law enforcement.

According to the Oregon Health Authority’s report, just 58 of more than 20,000 medical growers were inspected last year.

In eastern Oregon’s Deschutes county, the sheriff’s office and the district attorney have repeatedly requested the location of each medical marijuana grower in their county. They’ve been consistently denied by the Oregon Health Authority.

Recently, the sheriff has gone as far as hiring a detective to focus solely on enforcing marijuana operations.

“There is an overproduction of marijuana in Oregon and the state doesn’t have adequate resources to enforce the laws when it comes to recreational marijuana, medical marijuana, as well as ensuring the growth of hemp is within the THC guidelines,” said the Deschutes sheriff, Shane Nelson.

As of last February, the state database logged 1.1m pounds of cannabis flower, as reported by the Willamette Week in April. That’s three times what residents buy in a year, which means the excess is slipping out of the regulated market.

To help curb the trend, senate bill 1544 was passed this year to funnel part of the state’s marijuana tax revenues into the Criminal Justice Commission and provide the funding needed to go after the black market, especially when it comes to illicit Oregon weed being smuggled to other states.

The program’s priority is “placed on rural areas with lots of production and diversion, and little law enforcement”, said Rob Bovett, the legal counsel with the Association of Oregon Counties, who crafted the bill.

In a May 2018 memo on his marijuana enforcement priorities, Billy J Williams, a US attorney for the district of Oregon, noted that “since broader legalization took effect in 2015, large quantities of marijuana from Oregon have been seized in 30 states, most of which continue to prohibit marijuana.”

As of 1 July, however, all medical growers that produce plants for three or more patients – about 2,000 growers in Oregon – must track their marijuana from seed-to-sale using the OLCC’s Cannabis Tracking System.

Berkovitz, however, is looking to cut out the middle man (namely dispensaries) to keep PharmEx afloat. “The only way the patients are going to have large, high doses of medicine is if we revive the patient-grower networks. They need to communicate with each other. No one’s going to get rich, but everybody involved will get clean medicine from the people they trust at a more affordable rate.”

Why Marijuana Consumers Have Smaller Waistlines Than Non-Users

By Kyle Jaeger

It’s a well-established fact that marijuana causes users to experience acute hunger—a phenomenon known as the munchies. But curiously, research also has found that the average cannabis consumer actually has a slimmer waistline compared to non-users.

For a while, that stereotype-defying finding has left researchers scratching their heads. Thankfully, a new study out of Indiana University, which is pending publication, offers a compelling, theoretical explanation.

Before we get into the specifics of the study, some background: humans have endocannabinoid systems that are responsible for things like regulating sleep, appetite, stress and metabolism.

Ingredients in marijuana like THC and other cannabinoids are known to stimulate receptors in the endocannabinoid system, which can produce a wide range of physiological effects.

OK, but how does this explain why cannabis users are generally slimmer than non-users?

Well, the researchers started with a simple observation. Western diets—exceptionally high in carbs and sugar—are associated with a series of chronic health conditions such as obesity.

One commonality among people who suffer from these conditions is that they have a higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids in the body.

There is “abundant evidence” that this increased ratio of omega fats causes overstimulation of a main cannabinoid receptor, which “leads to metabolic syndrome, contributing to chronic diseases,” the study authors wrote.

People who are able to reduce their level of this specific cannabinoid receptor (CB1R) often experience weight loss. There are different ways to achieve this effect, but one possibility identified in earlier research is the introduction of cannabis into the equation. Marijuana causes a downregulation of CB1R, a receptor that “plays a major role in assimilation, storage and conservation of energy.”

In layman’s terms, this means that while consuming cannabis certainly heightens hunger among users in the short-term, it also helps people properly manage that food after it’s entered the body. Even four months after you stop using cannabis, that effect is still present. Therefore, the researchers concluded, the impact of cannabis use on the CB1R receptor “more than offsets the short-term increase in energy stores that follow” a case of the munchies.

Again, however, this is a theoretical explanation based on existing research about the endocannabinoid system, marijuana and metabolism. As the researchers emphasized in their conclusion, the study raises many questions, including:

“How many other conditions respond in opposite directions during acute and long-term exposures to Cannabis? How does this paradox impact therapeutic uses of Cannabis? Do the long-term effects of Cannabis use arising from downregulation of CB1R exacerbate the underlying condition that drove patients to therapeutic use of Cannabis in the first place? 

For example, if a patient uses Cannabis for anxiety, will the resulting downregulation of CB1R result in increased anxiety between therapeutic doses? How does dosage influence this relationship? Is CB2R also downregulated during Cannabis use, and if so, what are the implications for treatment of CB2R-related conditions with Cannabis?”

For the time being, we’ll have to wait on those answers. But if you were perplexed by headlines and social media posts about marijuana consumer being skinner than their non-using counterparts, this study may well serve as an important piece of the puzzle.

Colorado Legalization Didn’t Increase Teen Marijuana Use, Another Study Finds

By Tom Angell

The latest in a string of studies to show that marijuana legalization does not lead to increased underage cannabis consumption has just been released.

