tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40483701663873350672024-03-18T22:00:42.957-07:00HarmsOfPotExposing the myths, lies and propaganda of "harmless pot" (marijuana)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-467740591487272552017-05-10T15:55:00.029-07:002023-10-13T00:33:39.753-07:00"Harmless pot" a big lie<p><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/cannabis-hospitalizations-5-years-legalization-013645242.html">Cannabis use and hospitalizations up 5 years after legalization, researchers say </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/05/health/marijuana-elective-surgery-complications-wellness/index.html">Overuse of marijuana linked to surgery complications and death, study says </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/boston-hospital-warning-serious-cannabis-202926839.html">Boston hospital warning of serious cannabis side effect </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/cannabis-smoking-teenager-stabbed-grandmother-190135531.html">Cannabis-smoking teenager who stabbed grandmother to death in bath cleared of murder </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/teen-marijuana-poisonings-skyrocketed-keep-183259855.html">Teen Marijuana Poisonings Have Skyrocketed. How to Keep Your Child Safe </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/well/mind/teens-thc-cannabis.html">Psychosis, Addiction, Chronic Vomiting: As Weed Becomes More Potent, Teens Are Getting Sick </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/cp-newsalert-driver-who-killed-woman-and-three-daughters-sentenced-to-17-years">Driver who killed woman and three daughters in Brampton, Ont., sentenced to 17 years </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marijuana-wars-violent-mexican-drug-200554666.html">Marijuana wars: Violent Mexican drug cartels turn Northern California into ‘The Wild West’ </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/marijuana-legalization-mistake-highly-concentrated-120034871.html">Marijuana legalization was a mistake. Highly concentrated pot is destroying my son's life </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/illegal-marijuana-farms-wests-scarce-135533523.html">Illegal marijuana farms take West's water in 'blatant theft' </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/bizarre-illness-dubbed-scromiting-linked-152651503.html">Bizarre illness dubbed ‘scromiting’ linked to the rise of more potent cannabis in US </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/high-potency-weed-linked-psychotic-episodes-mysterious-vomiting-illness-young-n1273463">High potency weed linked to psychotic episodes, mysterious vomiting illness in young users </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/rare-marijuana-side-effects-uncontrollable-140000711.html">Rare marijuana side effects, from uncontrollable vomiting to lung damage </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/a-27-year-old-woman-developed-a-mysterious-cannabis-related-syndrome-that-left-her-
vomiting-and-caused-her-to-fall-asleep-while-showering/articleshow/81794830.cms">A 27-year-old woman developed a mysterious cannabis-related syndrome that left her vomiting and caused her to fall asleep while showering </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9604311/Canadian-army-gunner-charged-feeding-cannabis-laced-cupcakes-artillery-unit.html">Army gunner charged with feeding cannabis-laced cupcakes to artillery unit during live-fire exercise, leaving them 'paranoid, tired and confused' </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/risk-autism-doubles-mother-smokes-182332192.html">Risk of autism doubles if mother smokes cannabis during pregnancy, study finds </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadian-paediatric-society-urges-doctors-to-discuss-cannabis-use-with/">National pediatric group urges doctors to discuss cannabis use with teenagers </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTN0Er_ow-8">Fatal crashes invloving marijuana have doubled in Washington state (video) </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.theoutlook.ca/cannabis-edibles-pose-serious-risks-to-our-kids-1.24056430">Cannabis edibles pose serious risks to our kids</a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/study-marijuana-linked-to-increased-heart-problems/">Study: Marijuana linked to increased heart problem (video) </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2020/01/20/marijuana-brigham-and-womens/">Is Smoking Weed as Bad for Your Heart as Cigarettes?</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-depression-cannabis/cannabis-use-rising-faster-among-depressed-americans-idUSKBN1YU16Y">Cannabis use rising faster among depressed </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/lifestyles/health/grace-parraga-vaping-is-having-a-deadly-impact-on-peoples-lungs-355190/">Vaping is having a deadly impact on people’s lungs </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/loved-weed-then-vomiting-began-184850933.html">He loved weed. Then the vomiting began. Months later, he died </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pot-alcohol-most-common-cause-042524771.html">Pot, alcohol most common cause of youth substance-use hospitalizations: report </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://www.thegrowthop.com/cannabis-news/cannabis-world-news/teen-who-killed-two-men-claims-cannabis-does-not-impair-driving-tells-judge-to-google-it?utm_source=distroscale&utm_medium=native_ads&utm_campaign=on_network_boosting&utm_content=trending_broadsheet">Teen who killed two men claims cannabis does not impair driving, tells judge to 'Google it'</a><br />
