Surgeon General: Weed Legaliz Massive Public Health Experiment’

'We don't know what we don't know'

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Charles Fain Lehman

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams called the spread of state marijuana legalization "a massive public health experiment on our citizenry."

Appearing before a hearing of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control on Wednesday, Adams emphasized that legalization has proceeded without adequate scientific evidence. He said state lawmakers have rushed to enter the lucrative drug market despite the fact that many people do not fully understand the risks associated with marijuana use. He highlighted the risks of marijuana use by teenagers, pregnant women, and recent mothers—all of which, he said, remain chronically under-discussed in spite of their support in the scientific literature.

"No amount of marijuana use during pregnancy or adolescence is known to be safe," Adams said. "Therefore communities must consider and should not minimize the short and long-term public health impacts of marijuana use."

Adams pointed to research showing that chronic adolescent marijuana use is associated with depressed IQ, as well as changes in areas of the brain associated with attention, memory, decision-making, and motivation—changes which do not abate even after a month of abstinence. He also noted that scientific evidence suggests that marijuana use by pregnant women is a major risk factor for pre-term birth, which is in turn linked to a host of future health problems.

Adams's concerns were echoed by fellow panelist Dr. Nora Volkow, who has led the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) since 2003. She said the endocannabinoid system, which marijuana stimulates, "plays a critical role in helping to orchestrate brain development." Volkow, who is known for her pioneering research using MRI technology to study drug use and addiction, said drug use hinders this brain development.

"Exposure to marijuana during early development can impact the function of the brain later in life," she said.

Adams and Volkow both expressed concerns that the wave of marijuana legalization sweeping the United States is proceeding without an adequate public understanding of these risk factors, or adequate scientific understanding of marijuana in general.

A recent study from Denver Health, for example, found that 70 percent of dispensaries would recommend that pregnant women use marijuana to control morning sickness, in spite of the known risks to fetal health. And, according to Adams, only a third of adolescents said they believe weekly marijuana use is harmful, in spite of the evidence of its effects on the developing brain.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) drew an analogy between marijuana's rapid spread and the rise of cigarettes, which also became massively popular before comprehensive studies of their long-term risks had been conducted.

"As the surgeon general, I want every policy decision to be infused with as much science as possible, and you are correct, we've seen this play before," Adams said. "We've seen it with a number of substances," including cocaine, opioids, and cigarettes.

Both Adams and Volkow emphasized the need for substantially more research, especially in light of the changing shape of marijuana consumption. In particular, rising THC concentrations and proliferating varieties have left organizations like NIDA struggling to keep up. Volkow noted that "with the use of marijuana at very high content…we are finding negative medical effects that we did not know existed." She pointed to the rise of hyperemesis: THC-induced continual vomiting that was not discovered until 2006.

"We don't know what we don't know," Adams said. "So we don't want to conduct this experiment on our citizenry, and that's adults and young people."

The hearing was headed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Cornyn, likely in line with the latter's stated desire for hearings on marijuana's legal status before proceeding with other federal marijuana-related legislation.

Loosening marijuana laws remains popular among the public. On Wednesday, Gallup announced that public support for legalizing marijuana remained steady in 2019, with two-thirds of Americans in favor. Legalization is a key feature of almost every 2020 Democrat's platform, in spite of the concerns raised by Adams, Volkow, and others.

Senate Marijuana Hearing Highlights How Schedule I Status Blocks Research

By Tom Angell

A major focus of a U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing on the health impacts of marijuana turned out to be how cannabis’s current federal classification makes it harder for researchers to shed light on those effects.

The Wednesday event—titled “Marijuana and America’s Health: Questions and Issues for Policy Makers”—featured testimony from Surgeon General Jerome Adams and National Institute On Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow.

Panel co-chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has long opposed broad marijuana reform but acknowledged in her opening remarks that the substance is “much more complex than I thought” and revealed that she has personally witnessed the medical benefits of cannabis for people dealing with chemotherapy.

“I know that for a fact from family issues,” she said.

And while she expressed serious concerns during the hearing about marijuana’s potentially harmful effects, particularly on young people, she also said that the drug’s current restrictive status under the Controlled Substances Act impedes scientific studies.

“Much of what we know about marijuana is anecdotal,” she said, which is “problematic for us in terms of making policy.”