“Our results suggest that adolescents’ marijuana use may not increase immediately following initiation of retail marijuana sales, which seems plausible given that they cannot legally access marijuana from the retail market,” concludes the study of Colorado teens, published in the journal Prevention Research last week.

“Overall, we did not find a significant change in the prevalence of adolescent marijuana use from shortly before to after the implementation of a recreational marijuana law in Colorado.”

Researchers from the University of Colorado, New York University, Johns Hopkins University and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment teamed up to compare data from youth drug use surveys from fall 2013, which was just prior to the start of legal marijuana sales, and fall 2015.

Frequency Of Use And Consumption At School Decrease

In addition to “an absence of significant effects for change in lifetime or past 30-day marijuana use,” the results also showed that teens reporting that they had used cannabis during the past month did so less frequently and that use on school properties declined.

“Among those reporting past 30-day marijuana use, there was a significant decline in frequent use (i.e., > 20 occasions of use in the past 30 days) and use on school property.”

Another significant change the study identified between the two time periods was a decline in perceived harm associated with cannabis use, but that was not accompanied with an increase in perceived ease of access to marijuana or any changes in perceived wrongfulness or perceived parental disapproval.

The findings bolster the position of legalization advocates, who have long argued that ending prohibition for adults and allowing them to buy marijuana in regulated stores that check the ages of their customers will not cause more young people to use cannabis.

“We did not find a significant effect associated with the introduction of legal sales of recreational marijuana to adults in Colorado on adolescent (illegal) use.”

Marijuana possession and home cultivation became legal in Colorado shortly after voters approved a legalization ballot measure in late 2012, prior to the first dataset in the study. Legal retail sales began on January 1, 2014.

The findings of the new research were consistent across demographic subgroups.

The researchers looked at “change in current marijuana use from 2013 to 2015 by school characteristic including school poverty, proportion of student enrollment that was Black or Hispanic, urbanicity of the school, and local policy regarding retail marijuana sales in 2015.”

“We did not find a statistically significant change in current marijuana use for any of these school characteristics.”

The study authors hypothesized that the decline in frequent cannabis use and use on school property is related to societal changes ushered in as part of legalization:

“It is not clear what accounts for this finding, but we suspect it may be related to the public discourse around marijuana policy leading up to and following the passage and enactment of…Colorado’s [legalization law] in 2012. Media coverage, school-based prevention programs, and public health and advocacy campaigns focused strongly on the potential negative impacts on youth during this time, and there was widespread agreement that the legal market should be inaccessible to adolescents… Therefore, it is possible that those adolescents who use marijuana had more received more attention from friends, parents, or school personnel and may have opted to use off-school grounds or less frequently. This interpretation may be further supported by the finding of an increase in perceived wrongness reported among current marijuana users.”

The findings add to a growing body of research showing that legalization is not associated with increased teen marijuana use.

A federal survey released late last year, for example, showed that rates of marijuana use among 8th, 10th and 12th graders is lower now that it was prior when to states began enacting legalization in 2012.

Another study looked at state-by-state youth use rates and found that state medical cannabis laws did not lead to increases.

The new study was supported with federal funding through the National Institutes of Health.

It’s now time for the UK to legalise cannabis in its entirety

Christopher Snowdon

Head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs

There are several compelling reasons for reforming the law around cannabis (Photo credit should read MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP/Getty Images).

Those who still believe in the war on drugs are concerned that the legalisation of medical cannabis will lead to the legalisation of recreational cannabis.

Insofar as there is growing momentum for drug reform, they are right to be worried about a ‘slippery slope’ of liberalisation but the case for (re)legalising marijuana rests on a different set of arguments to those put forward during the Billy Caldwell case.

There is no campaign for other licensed medicines to be sold over the counter like alcohol. Cannabis is different.

There are several compelling reasons for reform. Legalisation would allow the police to focus on more serious crime. Wiping out the black market would make it harder for children to get hold of the drug.

The government would raise significant tax revenue. In a recent report for the Institute of Economic Affairs, I estimated that around 255 tonnes of cannabis were consumed in Britain last year at a cost of £2.6billion.

If this market were brought into the legitimate economy, sales taxes alone could raise £690million. New streams of income tax, VAT and business taxes would yield several hundred millions of pounds more. Meanwhile, lower prices would leave cannabis consumers with more money to spend in other parts of the economy.

But perhaps the most pressing reason for reform is to protect the mental health of those who use cannabis. Until around 10 years ago, it was considered to be a relatively ‘soft’ drug. Tony Blair’s government rescheduled it into Class C in 2004 and there was significant political support for full legalisation.

But by the time Gordon Brown returned it to Class B in 2008, public perception of cannabis has begun to change. It was increasingly associated with dependency, psychosis and schizophrenia.

Cannabis underwent an image change because cannabis itself had changed. Sinsemilla  – better known as ‘skunk’ – has taken over the market.

This is significant because skunk is typically high in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is associated with psychosis, and low in the non-intoxicating antipsychotic drug cannabidiol (CBD).