• <a href="https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-canntrust-is-the-fruit-of-a-reckless-rushed-liberal-cannabis-policy">CannTrust is the fruit of a reckless, rushed Liberal cannabis policy</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/barbara-kay-pots-legal-but-we-may-come-to-regret-that">Pot's legal. But we may come to regret that</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://xtest35.blogspot.com/">MDs: The science isn't hazy (about pot's harms) </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://theprovince.com/news/bc-politics/mike-smyth-grow-op-nightmares-could-they-get-worse-with-legal-pot">Grow-op nightmares -- Could they get worse with legal pot?</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="http://globe2go.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx">My son is becoming a pothead. What should I do?</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-think-cannabis-is-harmless-i-used-to-too-i-know-better-now">Cannabis use may increase teens’ risk of depression and suicide, research review suggests</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-think-cannabis-is-harmless-i-used-to-too-i-know-better-now">Think cannabis is harmless? So did I. But I know better now</a> </b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><b>• <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-think-cannabis-is-harmless-i-used-to-too-i-know-better-now">Daphne Bramham: What is the truth about the risks of marijuana?</a></b></span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9koa4l3" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2019/01/14/smoking-cannabis-just-teenager-enough-alter-brain-structure/" border="0" data-original-height="662" data-original-width="882" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpA1GHzdjLpne6DhQ-0LbCOSoOa1ZoQ11i7Y6LvjQnrgRKwVyRhoIG8MNWV1pYP3fn_b_Fx4sVjN8En2y3xyknvDUVBtg7RQGZsMwniibB910U2wzESpf-PZ9Uha77A5aZvyiepMcUFVY/s200/ts20181107vh31994-e1541692300308.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grow-op exploded house</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table><p>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"></span></span> <span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6590927/Smoking-weed-just-change-teenagers-brain.html">• Just one joint can harm teenage brain structure</a></span></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9koa4l3"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">• Pot grow-op explodes house in Whitby</span></b></span></span></a><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"></span></b></span></span> <span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9ert624">• Heavy cannabis use tied to strokes, researchers say </a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/cannabis-induced-psychosis-rise-n-090000716.html?bcmt=1&guccounter=1">• Cannabis-induced psychosis on the rise in N.W.T. prior to legalization, says health dept. </a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/patrick-mcgeer-cannabis-soon-to-be-legal-is-far-from-harmless">• Cannabis is far from harmless </a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ahead-of-legalization-doctors-warn-pregnant-women-of-cannabis-risks/">• Doctors warn pregnant women of cannabis risks </a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/top-calgary-er-doctor-seeing-225011495.html">• Top Calgary ER doctor sees spike in cannabis 'poisoning' </a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-lawyer-mark-phillips-pleads-guilty-in-st-thomas-ont-baseball-bat/"><span style="font-size: small;">• Marijuana-induced psychosis behind Toronto lawyer’s bat attack: judge</span> </a></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/fatal-crashes-more-likely-during-annual-420-cannabis-celebration-study/article37940282/"><b>• Study warns of car crashes during pot celebration</b></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/terrifying-impact-marijuana-brain-something-people-never-talk-about.html/?a=viewall"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span face=", "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "notocoloremoji" , "emojisymbols" , "symbola" , "noto" , "android emoji" , "androidemoji" , "arial unicode ms" , "zapf dingbats" , "applecoloremoji" , "apple color emoji"" style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">• Horrible Side Effects of Marijuana That People Never Talk About</span></span></span></span></span></a></span></b></span><br />
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-marijuana-hypertension-idUSKBN1AP0JS"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=", "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "notocoloremoji" , "emojisymbols" , "symbola" , "noto" , "android emoji" , "androidemoji" , "arial unicode ms" , "zapf dingbats" , "applecoloremoji" , "apple color emoji"" style="background-color: white; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">•</span> </span><b><span style="font-size: small;">Marijuana smokers three times more likely to die of high blood pressure: study</span></b></span></span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://health.sunnybrook.ca/navigator/pregnancy-marijuana-bad-mix/"><span face=", "lucida grande" , "tahoma" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif , "segoe ui emoji" , "segoe ui symbol" , "notocoloremoji" , "emojisymbols" , "symbola" , "noto" , "android emoji" , "androidemoji" , "arial unicode ms" , "zapf dingbats" , "applecoloremoji" , "apple color emoji"" style="background-color: white; font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27px;">• </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Why pregnancy and marijuana are a bad mix</b></a></span><br />
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</span></b></span></span> <span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">VIDEOS: </span></b></span></span></p><p><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span><a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/boston-hospital-warning-serious-cannabis-202926839.html">►Boston hospital warning of serious cannabis side effect</a></span></b></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmKTnL04js8">►Overdoses from marijuana edibles rise in children</a></b></span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6TgR7nkAg">►Second Death Linked To Vaping Reported By Health Officials|NBC Nightly News</a></b></span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8nzYGLrn4k">►marijuana vaping illnesses</a></b></span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RMXai43XgQ">►Milwaukee warns: Stop vaping immediately</a></b></span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXkKFLPbOxo">►2 young men say they almost died from vaping</a></b></span></span></span><br />