“That’s due in part to the fact that marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug makes it difficult to research,” the senator added, pointing to legislation she has filed that would lift some barriers to investigations. “It’s my belief that science should inform our policy.”

Co-chair Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) suggested that he’s open to working with across-the-aisle colleague on the legislation, but also voiced concerns about legalization.

“We lack definitive evidence on the short- and long-term health implications of marijuana use,” he said. “There seems to be a lot of folk myths and other idiosyncratic ideas that really haven’t gone through the sort of peer review that most scientific evidence has to go through in order to be accepted by policymakers.”

Watch the Senate marijuana hearing below:

Volkow laid out a number of concerns about marijuana’s impact but also testified that its Schedule I status impedes and slows down research.

“DEA registration can take, if you’re lucky, one year to obtain,” she said. “That delays the process enormously.”

She also criticized the fact that there is currently only one legal source in the U.S. for scientists to obtain cannabis to use in studies. “The process is very slow” to get marijuana from the facility, which is at the University of Mississippi.

Another problem she pointed out is that researchers cannot legally study the cannabis products that consumers in a growing number of states are actually purchasing from licensed retailers.

“We are interested in understanding what people are taking out there,” she said. “We cannot fund research that relates to products that are actually being bought through these dispensaries because it’s illegal.”

Adams, who in August issued a warning the public about marijuana use by adolescents and pregnant women, said during his testimony that legalization is a “poorly-informed national public health experiment” but agreed that “we need to make it easier to do research.”

Cornyn compared claims about cannabis’s medical benefits to decades-old ads about tobacco, saying that there are “some parallels perhaps here in the way we are wading into this debate.”

Adams agreed. “We’ve seen this play before,” he said. “Many of the indications people are using marijuana for are unproven. We are overstating the benefits and in my view we are downplaying the risks.”

In a Senate floor speech on Tuesday in which he previewed the hearing, the senator made similar remarks.

“There’s no shortage of people who claim that marijuana has endless health benefits and can help patients struggling from everything from epilepsy to anxiety to cancer treatments,” he said.

“This reminds me of some of the advertising we saw from the tobacco industry years ago where they actually claimed public health benefits from smoking tobacco, which we know as a matter of fact were false and that tobacco contains nicotine, an addictive drug, and is implicated with cancers of different kinds.”

In August, Cornyn said that he wanted to hold a hearing focused on cannabis’s health effects before the Senate moves to consider a proposal to allow state-legal businesses to access banking services.

A bill to do so passed the House of Representatives last month and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) says he’d like to advance similar legislation by the end of the year, though he has indicated he wants some changes to the version approved by the other chamber.

Feinstein cosponsored a bill to let states set their own cannabis laws without federal interference during the course of her reelection campaign last year, but has not yet signed onto a new version filed in the current Congress.

A second panel at the hearing featured Robert Fitzgerald of the University of California at San Diego, Staci Gruber of Harvard Medical School, Sean Hennessy of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Madeline Meier of Arizona State University.

Cornyn—who at one point revealed he has a friend who feeds his dogs CBD-infused food—said that the caucus may issue a white paper based on what was discussed at the hearing.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) made a brief appearance and mentioned the need to improve military veterans’ access to medical cannabis.

“In too many cases they’re becoming addicted to medications prescribed to them,” she said. “They have given so much to their country.”
 

COLUMN: A Desperate Plea for Marijuana

By AllOnGeorgia

 

The following article is an opinion piece that reflects the views of only the author and not those of AllOnGeorgia.

By: Katie Wiggins – 17 year old resident of Chickamauga, Georgia. Wiggins is homeschooled and a member of the National Honors Society. In her free time, she loves to write, volunteer, and paint. She will be studying business and English in college – and hopes to attend Tennessee Tech. She is currently writing a fantasy series that she hopes to have published one day.
 

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, has been used across the world for over 2,000 years. Enjoyed by Chinese Emperor Shen Nung in 2727 B.C. and presidents like George W bush, Barrack Obama, and Bill Clinton alike, the cannabis plant has been used for medicinal purposes and rituals. Cannabis was introduced to America sometime in the 1500’s, with evidence of hemp farms in Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Allegedly, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington had their slaves grow hemp on their plantations.

