Pot adverts contravene Criminal Code, foes say
LETTER TO OTTAWA: Group says false advertising threat to safety
GORDON McINTYRE , The Province, 14 May 2015
Pamela McColl thinks she’s found a way to nail the scores of marijuana dispensaries that have opened in Vancouver, if only she could find an agency to go along.
The issue is a hot potato, with regulatory bodies, federal departments, police forces and city halls only too happy to pass it along.
Health Canada made it clear to The Province earlier this week that such dispensaries are illegal under the Food and Drugs Act, as is their advertising on radio and in print.
But Health Canada said it can only enforce advertising rules, not shut down the dispensaries.
“(But) I was told by Health Canada they do not look after illegal operations, only the licensees,” McColl said.
In frustration, McColl, a director with Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada, has turned to federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay, whose department oversees the Competition Bureau.
“It is our organization’s view that recent advertising of illegal marijuana retail operations have been running in Vancouver newspapers and radio stations contravening Canada’s Criminal Code, under which advertising regulations are governed,” she wrote MacKay.
By law, only licensed industrial growers — there are six in B.C. — can sell medicinal marijuana, and promotion of their products is strictly limited to name, strength and price.
Yet mosey into many street-front dispensaries and you’d be informed cannabis can apparently heal more ills than snake oil and echinacea combined.
“Claims are being made in regards to marijuana as a medicine that cannot be substantiated and which amount to false, misleading and deceptive advertising,” McColl said. “Such advertising and claims pose a serious threat to public safety.”
With marijuana retail stores popping up like Starbucks coffee houses, McColl said there are now 91 dispensaries in Vancouver.
There are many concerns, not the least being the lack of child-proofing pot packages and marketing pot to teens, as some tobacco companies have done, she said.
“And our concern is, if selling marijuana becomes normal and commercial, Big Pot would get control, just like Big Tobacco. If the big guys get in, we’ll never get rid of them.”
12.5.15
Galore of harms of pot
‘Medicinal’ pot shops multiply in Vancouver despite health concerns
MARK HUME, The Globe and Mail, May. 03 2015
The effectiveness of marijuana in suppressing chronic pain, reducing nausea in chemotherapy patients and controlling muscle spasms, among other things, has allowed proponents to label the narcotic as a medicine.
That branding is now paying dividends for drug retailers in Vancouver, where a growing number of pot shops are opening, billing themselves as “medical marijuana dispensaries.”
But marijuana is not a medicine, it is not approved by Health Canada and the way research is trending, it will never get that coveted designation.
Across Canada, doctors may prescribe it for cancer patients and others with pain when conventional therapeutic options fail. But medical professional organizations such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. are struggling with how to regulate it, because doctors know that marijuana use comes with health risks.
While medical professionals are carefully reflecting on the health implications of more liberal marijuana laws, however, dope retail stores are opening up in Vancouver like saloons in a gold-rush town. A few months ago there were 20; now there are more than 80.
The City of Vancouver is about to hold public hearings into the regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries, but Mayor Gregor Robertson makes it sound as though the big concern is just coming up with a new class of business licence to control where the outlets are located.
“As a city, we just can’t let these shops be everywhere all over town,” he said recently. “And certainly we don’t want them close to schools.”
No, we certainly don’t, and here’s why: Medical research is increasingly indicating marijuana use can be damaging to your health, especially if you are young.
A study published April 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that even moderate use of marijuana can lead to changes in the brain. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds.
“The nucleus accumbens – a brain region known to be involved in reward processing – was larger and altered in its shape and structure in the marijuana users compared [with] non-users,” EurekAlert!, an online science news service, reported in describing the study.
In 2013, Northwestern Medicine published a study in Schizophrenia Bulletin stating that teens who were heavy marijuana users (smoking daily for three years) showed brain abnormalities in which structures related to memory shrank and collapsed.
A 2009 study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that being a marijuana smoker was associated with a 70-per-cent increased risk of testicular cancer and “the elevated risk … was associated with marijuana use prior to age 18.” It was suspected that boys who smoked during puberty were especially at risk.
In April, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reported that marijuana use was associated with “cardiovascular complications” among young and middle-aged adults in France. We’re talking here about 34-year-olds having heart attacks.
“The general public thinks marijuana is harmless, but information revealing the potential health dangers of marijuana use needs to be disseminated to the public, policymakers and health-care providers,” Dr. Emilie Jouanjus, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
In 2009, the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology published a study that said marijuana smoke caused more damage to cells and DNA than tobacco smoke. And last November, preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions stated that breathing second-hand marijuana smoke can be just as damaging to your heart and blood vessels as second-hand cigarette smoke.
Marijuana has beneficial uses, as patients who use it to treat chronic pain can attest, but there are big health risks, too, and that fact shouldn’t be obscured by a storefront sign that claims a drug shop is a medical dispensary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/medicinal-pot-shops-multiply-in-vancouver-despite-health-concerns/article24235255/
MARK HUME, The Globe and Mail, May. 03 2015
The effectiveness of marijuana in suppressing chronic pain, reducing nausea in chemotherapy patients and controlling muscle spasms, among other things, has allowed proponents to label the narcotic as a medicine.
That branding is now paying dividends for drug retailers in Vancouver, where a growing number of pot shops are opening, billing themselves as “medical marijuana dispensaries.”
But marijuana is not a medicine, it is not approved by Health Canada and the way research is trending, it will never get that coveted designation.
Across Canada, doctors may prescribe it for cancer patients and others with pain when conventional therapeutic options fail. But medical professional organizations such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. are struggling with how to regulate it, because doctors know that marijuana use comes with health risks.
While medical professionals are carefully reflecting on the health implications of more liberal marijuana laws, however, dope retail stores are opening up in Vancouver like saloons in a gold-rush town. A few months ago there were 20; now there are more than 80.
The City of Vancouver is about to hold public hearings into the regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries, but Mayor Gregor Robertson makes it sound as though the big concern is just coming up with a new class of business licence to control where the outlets are located.
“As a city, we just can’t let these shops be everywhere all over town,” he said recently. “And certainly we don’t want them close to schools.”
No, we certainly don’t, and here’s why: Medical research is increasingly indicating marijuana use can be damaging to your health, especially if you are young.
A study published April 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests that even moderate use of marijuana can lead to changes in the brain. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brains of 18- to 25-year-olds.
“The nucleus accumbens – a brain region known to be involved in reward processing – was larger and altered in its shape and structure in the marijuana users compared [with] non-users,” EurekAlert!, an online science news service, reported in describing the study.
In 2013, Northwestern Medicine published a study in Schizophrenia Bulletin stating that teens who were heavy marijuana users (smoking daily for three years) showed brain abnormalities in which structures related to memory shrank and collapsed.
A 2009 study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that being a marijuana smoker was associated with a 70-per-cent increased risk of testicular cancer and “the elevated risk … was associated with marijuana use prior to age 18.” It was suspected that boys who smoked during puberty were especially at risk.
In April, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association reported that marijuana use was associated with “cardiovascular complications” among young and middle-aged adults in France. We’re talking here about 34-year-olds having heart attacks.
“The general public thinks marijuana is harmless, but information revealing the potential health dangers of marijuana use needs to be disseminated to the public, policymakers and health-care providers,” Dr. Emilie Jouanjus, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
In 2009, the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology published a study that said marijuana smoke caused more damage to cells and DNA than tobacco smoke. And last November, preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions stated that breathing second-hand marijuana smoke can be just as damaging to your heart and blood vessels as second-hand cigarette smoke.
Marijuana has beneficial uses, as patients who use it to treat chronic pain can attest, but there are big health risks, too, and that fact shouldn’t be obscured by a storefront sign that claims a drug shop is a medical dispensary.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/medicinal-pot-shops-multiply-in-vancouver-despite-health-concerns/article24235255/
23.4.15
Pot smokers more prone to false memories: Study
By Brooks Hays | April 21, 2015, UPI.com
BARCELONA, Spain, April 21 (UPI) -- Stoners don't make for good eye witnesses. According to new research, their accounts are more likely to be plagued by false memories.
Previous research has shown that long-term cannabis use can impair a person's short- and long-term memory. But the latest study -- published in the Journal of Molecular Biology -- proves pot smokers are more likely to supplement their faulty memory with false ones. Researchers proved as much using word games to test smokers' memory skills.
Study participants were first shown lists of words and asked to memorize them. After a few minutes, the participants were shown the original words, as well as new words (some semantically related, others not), and asked to identify which belonged to the original list.Chronic cannabis users were more likely than their pot-free peers to falsely identify semantically related new words as belonging to the original list.
Researchers also coupled their semantic word quiz with real-time brain scans. The imaging showed weed smokers had lower levels of activation in portions of the brain linked to memory and recall.
"These findings indicate that cannabis users have an increased susceptibility to memory distortions even when abstinent and drug-free, suggesting a long-lasting compromise of memory and cognitive control mechanisms involved in reality monitoring," researchers wrote in their newly published paper.
A study published earlier this year by researchers at Northwestern Medicine showed adults who had smoked weed regularly in their teens were more likely to have abnormal hippocampus and exhibit memory problems.
"The memory processes that appear to be affected by cannabis are ones that we use every day to solve common problems and to sustain our relationships with friends and family," said Dr. John Csernansky, a behavioral scientist at Northwestern.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/04/21/Marijuana-smokers-more-prone-to-false-memories/5091429636241/
21.4.15
Teens who smoke pot early and often risk lowering their IQs, Substance Abuse Centre says
Elizabeth Payne, Postmedia News | April 20, 2015
Teens who start smoking marijuana early and do so frequently risk lowering their IQ scores, according to research from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, which found evidence that early and frequent cannabis use can alter the structure of the developing brain.
The research, part of a larger study due out in June, was released Monday — on April 20 — a day that has become a counterculture holiday to celebrate marijuana, as part of a bid to raise awareness about the negative effects of marijuana use among adolescents.
In past years, thousands of people, the majority teenagers and young adults, have flocked to Parliament Hill on April 20 to smoke marijuana. Similar rallies take place around the world.
While use of marijuana among Canadian teens and adults has decreased in recent years, it remains the most commonly used illegal drug among Canadian youth — at about three times the rate of adults. And Canadian youth are the top users of cannabis in the developed world, according to a 2013 UNICEF report......click "Read More" below to continue.....
Teens who start smoking marijuana early and do so frequently risk lowering their IQ scores, according to research from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, which found evidence that early and frequent cannabis use can alter the structure of the developing brain.
The research, part of a larger study due out in June, was released Monday — on April 20 — a day that has become a counterculture holiday to celebrate marijuana, as part of a bid to raise awareness about the negative effects of marijuana use among adolescents.
In past years, thousands of people, the majority teenagers and young adults, have flocked to Parliament Hill on April 20 to smoke marijuana. Similar rallies take place around the world.
While use of marijuana among Canadian teens and adults has decreased in recent years, it remains the most commonly used illegal drug among Canadian youth — at about three times the rate of adults. And Canadian youth are the top users of cannabis in the developed world, according to a 2013 UNICEF report......click "Read More" below to continue.....
14.4.15
Medical marijuana dispensaries lull teens, parents into thinking it’s harmless, say expert
By Erin Ellis, Vancouver Sun, April 13, 2015
Medical marijuana shops popping up all over Metro Vancouver are giving parents and their children the wrong impression about weed, says an addictions specialist.
“Using the term ‘medical’ is giving a false impression to people — parents and kids,” says Dr. Siavash Jafari, who works out of several Vancouver Coastal Health clinics in Vancouver and also the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction.
“To say ‘medical’ means it is supported by the medical community. It is not. That’s a misconception among the public.” he says.
“Parents feel that it’s not dangerous so they don’t talk to their kids about it.”
The scientific evidence is simply not there for most health claims made by dispensaries, he says, with the exception of its use for patients in palliative care.
Jafari says he routinely talks to patients with health problems who don’t even think to mention how much marijuana they smoke — or how often — because they have been convinced that it’s a natural, harmless herb.
“They don’t even consider the health issues. It affects them from brain to toe.”
Far less addictive than heroin or tobacco, notes Jafari, studies show 10 per cent of people who use it regularly will become dependent on it. Problems increase with the amount consumed over time, he added, with little risk to someone who smokes weed once or twice a year, for instance.
Confusion over what’s safe and what’s not is the topic of a public forum being held Tuesday for parents and teenagers. It is sponsored by the Vancouver school board, Vancouver Coastal Health and SACY, the school board’s substance use prevention initiative.
The forum was prompted by the lack of information for parents and because one of the largest celebrations of cannabis culture in North America takes place outside the Vancouver Art Gallery every April 20: the 4/20 “smoke out.”
Panelist Joy Johnson, vice-president of research at Simon Fraser University, says teenagers want to hear factual information about marijuana but often have a hard time finding it. First off, it’s still illegal — a fact that gets lost as dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened across the city in the last year.
“I’ll be frank, we’ve lost our credibility because young people go home and see their parents smoking it,” says Johnson.
The ‘just-say-no’ approach doesn’t work, she says, and should be replaced with a rational conversation about the effect cannabis can have on the human brain, which continues to develop into the early 20s.
“We’ve had pretty good public health messaging in terms of alcohol consumption. We tell kids not to drink and drive, to not binge drink, to watch the amount they’re drinking. I don’t think we’ve had very good messaging about marijuana, in part because we don’t have a lot of great evidence. But one of the things we do know is that you should delay use because of brain development.”
A study by researchers from Harvard Medical School published this month concluded that participants who started smoking marijuana regularly before the age of 16 had lower scores on a test used to determine brain damage than subjects who started later and people who had never smoked.