<b style="font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOt4dAYpkAw">►Dayton, Ohio mass killer was heavy pot user like Columbine killers</a></span></span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujoS9wNibqg">►Weed (pot) killing pedestrians</a></span></span></span></b></span></span><br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVbGGfPmHA"><span style="font-size: medium;">►Medical Journal Warns of Pot Risk to Youth</span></a> <span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></b><br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mucic_i574"><span style="font-size: medium;">►"Drugged Driving" (pot-DUI) deaths and injuries escalating</span></a> </b><br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQWcBWj-Js">►Marijuana-linked traffic fatalities on the rise</a></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="http://harmsofpot.blogspot.ca/2016/11/sickness-from-marijuana.html">►Sickness from marijuana</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xph-bGD2nz0">►Psychosis & rampages in pot-fuelled Colorado </a></b></span></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-6862410824414293432017-05-10T15:08:00.000-07:002019-02-14T17:04:19.693-08:00More sources on same news of teen pot use linked to depression & suicide<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/13/cannabis-smoking-in-teenage-years-linked-to-adulthood-depression">• Cannabis smoking in teenage years linked to adulthood depression</a><br />
<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/13/smoking-cannabis-teenager-increases-risk-depression-40-per-cent/">• Smoking cannabis as teenager increases risk of depression by 40 per cent, Oxford study finds</a><br />
<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190213172307.htm">• Cannabis use in teens linked to risk of depression in young adults</a><br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/13/cannabis-smoking-in-teenage-years-linked-to-adulthood-depression">• Cannabis smoking in teenage years linked to adulthood depression </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-50963260382520609012017-05-10T15:05:00.000-07:002018-10-14T17:37:56.511-07:00Smoke from legal pot poses new risk to children<b>Smoke from legal pot poses new risk to children</b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>PAMELA MCCOLL, The Province, 14 Oct 2018</i></span><br />
When cannabis becomes legal across Canada on Wednesday, there will be no rules in place to protect children from being exposed to second-hand smoke from joints unless they are fortunate enough to live in housing where smoking is banned.<br />
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No amount of second-hand smoke is safe. Children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to develop lung diseases and other health problems. Second-hand smoke is a cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The fact that one in six infants and toddlers admitted to a Colorado hospital with symptoms of bronchiolitis tested positive for marijuana exposure should be of grave concern to Canadians as they move to legalization.<br />
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The dangers of second-hand, carcinogenic and psychoactive chemically-laden marijuana smoke were ignored by the Trudeau government in its push to legalize pot. This government in fact sanctioned the smoking of marijuana in the presence of children. <i>...click "Read More" below to continue...</i><br />
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The government did not commission an in-depth child risk assessment of the draft legalization framework, a study called for by child advocates across the country.<br />
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The Alberta Ministry of Children’s Services’ Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act Placement Resource Policy on Environmental Safety states that a foster parent must be aware of, and committed to provide a non-smoking environment by not allowing smoking in the home when a foster child is placed; not allowing smoking in a vehicle when a foster child is present ; and not allowing use of smokeless tobacco when a foster child is present. As the Alberta government’s policy contains all-inclusive language of “non-smoking environment,” the same rules have been extended to legalized marijuana. Some children in the province of Alberta have been protected under the policy while the majority of Albertan children and other children in Canada should rightly ask: “What about us?”<br />
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The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms secures the safety of children from threats to their health and their life. Section 15 of the Charter prohibits discrimination perpetrated by the governments of Canada. The Equality Rights section states that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination. The provisions that protect children in foster care should extend to every child.<br />
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Section 7 of the Charter is a constitutional provision that protects an individual’s personal legal rights from actions of the government of Canada, the right to life, liberty and security of the person. The Cannabis Act fails to protect Canadian children’s right to security of the self. The right to security of the person consists of the rights to privacy of the body and its health and of the right protecting the “psychological integrity” of an individual. Exposure to marijuana in poorly ventilated spaces exposes the non-user to the impact of a psychotropic high, including the distortion of one’s sense of reality.<br />
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Canada is a party to the Rights of the Child Treaty, the most widely ratified piece of human rights law in history. The treaty establishes the human rights of children to health and to protection under law. Placing marijuana products and plants in children’s homes fails to protect their rights under international treaty obligations.<br />
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A petition, before the B.C. government seeks to make all multi-unit dwellings in B.C. smoke-free. Smoke-free housing is needed to protect the non-user’s health. Smoke travels, it escapes and contaminates beyond a single unit. Laws are to preserve a person from death and violence and to secure their free enjoyment of their property. The Cannabis Act fails to preserve the rights of non-users of marijuana. It rests with citizens to stand up for their rights and those of children. Be prepared — this will be an ugly, costly and lengthy process.<br />