THC is the main psychoactive substance in cannabis. It makes the user feel stoned, but it can also cause side effects such as paranoia which can be alleviated by CBD.

With high levels of THC and low levels of CBD, skunk poses a greater threat to mental health than the cannabis of old. Although the number of cannabis users fell by a third between 2006 and 2014, demand for treatment of cannabis-related mental health problems increased by more than 50%.

The rise in cannabis-related mental health harm is alarming, but it makes the case for legalisation stronger, not weaker. Opposing legalisation on the grounds that skunk has taken over the market is like opposing the end of alcohol prohibition because moonshine had taken over the market.

Dangerous, high-strength moonshine virtually disappeared after alcohol was re-legalised in the USA in 1933 and the same would happen to the worst strains of sinsemilla if cannabis were re-legalised and regulated.

High THC strains do not necessarily exist due to consumer demand. Black markets tend to suit sellers rather than buyers. The shift towards skunk in Britain came about because the illicit market moved away from importing cannabis to growing it indoors with hydroponic lights.

Cross-breeding of plants then created more potent strains with high levels of THC. Those who grew it did not care how little CBD was in it. They just wanted it to be ‘strong’.

Capping THC levels and mandating minimum CBD levels would greatly reduce the risk to mental health. This can only be done if the product is legal and regulated.

The belief that cannabis consumption can be suppressed through prohibition has been tested to destruction. Canada and a growing number of US states have successfully legalised the product. Now it is our turn.

Are cannabinoids the new wave for treating human diseases?

By Eric A. Adams

While many of the stigmas and steadfast opinions against marijuana use have begun to dissolve, the U.S. government still currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a category for substances with high potential for abuse and no accepted medical purpose. This must now be revisited in light of the recent FDA approval of Epidiolex™, a cannabis-derived drug for the treatment of seizures in a subset of patients suffering from severe epilepsy, along with growing data demonstrating the potential medical benefits of cannabinoid-based drug treatments for other serious unmet medical needs. 

It is worth remembering that natural products have historically led to essential drugs, such as digitalis (Linoxen™, among others) from the foxglove plant for treating congestive heart failure and heart rhythm problems, and paclitaxel (Taxol™) from the bark of Pacific yew trees to treat cancer.

Marijuana’s classification as a “Schedule 1” substance makes it very difficult for research organisations to conduct the high-quality, well-controlled preclinical and clinical research in the US required to receive FDA approval.  This research would provide necessary clarity on the benefits of cannabinoids – the active molecules of the cannabis plant – for doctors and patients. 

The Drug Enforcement Agency’s pending rescheduling of cannabidiol (CBD, the active cannabinoid in Epidioloex™) based on the FDA’s conclusion that the drug does not have a high potential for abuse and does have medical benefits in epileptic patients, is a critical step in validating the therapeutic potential of this class of compounds and enabling future research into varied uses cannabinoids in a wide array of diseases. 

Recent preclinical and clinical investigations into the effectiveness of cannabinoids in treating different diseases have yielded findings that indicate that cannabinoids have significant potential in many medical conditions.

The World Health Organization has stated that CBD, for example, can be utilised as an effective treatment for illnesses including cancer. Cannabinoids have been shown to be effective in managing symptoms such as loss of appetite and pain in cancer patients and even slowing the growth of tumours. Data demonstrating the effects of cannabinoids continues to emerge, benefitting those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, epilepsy, rare skin diseases, eye disorders and more.

While CBD has been the focus of much of the research, there are many other under-investigated cannabinoids. Scientists have so far identified more than 100 of them, and early research shows that some of them may also have significant medical benefits.

Preliminary findings on cannabinoids indicate that more research into their capabilities to treat or manage various diseases is urgently needed.  Rescheduling of these non-psychoactive compounds by the DEA will be key to opening the doors to significantly more research in the US.  

The scheduling of marijuana and all of its non-psychoactive cannabinoids is even more curious when considering the scheduling of other drugs. Cocaine and methamphetamine, for example, are currently Schedule 2 drugs, indicating that they have more medical benefits than cannabinoids.  Prominent opioids including oxycodone and fentanyl are also Schedule 2 drugs. Needless to say, these drugs come with the dangerous potential for addiction and overdose. 

Opioids are at the heart of an epidemic currently gripping the US and can be much more detrimental to a patient than cannabinoid-based drugs in development, especially those that do not contain the psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). 

As public opinion on opioid treatments has soured, many have begun to look towards cannabis as an alternative for pain management. Interestingly, while there is still a lack of concrete research on its efficacy, in states where marijuana has been legalised, the number of opioid prescriptions have decreased, indicating that access to legal cannabis is enough to convince some people to move away from seeking opioids for pain management.

Currently, the US drives 90% of global cannabis sales but that number is expected to drop significantly to 57% by 2021 as other nations accelerate their efforts. The rescheduling of Marijuana (or, more accurately, cannabinoids) will be one of the elements that impacts this number as pharmaceutical and biotech companies continue to conduct research outside of the US to develop life-saving drugs. Rescheduling cannabinoids would have a positive impact on the US economy and medical community, as it would allow more companies and universities to more easily conduct research and clinical trials within the country. Presently, most clinical trials for cannabinoids are conducted in Australia, Europe, Canada and Israel.  