Teens and Cannabis, a free public forum, will be held Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. in the auditorium of Vancouver Technical Secondary School at 2600 East Broadway.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Medical+marijuana+dispensaries+lull+teens+parents+into+thinking+harmless+experts/10966443/story.html
Related topic...
The over-selling of ‘medical’ marijuana
Medical marijuana shops popping up all over Metro Vancouver are giving parents and their children the wrong impression about weed, says an addictions specialist.
![[Image]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWCWiMmAGuqxXZYLXigSjKMjEPyvELQvnWKyx18ySo_pdseIJWG7uZRtIZeL0MOfI6YGk7lZw4Ji-xY8Ur4KexHmL1LxSYho8tPTl5AAnvlx1XpuqtXeeLngKk5B94dGBUrzsDNJPRZNk/s1600/10966444.jpg) |
| Photo by: Mark van Manen |
“Parents feel that it’s not dangerous so they don’t talk to their kids about it.”
The scientific evidence is simply not there for most health claims made by dispensaries, he says, with the exception of its use for patients in palliative care.
Jafari says he routinely talks to patients with health problems who don’t even think to mention how much marijuana they smoke — or how often — because they have been convinced that it’s a natural, harmless herb.
“They don’t even consider the health issues. It affects them from brain to toe.”
Far less addictive than heroin or tobacco, notes Jafari, studies show 10 per cent of people who use it regularly will become dependent on it. Problems increase with the amount consumed over time, he added, with little risk to someone who smokes weed once or twice a year, for instance.
Confusion over what’s safe and what’s not is the topic of a public forum being held Tuesday for parents and teenagers. It is sponsored by the Vancouver school board, Vancouver Coastal Health and SACY, the school board’s substance use prevention initiative.
The forum was prompted by the lack of information for parents and because one of the largest celebrations of cannabis culture in North America takes place outside the Vancouver Art Gallery every April 20: the 4/20 “smoke out.”
Panelist Joy Johnson, vice-president of research at Simon Fraser University, says teenagers want to hear factual information about marijuana but often have a hard time finding it. First off, it’s still illegal — a fact that gets lost as dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries have opened across the city in the last year.
“I’ll be frank, we’ve lost our credibility because young people go home and see their parents smoking it,” says Johnson.
The ‘just-say-no’ approach doesn’t work, she says, and should be replaced with a rational conversation about the effect cannabis can have on the human brain, which continues to develop into the early 20s.
“We’ve had pretty good public health messaging in terms of alcohol consumption. We tell kids not to drink and drive, to not binge drink, to watch the amount they’re drinking. I don’t think we’ve had very good messaging about marijuana, in part because we don’t have a lot of great evidence. But one of the things we do know is that you should delay use because of brain development.”
A study by researchers from Harvard Medical School published this month concluded that participants who started smoking marijuana regularly before the age of 16 had lower scores on a test used to determine brain damage than subjects who started later and people who had never smoked.
Teens and Cannabis, a free public forum, will be held Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. in the auditorium of Vancouver Technical Secondary School at 2600 East Broadway.
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Medical+marijuana+dispensaries+lull+teens+parents+into+thinking+harmless+experts/10966443/story.html
Related topic...
The over-selling of ‘medical’ marijuana
School's principal office fears to offend potheads
Surrey student says anti-pot T-shirt got him and two others hauled into vice-principal’s office
By Cassidy Olivier, The Province, April 14, 2015
High school student Connor Fesenmaier says he’s unsure why school administrators at Surrey’s Princess Margaret secondary asked him to consider removing the anti-pot T-shirt he wore to classes on Monday, given the anti-drug message the school preaches.
The 18-year-old, his twin brother Duncan and a friend wore shirts featuring a crossed-out marijuana leaf to promote their opposition to the legalization and overall use of pot. The teens are involved in Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada, a non-profit group focused on the science of marijuana use, he explained.
Fesenmaier said they were individually pulled into the vice-principal’s office as soon as they entered the school Monday morning.
Each was told to consider removing or covering up the shirts because the message could be confusing to the younger students, said Fesenmaier.
“I completely disagree with that,” Fesenmaier told the Province.
“I have not had a single person misinterpret it yet. Either someone is giving me a hate stare, because they are against me supporting (the anti-legalization movement) or they pat me on the back. I’ve never seen anyone not know that the anti-symbol is.”
Fesenmaier said all three declined the request, at which point they were allowed to leave and return to classes unpunished.
Doug Strachan, spokesman for the Surrey School District, described the conversation with the students as “mature.”
“The fundamental principle is that there was no ban,” Strachan said.
“It certainly appears with the amount of media calls and some distribution of statement that the shirts were banned, that there certainly was a desire to get media attention for something.”
Fesenmaier has been involved with the anti-pot movement for several years. He said he’s particularly troubled by the “whole medical marijuana aspect” of the debate, as it creates the “illusion” that pot is a medicine, not an illegal drug.
He plans on protesting next week’s so-called annual 4/20 “smoke out” at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
“It’s only damaged the whole outlook on how kids look at marijuana,” he said. “They tend to use it and say ‘Hey man, it’s only medicine, what’s the worst it can do?’
“And that is a terrible thing for a kid to be confused with.”
The teen said he remains confused by the school’s request.
“I see kids walking around the school with marijuana paraphernalia,” he said
“Shirts with marijuana leaves on them, backpacks with marijuana leaves on them, cellphone cases with marijuana leaves on them.
“And I’ve never seen those kids have their items confiscated or asked to remove or replace them with something else.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/Surrey+student+says+anti+shirt+others+hauled+into+vice+principal+office/10968458/story.html
By Cassidy Olivier, The Province, April 14, 2015
Fesenmaier said they were individually pulled into the vice-principal’s office as soon as they entered the school Monday morning.
Each was told to consider removing or covering up the shirts because the message could be confusing to the younger students, said Fesenmaier.
“I completely disagree with that,” Fesenmaier told the Province.
“I have not had a single person misinterpret it yet. Either someone is giving me a hate stare, because they are against me supporting (the anti-legalization movement) or they pat me on the back. I’ve never seen anyone not know that the anti-symbol is.”
Fesenmaier said all three declined the request, at which point they were allowed to leave and return to classes unpunished.
Doug Strachan, spokesman for the Surrey School District, described the conversation with the students as “mature.”
“The fundamental principle is that there was no ban,” Strachan said.
“It certainly appears with the amount of media calls and some distribution of statement that the shirts were banned, that there certainly was a desire to get media attention for something.”
Fesenmaier has been involved with the anti-pot movement for several years. He said he’s particularly troubled by the “whole medical marijuana aspect” of the debate, as it creates the “illusion” that pot is a medicine, not an illegal drug.
He plans on protesting next week’s so-called annual 4/20 “smoke out” at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
“It’s only damaged the whole outlook on how kids look at marijuana,” he said. “They tend to use it and say ‘Hey man, it’s only medicine, what’s the worst it can do?’
“And that is a terrible thing for a kid to be confused with.”
The teen said he remains confused by the school’s request.
“I see kids walking around the school with marijuana paraphernalia,” he said
“Shirts with marijuana leaves on them, backpacks with marijuana leaves on them, cellphone cases with marijuana leaves on them.
“And I’ve never seen those kids have their items confiscated or asked to remove or replace them with something else.”
http://www.vancouversun.com/Surrey+student+says+anti+shirt+others+hauled+into+vice+principal+office/10968458/story.html
Wild claims from "medical marijuana" dispensaries
The over-selling of ‘medical’ marijuana
Feb.3, 2015. • Section: The Search / VANCOUVER SUN STAFF BLOGS - VANCOUVER SUN COMMUNITY BLOGS
(One of the more creative signs raises high expectations outside a "medicinal dispensary" at Broadway near Alma, which calls itself the Cannabis Cellar. Just don't mention studies pointing to addiction and lower IQs.)
Even though researchers have found benefits to marijuana use for some ailments, Metro Vancouver’s 60 new marijuana outlets are making exaggerated, to put it politely, claims about the medicinal value of their pot, which a strong story in The Vancouver Sun shows is often obtained illegally.
The Metro Vancouver medical marijuana scene is becoming surreal — with dispensary signs suggesting pot can cure, heal or otherwise be the salvation of people struggling with everything from cancer to psoriasis, anxiety to multiple sclerosis, chronic pain to depression. ....click "Read More" below to continue....
Feb.3, 2015. • Section: The Search / VANCOUVER SUN STAFF BLOGS - VANCOUVER SUN COMMUNITY BLOGS
(One of the more creative signs raises high expectations outside a "medicinal dispensary" at Broadway near Alma, which calls itself the Cannabis Cellar. Just don't mention studies pointing to addiction and lower IQs.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Metro Vancouver medical marijuana scene is becoming surreal — with dispensary signs suggesting pot can cure, heal or otherwise be the salvation of people struggling with everything from cancer to psoriasis, anxiety to multiple sclerosis, chronic pain to depression. ....click "Read More" below to continue....
5.4.15
Decline of America: legalizing drug addiction and mental harms for revenues
Hash explosions prompt proposed changes in legal pot states
By KRISTEN WYATT and GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Alarmed by a rash of explosions and injuries caused when amateurs make hash, lawmakers in Colorado and Washington are considering spelling out what's allowed when it comes to making the concentrated marijuana at home.
The proposals came after an increase in home fires and blasts linked to homemade hash, concentrated marijuana that can be inhaled or eaten.
In Colorado, at least 30 people were injured last year in 32 butane explosions involving hash oil — nearly three times the number reported throughout 2013, according to officials with the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a state-federal enforcement program......click "Read More" below to continue.....
By KRISTEN WYATT and GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Alarmed by a rash of explosions and injuries caused when amateurs make hash, lawmakers in Colorado and Washington are considering spelling out what's allowed when it comes to making the concentrated marijuana at home.
The proposals came after an increase in home fires and blasts linked to homemade hash, concentrated marijuana that can be inhaled or eaten.
In Colorado, at least 30 people were injured last year in 32 butane explosions involving hash oil — nearly three times the number reported throughout 2013, according to officials with the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a state-federal enforcement program......click "Read More" below to continue.....
1.4.15
Pot joins alcohol on the roads
More B.C. drivers using pot
1 Apr 2015, 24 Hours Vancouver
Research finds more drivers are under the influence of cannabis on B.C. roads
More B.C. drivers are behind the wheel while under the influence of cannabis. Anarticle in the April issue of the BC Medical Journal points to a recently-released 2012 study that found cannabis in 5.4% of drivers, compared to 4.6% in 2008.
Even in 2008, an article in the journal stated, “The rate of cannabis use in B.C. drivers is particularly high.”
Research of injured drivers from the BC Trauma Centre found “12.6% of (injured) drivers tested positive for cannabis metabolites, and 7.3% were positive for THC, indicating recent use.” They also found, “Cannabis was more common in males and in drivers younger than 30 years of age.” A limousine driver was at Vancouver City Hall Tuesday morning, appealing a decision to have his permit revoked after a police officer found cannabis in the limo and determined hewas too impaired to operate the vehicle. The driver, Mohammed Samrat Showkat, was pulled over after officers alleged the vehicle was swerving, speeding and changing lanes without signaling. The officer called as a witness testified that she saw and smelled cannabis in the limo and the drivers eyes had an “overall pink hue ... distinctive to marijuana.”
She said she then performed several tests to determine his level of intoxication. These included having him walk in a straight line while counting his steps.
“While he was counting, he became very confused,” she said, adding that he walked with his arms raised, “that appeared to be for balance.” She also tested his ability to track an object with his eyes and how long he could stand on one foot —“he put his foot down after count one,” she said.
The driver’s appeal was denied Tuesday afternoon.
Vancouver Police Chief Const. Jim Chu spoke out Tuesday about a November arrest, also involving an allegedly impaired driver, whichwas caught on video.
“Marijuana smoke billowing from the car made the cause of that impairment obvious,” he said. “In order to make the arrest, force became necessary when the person refused to exit the vehicle, which is understandable since he allegedly knew what would be found in his car if he did.”
The video, available on YouTube, has prompted criticism of the officer smashing the car window. Chu said the officer was “criticized for doing his job.”
Chuck Varabioff, director of the BC Pain Society — an illegal dispensary that sells marijuana for medical use — said there are some types of marijuana that are safe to use while driving.
“The only marijuana that would be completely safe to use while driving would be a CBD (Cannabidiol) strain without THC,” he said.
Since people metabolize drugs at more diverse rates than alcohol, there are no specified generic amounts for how much marijuana is safe to use before getting behind the wheel. According to the BC Medical Journal, “Cannabis slows reaction times, causes weaving, creates difficulty maintaining a constant speed, and predisposes to distraction,” and “Evidence suggests that acute cannabis use approximately doubles the risk of crashing.”
Doctors are recommending governments work together to establish better screening tools and improve legislation around drug-impaired drivers.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/03/31/pot-use-by-bc-drivers-on-the-rise
Related topic:
Pot-smoking drivers prompt warning from Vancouver ER doctor
1 Apr 2015, 24 Hours Vancouver
Research finds more drivers are under the influence of cannabis on B.C. roads
More B.C. drivers are behind the wheel while under the influence of cannabis. Anarticle in the April issue of the BC Medical Journal points to a recently-released 2012 study that found cannabis in 5.4% of drivers, compared to 4.6% in 2008.
Even in 2008, an article in the journal stated, “The rate of cannabis use in B.C. drivers is particularly high.”