If the first united states president enjoyed the non-psychoactive part of marijuana, why was it made illegal? In the late 19^th century, marijuana was commonly associated with Hispanics, as the Spanish brought the plant to America. As racial tensions heightened, non-Hispanics dubbed cannabis – now commonly referred to as ‘marijuana’ due to the association of Hispanics and cannabis – as a violent drug that turned its users into violent murderers and scum of the earth. Non-Hispanics also claimed that Hispanics were giving marijuana to schoolchildren to insight riots and bloodlust.

Harry Anslinger, who helped make it illegal and served on the board of narcotics for Pennsylvania, stated that “There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing result from marijuana use.

This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others”. In 1937, Anslinger got his way; marijuana was made illegal. The first arrest was October of 1937 of 58-year-old Samuel Caldwell — a farmer caught smoking cannabis – on the very same day marijuana was made illegal. It would not be the last.

As of 2019, this racial stigma is still glued to marijuana use. In 2016 alone there were over 600,000 marijuana related arrests in America – half of them being people of color. There has been no proof that marijuana will turn a person violent like alcohol, cocaine, or LSD may. And yet, we still consider marijuana to be a schedule 1 drug, which was enforced by Nixon. There is over 200,000 strains of marijuana, and none have been proven to induce violence or severe health effects. According to The Guardian, a study has reported that people who take marijuana medically are actually inclined to less violence to themselves and other.

According to Investopedia, marijuana legalization brings in a giant boost to the economies in legalized states. In 2015, Colorado collected more than $135 million in taxes and fees on medical and recreational marijuana. Sales in the state totaled over $996 million. Investopedia also states that $58 million is added to the local economy, meaning we can use this money to improve on our communities at home, let alone the rest of the country. It is estimated that the economy will grow $20 billion in marijuana sales alone. Cannabis analytics company New Frontier suggests that federally legal pot could generate an additional $131.8 billion by 2025 if marijuana is legalized federally. It is also suggested Nevada will grow 41,000 jobs by 2024, generating $3.5 billion more in income.

While 65% of Americans want weed legalized, our concerns are still about the children smoking. You must be 21 to buy recreational pot, and 18 to apply for a medical marijuana card. Each person who buys must have their identification check – mirroring how to buy beer (minus the medical card).

In states that legalized recreational pot, teen marijuana use dropped 8% according to JAMA pediatrics. In states with medical marijuana laws in place, teen marijuana use declined by 1.1% . Having dispensaries that require checking identification makes it much harder for teens to obtain marijuana. “…it is more difficult for teenagers to obtain marijuana as drug dealers are replaced by licensed dispensaries that require proof of age.”, Us News reports about the findings of JAMA.

Legalizing marijuana also reduces drug trafficking. ”… the rate of seizures by Border Patrol declined 78 percent, from 114 pounds per agent in FY 2013 to 25 pounds per agent in FY 2018.” Cato Institute reported, following six states legalizing marijuana. Cato states “…legal marijuana is also more uniform and of much higher quality than the illegal Mexican product.” As of 2010, Mexican marijuana accounted for 2/3rds of marijuana in the united states. Illegal marijuana from the black market “has been fully absorbed into the regulated market”, meaning the black market cannot thrive against dispensaries in legalized states.

3.4 million people in America have epilepsy, 1.7 million have cancer, 8 million have PTSD, 10 million have fibromyalgia, and 50 million have some form of chronic pain. There are over 325 million people in America, and health coverage is not a right. By legalizing marijuana, we can help over one third of Americans treat their pain while simultaneously growing our economies and giving people more jobs. We no longer live in the age of ignorance where people didn’t know what marijuana was and feared it.

We know the health benefits, the benefits to our economy, and the demand is the highest it’s been in American history.

'Six plants per household': How Thailand is moving faster on marijuana laws than M'sia

 

 

Rahmat Haron

 

Court cases linked to medical marijuana have highlighted the gap between policy statements over the decriminalisation of drug use in Malaysia and the lack of legislative action.

Less than a year after neighbouring Thailand legalised the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and research, a party in its ruling coalition last month reportedly proposed a draft law that would allow Thais to grow six cannabis plants at home.

In Malaysia, Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad meanwhile announced in June that the government plans to work towards removing criminal penalties for the personal possession and use of drugs.

This followed his statement on March 27, when he told Parliament that his ministry had considered giving space to medical marijuana in clinical research – not in terms of planting and cultivation, but for the purposes of treatment, medication and health....

Commission co-chair envisions marijuana industry like Jamaica

Royston Jones Jr.