The scheduling of cannabinoid compounds in the US has high potential for abuse and no accepted medical purpose lags the emerging understanding of the medical benefits of this class of compounds.

This has its genesis from a time when marijuana was demonised as a ‘gateway drug’ before any research was done into its medical potential. Until this changes, the necessary research into the medical applications of cannabinoids will be conducted abroad in jurisdictions that are open to exploring the true medical potential of cannabinoids.

Bill Would Protect Jobs of Federal Employees Using Marijuana

Ian Smith



Federal employees in certain states would legally be allowed to use marijuana without risking termination from their jobs if a new bill were to become law.

 

Marijuana is currently illegal at the federal level which means that any federal employees using it are subject to termination, even if they work or reside in a state in which it is legal. The Fairness in Federal Drug Testing Under State Laws Act (H.R. 6589), introduced by Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL) and co-sponsored by Congressman Drew Ferguson (R-GA), would change that. 

 

According to Marijuana Moment, the bill would bar the government from denying employment or making federal employees “subject to any other adverse personnel action” if they had a positive drug test and lived in a state where it was legal.

The bill contains a couple of exceptions, however. One is if there was “probable cause to believe that the individual is under the influence of marijuana” in the workplace. Another is for federal employees applying for or holding positions involving “top secret clearance or access to a highly sensitive program.”

Marijuana Use and States’ Rights

A growing number of states have made marijuana legal, either for recreational and/or personal use. Marijuana is legal for recreational use in the District of Columbia, home to many federal agencies and their employees.

The map below shows the states where marijuana is and is not legal as of July 1, 2018.

Map and data courtesy of Statista

Because it remains illegal at the federal level, it makes marijuana a tricky issue. Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department allowed states to make and enforce their own laws for marijuana, however, earlier this year, the Justice Department under the Trump administration announced that it was reversing this decision and directed all U.S. attorneys to “enforce the laws enacted by Congress and to follow well-established principles when pursuing prosecutions related to marijuana activities.”

There has been some effort in Congress to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level amid the growing number of states that have legalized it in some form.

Last month Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act (S. 3174) which would remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances at the federal level. It has not advanced beyond introduction as of the time of this writing.

Until any definitive legislation is passed, the bottom line is that it remains illegal for federal employees to use marijuana and could subject them to disciplinary action.

'It’s Like Medicine For Me' - Marijuana Lifer Moe Foley Talks Anxiety, Prison & Legalization

By Jericho Knopp

All Moe Foley wants is to find a nice girl, settle down, have a kid, and have a normal family.

His desires are simple, but similar to so many people around the world.

The trouble is that Foley has no idea how to talk to women anymore. He’s paralyzed by fear, assuming that saying anything will get him in trouble and send him back to prison, the one place he never wants to go back to.

He spent 15 years in prison for selling marijuana, slightly over half of his original 27 and a half year sentence. The full charge was conspiracy to distribute 700 to 1000 kilos of marijuana. They added on five years for owning a gun that was locked in a safe.

He fought to have his sentence reduced while he was in prison, and was finally released on July 20, 2017. Unfortunately, the experience still haunts him.

Marijuana for anxiety
Foley started smoking marijuana at a young age. He carried with him some residual trauma from an abusive childhood, and that brought anxiety issues with it. When he realized that smoking weed helped, he never turned back.

"It’s always been my thing," he said. "It calms me down, keeps the anxiety down. It’s the only thing that makes me feel better."

His dalliances with marijuana got him in trouble with the law, and he moved to Los Angeles and assumed a new name to try to stay ahead of them. He had a brother there that helped him get settled.

At first, he tried to live life by the books, looking for work in restaurants, where he had experience.

But he quickly realized that it was almost impossible to get a job, and when he did, it was equally hard to support a life in LA making minimum wage.

When he realized how cheap it was to buy marijuana in bulk, and how much he could sell it for back home in Pennsylvania, he started driving pounds of the stuff back and forth.

"There was no violence involved," he said. "It wasn’t like the Mexican cartels killing people and all that, they were my friends, I knew them all my life."

But someone told on him, and then the cops found 75 kilos of marijuana in his garage, and the whole thing came crashing down. People testified against him to reduce their own sentences, and he ended up with a 27 and a half year sentence.

Betrayal and acceptance
"I was really upset about it," Foley said of when he found out what his sentence was. "It’s not just doing the time, it’s how the whole thing went down, you know? I couldn’t say nothing."

Once he was in prison, all his former friends abandoned him, leaving his dad as his only outside connection.

He did his best inside, but prison really took a toll on his mental health. He didn’t have access to his self-prescribed medication, and he was bunking with some really violent people.

"I was in jails where I saw three or four people get killed," he said. "People getting beat down, two to three on one almost every day. All kinds of stuff."