Research of injured drivers from the BC Trauma Centre found “12.6% of (injured) drivers tested positive for cannabis metabolites, and 7.3% were positive for THC, indicating recent use.” They also found, “Cannabis was more common in males and in drivers younger than 30 years of age.” A limousine driver was at Vancouver City Hall Tuesday morning, appealing a decision to have his permit revoked after a police officer found cannabis in the limo and determined hewas too impaired to operate the vehicle. The driver, Mohammed Samrat Showkat, was pulled over after officers alleged the vehicle was swerving, speeding and changing lanes without signaling. The officer called as a witness testified that she saw and smelled cannabis in the limo and the drivers eyes had an “overall pink hue ... distinctive to marijuana.”She said she then performed several tests to determine his level of intoxication. These included having him walk in a straight line while counting his steps.
“While he was counting, he became very confused,” she said, adding that he walked with his arms raised, “that appeared to be for balance.” She also tested his ability to track an object with his eyes and how long he could stand on one foot —“he put his foot down after count one,” she said.
The driver’s appeal was denied Tuesday afternoon.
Vancouver Police Chief Const. Jim Chu spoke out Tuesday about a November arrest, also involving an allegedly impaired driver, whichwas caught on video.
“Marijuana smoke billowing from the car made the cause of that impairment obvious,” he said. “In order to make the arrest, force became necessary when the person refused to exit the vehicle, which is understandable since he allegedly knew what would be found in his car if he did.”
The video, available on YouTube, has prompted criticism of the officer smashing the car window. Chu said the officer was “criticized for doing his job.”
Chuck Varabioff, director of the BC Pain Society — an illegal dispensary that sells marijuana for medical use — said there are some types of marijuana that are safe to use while driving.
“The only marijuana that would be completely safe to use while driving would be a CBD (Cannabidiol) strain without THC,” he said.
Since people metabolize drugs at more diverse rates than alcohol, there are no specified generic amounts for how much marijuana is safe to use before getting behind the wheel. According to the BC Medical Journal, “Cannabis slows reaction times, causes weaving, creates difficulty maintaining a constant speed, and predisposes to distraction,” and “Evidence suggests that acute cannabis use approximately doubles the risk of crashing.”
Doctors are recommending governments work together to establish better screening tools and improve legislation around drug-impaired drivers.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/03/31/pot-use-by-bc-drivers-on-the-rise
Related topic:
Pot-smoking drivers prompt warning from Vancouver ER doctor
20.3.15
Stinking grow-ops are disruptive and troublesome to neighbors
Court ruling could send private marijuana grow-ops up in smoke
Dakshana Bascaramurty, The Globe and Mail, Mar. 17, 2015
There were days when David Kralik would arrive at his landscaping and snow-removal business in Mississauga and stay just a few minutes – the heady odour of marijuana from the grow-op next door was too powerful.
“You open the door to come in, go into my office, and I just sit down, fire up the computer and – ” He lets out an expletive. “And you just leave. It’s that bad.”
Mr. Kralik couldn’t call the police to complain about the grow-op, or another in the same building, because they’re both legal and under federal jurisdiction.
Across the country, the operators of private but legal medical marijuana grow-ops have drawn the ire of their neighbours. Mr. Kralik says he may have to move out if things don’t improve; others have complained that living or working next to a grow-op has negatively affected their business and property values.....click "Read More" below to continue...
Dakshana Bascaramurty, The Globe and Mail, Mar. 17, 2015
There were days when David Kralik would arrive at his landscaping and snow-removal business in Mississauga and stay just a few minutes – the heady odour of marijuana from the grow-op next door was too powerful.
“You open the door to come in, go into my office, and I just sit down, fire up the computer and – ” He lets out an expletive. “And you just leave. It’s that bad.”
Mr. Kralik couldn’t call the police to complain about the grow-op, or another in the same building, because they’re both legal and under federal jurisdiction.
Across the country, the operators of private but legal medical marijuana grow-ops have drawn the ire of their neighbours. Mr. Kralik says he may have to move out if things don’t improve; others have complained that living or working next to a grow-op has negatively affected their business and property values.....click "Read More" below to continue...
15.3.15
Teen pot smokers have poor long-term memory later on: Study
24 Hours Vancouver, 3 Mar 2015 -- QMI AGENCY
People who smoke lots of pot in their teens have poor long-term memory as adults, a new study suggests. Researchers from Northwestern University Chicago linked the poorin memory performance of who smoked marithose juana daily for about three years during their teens to an oddly shaped hippocampus, part of the brain responthe sible for memory.
The study found the longer a person smoked pot as a teen, the more abnormal that part of the brain was when they were an adult. “The memory processes that appear to be affected by cannabis are ones that we every day to solve comuse problems and to susmon tain our relationships with friends and family,” senior author Dr. John Csernansky said in a press release. The researchers found former marijuana smokers 18% worse on longscored term memory tests than those who never used the drug during their teens.
The study featured 97 participants, including a group who began smoking pot between 16 and 17 years old and did so for at least three years, as well people who never used marijuana, and schizophrenia sufferers who had smoked pot as teens and others who hadn’t.
At the time of the study, the former teen pot smokers hadn’t used it for about two years and were in their early 20s.
The participants took a memory test that involved listening to a series of stories for one minute. They were asked to remember as much as possible 20 to 30 minutes later. The study found young adults with schizophrenia who abused cannabis as teens performed about 26% worse on memory tests than adults with schizoyoung phrenia who never abused it.
The researchers said a longitudinal study is required definitively show if marito juana is responsible for the differences in the brain and memory.
"It is possible that the abnormal brain structures reveal a pre-existing vulnerreveal ability to marijuana abuse,” lead study author Matthew Smith said. “But evidence the longer the particithat were abusing marijuana, the greater the differences in hippocampus shape suggests marijuana may be the cause.”
The study was published Thursday in the journal Hippocampus .
— QMI AGENCY
Source: http://eedition.vancouver.24hrs.ca/epaper/viewer.aspx
Related topic:
Marijuana Re-Shapes Brains of Users, Study Claims
People who smoke lots of pot in their teens have poor long-term memory as adults, a new study suggests. Researchers from Northwestern University Chicago linked the poorin memory performance of who smoked marithose juana daily for about three years during their teens to an oddly shaped hippocampus, part of the brain responthe sible for memory.
The study found the longer a person smoked pot as a teen, the more abnormal that part of the brain was when they were an adult. “The memory processes that appear to be affected by cannabis are ones that we every day to solve comuse problems and to susmon tain our relationships with friends and family,” senior author Dr. John Csernansky said in a press release. The researchers found former marijuana smokers 18% worse on longscored term memory tests than those who never used the drug during their teens.
The study featured 97 participants, including a group who began smoking pot between 16 and 17 years old and did so for at least three years, as well people who never used marijuana, and schizophrenia sufferers who had smoked pot as teens and others who hadn’t.
At the time of the study, the former teen pot smokers hadn’t used it for about two years and were in their early 20s.
The participants took a memory test that involved listening to a series of stories for one minute. They were asked to remember as much as possible 20 to 30 minutes later. The study found young adults with schizophrenia who abused cannabis as teens performed about 26% worse on memory tests than adults with schizoyoung phrenia who never abused it.
The researchers said a longitudinal study is required definitively show if marito juana is responsible for the differences in the brain and memory.
"It is possible that the abnormal brain structures reveal a pre-existing vulnerreveal ability to marijuana abuse,” lead study author Matthew Smith said. “But evidence the longer the particithat were abusing marijuana, the greater the differences in hippocampus shape suggests marijuana may be the cause.”
The study was published Thursday in the journal Hippocampus .
— QMI AGENCY
Source: http://eedition.vancouver.24hrs.ca/epaper/viewer.aspx
Related topic:
Marijuana Re-Shapes Brains of Users, Study Claims
6.3.15
Pot still harmful as ever
[Although the following article is several years old, it's as relevant and truthful as ever, in light of Aaron Fernandez; Robert Durst; Eddie Routh (killer of "American Sniper"); Columbine killers; Florida cannibal; Rob Ford; Amanda Bynes; etc.]
What we know about marijuana
By The Ottawa Citizen, Margret Kopala, May 31, 2008
(First two paragraphs are non-essential and are skipped)
At least we know something about cannabis. In fact we know a lot. And now a paper published in Nature places the medicinal, the harmful and the recreational aspects of cannabis in a perspective that has implications for how we treat all addictive substances.
According to The Independent, research in the United Kingdom of an estimated 500,000 cannabis addicts shows some 26,000 sought treatment in 2006. Findings from Europe's largest psychiatric research facility, London University's Institute of Psychiatry, establish a clear connection between cannabis use and psychosis. Though no user is immune, vulnerable adolescents are at particular risk for developing schizophrenia, a progressively disabling form of psychosis producing hallucinations, delusions and bizarre behaviour, in young adulthood.
Research from the institute using MRI scans has demonstrated how two active ingredients in cannabis affect the brain. The first, called cannabidiol (CBD), relaxes it while the other creates temporary hallucinations and feelings of paranoia. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), we now know, switches off a regulator in the inferior frontal cortex by disrupting neuronal signalling.
"Cannabis, the mind and society: the hash realities" synthesizes these and other findings. Lead author and the Institute's authority on marijuana and psychosis, Robin M. Murray, confirmed to me by e-mail that it remains the most current on the subject.
It is also the most important. Not only does it provide much-needed perspective, it also demonstrates how, irrespective of the number of individual peer reviewed studies, each with inherent limitations, no full understanding of a subject is possible without the contextualization that meta-analyses and overviews provide. Health Canada's advisory committee on Insite, for instance, showed how such limitations produced a lukewarm endorsement.
If brain function is affected by CBD and THC, "Hash Realities" considers how causality is further suggested by the fact psychotic symptoms worsen with continued use and how while family history is a factor, so are the associated genes, and a quarter of the population has them. And while cannabis is addictive and its use commonly precedes the use of hard drugs, the "gateway" theory, formerly discredited, is now being scientifically verified.
The paper also references the past and exposes the confusions of the present. "The classical Greek term pharmakon indicates that a substance can be a remedy as well as a poison," it says. Cannabis based medicines have a future but, in a "rational world," these would not be influenced by attitudes toward recreational use where real problems do exist. Most problematic? Four per cent of the global population uses cannabis; world production has doubled since the early 1990s and THC concentrations have escalated. The number of children using the drug is rising. By 2010, one study predicts, "a substantial increase in the incidence of schizophrenia should be apparent." Legalized cannabis presented few problems in the Netherlands where it is being reconsidered, but highly restrictive Sweden presented fewer problems still.
In Canada, this picture is complicated by the fact marijuana use is the highest in the industrial world. The trade, worth $6 billion in British Columbia alone, finances the import of guns and hard drugs, whose victims land in Canada's urban centres where health communities then seek desperate solutions.
"Hash Realities" concludes that public education is more effective than legislation but given the evidence, the British government recently made cannabis possession punishable by up to five years in prison.
Now where are the comparable perspectives on heroine and cocaine use?
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=25896fae-8af2-42c1-8489-a69d5d3e8733
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
Related topic by Margret Kopala:
http://www.margretkopala.com/news/mk26jul07.htm
What we know about marijuana
By The Ottawa Citizen, Margret Kopala, May 31, 2008
(First two paragraphs are non-essential and are skipped)
At least we know something about cannabis. In fact we know a lot. And now a paper published in Nature places the medicinal, the harmful and the recreational aspects of cannabis in a perspective that has implications for how we treat all addictive substances.
According to The Independent, research in the United Kingdom of an estimated 500,000 cannabis addicts shows some 26,000 sought treatment in 2006. Findings from Europe's largest psychiatric research facility, London University's Institute of Psychiatry, establish a clear connection between cannabis use and psychosis. Though no user is immune, vulnerable adolescents are at particular risk for developing schizophrenia, a progressively disabling form of psychosis producing hallucinations, delusions and bizarre behaviour, in young adulthood.
Research from the institute using MRI scans has demonstrated how two active ingredients in cannabis affect the brain. The first, called cannabidiol (CBD), relaxes it while the other creates temporary hallucinations and feelings of paranoia. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), we now know, switches off a regulator in the inferior frontal cortex by disrupting neuronal signalling.
"Cannabis, the mind and society: the hash realities" synthesizes these and other findings. Lead author and the Institute's authority on marijuana and psychosis, Robin M. Murray, confirmed to me by e-mail that it remains the most current on the subject.
It is also the most important. Not only does it provide much-needed perspective, it also demonstrates how, irrespective of the number of individual peer reviewed studies, each with inherent limitations, no full understanding of a subject is possible without the contextualization that meta-analyses and overviews provide. Health Canada's advisory committee on Insite, for instance, showed how such limitations produced a lukewarm endorsement.
If brain function is affected by CBD and THC, "Hash Realities" considers how causality is further suggested by the fact psychotic symptoms worsen with continued use and how while family history is a factor, so are the associated genes, and a quarter of the population has them. And while cannabis is addictive and its use commonly precedes the use of hard drugs, the "gateway" theory, formerly discredited, is now being scientifically verified.
The paper also references the past and exposes the confusions of the present. "The classical Greek term pharmakon indicates that a substance can be a remedy as well as a poison," it says. Cannabis based medicines have a future but, in a "rational world," these would not be influenced by attitudes toward recreational use where real problems do exist. Most problematic? Four per cent of the global population uses cannabis; world production has doubled since the early 1990s and THC concentrations have escalated. The number of children using the drug is rising. By 2010, one study predicts, "a substantial increase in the incidence of schizophrenia should be apparent." Legalized cannabis presented few problems in the Netherlands where it is being reconsidered, but highly restrictive Sweden presented fewer problems still.
In Canada, this picture is complicated by the fact marijuana use is the highest in the industrial world. The trade, worth $6 billion in British Columbia alone, finances the import of guns and hard drugs, whose victims land in Canada's urban centres where health communities then seek desperate solutions.
"Hash Realities" concludes that public education is more effective than legislation but given the evidence, the British government recently made cannabis possession punishable by up to five years in prison.