Marijuana commission to submit final report in early November

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — While the Bahamas National Commission on Marijuana has not yet taken a definitive stance on marijuana use in The Bahamas, its recommendations will give the government options for various regulated models, according to commission co-chair Quinn McCartney.

McCartney projected The Bahamas could see some form of regulation, not dissimilar to Jamaica’s heavily regulated model, within a short period of time.

“It is something that can be implemented, once it is properly organized and the right resources are invested,” McCartney said.

“I think it’s something that could be doable in a short period of time.”

Marijuana commission co-chair Quinn McCartney

Commission members recently travelled to Jamaica where they met with representatives from the Cannabis Licensing Authority, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Industry.

“What we found in Jamaica is that it is a heavily regulated jurisdiction in terms of this whole issue of cannabis and their leaning is strictly towards medical and therapeutic use,” McCartney told Eyewitness News Online. 

“There is no recreational use per say in Jamaica. They are very strict as to using marijuana in public. While their law allows persons to grow a certain number of plants in private — in their homes, in their private property — it is not an open jurisdiction where persons can freely trade and purchase marijuana. 

“Those people who may get access to it is usually for medical or therapeutic purposes, but in a very, very controlled environment. That was a very interesting concept that we found, but their law is very detailed, [and very] specific in terms of what can and cannot happen. And let me just say that based on what we have seen, it is probably a good starting foundation to look at this whole issue in The Bahamas.”

When asked if the commission has made specific recommendations for The Bahamas to proceed with marijuana, McCartney said: “We may not come down on the side specifically of any particular recommendation, but we certainly will be looking the pros and cons of any decision that we make.

The commission has not at this point taken a stand of any one issue and said we are for or against any particular issue, but I think it’s safe to say we are going to be guided by what’s happening in other countries.”

The commission expects to submit its recommendations to the government in early November.

It was expected to handover its finding in April, but received an extension to October 31.

The report is expected to address the medical, industrial, economic, religious and ceremonial, and recreational use of cannabis, as well as research and development – codifying Bahamian attitudes on plant use.

The commission’s recommendations will be tabled and discussed in Parliament. 

McCartney said the best decision must be made in the interest of The Bahamas and all Bahamians.

McCartney and commission co-chair Bishop Simeon Hall met with the government last Thursday. 

As a result of that meeting, the commission was assured additional resources to assist in finalizing its report.

“Realistically, I don’t think we will finish for October 31 as we had originally intended,” he said. 

“We are trying to have something to the minister in early November. We have made some adjustment as of last week Thursday. We are going to get some support in the secretariat and that support should then assist us in putting together a report in early November.”

Asked when the commission expects its findings and recommendations to be made available to the public, McCartney said the timeline is at the discretion of the minister, but he believes it could be released soon after Cabinet reviews the report.

“I can’t speak for the minister obviously, but I think that as soon as he gets the report and his Cabinet colleagues have sight of it, I don’t suspect it would take a long time before it can be released to the public to make them aware of what’s in the report,” he said.

Heavily regulated

The global market of cannabis is estimated to be worth $50 million within the next decade.

Jamaica has capitalized on the industry with local farmers cultivating approximately 15,000 hectares of cannabis per year, according to the United States State Department.

Jamaican farmers (photo courtesy of Jamaica Information Service)

The Bahamas’ neighbor decriminalized marijuana in 2015.

Through continued changes it to its legal framework, Jamaica has since allowed its citizens to group up to five cannabis plants. The possession of two ounces or less has been re-classed as a petty offense. The government has also granted licenses to farmers to grow cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.

The country made its first legal export of extracted cannabis oil to Canada in 2018.

It is now engaging stakeholders over draft regulations to govern the export of commercial-scale medical cannabis, a process that could be completed before the end of the year.

The issue of whether marijuana should be decriminalized in the region was on CARICOM’s agenda.

Since its formation last August, the Bahamas National Commission of Marijuana held a series of town meetings, stakeholders meetings and solicited feedback from the public in other online forums.

Australians don’t want the new ACT cannabis law overturned

By Roy Morgan


A special Roy Morgan online survey shows more than three-fifths of Australians (62%) don’t want the Federal Government to overturn the new ACT law decriminalising cannabis for personal use, which is set to come into effect in 2020. This is well over double the percentage who says they do want the Federal Government to step in (27%), while 11% can’t say either way.