He says he couldn’t get involved in any of the stuff he saw, because if he tried to help someone, he’d get jumped himself. He joined the white gang, not because he wanted to, but because he didn’t really have a choice.

"It’s just constant nonsense watching your back, constantly having to worry about who’s trying to get who," he said. "All those problematic people in that one place, there’s a lot of gossip, like middle school or something, but they’re violent people."

Even throughout that, he did his best to stay positive. He enrolled in every program the prison had to offer, and he attended college through correspondence, eventually earning 32 credits with a 4.0 GPA before running out of money to finish his diploma.

"I assess everybody for a threat"
During his time, he worked to challenge his sentence and get it reduced. His big break came when he was put before a new judge, one who was much more reasonable, in Foley’s mind, than the one he had at first.

He fought a number of his prior convictions that raised his sentence, and ended up with 180 months, which he’d already served.

But once he was out, Foley was completely overwhelmed. He didn’t know how to use new technology like smartphones, or how to apply for a job online.

"I’m a smart guy and I’m competent and responsible and all that, but my mind is just not functioning right," he said. "It’s getting better now, but some situations I don’t know what to do, it’s weird."

When he goes into Walmart or somewhere, he says, he’s in full alert mode. He’s constantly looking at people’s hands, assuming that they’re out to get him. Do they have a knife. Are they coming for him?

"I assess everybody for a threat," he said. "I don’t know if it’s PTSD or what, but I just automatically assume somebody’s trying to get me."

His parole officer has been helpful, setting him up with mental health counselling, but the one major condition of his release is that he’s not allowed the one drug he’s found that works for him: marijuana.

Now he’s looking to both settle down, and advocate for those still in prison on cannabis related charges.

"I just had de facto life. [Others] have real life, you know? They’re never getting out," he said.

"And I tell people and they still don’t believe me. Like for weed? What? Did anybody get killed?"

Trinidad government softens marijuana stance

Bert Wilkinson

Two weeks ago, Caribbean Community leaders meeting in Jamaica held extensive discussions on how the region should deal with the unrelenting pressure from civil society and law enforcement to amend laws that still imprison thousands of people each year for possessing small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

The discussion followed the tabling of an extensive study that governments themselves had commissioned to look at the issue, given changing attitudes and approaches to marijuana use around the world.

One of the key recommendations of the report had suggested that laws be amended to allow authorities to treat marijuana in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, rather than as an outright criminal drug with mandatory prison time and fines.

For many governments, the report gave them something to work with and appears to have bought time for some cabinets that were feeling the pressure from many to make a final decision on how to deal with the marijuana issue.

In the past week for example, Prime Minister Keith Rowley of Trinidad said his government would set up a special committee to look at the issue once and for all in the wake of stepped up campaigns from civil society groups for authorities to act quickly.

Rowley had said earlier in July that the marijuana issue was of low priority on the list of serious problems facing the island, including violent crime and the need to turn around the economy. But he appears to have completely softened his government’s stance in the past few days, telling The Guardian newspaper that a multiagency meeting under the aegis of Attorney General Faris Al Rawi will be convened to deal with it.

The prime minister had taken some flak for his earlier remarks about marijuana being low priority, but his critics appear to be happier now that meetings are being organized.

“It not being a priority, given all that we are grappling with now, does not mean that it cannot be dealt with,” he said. “I will put a government team in place to open a simple straightforward dialogue in the country, and after we inform a wider national community, we will then take a policy position and act upon it. There is no need to fight over it. There is a need to talk about it. We will do that engaging all the inputs from all quarters. Many lives are affected and/or influenced by it, so we will make provisions to engage it going forward.”

As all sides prepare for the series of meetings, the Caribbean Collective for Justice handed the prime minister a petition with 10,000 signatures and demands for major reforms on the approach to marijuana by government and law enforcement.

One request was for the suspension of arrests for possession of small amounts immediately and for the health ministry to allow sick patients to access cannabis for medical purposes.

“We hope that you will see the extraordinary opportunities that legalization of cannabis offer in terms reducing crime, saving police time and resources and the creation of jobs for our people,” the request stated.

So far, Jamaica, Belize and Antigua have already moved to legalize small amounts of the drug.

Antigua has gone so far to even allow each family to legally cultivate up to four plants for personal use and will wipe away convictions for locals who were jailed over the decades.

Most Americans think marijuana is beneficial. But science says not so fast

By Payton Guion

As marijuana becomes more accepted across the country, a new study has found that Americans' perception of marijuana outpaces the science on the subject.

More than three out of four Americans, 81 percent, believe that marijuana has at least one benefit, while only 17 percent of U.S. adults think it has no benefit whatsoever, according to a study published earlier this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Most adults believe in the benefits of marijuana, despite what the study calls "insufficient" studies and data related to the specific and long-term health benefits of the substance.

The study found that 65.7 percent of U.S. adults think marijuana helps with pain management, despite a lack of clear supporting evidence.

"Several recent systematic reviews found insufficient evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for treating musculoskeletal pain and low-strength evidence that marijuana use is effective in managing neuropathic pain," the study's authors wrote. Cannabinoids are the chemical compounds found in marijuana.