Now where are the comparable perspectives on heroine and cocaine use?
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=25896fae-8af2-42c1-8489-a69d5d3e8733
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
Related topic by Margret Kopala:
http://www.margretkopala.com/news/mk26jul07.htm
14.1.15
Old "Reefer Madness" film was basically truthful
She thought it was a chocolate candy bar. What she experienced was unexpectedBy Gale Curcio January 12
Considering that chocolate is part of my daily diet, it was no surprise that I took a bite out of a random piece that I found sitting on my kitchen counter that day. It tasted terrible — kind of minty — so I spit out most of it.
It was a busy day: Not only was I preparing for a large Labor Day party at my home, but I also planned to spend a few hours helping my church get ready for a huge Labor Day yard sale. When I started feeling a little dizzy and lightheaded, I ignored it and kept on working. I had felt similar to this a few weeks earlier because of dehydration, so I figured it would pass. I continued setting up for the party.
The feeling persisted and increased a little in intensity. I thought back to my morning regimen and checked to make sure I hadn’t taken the wrong pills, but everything seemed okay there.
As the dizziness and lightheadedness increased, I remembered the candy bar. I also recalled that I had thrown away a wrapper before I came across that piece of candy. I remembered seeing the words “Liquid Gold.” .....click "Read More" below to continue.....
19.12.14
Potheads will save & boost Big Tobacco: Marijuana is the new tobacco
The pot stock bubble: Inside the rush to profit from medical marijuana
By Grant Robertson, The Globe and Mail, Dec. 19 2014
Denis Arsenault couldn’t believe what he was seeing. When his company, OrganiGram Inc., made its debut on the TSX Venture Exchange this summer, the shares suddenly shot up.
Such a high valuation didn’t make sense – not even to Mr. Arsenault, and he was the company’s chief executive officer.
Just a few weeks earlier, OrganiGram, an upstart producer of medical marijuana based in Moncton had been valued privately at just over $40-million. But on the open market, speculators feverishly drove up the total value of shares to nearly $120-million in late August.
It wasn’t that Mr. Arsenault didn’t believe in the future of his business. OrganiGram is one of only 15 companies to land a highly coveted federal licence in Canada’s new medical marijuana sector, touted as a potential multibillion-dollar industry in the years to come.
But the company hadn’t made a dime yet. OrganiGram was probably a year away from pulling in meaningful revenue – and it was already worth nine digits in the stock market.
“I was just shaking my head,” Mr. Arsenault said of that first week of trading.
What happened was exuberant, if irrational, and OrganiGram wasn’t the only company feeling the surge.
Investor appetite for Canadian marijuana stocks also turned rival Tweed Inc. of Smiths Falls, Ont., into a $100-million company before it had even logged its first shipment to patients.
Sooner or later, everyone was jumping on the marijuana trend. .....click "Read More" below to continue...
By Grant Robertson, The Globe and Mail, Dec. 19 2014
Denis Arsenault couldn’t believe what he was seeing. When his company, OrganiGram Inc., made its debut on the TSX Venture Exchange this summer, the shares suddenly shot up.
Such a high valuation didn’t make sense – not even to Mr. Arsenault, and he was the company’s chief executive officer.
Just a few weeks earlier, OrganiGram, an upstart producer of medical marijuana based in Moncton had been valued privately at just over $40-million. But on the open market, speculators feverishly drove up the total value of shares to nearly $120-million in late August.
It wasn’t that Mr. Arsenault didn’t believe in the future of his business. OrganiGram is one of only 15 companies to land a highly coveted federal licence in Canada’s new medical marijuana sector, touted as a potential multibillion-dollar industry in the years to come.
But the company hadn’t made a dime yet. OrganiGram was probably a year away from pulling in meaningful revenue – and it was already worth nine digits in the stock market.
“I was just shaking my head,” Mr. Arsenault said of that first week of trading.
What happened was exuberant, if irrational, and OrganiGram wasn’t the only company feeling the surge.
Investor appetite for Canadian marijuana stocks also turned rival Tweed Inc. of Smiths Falls, Ont., into a $100-million company before it had even logged its first shipment to patients.
Sooner or later, everyone was jumping on the marijuana trend. .....click "Read More" below to continue...
19.11.14
Marijuana poisoning incidents spike in Washington state
By Victoria Cavaliere | Reuters – Tue, 18 Nov, 2014
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Marijuana exposure incidents, or 'pot poisonings,' have spiked in Washington state, especially among teenagers, in a trend experts said on Tuesday appears to be linked to the state's largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.
Marijuana exposures are defined as any situation where an adult or child suffers an adverse reaction to the consumption of marijuana, such as increased heart rate, paranoia or stomach illness, according to the Washington Poison Center.
Some 210 marijuana exposures were reported in the first nine months of the year, more than in all of 2013, according to Washington Poison Center Clinical Managing Director Alexander Garrard.
"Our thought is that the spike is potentially related to the number of unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries that are opening up around the state," he said.
Washington legalized recreational marijuana use in 2012, with the first retail stores opening in 2014 under a highly regulated and taxed system in contrast to the relatively lax pre-existing regime for medical pot.
The state's medical marijuana industry, legalized in 1998, sells products of unconfirmed potency as well as marijuana edibles attractive to children, like gummy bears and lollipops.
While retail stores have been slow to open, Garrard said medical dispensaries have been expanding steadily over the past year.
He said most exposures among young children are accidental, with parents reporting their children found and ate marijuana-laced items such as cookies and candy bars.
Exposure incidents among teens ages 13 to 19 have seen the biggest spike, a trendline possibly linked to accessibility, Garrard said. There were 39 teen exposures in all of 2013, with almost as many reported this year through August, data shows.
"A kid may have access to it (medical marijuana) and who knows what they are doing with those products when they go to school, and they are hanging out with their friends," Garrard said. "It's really hard to track that information."
Marijuana detractors argue the push to legalize pot, which remains illegal under federal law, comes amid a lack of clear data about how cannabis affects young brains and bodies.
Garrard urged anyone suffering from illness linked to marijuana to report the incident to the poison center, which keeps patient information confidential.
"A lot of what we know about these adverse effects comes from these case reports or people having shown up in the hospital," he said.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by James Dalgleish)
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marijuana-poisoning-incidents-spike-washington-state-221020587.html
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Marijuana exposure incidents, or 'pot poisonings,' have spiked in Washington state, especially among teenagers, in a trend experts said on Tuesday appears to be linked to the state's largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.
Marijuana exposures are defined as any situation where an adult or child suffers an adverse reaction to the consumption of marijuana, such as increased heart rate, paranoia or stomach illness, according to the Washington Poison Center.
Some 210 marijuana exposures were reported in the first nine months of the year, more than in all of 2013, according to Washington Poison Center Clinical Managing Director Alexander Garrard.
"Our thought is that the spike is potentially related to the number of unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries that are opening up around the state," he said.
Washington legalized recreational marijuana use in 2012, with the first retail stores opening in 2014 under a highly regulated and taxed system in contrast to the relatively lax pre-existing regime for medical pot.
The state's medical marijuana industry, legalized in 1998, sells products of unconfirmed potency as well as marijuana edibles attractive to children, like gummy bears and lollipops.
While retail stores have been slow to open, Garrard said medical dispensaries have been expanding steadily over the past year.
He said most exposures among young children are accidental, with parents reporting their children found and ate marijuana-laced items such as cookies and candy bars.
Exposure incidents among teens ages 13 to 19 have seen the biggest spike, a trendline possibly linked to accessibility, Garrard said. There were 39 teen exposures in all of 2013, with almost as many reported this year through August, data shows.
"A kid may have access to it (medical marijuana) and who knows what they are doing with those products when they go to school, and they are hanging out with their friends," Garrard said. "It's really hard to track that information."
Marijuana detractors argue the push to legalize pot, which remains illegal under federal law, comes amid a lack of clear data about how cannabis affects young brains and bodies.
Garrard urged anyone suffering from illness linked to marijuana to report the incident to the poison center, which keeps patient information confidential.
"A lot of what we know about these adverse effects comes from these case reports or people having shown up in the hospital," he said.
(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by James Dalgleish)
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marijuana-poisoning-incidents-spike-washington-state-221020587.html
26.10.14
Your kid’s brain on pot: The real effects of marijuana on teens
Adriana Barton, The Globe and Mail, Oct. 16 2014
As the debate over legalization heats up, Adriana Barton examines the effects of marijuana on the developing brains of teenagers – our nation’s most prolific users – and finds there is no such thing as a harmless habit
Like it or not, your kids will probably try marijuana. So will their friends. Canadian teens are more than twice as likely as adults to smoke pot – and have the highest rate of cannabis use in the developed world. Marijuana has become as much a part of Canada’s youth culture as hockey or Katy Perry.....click "Read More" below to continue.....
As the debate over legalization heats up, Adriana Barton examines the effects of marijuana on the developing brains of teenagers – our nation’s most prolific users – and finds there is no such thing as a harmless habit
Like it or not, your kids will probably try marijuana. So will their friends. Canadian teens are more than twice as likely as adults to smoke pot – and have the highest rate of cannabis use in the developed world. Marijuana has become as much a part of Canada’s youth culture as hockey or Katy Perry.....click "Read More" below to continue.....
6.10.14
Potheads' heads buried in sands about marijuana facts
Drs. Oz & Roizen: New marijuana facts surface
By Mehmet Oz, M.D., and Mike Roizen, M.D., October 6, 2014
With clever names like Peace of Mind, Girl Scout Cookies, Train Wreck and Tsunami, it's a good bet that the marketers of legal marijuana finished high school.
That's less certain for their younger customers. New research shows daily marijuana use before the age of 17 cuts your chances of graduating from high school or getting a college degree by 60 percent. And that info's just the tip of the joint. Now that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Washington and Colorado, and for medical purposes in 19 other states plus the District of Columbia, scientists are able to study the drug more closely. The result is an outpouring of data on marijuana's formerly unknown or underappreciated risks.
One new study found that 40 percent of cannabis-using adolescents receiving treatment for substance abuse report symptoms of withdrawal - a true marker for drug dependence (addiction). And kids are eight times more likely to use illicit drugs later in life if they smoke marijuana regularly. Another study found that adolescents who smoke pot daily shed an average of six IQ points by adulthood; points you're not getting back, and that can mean the difference between an engaged, rewarding life and not!
Just because the drug is legal in some places, doesn't mean it's smart to use it. As Derek Jeter says: "If you have dreams and aspirations to be successful, drugs and alcohol are only going to alter those dreams. Try to stay away from them and find something more productive to do with your time."
Mehmet Oz, M.D., is host of "The Dr. Oz Show," and Mike Roizen, M.D., is chief medical officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. To live your healthiest, visit sharecare.com. Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.
Source:
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/10/06/3412500/new-marijuana-facts-surface.html
By Mehmet Oz, M.D., and Mike Roizen, M.D., October 6, 2014
With clever names like Peace of Mind, Girl Scout Cookies, Train Wreck and Tsunami, it's a good bet that the marketers of legal marijuana finished high school.
That's less certain for their younger customers. New research shows daily marijuana use before the age of 17 cuts your chances of graduating from high school or getting a college degree by 60 percent. And that info's just the tip of the joint. Now that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Washington and Colorado, and for medical purposes in 19 other states plus the District of Columbia, scientists are able to study the drug more closely. The result is an outpouring of data on marijuana's formerly unknown or underappreciated risks.
One new study found that 40 percent of cannabis-using adolescents receiving treatment for substance abuse report symptoms of withdrawal - a true marker for drug dependence (addiction). And kids are eight times more likely to use illicit drugs later in life if they smoke marijuana regularly. Another study found that adolescents who smoke pot daily shed an average of six IQ points by adulthood; points you're not getting back, and that can mean the difference between an engaged, rewarding life and not!
Just because the drug is legal in some places, doesn't mean it's smart to use it. As Derek Jeter says: "If you have dreams and aspirations to be successful, drugs and alcohol are only going to alter those dreams. Try to stay away from them and find something more productive to do with your time."
Mehmet Oz, M.D., is host of "The Dr. Oz Show," and Mike Roizen, M.D., is chief medical officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. To live your healthiest, visit sharecare.com. Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.
Source:
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/10/06/3412500/new-marijuana-facts-surface.html
21.8.14
Toxic smoke is harmful, not medicinal
(Medicines don't float along with toxic smoke)
Doctors denounce pot smoke
Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News, August 21, 2014
They already opposed tobacco. Now the nation's doctors say Canadians shouldn't smoke "any plant material" whatsoever, including marijuana.
Delegates at the Canadian Medical Association's general council meeting voted Wednesday to formally oppose the smoking of any plant substance.
Opponents to the motion said it was a back-door way to ban medical marijuana. Some claimed it smacks of Prohibition all over again.
Taken literally, the blanket statement could cover dozens of plants that people smoke in different cultures.
But outgoing CMA president Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti said smoking harms the lungs' "natural cleaning and repair system and traps cancer-causing chemicals" in the airways.
He cited a 2008 study by the American Chemical Society that found marijuana smoke contains many of the same chemicals as tobacco but in substantially higher levels.
Smoking marijuana may be more harmful than tobacco, partly because people often take "deeper, longer" puffs, said incoming president Dr. Chris Simpson.
The motion strengthens the CMA's opposition to marijuana for medical purposes, especially in its smoked form, he added.
The CMA has a policy supporting decriminalization of pot, "because we don't see the value of turning people who smoke marijuana into criminals," Simpson later told reporters.
On medicinal marijuana, the group's position is unequivocal, he said. "We are very sympathetic to the number of Canadians who tell us that they derive relief from marijuana. So we stand in solidarity with the patients," he said. "But our position is very clear: The evidence is insufficient to support its use as medicine."