Clear majorities of all age groups are against the Federal Government stepping in and overturning the law, led by 66% of 35-49 year olds and 63% of 14-24 year olds. The smallest majority is in the 65 and over age-group, but even here 58% do not want the law overturned.

These are the latest findings from a special Roy Morgan online survey conducted with a representative cross-section of 1,054 Australians aged 14+ in mid-October. People surveyed were asked: “Are you aware the ACT recently passed laws to legalise the possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis?” Respondents were then asked: “The new law in the ACT conflicts with Commonwealth laws prohibiting the possession of cannabis. Do you believe the Federal Government should step in and overturn the ACT’s new law that legalises the possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis?”

“Despite new research from Roy Morgan revealing 49% of Australians oppose the legalisation of marijuana, compared to 42% in favour, a clear majority don’t want the Federal Government to overturn the ACT’s new cannabis laws” says Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine. “As well as reflecting changing community attitudes to the drug, this result shows Australians are hesitant about Federal Government intervention in the affairs of other jurisdictions such as the ACT. There is precedent here which respondents may or may not be aware of. Although the Northern Territory legalised euthanasia in 1996, the newly elected Howard Government intervened to overturn the law the following year.”

Should the Federal Government step in and overturn the ACT’s new cannabis law?

Source: Roy Morgan online survey, October 9-14, 2019, n=1,054. Base: Australians aged 14+.

An overwhelming majority of 85% of Australians are aware of the new cannabis law passed by the ACT legislature, with only 15% not aware. There was little difference on views of Federal Government action to overturn the law between those aware of the new law and those not aware.

Among those aware of the new law, just over a quarter (26%) want the Federal Government to step in and overturn it while 29% of those previously unaware want Federal Government intervention.

Move carefully on path to legal marijuana in New York State

The Editorial Board

Police need the ability to test erratic drivers for driving while impaired, and a full-scale public campaign must tell people not to do so.

In 1977, New York adopted a law to decriminalize the private possession of less than 25 grams, or just under an ounce, of marijuana. While scientists were still uncertain about the health effects of the drug, lawmakers believed prosecuting widespread and victimless behavior made little sense. Unfortunately, the change didn’t work so well.

At that time, the percentage of adult New Yorkers who had tried marijuana doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent just between 1973 and 1976, and there were fewer than 200 people in jail for marijuana convictions. But the fines were actually quite high for that era: $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense and $250 (that’s about $1,100 in 2019 money), or 15 days in jail for a third.

Blacks, Latinos arrested at high rates

In the past 20 years, those fines, often levied on those who could not pay, led to arrest warrants. For those without means, those arrests morphed into criminal records. And a loophole in the 1977 law continued to make marijuana possessed in public view a crime. Starting in 1999, this led to arrests of tens of thousands of people a year, mostly minorities, when police began charging suspects with having the drug in public view after forcing them to turn out their pockets during a stop. More than 800,000 people were charged with possession of small amounts of pot over the past 20 years.

About 80 percent of those were black or Latino, even though approximately the same percentage of whites use the drug, because that’s who police stopped and questioned at unfairly high rates.

These convictions have cost people military careers, jobs, housing and student loans, making it ever more difficult for people of color to create successful, stable lives.

Now the state is trying again. A new law signed Monday decriminalizes possession of less than 2 ounces and makes the fine for carrying less than 1 ounce $50. The law also creates a process for expunging past misdemeanor marijuana convictions that could erase the New York State criminal records of more than 24,000 people and seal or expunge more than 200,000 convictions.

That’s wise and more just. But it should not be the last step. Allowing the commercial sale and use of marijuana did not pass largely because Long Island’s state senators opposed the uncertainty it might bring about. But passage is inevitable, and the focus must be on writing a safe law. Medical marijuana was legalized in New York in 2014, and we have been told for decades that studies about its efficacy and safety were forthcoming. But we still lack most of those answers.

Lots of work to do before legalization

Police need the ability to test erratic drivers for driving while impaired, and a full-scale public campaign must tell people not to do so. We need a tax and sales structure that doesn’t reward just a few big companies. We need clear regulations for the rights of employees and employers when someone is stoned while on the job. And we need to keep fighting and treating addictive drug use that occurs whether drugs are allowed or banned.

It’s a shame that New York’s initial efforts to decriminalize marijuana moved so slowly and led to terrible outcomes for minority youth. Now it will be to our advantage to proceed slowly with full legalization. It’s worth the time to get it right.