This is not the first recent study to raise questions over whether marijuana is effective at treating pain.

The Lancet, a prominent medical journal, recently published one of the largest and longest studies ever undertaken on medical marijuana. It tracked some 1,500 participants over four years and found that patients who used cannabis reported more severe pain than people who did not.

These studies come as New Jersey is in the midst of a massive medical marijuana expansion, largely on the back of the state adding chronic pain as a condition accepted by the program. New Jersey has added 10,000 patients to the medical marijuana program since Gov. Phil Murphy took office. More than 4,000 of those patients have some form of chronic pain.


"We should be cautious that we don't offer patients false hope," state Sen. Joseph Vitale, the prime sponsor of a bill aimed at broadly expanding access to medical cannabis, told NJ Cannabis Insider. "Cannabis isn't a magic elixir. We obviously need more studies like this."

While Americans do largely believe that marijuana has some benefits, they also are aware of its risks.

The study published this week found that 91 percent of U.S. adults believe marijuana has at least one risk. The two most common risks cited were legal problems -- 51.8 percent recognized this as a risk -- while 50 percent said they saw addiction to marijuana as a risk.

A risk that isn't widely understood by researchers is the long-term health consequences of marijuana use.

"Data are insufficient regarding how daily marijuana use might affect long-term physical health, including the effects of frequent of heavy use on cardiovascular outcomes, obstructive lung disease, pulmonary function and cancer," authors wrote.

The study was conducted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 9, 2017, and used an online survey of a randomly selected, representative sample of 9,003 adults across the country. 

Legal Marijuana: UK Approves Cannabis for Medical Use

By Jason Lemon

Specialist doctors in the United Kingdom will be allowed to legally prescribe medicinal cannabis starting later this year, after the British government announced relaxed laws surrounding the plant on Thursday.

Revealing the legal changes, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said patients with drug-resistant conditions will be allowed treatment with cannabis-derived medicinal products, revealing that the drug would be reclassified from schedule one to schedule two, The Guardian reported.

As is the case with the U.S. federal government, the British government previously classified marijuana and its derivatives alongside heroin and LSD. The new classification in the U.K. recognizes that cannabis has medicinal value in some instances.

 
British Home Secretary Sajid Javid arrives in Downing Street to attend cabinet, in Westminster London, on July 17. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo 

Citing recent cases involving sick children, Javid said that the government’s previous “position on cannabis-related medicinal products was not satisfactory,” according to the British newspaper.

“This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need,” the secretary said, but insisted that the decision in “no way” should be seen as “a first step” toward legal recreational marijuana.

Many campaigners and activists welcomed the government’s decision.

Dr. Tom Freeman, a senior academic fellow at King's College London, told the BBC that the decision would have a "substantial impact on research by facilitating the development of safer and more effective medicines.”

 
Marijuana products are seen for sale at the Perennial Holistic Wellness Center which is a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, California on March 24, 2017 MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images 
 
Former Justice Minister Sir Mike Penning also welcomed the announcement, but pointed out that there are still many unanswered questions the government must address about rescheduling cannabis.

"Any move to restrict medical cannabis in the UK to a very narrow range of derived products, each requiring full pharmaceutical trials, thereby blocking out the many products available overseas, will lead to great disappointment and be a missed opportunity,” Penning told the British broadcaster.

Javid’s decision followed a high-profile campaign surrounding the case of a 13-year-old boy named Billy Caldwell. The young boy has a rare form of epilepsy and was granted a special license to use medical marijuana, which helps him control his seizures, by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health earlier this month.

 
Billy Caldwell and his mother Charlotte pictured as they return to Belfast on July 5 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Billy Caldwell, who is severely epileptic, had been receiving treatment in London for his condition and had been denied the use of cannabis oil. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images 
 
“For the first time in months I’m almost lost for words, other than ‘thank-you Sajid Javid,’” Caldwell’s mother Charlotte said, according to The Independent, pointing out that the news came on her son’s 13th birthday. “Never has Billy received a better birthday present, and never from somebody so unexpected,” she said.

Despite the landmark decision, using or selling cannabis for recreational use will remain a serious criminal offense in the country. Possession of the plant and its derivatives will continue to carry an unlimited fine as well as up to five years in jail, according to the British news site. Dealers will face up to 14 years in prison. 

'Is marijuana a gateway drug?': What teens want to know about cannabis and legalization

Two Edmonton-area teens brought their burning questions to an RCMP officer

Andrea Ross · CBC News


As politicians and business executives iron out the details of cannabis legalization, Rhiannon Thomas and Katrina Peters just want to know if smoking pot will give you cancer.

The teens will be going into Grade 9 this fall. They already know a thing or two about cannabis — which they'd rather call marijuana. But they suspect there's a lot more that adults haven't told them.

"They always want to sugarcoat it and they don't want it to seem really bad when you're a child," said Peters, 14.

"I feel like we're not seeing the whole picture."

Peters is worried about what could happen if pets ingest it. Thomas, 13, isn't sure why it's even being legalized in the first place. Neither of them plan on trying cannabis anytime soon, but they're still curious what it feels like to be high.