Dr. Deborah Hellyer, a Windsor, Ont., respirologist said that smoking one joint "is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes."
But Dr. Ashley Miller of St. John's said the "prohibitionist" tone of the motion contradicts existing evidence and she worried about the cultural sensitivity.
Others at the meeting, held at the Ottawa Convention Centre, worried what message defeating the motion would send to the public.
"If we don't support it, it says, 'Smoke whatever you want' and I think that's a really bad message to send to the public," said Calgary physician Dr. Robin Cox.
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=21e3c8e6-3e0b-4e1a-904e-44f3c185a236&p=1
Related news:
Chris Simpson: Why the CMA chose not to participate in the government’s anti-pot campaign
Doctors denounce pot smoke
Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News, August 21, 2014
They already opposed tobacco. Now the nation's doctors say Canadians shouldn't smoke "any plant material" whatsoever, including marijuana.
Delegates at the Canadian Medical Association's general council meeting voted Wednesday to formally oppose the smoking of any plant substance.
Opponents to the motion said it was a back-door way to ban medical marijuana. Some claimed it smacks of Prohibition all over again.
Taken literally, the blanket statement could cover dozens of plants that people smoke in different cultures.
But outgoing CMA president Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti said smoking harms the lungs' "natural cleaning and repair system and traps cancer-causing chemicals" in the airways.
He cited a 2008 study by the American Chemical Society that found marijuana smoke contains many of the same chemicals as tobacco but in substantially higher levels.
Smoking marijuana may be more harmful than tobacco, partly because people often take "deeper, longer" puffs, said incoming president Dr. Chris Simpson.
The motion strengthens the CMA's opposition to marijuana for medical purposes, especially in its smoked form, he added.
The CMA has a policy supporting decriminalization of pot, "because we don't see the value of turning people who smoke marijuana into criminals," Simpson later told reporters.
On medicinal marijuana, the group's position is unequivocal, he said. "We are very sympathetic to the number of Canadians who tell us that they derive relief from marijuana. So we stand in solidarity with the patients," he said. "But our position is very clear: The evidence is insufficient to support its use as medicine."
Dr. Deborah Hellyer, a Windsor, Ont., respirologist said that smoking one joint "is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes."
But Dr. Ashley Miller of St. John's said the "prohibitionist" tone of the motion contradicts existing evidence and she worried about the cultural sensitivity.
Others at the meeting, held at the Ottawa Convention Centre, worried what message defeating the motion would send to the public.
"If we don't support it, it says, 'Smoke whatever you want' and I think that's a really bad message to send to the public," said Calgary physician Dr. Robin Cox.
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=21e3c8e6-3e0b-4e1a-904e-44f3c185a236&p=1
Related news:
Chris Simpson: Why the CMA chose not to participate in the government’s anti-pot campaign
7.8.14
Sham of "medical" marijuana dispensaries
Medical marijuana: Easy to get, easy to buy
A reporter had no trouble getting the medical green light required by Vancouver medical dispensaries
By Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun, September 2, 2014
Recreational marijuana may as well be legal in the city of Vancouver, given how easy it is for an adult to buy from a fast-growing number of dispensaries openly selling cannabis to customers.
In 2010, there were five dispensaries in the city, according to police. In January last year, police counted a dozen. Most were concentrated in the city’s Downtown Eastside or along Kingsway.
Now city hall staff say there are 45 spread across Vancouver, with a handful in trendy neighbourhoods such as Yaletown and Kitsilano. Many have lounges where friends gather to learn about the pain relief brought by different edibles or the coolest new ways to smoke different strains of B.C.’s best bud.
Technically, it’s against the law for a person to buy marijuana without a federal certificate issued on the advice of a physician or nurse practitioner.
And there has never been a federal licensing system for dispensaries.
But, responding to complaints by patients about access to marijuana, dispensaries have formed their system of issuing membership cards based on easy-to-get documentation from any medical professional.
Some of the dozens of dispensaries in the city skirt the law by teaming up with health professionals other than doctors and nurse practitioners, like naturopaths and in one case a psychologist, who issue certificates that dispensaries then rely on to let patients become members. The dispensaries then willingly sell cannabis products to these members......click "Read More" below to continue.....
A reporter had no trouble getting the medical green light required by Vancouver medical dispensaries
By Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun, September 2, 2014
Recreational marijuana may as well be legal in the city of Vancouver, given how easy it is for an adult to buy from a fast-growing number of dispensaries openly selling cannabis to customers.
In 2010, there were five dispensaries in the city, according to police. In January last year, police counted a dozen. Most were concentrated in the city’s Downtown Eastside or along Kingsway.
Now city hall staff say there are 45 spread across Vancouver, with a handful in trendy neighbourhoods such as Yaletown and Kitsilano. Many have lounges where friends gather to learn about the pain relief brought by different edibles or the coolest new ways to smoke different strains of B.C.’s best bud.
Technically, it’s against the law for a person to buy marijuana without a federal certificate issued on the advice of a physician or nurse practitioner.
And there has never been a federal licensing system for dispensaries.
But, responding to complaints by patients about access to marijuana, dispensaries have formed their system of issuing membership cards based on easy-to-get documentation from any medical professional.
Some of the dozens of dispensaries in the city skirt the law by teaming up with health professionals other than doctors and nurse practitioners, like naturopaths and in one case a psychologist, who issue certificates that dispensaries then rely on to let patients become members. The dispensaries then willingly sell cannabis products to these members......click "Read More" below to continue.....
3.8.14
The scourge of pot addiction in the news
- Hash Oil Explosions Related to Marijuana Pose Risk to Colorado Homes
- Daphne Bramham: Citizens, not police, should decide on Vancouver’s de facto legalization of marijuana
- Marijuana producers attempt to woo doctors
- Pot dispensaries sell to recreational users
- Klassen: Legalizing pot is a social issue, not a medical one
- Think of the children
- Media Infiltrated?
- Why not call it "medical" vitamins, snake oil, etc?
- Pot smoker stinks up building, enrages tenants
25.7.14
Unhealthy pot-smoking versus health culture
Exercise Offers Healthier High Than Pot
By Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen, Wednesday, 23 Jul 2014
When Cheech and Chong lit up the movie screens with their marijuana-fogged dialogue - "Hey man, how's my driving?" "I think we're parked, man" - they probably never imagined cannabis would become legal. But today more than 20 states have authorized medical marijuana, while Colorado and Washington have legalized it for personal use. So we say it's time to back up (carefully) and take a look at the health risks associated with recreational use (addressing medical use is for another column).
The active ingredient in marijuana (THC or 9 delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) has been engineered to be much more concentrated in today's crops than it was in the 1970s. That, combined with the highly individual way the drug affects the brain (20-somethings, listen up, you're still developing neural wiring), makes it hard to predict who might be at risk for long-term marijuana-related problems.
What is known, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is that regular or heavy use is linked to traffic accidents and reduced lung function (the smoke contains carcinogens) and can encourage addictions. In addition, for some folks, THC's effect on neurotransmitters may increase the risk for depression and the development of psychosis. It also can cause memory and attention deficits. And particular to eating THC, there may be an increased risk of panic or anxiety.
Our advice? Go for a free twofer: An exercise high from aerobic routines, like interval walking (see doctoroz.com for how-to), boosts both serotonin and endorphin levels. You'll get smokin' hot without craving a peanut butter and jelly pizza.
http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/DrOz/exercise-endorphins-pot-marijuana/2014/07/23/id/584349/
© King Features Syndicate
By Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen, Wednesday, 23 Jul 2014
When Cheech and Chong lit up the movie screens with their marijuana-fogged dialogue - "Hey man, how's my driving?" "I think we're parked, man" - they probably never imagined cannabis would become legal. But today more than 20 states have authorized medical marijuana, while Colorado and Washington have legalized it for personal use. So we say it's time to back up (carefully) and take a look at the health risks associated with recreational use (addressing medical use is for another column).
The active ingredient in marijuana (THC or 9 delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) has been engineered to be much more concentrated in today's crops than it was in the 1970s. That, combined with the highly individual way the drug affects the brain (20-somethings, listen up, you're still developing neural wiring), makes it hard to predict who might be at risk for long-term marijuana-related problems.
What is known, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is that regular or heavy use is linked to traffic accidents and reduced lung function (the smoke contains carcinogens) and can encourage addictions. In addition, for some folks, THC's effect on neurotransmitters may increase the risk for depression and the development of psychosis. It also can cause memory and attention deficits. And particular to eating THC, there may be an increased risk of panic or anxiety.
Our advice? Go for a free twofer: An exercise high from aerobic routines, like interval walking (see doctoroz.com for how-to), boosts both serotonin and endorphin levels. You'll get smokin' hot without craving a peanut butter and jelly pizza.
http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/DrOz/exercise-endorphins-pot-marijuana/2014/07/23/id/584349/
© King Features Syndicate
29.5.14
A neighbourhood plastered with posters imploring woman to 'stop selling weed to our kids
(A poster on a street in east Vancouver warns person to stop
 |
| (Photograph by: Nick Procaylo) |
"DON'T SELL TO KIDS
To the woman on Wall St. selling weed to our kids:
Stop immediately.
Stop selling weed to our young children.
Stop giving them candy canes.
You are not kind.
Stop your two for one.
Our kids are becoming addicts.
For tips, please email:
For tips, please email:
------------- @gmail.com
CASH REWARD for tips leading to arrest."
By John Colebourn, The Province, May 23, 2014
A series of posters have been taped to poles and trees along Wall Street in east Vancouver warning a person to stop selling marijuana to school-age kids in the area.
The posters along Wall Street up to where it intersects at Dundas Street were put up about two days ago, say area residents.
“People have been talking about the posters,” said one resident with a young child, who did not want her name used.
“I have no idea who put the posters up,” added the woman who lives in the 2200-block Wall Street.
She said it is shocking to hear that young children are possibly being exposed to people selling drugs along the busy street. “I didn’t know it was that bad along here.”
Another resident who did not want to be named said the street is no worse than most other low-income areas. “There is pot everywhere,” said the woman. “This street is no different.”
More than a dozen posters can be seen along Wall Street.
The poster said the drug dealing needs to stop.
“Stop selling weed to our young children,” reads the poster. “Our kids are becoming addicts.”
The poster indicates a cash reward will be given to people who provide tips that lead to an arrest.
The person behind the posters contacted The Province and said many of the teens in the area are down on Wall Street during school hours scoring pot.
“Some lady on Wall Street is selling pot to teenagers and that is our problem,” said the woman who called herself Louise. “I have had the police to my house to discuss the problem,” she added.
She said they will give the tipster $100 for information that leads to a conviction.Vancouver police were unavailable to comment on the situation.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Street+posters+east+Vancouver+target+seller/9868614/story.html
10.5.14
From tobacco to double whammy: tobacco & marijuana
Edmonton school boards ban electronic cigarettes over marijuana concerns
By: The Canadian Press, 05/9/2014
EDMONTON - Two Edmonton school boards have banned the use of electronic cigarettes on school property over concerns that some students could use the devices to smoke marijuana on the sly.
Police say officers have caught five high school students in the last two weeks with e-cigarettes filled with marijuana oil.
The devices use a battery to heat and vaporize the oil. They mask the smell of the more concentrated drug, which delivers a more powerful high than a regular joint.
"Edmonton Public Schools fully supports the Edmonton Police Service in making the community aware of any dangerous emerging trend," Supt. Darrel Robertson said in a release.
"We will do what we can to not only enforce the restriction of the e-cigarette use around our schools, but to making sure our students, staff and parents are educated of its dangers."
Edmonton Catholic Schools has imposed a similar ban.
Electronic cigarettes, which use the same technology to vaporize nicotine or other materials, are growing in popularity around the world, including with teens. Proponents say they are a safer alternative to tobacco.
A study published in September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. suggests that e-cigarette use by high school students to smoke nicotine and other additives more than doubled to 10 per cent in 2012 from 4.7 per cent the previous year.
Police say the trend of using e-cigarettes to smoke cannabis poses another problem. They say it has increased the demand for marijuana and hash oil, which some people are distilling in dangerous home labs.
Fire and police officials in Alberta warn such extraction labs can cause fires and explosions.
Last July, a blast in a lab rocked a home in a Calgary residential neighbourhood as children played outside.
"The demand for hash oil, or cannabis resin, is attributed to the proliferation to the electronic cigarettes," said a recent release from Alberta's Law Enforcement Response Teams.
The Canadian Medical Association has said e-cigarettes are not approved for sale in Canada, but are readily available.
It has been calling for a ban on the sale of nicotine-loaded e-cigarettes to adults until there is solid evidence the devices are safe.
The association has said minors shouldn't be allowed to buy any kind of e-cigarettes.
— With files from CHED
Source:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/edmonton-school-boards-ban-electronic-cigarettes-over-marijuana-concerns-258677961.html
By: The Canadian Press, 05/9/2014
EDMONTON - Two Edmonton school boards have banned the use of electronic cigarettes on school property over concerns that some students could use the devices to smoke marijuana on the sly.
Police say officers have caught five high school students in the last two weeks with e-cigarettes filled with marijuana oil.
The devices use a battery to heat and vaporize the oil. They mask the smell of the more concentrated drug, which delivers a more powerful high than a regular joint.
"Edmonton Public Schools fully supports the Edmonton Police Service in making the community aware of any dangerous emerging trend," Supt. Darrel Robertson said in a release.
"We will do what we can to not only enforce the restriction of the e-cigarette use around our schools, but to making sure our students, staff and parents are educated of its dangers."
Edmonton Catholic Schools has imposed a similar ban.
Electronic cigarettes, which use the same technology to vaporize nicotine or other materials, are growing in popularity around the world, including with teens. Proponents say they are a safer alternative to tobacco.
A study published in September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. suggests that e-cigarette use by high school students to smoke nicotine and other additives more than doubled to 10 per cent in 2012 from 4.7 per cent the previous year.
Police say the trend of using e-cigarettes to smoke cannabis poses another problem. They say it has increased the demand for marijuana and hash oil, which some people are distilling in dangerous home labs.
Fire and police officials in Alberta warn such extraction labs can cause fires and explosions.
Last July, a blast in a lab rocked a home in a Calgary residential neighbourhood as children played outside.
"The demand for hash oil, or cannabis resin, is attributed to the proliferation to the electronic cigarettes," said a recent release from Alberta's Law Enforcement Response Teams.
The Canadian Medical Association has said e-cigarettes are not approved for sale in Canada, but are readily available.
It has been calling for a ban on the sale of nicotine-loaded e-cigarettes to adults until there is solid evidence the devices are safe.
The association has said minors shouldn't be allowed to buy any kind of e-cigarettes.
— With files from CHED
Source:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/edmonton-school-boards-ban-electronic-cigarettes-over-marijuana-concerns-258677961.html
30.4.14
More victims of "pot is harmless" propaganda
North Vancouver Mounties issue warning about pot-laced treats
Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2014
METRO VANCOUVER - North Vancouver Mounties have arrested a 16-year-old youth for allegedly selling pot-laced treats to other students in the past week.
RCMP Cpl. Richard de Jong said several Grade 10 students from two different high schools had ingested the marijuana-infused treats, which included Rice Krispy Squares and brownies. One of them became ill and was hospitalized while another was sent home from school.
De Jong said he's not sure where the treats had come from, but believes they may have been bought during the 4/20 event.
The youth arrested was found to be carrying both the treats and cash, de Jong said.
He noted such drug-laced treats are becoming more prevalent and "can be very tempting to children" because they look and taste the same as ordinary sweets. But many youth can become quite sick depending on several of factors including the child's age, weight, the potency of the drug, and how much is ingested, he added.
"It's very risky behaviour," he said.
RCMP School Liaison Officers are also working closely with staff of the North Vancouver School District to both educate students and parents and to ensure school properties are drug free.
http://www.vancouversun.com/North+Vancouver+Mounties+issue+warning+about+laced+treats/9788056/story.html
Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2014
METRO VANCOUVER - North Vancouver Mounties have arrested a 16-year-old youth for allegedly selling pot-laced treats to other students in the past week.
RCMP Cpl. Richard de Jong said several Grade 10 students from two different high schools had ingested the marijuana-infused treats, which included Rice Krispy Squares and brownies. One of them became ill and was hospitalized while another was sent home from school.
De Jong said he's not sure where the treats had come from, but believes they may have been bought during the 4/20 event.
The youth arrested was found to be carrying both the treats and cash, de Jong said.
He noted such drug-laced treats are becoming more prevalent and "can be very tempting to children" because they look and taste the same as ordinary sweets. But many youth can become quite sick depending on several of factors including the child's age, weight, the potency of the drug, and how much is ingested, he added.
"It's very risky behaviour," he said.
RCMP School Liaison Officers are also working closely with staff of the North Vancouver School District to both educate students and parents and to ensure school properties are drug free.
http://www.vancouversun.com/North+Vancouver+Mounties+issue+warning+about+laced+treats/9788056/story.html
24.4.14
Prescribing toxic smoke
(A letter in the Letters section of the Globe and Mail, A10, March 25, 2014):
Rx for pot plants
Re Wary Doctors Pressed into Prescribing Medical Pot (March 23): There are good reasons why doctors are reluctant to prescribe marijuana. These include all the problems with prescribing whole plants as medicines, including the thousands of other chemicals delivered in addtion to the intended active ingredient, variations in the potency of the active ingredient, making accurate dosing impossible, and issues of purity.
There is no reason to think smoking marijuana is any safer than smoking tobacco. If used at all, marijuana plants should be consumed only orally (for example, in brownies).
Evidence for the benefit of marijuana is limited; belief, no matter how strongly held, does not qualify as evidence.
There are pure, properly tested drugs containing the active cannbinoid ingredients of marijuana, and those may be reasonable candidates for prescription.
Prescribing whole plants for the purpose of smoking them cannot be regarded as a reasonable thing to ask of physicians.
- J. David Spence, MD, professor of neurology and clinical pharmacology, Robarts Research Institute
Rx for pot plants
Re Wary Doctors Pressed into Prescribing Medical Pot (March 23): There are good reasons why doctors are reluctant to prescribe marijuana. These include all the problems with prescribing whole plants as medicines, including the thousands of other chemicals delivered in addtion to the intended active ingredient, variations in the potency of the active ingredient, making accurate dosing impossible, and issues of purity.
There is no reason to think smoking marijuana is any safer than smoking tobacco. If used at all, marijuana plants should be consumed only orally (for example, in brownies).
Evidence for the benefit of marijuana is limited; belief, no matter how strongly held, does not qualify as evidence.
There are pure, properly tested drugs containing the active cannbinoid ingredients of marijuana, and those may be reasonable candidates for prescription.
Prescribing whole plants for the purpose of smoking them cannot be regarded as a reasonable thing to ask of physicians.
- J. David Spence, MD, professor of neurology and clinical pharmacology, Robarts Research Institute
19.4.14
Girl brainwashed that pot is harmless
High school girl caught selling pot brownies to pay for her prom dress
By Tina Robinson | Daily Buzz
Ahh, prom. The high school event that every teenage girl looks forward to. But what if you couldn’t afford a prom dress?
18-year-old Saira Munoz of Yuba City, California, was stuck in this little predicament, and selected a very unconventional (and illegal) way to make some money to pay for her dress, CBS Sacramento reports.
She decided to put on a bake sale at her River Valley High School where she would feature some very special brownies she had made. Yes, you guessed it: The main ingredient in her special brownies was marijuana.
She even hired fellow student Carlos Robles to help her sell these stoner sweets.
However, she did not foresee the consequences that the drug could have on other students. One student got sick from the brownies and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, foiling Munoz’s baked brownie prom dress scheme.
“People make mistakes,” said Robles of the bake sale stunt that landed his friend Munoz in handcuffs. “I was hurt, because she got arrested, and nobody wanted to see somebody we cared about go away,” he said.
Having hired Robles as her special brownie vendor, she was charged with employing a minor to sell marijuana — which according to CBS Sacramento, is a felony.
What’s even more unfortunate for the brownie entrepreneur is that she is in danger of being deported back to her home in Mexico.
Munoz came to the U.S. in 2000 with temporary permission, but after the Sutter County Probation Department called the feds about her conviction, a deportation may be in the cards for the teen.
For now, a judge has sentenced Munoz to four years probation and nine days in jail.
Suddenly, not getting the prom dress you want doesn't seem like such a big deal.
Source: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/high-school-girl-caught-selling-pot-brownies-pay-171150761.html?vp=1
By Tina Robinson | Daily Buzz
Ahh, prom. The high school event that every teenage girl looks forward to. But what if you couldn’t afford a prom dress?
18-year-old Saira Munoz of Yuba City, California, was stuck in this little predicament, and selected a very unconventional (and illegal) way to make some money to pay for her dress, CBS Sacramento reports.
She decided to put on a bake sale at her River Valley High School where she would feature some very special brownies she had made. Yes, you guessed it: The main ingredient in her special brownies was marijuana.
She even hired fellow student Carlos Robles to help her sell these stoner sweets.
However, she did not foresee the consequences that the drug could have on other students. One student got sick from the brownies and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance, foiling Munoz’s baked brownie prom dress scheme.
“People make mistakes,” said Robles of the bake sale stunt that landed his friend Munoz in handcuffs. “I was hurt, because she got arrested, and nobody wanted to see somebody we cared about go away,” he said.
Having hired Robles as her special brownie vendor, she was charged with employing a minor to sell marijuana — which according to CBS Sacramento, is a felony.
What’s even more unfortunate for the brownie entrepreneur is that she is in danger of being deported back to her home in Mexico.
Munoz came to the U.S. in 2000 with temporary permission, but after the Sutter County Probation Department called the feds about her conviction, a deportation may be in the cards for the teen.
For now, a judge has sentenced Munoz to four years probation and nine days in jail.
Suddenly, not getting the prom dress you want doesn't seem like such a big deal.
Source: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/high-school-girl-caught-selling-pot-brownies-pay-171150761.html?vp=1
16.4.14
Even casual use of cannabis alters brain, warn scientists
Casual pot use causes brain abnormalities in the young: study
By Alex Dobuzinskis | Reuters, 4/16/2014
(Reuters) - Young, casual marijuana smokers experience potentially harmful changes to their brains, with the drug altering regions of the mind related to motivation and emotion, researchers found.
The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis.
The collaborative effort between Northwestern University's medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School showed a direct correlation between the number of times users smoked and abnormalities in the brain. .....click "Read More" below to continue.....
By Alex Dobuzinskis | Reuters, 4/16/2014
(Reuters) - Young, casual marijuana smokers experience potentially harmful changes to their brains, with the drug altering regions of the mind related to motivation and emotion, researchers found.
The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis.
The collaborative effort between Northwestern University's medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School showed a direct correlation between the number of times users smoked and abnormalities in the brain. .....click "Read More" below to continue.....
11.4.14
Amanda Bynes quit pot, recovers from pot madness
Amanda Bynes blames weed for erratic behaviour
Actress AMANDA BYNES blames her erratic behaviour on dope smoking.
Express.co.uk, April 10, 2014
The troubled Hollywood star completed a stint in a rehabilitation centre last year (13) for mental health evaluation after a spate of bizarre antics.
The Hairspray star's mother Lynn has now spoken out to insist her daughter is not suffering from any mental illness and is adamant smoking too much weed was responsible for her bizarre behaviour.In a statement released by family lawyer Tamar Arminak, Lynn says, "Amanda has no mental illness whatsoever. She has never been diagnosed as schizophrenic or bipolar. She is very sorry for all the hurtful tweets, statements and actions that occurred while she was under the influence of marijuana."
Bynes was placed in a rehab unit last year (13) after a series of odd antics culminated in her starting a fire on the driveway of a neighbour's home in California.
Source: http://express.co.uk/news/showbiz/469670/Amanda-Bynes-blames-weed-for-erratic-behaviour
--------------------------------------------------------------
Amanda Bynes isn’t a schizophrenic
By Kirstin Buick on April 11, 2014, Bang Showbiz
Amanda Bynes doesn’t have schizophrenia.
The troubled actress, who completed psychiatric treatment in December following a series of public outbursts, has asked her lawyer, Tamar Arminak, to shoot down rumours claiming she suffers from the mental disorder.
Speaking to People magazine, Mr Arminak said: “There has been much speculation about Amanda’s medical condition. She has remained silent because she believed it was best to keep her mental health diagnosis private. However, she asked me to dispel certain rumours. For the record, Amanda does not have schizophrenia, nor has she ever been diagnosed with it.”
The attorney also claims the 28-year-old star, who chucked a marijuana bong out the window of her apartment in New York City last May, has never abused drugs or alcohol and she quit cannabis nine months ago.
He explained: “She’s devoted to living her life as healthy as possible. She’s never had a history of abusing alcohol or hard drugs, and she’s proud to say she’s been marijuana-free for the past nine months.”
The Sydney White actress, who was arrested last July after setting a small fire outside an elderly woman’s home in Los Angeles, is now hoping to rebuild her life and has become a student at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM).
A source said previously: “She’s a great student who always participated and really cared about her classes. She really fit in and loves her school.”
-Bang Showbiz
Source: http://you.co.za/news/amanda-bynes-isnt-a-schizophrenic/
8.4.14
Harms of pot legalization: Pot is brain-damaging, cigarette not; both smokes are toxic
Pot-coloured glasses
David Frum | April 5, 2014, National Post
America’s 50 states are sometimes called “laboratories of democracy.” Although the expression is intended to highlight in flattering terms how innovative they can be, it also suggests that the states’ political experiments can and do fail. In the event of failure, the hope must be that damage can be stopped at the state line. Today, the experiment of state-by-state marijuana legalization is failing before our eyes — and failing most signally where the experiment has been tried most boldly. The failure is accelerating even as the forces pushing legalization are on what appears to be an inexorable march.
In November 2012, the states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize the sale of marijuana to any adult consumer. Advocates of legalization carried the vote with a substantial campaign budget, a few million dollars, and a brilliant slogan: “Drug dealers don’t ask for ID.” The implied promise: Marijuana legalization would be joined to tough enforcement to keep marijuana away from minors. After all, persistent and heavy marijuana use among adolescents has been shown to reduce their IQ as adults by 6 to 8 points. An Australian study of identical twins found that a twin who started using cannabis before age 17 was 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than the twin who did not. People in Colorado had good reason to worry about teen drug use. Colorado voters had approved a limited experiment with medical marijuana in 2000. A complex series of judicial and administrative decisions in the mid-2000s overthrew most restrictions on the dispensing of marijuana. Between 2009 and 2012, the number of dispensaries jumped past 500, and the number of medical cardholders multiplied from roughly 1,000 to more than 108,000.
With so many medical-marijuana card-holders walking about, it was simply inevitable that some would re-sell their marijuana to underage users. A 2013 study of Colorado teens in drug treatment found that 74% had shared somebody else’s medical marijuana. The number of occasions on which they had shared averaged over 50 times. According to a report by the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Colorado teens, by 2012, were 50% more likely to use marijuana than their peers in the rest of the country......click "Read More" below to continue.....