CBC took their questions to RCMP Const. Neil Muz, a school resource officer who oversees 16 schools in the Leduc area. He has taught the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program for more than 13 years. The program teaches Grade 6 students in some Alberta schools about the dangers of drugs, alcohol and tobacco use.

Muz gets a lot of questions about cannabis and other drugs, and he says none are too silly.
His answers to the girls' questions have been edited for length and clarity. 

Rhiannon Thomas, 13, and Katrina Peters, 14 say they want adults to be honest with them when they ask questions about cannabis. (CBC)

 

Is marijuana a gateway drug?
"A lot of time people do start with either smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, and usually marijuana would be the next one. I've seen people that are using the harder stuff like cocaine or methamphetamines, and I've talked to them and they always say they smoked marijuana, they started with that. I've also seen people that started with the harder stuff as well."

What does it feel like?
"I have never smoked marijuana [and] never will, so I have no clue what it feels like. I hear it's just a high. They say it's almost like being intoxicated, you feel like you're mellow, laid back, you could get dizzy and stuff like that especially for the first few times you try it. But it's a feeling I don't want to experience."

What does it smell like?
"It's got that skunky, yucky smell. It's a very sharp smell. You'll know it if you smell it."

Can it give you cancer?
"Cannabis can still have the same effects as cigarettes and tobacco. The more you use it, the higher chance you could get cancer or other diseases from that."

It is addictive?
"It can be addictive. But usually no."

Can you overdose on marijuana?
"You would have to smoke or take in a crazy amount of marijuana. It's almost impossible to overdose on marijuana."

Can cannabis change your appearance?
"If they're impaired and their eyes are getting glassy and they're falling over, your appearance is going to look like you're intoxicated or impaired or high. So in that way, yes, but as far as your skin and stuff, no."

Is it more dangerous to drive drunk or drive high, and what is the fine?
"If you're impaired and it's affecting your driving, it would be the exact same. Impairment means you have no more control over yourself. Your brain is not acting the way it should be so your motor skills are no longer capable of reacting the way they should be when you're sober. 

"It is a $1,000 fine for the first offence. It all depends on … [how] high how you are as well. So there's ways that the police can determine the level by blood work or roadside screening devices which are coming into play hopefully soon. There also could be jail time as well."

What the difference between cannabis and hemp, and THC and CBD?
"THC would get a person high. The higher the THC level or percentage, then the more impaired or high you're going to be. CBD does not show any signs that it would make a person high, it actually could lower and block the THC level in the marijuana.

"Hemp [has] ... a very low percentage of THC in there where it wouldn't get the person high. It won't get you high like marijuana would."

What kinds of people consume or smoke cannabis?
"There are no particular types. Anybody can smoke marijuana. You can't tell who smokes marijuana just by looking at a person. It can be anybody out there, your next door neighbour, your friends. It's not specific just to one type of person."

What do you do if you're babysitting and a kid or pet finds cannabis and eats it? 
"I would definitely call first of all the parents and 911. It's just like kids taking a prescription drug, you don't know how it's going to affect [them.] It's best to get the emergency there. Not saying that they're going to die or anything, I don't know that. But I would definitely call 911 just to be on the safe side.

"If a pet would use it, they would have probably the same reaction if they were drinking some alcohol. They would show signs that they're impaired too. It would affect their brain just the same as it would a human."

What happens if a kid is caught smoking pot at school?
"You can be charged ... there'll be some fines. What I think is going to happen is it's going to be treated just like alcohol. If you're caught drinking alcohol or consuming and you're undeage, there's fines that you'll be facing. If you're doing it at school, you can get suspended or even expelled, depending what's going on. You can miss out on school as well."

How do you stop kids from smoking marijuana?
"Education. Keep telling them and showing them what the effects that marijuana or cannabis can have on your brain or body. Give them the choices. Show them the facts, don't lie to them, tell them what the facts are, and hopefully they can make the right choices."

Const. Neil Muz gets a lot of questions from kids about cannabis and other drugs. (CBC)

Talking to your kids about cannabis

Muz says students have asked him how many times he's arrested someone for cannabis possession and what was his biggest seizure ever. (Imagine a five gallon pail — he said he's seen eight of them filled with cannabis.)

But the toughest question he gets from kids is: 'Why do people use cannabis?'

Muz says despite legalization, he will continue to teach the DARE curriculum as it is and answer questions as they come, to the best of his ability. He says it's important to be completely honest and open with kids about cannabis and other drugs.

Kids should keep the questions coming, he said.

"Don't be afraid to ask any questions," he said.

"Your parents can definitely look it up if you don't have the answers, I know I do sometimes.

Many US Adults View Marijuana Use Positively

A total of 81% believe marijuana has at least 1 benefit; 91% believe it has at least 1 risk.

HealthDay News

Most US adults believe that marijuana has at least one benefit, according to a study published online July 24 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Salomeh Keyhani, MD, MPH, from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a probability-based online survey involving 16,280 U.S. adults to examine their views on the risks and benefits of marijuana use. 