America’s 50 states are sometimes called “laboratories of democracy.” Although the expression is intended to highlight in flattering terms how innovative they can be, it also suggests that the states’ political experiments can and do fail. In the event of failure, the hope must be that damage can be stopped at the state line. Today, the experiment of state-by-state marijuana legalization is failing before our eyes — and failing most signally where the experiment has been tried most boldly. The failure is accelerating even as the forces pushing legalization are on what appears to be an inexorable march.
In November 2012, the states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize the sale of marijuana to any adult consumer. Advocates of legalization carried the vote with a substantial campaign budget, a few million dollars, and a brilliant slogan: “Drug dealers don’t ask for ID.” The implied promise: Marijuana legalization would be joined to tough enforcement to keep marijuana away from minors. After all, persistent and heavy marijuana use among adolescents has been shown to reduce their IQ as adults by 6 to 8 points. An Australian study of identical twins found that a twin who started using cannabis before age 17 was 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than the twin who did not. People in Colorado had good reason to worry about teen drug use. Colorado voters had approved a limited experiment with medical marijuana in 2000. A complex series of judicial and administrative decisions in the mid-2000s overthrew most restrictions on the dispensing of marijuana. Between 2009 and 2012, the number of dispensaries jumped past 500, and the number of medical cardholders multiplied from roughly 1,000 to more than 108,000.
With so many medical-marijuana card-holders walking about, it was simply inevitable that some would re-sell their marijuana to underage users. A 2013 study of Colorado teens in drug treatment found that 74% had shared somebody else’s medical marijuana. The number of occasions on which they had shared averaged over 50 times. According to a report by the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Colorado teens, by 2012, were 50% more likely to use marijuana than their peers in the rest of the country......click "Read More" below to continue.....
3.4.14
College Student Fell To Death After Eating Pot Cookies
AP | by SADIE GURMAN, 04/02/2014
DENVER (AP) — A Wyoming college student visiting Denver on spring break jumped to his death after eating a marijuana cookie that his friend legally purchased in one of Colorado's recreational pot shops, authorities said Wednesday.
An autopsy report lists marijuana intoxication as a "significant contributing factor" in the death of 19-year-old Levi Thamba Pongi, a native of the Republic of Congo who fell from a motel balcony on March 11.
Pongi's friends told investigators he ate the cookie and "exhibited hostile behavior" that included pulling things off walls and speaking erratically, the report said.
Attempts by the three friends to calm Pongi seemed to work until he went outside and jumped over the balcony railing, according to the report.
Denver police ruled the death an accident and their investigation remains open.
Colorado law bans the sale of recreational marijuana products to people under 21. Possession by people under 21 is also against the law. Authorities said one of Pongi's friends was old enough to buy the cookie from a pot shop.
The medical examiner's office had Pongi's body tested for at least 250 different substances, including bath salts and synthetic marijuana, which are known to cause strange behavior. His blood tested positive only for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to the report.
One of Pongi's friends also tried the cookie but stopped after feeling sick, said Michelle Weiss-Samaras, a spokeswoman for the Denver County medical examiner's office.
The marijuana concentration in Pongi's blood was 7.2 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood. Colorado law says juries can assume someone is driving while impaired by marijuana if their blood contains more than 5 nanograms per milliliter of the chemical.
Officials at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., say Pongi started taking classes as an exchange student in January. He was studying engineering.
"The Northwest College campus community continues to grieve after Levy's death," the college said in a statement. "All of us were deeply saddened by this tragic incident and feel for his family."
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/02/student-death-pot-cookie_n_5078397.html
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/coroner-student-fell-to-death-after-eating-pot-cookie/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colorado lawmakers move to tighten edible marijuana laws
By Keith Coffman | Reuters – Tue, 22 Apr, 2014
DENVER (Reuters) - Colorado lawmakers are moving to tighten laws governing the sale of marijuana-infused edibles, an issue that has gained attention following two deaths possibly linked to the ingestion of cannabis products, the measures' main sponsor said on Tuesday.
The state House of Representatives this week unanimously passed a bill limiting the amount of concentrated marijuana that can be sold, and another bill requiring more specific labeling of pot-laced products, such as candies and baked goods.
Rep. Frank McNulty, a Republican from suburban Denver, said the measures are needed to protect the public and assure that edibles are not mistakenly consumed by children.
"The packages of edibles are labeled that they contain marijuana, but once they're out of the package, they're indistinguishable from a brownie or lollipop bought at a grocery store," he said. .....click "Read More" below to continue...
DENVER (AP) — A Wyoming college student visiting Denver on spring break jumped to his death after eating a marijuana cookie that his friend legally purchased in one of Colorado's recreational pot shops, authorities said Wednesday.
An autopsy report lists marijuana intoxication as a "significant contributing factor" in the death of 19-year-old Levi Thamba Pongi, a native of the Republic of Congo who fell from a motel balcony on March 11.
Pongi's friends told investigators he ate the cookie and "exhibited hostile behavior" that included pulling things off walls and speaking erratically, the report said.Attempts by the three friends to calm Pongi seemed to work until he went outside and jumped over the balcony railing, according to the report.
Denver police ruled the death an accident and their investigation remains open.
Colorado law bans the sale of recreational marijuana products to people under 21. Possession by people under 21 is also against the law. Authorities said one of Pongi's friends was old enough to buy the cookie from a pot shop.
The medical examiner's office had Pongi's body tested for at least 250 different substances, including bath salts and synthetic marijuana, which are known to cause strange behavior. His blood tested positive only for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to the report.
One of Pongi's friends also tried the cookie but stopped after feeling sick, said Michelle Weiss-Samaras, a spokeswoman for the Denver County medical examiner's office.
The marijuana concentration in Pongi's blood was 7.2 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood. Colorado law says juries can assume someone is driving while impaired by marijuana if their blood contains more than 5 nanograms per milliliter of the chemical.
Officials at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo., say Pongi started taking classes as an exchange student in January. He was studying engineering.
"The Northwest College campus community continues to grieve after Levy's death," the college said in a statement. "All of us were deeply saddened by this tragic incident and feel for his family."
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/02/student-death-pot-cookie_n_5078397.html
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/04/02/coroner-student-fell-to-death-after-eating-pot-cookie/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colorado lawmakers move to tighten edible marijuana laws
By Keith Coffman | Reuters – Tue, 22 Apr, 2014
DENVER (Reuters) - Colorado lawmakers are moving to tighten laws governing the sale of marijuana-infused edibles, an issue that has gained attention following two deaths possibly linked to the ingestion of cannabis products, the measures' main sponsor said on Tuesday.
The state House of Representatives this week unanimously passed a bill limiting the amount of concentrated marijuana that can be sold, and another bill requiring more specific labeling of pot-laced products, such as candies and baked goods.
Rep. Frank McNulty, a Republican from suburban Denver, said the measures are needed to protect the public and assure that edibles are not mistakenly consumed by children.
"The packages of edibles are labeled that they contain marijuana, but once they're out of the package, they're indistinguishable from a brownie or lollipop bought at a grocery store," he said. .....click "Read More" below to continue...
2.4.14
Dangers of unrestricted pot grow-ops
B.C. marijuana fires total 36 in 8 years
Even licensed operations fail due to lack of permits and inspections, RCMP report says
By Kelly Sinoski and Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun, April 1, 2014
Marijuana grow lamps were to blame for 36 fires in B.C. over the past eight years, according to Fire Chiefs’ Association of B.C. data, and nearly a quarter of those blazes struck homes that had been licensed to grow medical marijuana.
Risk of fire, such as the one that burned a massive medical marijuana operation in Surrey to the ground Monday, is just one of many hazards cited by the federal government in its battle against a temporary injunction granted by Federal Court last week that allows licensed users to keep growing plants in their homes.
“Given that marijuana growing operations require the use of high-powered lights that are not designed for residential home use, and the fact that marijuana plants require 12-18 hours of light a day, it is not surprising that these operations would face an increased risk of fire,” states a Federal Court submission compiled for Health Canada....click "Read More" below to continue....
Even licensed operations fail due to lack of permits and inspections, RCMP report says
By Kelly Sinoski and Matthew Robinson, Vancouver Sun, April 1, 2014
Marijuana grow lamps were to blame for 36 fires in B.C. over the past eight years, according to Fire Chiefs’ Association of B.C. data, and nearly a quarter of those blazes struck homes that had been licensed to grow medical marijuana.
Risk of fire, such as the one that burned a massive medical marijuana operation in Surrey to the ground Monday, is just one of many hazards cited by the federal government in its battle against a temporary injunction granted by Federal Court last week that allows licensed users to keep growing plants in their homes.“Given that marijuana growing operations require the use of high-powered lights that are not designed for residential home use, and the fact that marijuana plants require 12-18 hours of light a day, it is not surprising that these operations would face an increased risk of fire,” states a Federal Court submission compiled for Health Canada....click "Read More" below to continue....
Huge Surrey fire linked to medicinal marijuana growing operation
Huge Surrey fire linked to medicinal marijuana growing operation
By MIKE HAGER, BRIAN MORTON AND MATTHEW ROBINSON, Vancouver Sun March 31, 2014
METRO VANCOUVER - A pungent haze loitered among the ashes of a massive medical marijuana grow operation levelled Monday by what Surrey’s top firefighter termed a suspicious blaze, sparked on the very day Canada’s controversial, outgoing pot licensing scheme was set to expire.
It took more than 30 firefighters to put out the six-metre-high flames that destroyed a modified warehouse on a former Port Kells mushroom farm that since at least 2011 had housed three medical marijuana licenses good for more than 500 plants, according to Chief Len Garis.
“Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” said Garis, who added that the fire showcased the dangers of licensed grow operations under the old system. “But you know what? I have six engines there and it’s just a stark example of why these things need to be regulated properly.”
He noted that the Government of Canada appealed a Federal Court injunction Monday that allows people to continue to grow medical marijuana while a full legal challenge plays out in the courts. Garis and other Lower Mainland chiefs had been planning to start a crackdown today on local medical marijuana patients who refused to stop home production and destroy their plants, as was required by Health Canada regulations until the injunction was set two weeks ago.
By Monday afternoon, firefighters had entered the smouldering warehouse near 187th Street and 88th Avenue where they found plant remnants in what may have been a drying room, said Garis, who did not know what part of the plants had gone up in smoke.
Neighbours living near the old mushroom farm said the smell of marijuana on the huge site was not unusual, and that over the past few days they had seen tenants moving equipment off the property, which had been gutted by the fire.
“I saw the flames on top of the roof and it was going crazy,” said Drago Kodelja, who lives in the 8700-block of 187th Street directly across the street from the fire. “The whole building burned down from one end to the other. And it went fast. In half an hour, they couldn’t stop it.”
Kodelja said that he often smelled marijuana at the property and that there were “scrubby” people hanging around.
“There were a lot of weirdos around there. They had long hair, unclean, with a lot of tattoos. Everybody thought it was suspicious. And quite a few people complained about the marijuana smell. Quite a few neighbours have moved out because they were fed up with the marijuana.”.....click "Read More" below to continue....
By MIKE HAGER, BRIAN MORTON AND MATTHEW ROBINSON, Vancouver Sun March 31, 2014
METRO VANCOUVER - A pungent haze loitered among the ashes of a massive medical marijuana grow operation levelled Monday by what Surrey’s top firefighter termed a suspicious blaze, sparked on the very day Canada’s controversial, outgoing pot licensing scheme was set to expire.
It took more than 30 firefighters to put out the six-metre-high flames that destroyed a modified warehouse on a former Port Kells mushroom farm that since at least 2011 had housed three medical marijuana licenses good for more than 500 plants, according to Chief Len Garis.
“Fortunately, nobody was hurt,” said Garis, who added that the fire showcased the dangers of licensed grow operations under the old system. “But you know what? I have six engines there and it’s just a stark example of why these things need to be regulated properly.”
He noted that the Government of Canada appealed a Federal Court injunction Monday that allows people to continue to grow medical marijuana while a full legal challenge plays out in the courts. Garis and other Lower Mainland chiefs had been planning to start a crackdown today on local medical marijuana patients who refused to stop home production and destroy their plants, as was required by Health Canada regulations until the injunction was set two weeks ago.
By Monday afternoon, firefighters had entered the smouldering warehouse near 187th Street and 88th Avenue where they found plant remnants in what may have been a drying room, said Garis, who did not know what part of the plants had gone up in smoke.
Neighbours living near the old mushroom farm said the smell of marijuana on the huge site was not unusual, and that over the past few days they had seen tenants moving equipment off the property, which had been gutted by the fire.
“I saw the flames on top of the roof and it was going crazy,” said Drago Kodelja, who lives in the 8700-block of 187th Street directly across the street from the fire. “The whole building burned down from one end to the other. And it went fast. In half an hour, they couldn’t stop it.”
Kodelja said that he often smelled marijuana at the property and that there were “scrubby” people hanging around.
“There were a lot of weirdos around there. They had long hair, unclean, with a lot of tattoos. Everybody thought it was suspicious. And quite a few people complained about the marijuana smell. Quite a few neighbours have moved out because they were fed up with the marijuana.”.....click "Read More" below to continue....
19.2.14
Dangerous candies
Are pot-laced candies seized part of a growing trend?
By Steve Mertl | Daily Brew – Tue, 18 Feb, 2014
Marijuana-laced candies, already worrying authorities in the United States, now are causing concerns north of the border.
RCMP in Alberta busted an Edmonton man last month after detecting the strong odour of pot during a routine traffic stop on Highway 16, west of the city.
They turned up enough weed to make about 25,000 joints, the Edmonton Sun reported. But they also discovered more than a pound of candies containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
The accused, who faces a number of drug charges, admitted he'd bought the sweets in Vancouver, the Sun said.
The Mounties said the candies are produced by using chemicals to extract the THC from marijuana. The concentrated dose can be more potent than weed that's smoked, police said.
“Consumers have no way of knowing the percentage of THC or the potency of these candies,” RCMP drug expert Sgt. Lorne Adamitz said in a news release.
Police are worried children will get their hands on the drug-laced sweets and end up in hospital.......click "Read More" below to continue....
By Steve Mertl | Daily Brew – Tue, 18 Feb, 2014
Marijuana-laced candies, already worrying authorities in the United States, now are causing concerns north of the border.
RCMP in Alberta busted an Edmonton man last month after detecting the strong odour of pot during a routine traffic stop on Highway 16, west of the city.
They turned up enough weed to make about 25,000 joints, the Edmonton Sun reported. But they also discovered more than a pound of candies containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
The accused, who faces a number of drug charges, admitted he'd bought the sweets in Vancouver, the Sun said.
The Mounties said the candies are produced by using chemicals to extract the THC from marijuana. The concentrated dose can be more potent than weed that's smoked, police said.
“Consumers have no way of knowing the percentage of THC or the potency of these candies,” RCMP drug expert Sgt. Lorne Adamitz said in a news release.
Police are worried children will get their hands on the drug-laced sweets and end up in hospital.......click "Read More" below to continue....
16.2.14
Officials: Spanish university student goes into comatose state after eating pot cake
By Harold Heckle, The Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2014
MADRID - A university student in Spain's capital went into a comatose state early Sunday after he ate a birthday cake baked with marijuana, while nine others were also hospitalized, officials said.
The comatose man wasn't responding to stimulus when admitted to a Madrid hospital, but he later recovered, city emergency services spokesman Javier Chivite said. The man was still hospitalized.
It wasn't immediately clear if the pot cake directly led to the man's comatose state, or if he had ingested other substances or had underlying medical problems.
An official at Puerta de Hierro de Majadahonda hospital confirmed the man went into a comatose state, but declined to reveal further details, citing privacy issues. The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn't authorized to be identified by name.
A total of 11 people were affected by eating the cake, Chivite said. Ten of them were hospitalized, the hospital official said. Chivite said they were treated for irregular heartbeat.
Jose Dominguez de Posada, dean of Madrid's Alfonso X University, said the students were all male and aged between 18 and 22 and the most affected was studying veterinary sciences. Dominguez de Posada said the university campus houses about 12,000 students.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/pot-cake-leads-brief-coma-spanish-university-student-175242244.html
MADRID - A university student in Spain's capital went into a comatose state early Sunday after he ate a birthday cake baked with marijuana, while nine others were also hospitalized, officials said.
The comatose man wasn't responding to stimulus when admitted to a Madrid hospital, but he later recovered, city emergency services spokesman Javier Chivite said. The man was still hospitalized.
It wasn't immediately clear if the pot cake directly led to the man's comatose state, or if he had ingested other substances or had underlying medical problems.
An official at Puerta de Hierro de Majadahonda hospital confirmed the man went into a comatose state, but declined to reveal further details, citing privacy issues. The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn't authorized to be identified by name.
A total of 11 people were affected by eating the cake, Chivite said. Ten of them were hospitalized, the hospital official said. Chivite said they were treated for irregular heartbeat.
Jose Dominguez de Posada, dean of Madrid's Alfonso X University, said the students were all male and aged between 18 and 22 and the most affected was studying veterinary sciences. Dominguez de Posada said the university campus houses about 12,000 students.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/pot-cake-leads-brief-coma-spanish-university-student-175242244.html
27.1.14
"Legalizing marijuana is not the answer"
(a letter published in the Vancouver Sun, Dec. 3, 2013)...
Re: Pot-smoking Mountie illustrates need to change drug laws, Column, Nov. 30
There are overwhelming reasons, evidence, and science against legalization of marijuana.
Taxes on legal marijuana would be offset by higher social, health care, criminal justice costs and lost workplace productivity. We'd have additional road carnage from more dopeaddled drivers. Myriad medical studies show marijuana's toxicity to cells, DNA; its links to schizophrenia and psychosis in some people, memory problems and increased risk of cancer.
Marijuana has all the noxious chemicals contained in tobacco except nicotine. One in 10 users (and one in six among adolescents) develop dependence.
Legalization would send mixed messages to kids about drugs. Displaced pot-pushers and distribution channels would be driven into more deadly designer drugs. There is a race to produce ever-increasing THC content levels. Australia reports THC topping out at 40 per cent, compared with the two-to-four per cent reefer of the 1970s. So let's get real: There will always be some form of marijuana prohibition.
Colorado and Washington face a raft of implementation fears and challenges, including black market price undercutting, while in the Netherlands a judge, provinces and towns have all made rulings against cannabis use in an attempt to contain serious and evolving marijuana industry problems.
Rob Brandreth-Gibbs,
Vancouver
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Legalizing+marijuana+answer/9239899/story.html#ixzz2reeilGph
Re: Pot-smoking Mountie illustrates need to change drug laws, Column, Nov. 30
There are overwhelming reasons, evidence, and science against legalization of marijuana.
Taxes on legal marijuana would be offset by higher social, health care, criminal justice costs and lost workplace productivity. We'd have additional road carnage from more dopeaddled drivers. Myriad medical studies show marijuana's toxicity to cells, DNA; its links to schizophrenia and psychosis in some people, memory problems and increased risk of cancer.
Marijuana has all the noxious chemicals contained in tobacco except nicotine. One in 10 users (and one in six among adolescents) develop dependence.
Legalization would send mixed messages to kids about drugs. Displaced pot-pushers and distribution channels would be driven into more deadly designer drugs. There is a race to produce ever-increasing THC content levels. Australia reports THC topping out at 40 per cent, compared with the two-to-four per cent reefer of the 1970s. So let's get real: There will always be some form of marijuana prohibition.
Colorado and Washington face a raft of implementation fears and challenges, including black market price undercutting, while in the Netherlands a judge, provinces and towns have all made rulings against cannabis use in an attempt to contain serious and evolving marijuana industry problems.
Rob Brandreth-Gibbs,
Vancouver
Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Legalizing+marijuana+answer/9239899/story.html#ixzz2reeilGph
Seniors Home Grow-Op Found In New Brunswick
By Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press Posted: 11/20/2013
FREDERICTON - There needs to be an independent review of inspection policies following the discovery of a marijuana growing operation in the basement of a special care home for seniors in New Brunswick, the province's Opposition Liberals said Wednesday.
The party's social development critic said he finds it difficult to understand how marijuana could be grown undetected in a facility that is subject to inspections and entrusted to care for the elderly.
"Seniors could have been badly injured, or could have died as a result of this," Victor Boudreau said in the legislature Wednesday.
The RCMP say they seized 550 marijuana plants and marijuana growing equipment Friday after a fire erupted at the Forever Young Special Care Home in Clarks Corner. The six residents of the home safely escaped.
Investigators said they believed the fire was related to the marijuana growing operation .......click "Read More" below to continue....
FREDERICTON - There needs to be an independent review of inspection policies following the discovery of a marijuana growing operation in the basement of a special care home for seniors in New Brunswick, the province's Opposition Liberals said Wednesday.
The party's social development critic said he finds it difficult to understand how marijuana could be grown undetected in a facility that is subject to inspections and entrusted to care for the elderly.
"Seniors could have been badly injured, or could have died as a result of this," Victor Boudreau said in the legislature Wednesday.
The RCMP say they seized 550 marijuana plants and marijuana growing equipment Friday after a fire erupted at the Forever Young Special Care Home in Clarks Corner. The six residents of the home safely escaped.
Investigators said they believed the fire was related to the marijuana growing operation .......click "Read More" below to continue....
19.9.13
Endless confirmations about harms of pot
Pot can trigger psychosis in those prone to it: Study
By Shane Gibson, Metronews, Sept. 11, 2013
A national study on pot use and psychosis released by the Schizophrenia Society of Canada (SSC) Tuesday shows the drug can trigger and worsen psychosis in young people already prone to the psychiatric disorder.
The research is part of a SSC project funded by Health Canada aiming to give young people pause to think before lighting their first joint.
“Hopefully it’ll inform kids as to whether or not to use cannabis based on a knowledge of their family’s (mental health) history,” explained SSC’s CEO Chris Summerville. “Does marijuana specifically in and by itself cause a mental illness? No. But does it make your risk greater? Yes.”
Summerville said past research has shown young people who are already vulnerable to psychosis are four to seven times more likely to become ill with a psychotic illness.
The recently completed four-year participatory study, led by Dr. Katherine Boydell at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, saw 28 young people who had both used pot and experienced psychosis chosen as research assistants to lead interviews, focus groups and workshops with 50 other young people with similar experiences with pot and psychosis.
Participants used their experiences to create educational videos that are now on YouTube, and the research was used to create an interactive e-learning component that can be found at cannabisandpsychosis.ca.
http://metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/791129/canadian-study-links-pot-use-and-psychosis-for-those-already-vulnerable/
By Shane Gibson, Metronews, Sept. 11, 2013
A national study on pot use and psychosis released by the Schizophrenia Society of Canada (SSC) Tuesday shows the drug can trigger and worsen psychosis in young people already prone to the psychiatric disorder.
The research is part of a SSC project funded by Health Canada aiming to give young people pause to think before lighting their first joint.
“Hopefully it’ll inform kids as to whether or not to use cannabis based on a knowledge of their family’s (mental health) history,” explained SSC’s CEO Chris Summerville. “Does marijuana specifically in and by itself cause a mental illness? No. But does it make your risk greater? Yes.”Summerville said past research has shown young people who are already vulnerable to psychosis are four to seven times more likely to become ill with a psychotic illness.
The recently completed four-year participatory study, led by Dr. Katherine Boydell at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, saw 28 young people who had both used pot and experienced psychosis chosen as research assistants to lead interviews, focus groups and workshops with 50 other young people with similar experiences with pot and psychosis.
Participants used their experiences to create educational videos that are now on YouTube, and the research was used to create an interactive e-learning component that can be found at cannabisandpsychosis.ca.
http://metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/791129/canadian-study-links-pot-use-and-psychosis-for-those-already-vulnerable/
30.7.13
Politician seduced by potheads, ignores harms of pot
Naomi Lakritz: Pot is a dangerous drug and legalization is a dumb idea, Mr. Trudeau
by Naomi Lakritz, The Province, July 26, 2013
I have lost all respect for Justin Trudeau. Until Thursday, I’d been rooting for him all the way. No more, though. Not since he announced that he thinks marijuana should be legalized.
In advocating for legalization, Trudeau cited the futility of the war on drugs. But this is not about the war on drugs. This is about the impact on everyday life if marijuana were legal. One commenter on the Calagry Herald’s website wondered whether Trudeau is aware of all the social ills that legalization would bring. Indeed. For one thing, if this ever comes to pass, we will add to the carnage caused by drunk drivers more carnage caused by drivers who are stoned.
Nor is it valid to argue that since alcohol is legal, marijuana should be legal, too. Alcohol is out of one’s system in a matter of hours for moderate drinkers. THC, the main ingredient in cannabis, stays in the body for up to 30 days, which means it continues to impair the user that much longer after the first high has worn off. Harvard psychiatry professor Harrison Pope studied marijuana’s long-term effects on cognition. He postulates that one reason for the lengthy period of impairment, is that THC “dissolves in body fat, then slowly percolates into the blood and brain over days and weeks after a joint is smoked,” according to the Harvard Gazette. ...click "Read More" below to continue....
by Naomi Lakritz, The Province, July 26, 2013
I have lost all respect for Justin Trudeau. Until Thursday, I’d been rooting for him all the way. No more, though. Not since he announced that he thinks marijuana should be legalized.
In advocating for legalization, Trudeau cited the futility of the war on drugs. But this is not about the war on drugs. This is about the impact on everyday life if marijuana were legal. One commenter on the Calagry Herald’s website wondered whether Trudeau is aware of all the social ills that legalization would bring. Indeed. For one thing, if this ever comes to pass, we will add to the carnage caused by drunk drivers more carnage caused by drivers who are stoned.
Nor is it valid to argue that since alcohol is legal, marijuana should be legal, too. Alcohol is out of one’s system in a matter of hours for moderate drinkers. THC, the main ingredient in cannabis, stays in the body for up to 30 days, which means it continues to impair the user that much longer after the first high has worn off. Harvard psychiatry professor Harrison Pope studied marijuana’s long-term effects on cognition. He postulates that one reason for the lengthy period of impairment, is that THC “dissolves in body fat, then slowly percolates into the blood and brain over days and weeks after a joint is smoked,” according to the Harvard Gazette. ...click "Read More" below to continue....
30.6.13
Youths who drink or use pot more prone to head injury
Youths who drink or use pot more prone to head injury
School survey reveals effects of drug, alcohol use
By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News, June 26, 2013
Alcohol and drugs can damage a teen’s brain in more ways than people think.
A new study has found that youths who said they frequently consume booze or pot were up to five times more likely than abstinent youths to report having suffered at least one traumatic brain injury that left them unconscious for at least five minutes or hospitalized overnight.
Overall, the survey of nearly 9,000 Ontario high school students found that, in general, one in five teens said that they had had a brain injury at some time in their lives. ....click "Read More" below to continue....
School survey reveals effects of drug, alcohol use
By Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News, June 26, 2013
Alcohol and drugs can damage a teen’s brain in more ways than people think.
A new study has found that youths who said they frequently consume booze or pot were up to five times more likely than abstinent youths to report having suffered at least one traumatic brain injury that left them unconscious for at least five minutes or hospitalized overnight.
Overall, the survey of nearly 9,000 Ontario high school students found that, in general, one in five teens said that they had had a brain injury at some time in their lives. ....click "Read More" below to continue....
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