Overall, 55.3% of participants responded. The researchers found that 14.6% of U.S. adults reported using marijuana in the past year. About 81 and 17% of US adults believe that marijuana has at least 1 benefit and has no benefit, respectively. Pain management was cited as the most common benefit (66%), followed by treatment of diseases, including epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, and relief from anxiety, stress, and depression (48 and 47%, respectively). About 91 and 9% of U.S. adults believe that marijuana has at least one or no risks, respectively. The most common risks identified were legal problems, addiction, and impaired memory (51.8, 50, and 42%, respectively). Overall, 29.2% of US adults agreed that smoking marijuana prevents health problems. About 18 and 7.6% believe that exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke is somewhat or completely safe for adults and children, respectively; 7.3% believe marijuana use is somewhat or completely safe during pregnancy.

"Americans' view of marijuana use is more favorable than existing evidence supports," the authors write.

Federal Report On Marijuana Legalization Required Under New Bill

Tom Angell

What is the impact of marijuana legalization in states that have adopted it? That's what the proponents of a newly filed U.S. House bill are hoping to find out.

Photo by Tom Sydow Photo by Tom Sydow

The Marijuana Data Collection Act, introduced on Tuesday by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and a bipartisan group of cosponsors, would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to partner with other federal and state government agencies to study "the effects of State legalized marijuana programs on the economy, public health, criminal justice and employment."

"For decades, bad data and misinformation have fueled the failed war on drugs that's wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, incarcerating Americans for nonviolent marijuana charges," Gabbard said in House floor speech previewing the bill on Monday evening. "Our outdated marijuana policies have turned  everyday Americans into criminals, strained our criminal justice system, cost taxpayers tremendously and torn families apart."

"Our federal policies should be based on actual science and fact, not misplaced stigma and outdate myths."

If the legislation is enacted, the National Academy of Sciences would carry out the research and publish initial findings within 18 months, with follow-up reports to be issued every two years after that.

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So far, the bill's backers seem to consist solely of those who support marijuana law reform, a situation that legalization advocates decried.

“This is not a marijuana bill, it is an information bill," Justin Strekal, political director for NORML, said in an interview. "No member of Congress can intellectually justify opposition to this legislation. Our public policy needs to be based on sound data and science, not gut feelings or fear-mongering.

Approving the Marijuana Data Collection Act would provide legislators with reliable and fact-based information to help them decide what direction is most beneficial to society when it comes to marijuana policy.”

Leading prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana did not respond to a request for comment about its position on the legislation.

Gabbard held a Tuesday morning press conference with other supporters, including lead GOP cosponsor Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) and former U.S. Attorneys Barry Grissom of Kansas and Bill Nettles of South Carolina.

Other original cosponsors of the bill include Reps. Don Young (R-AK), Darren Soto (D-FL), Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Dina Titus (D-NV), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Tom Garrett (R-VA), Lou Correa (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Salud Carbajal (D-CA).

Here are the specific data points the bill directs federal officials to track:

REVENUES AND STATE ALLOCATIONS

The monetary amounts generated through revenues, taxes, and any other financial benefits. The purposes and relative amounts for which these funds were used. The total impact on the State and its budget.

MEDICINAL USE OF MARIJUANA

The rates of medicinal use among different population groups, including children, the elderly, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. The purpose of such use. Which medical conditions medical marijuana is most frequently purchased and used for.

SUBSTANCE USE

The rates of overdoses with opioids and other painkillers. The rates of admission in health care facilities, emergency rooms, and volunteer treatment facilities related to overdoses with opioids and other painkillers. The rates of opioid-related and other painkiller-related crimes to one’s self and to the community. The rates of opioid prescriptions and other pain killers.

IMPACTS ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The rates of marijuana-related arrests for possession, cultivation, and distribution, and of these arrests, the percentages that involved a secondary charge unrelated to marijuana possession, cultivation, or distribution, including the rates of such arrests on the Federal level, including the number of Federal prisoners so arrested, disaggregated by sex, age, race, and ethnicity of the prisoners; and the rates of such arrests on the State level, including the number of State prisoners so arrested, disaggregated by sex, age, race, and ethnicity. The rates of arrests and citations on the Federal and State levels related to teenage use of marijuana. The rates of arrests on the Federal and State levels for unlawful driving under the influence of a substance, and the rates of such arrests involving marijuana. The rates of marijuana-related prosecutions, court filings, and imprisonments. The total monetary amounts expended for marijuana-related enforcement, arrests, court filings and proceedings, and imprisonment before and after legalization, including Federal expenditures disaggregated according to whether the laws being enforced were Federal or State. The total number and rate of defendants in Federal criminal prosecutions asserting as a defense that their conduct was in compliance with applicable State law legalizing marijuana usage, and the effects of such assertions.

EMPLOYMENT
The amount of jobs created in each State, differentiating between direct and indirect employment. The amount of jobs expected to be created in the next 5 years, and in the next 10 years, as a result of the State’s marijuana industry.