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Provincial governments can correct the mistakes made by the federal government. Concerned citizens must see that they do.<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pamela McColl is an anti-smoking and anti-cannabis activist with www.cleartheairnow.org.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> pam.mccoll@cleartheairnow.org www.cleartheairnow.org</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">— DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-province/20181014/281805694893640</span></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-80651530166018337582017-05-10T15:00:00.000-07:002018-07-24T00:29:44.711-07:00Bad trip from smoking pot? It could be a sign of mental illness<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>By MICHAEL MUI, StarMetro Vancouver</i></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">, July 21, 2018</span></i><br />
VANCOUVER—It took years for doctors to figure out why she was hearing voices in her head. It started innocently at first. The voices were distant. Sometimes they came from her television. In this alternate reality, she was the belle of Hollywood’s A-list, sought after by the directors and actors of Beverly Hills.<br />
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Before age 25, Anita Smith had never touched marijuana. She had an otherwise unremarkable, sheltered upbringing with no family history of mental illnesses. Following high school, she spent three years in the Canadian Forces before deciding to enrol in film school. Her group of friends in college introduced her to pot.<br />
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That was back in the mid ’90s, when the psychoactive component in cannabis, THC, was mild compared to today’s standards. For more than two years, Smith was a daily user. So was everyone else in her peer group. But only she heard the voices. <i>....Click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
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As Canada is poised to legalize recreational marijuana in October this year, with federal legislation making the drug legal to possess in limited amounts for anyone 12 or older, experts are attempting to figure out how best to educate Canadians on the mental health risks for using the drug.<br />
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In particular, research in Denmark has discovered heavy cannabis users are substantially associated with the development of schizophrenia and bipolarism. In fact, of those who were hospitalized with a pot-related mental condition, almost 50 per cent were diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolarism later on in life. The risks increase the younger a person starts using. Experts have not yet determined whether cannabis causes schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder, or whether it simply triggers a first psychotic episode.<br />
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But then she started believing what her mind was telling her. She was going to live in a van, move to the U.S., meet the lover of her dreams. The first time she went to hospital, she called 911 on herself.<br />
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Smith, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, is hardly the only example in British Columbia. For the past seven years, emergency departments in the province have been tracking hospital admissions of those who were diagnosed with mental or behavioural issues to due cannabis consumption, and overdoses related to the drug. Each year, the numbers of people so mentally ill from marijuana that they had to go to the emergency room has increased consistently.<br />
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Data obtained from St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital and Kelowna General Hospital show 567 people in total in these categories were admitted to these emergency departments last year. In 2012, that figure was 168.<br />
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The difference in the number of admissions for mental health issues due to marijuana at the four hospitals reveal an approximately 30 per cent average year-over-year increase in these types of hospital visits.<br />
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In Denmark, the records examined by researchers displayed remarkably similar circumstances as the count from B.C. Each of the 1,492 people examined in the country had been admitted to hospital for cannabis-related psychosis, defined under the same International Classification of Diseases metric as the figures presented by B.C. hospitals.<br />
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Just under half were diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolarism later on in life, often within the next two to three years after their first hospital visit.<br />
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“It was very surprising,” said Dr. Marie Starzer, lead author of the Danish study, in an interview. “(These) were cases so severe you would need hospitalization or at least a visit to the psychiatric emergency room ... there’s probably a lot more cases of people who get some sort of psychotic symptoms when they smoke cannabis but they pass after a couple of hours.”<br />
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Cannabis being associated with schizophrenia is not a new theory. Just over the past year, Health Canada provided $83,000 to the Schizophrenia Society of Canada to develop its health-messaging website, cannabisandpsychosis.ca.<br />
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Dr. Phil Tibbo, chair of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada Foundation, said there’s a misconception among the public that because marijuana is “natural,” that it’s completely safe for consumption.<br />
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“When you talk to youth, that’s what they hear. ‘There’s no issue. It’s harmless. It’s a natural product. How can it do me any harm?’ That’s the perception of cannabis,” Tibbo said.<br />
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Particularly, the concern for youth is how cannabis consumption disrupts the endocannabinoid system responsible for passing information in the brain during adolescent brain development, Tibbo said. It’s the disruption of that system that could result in psychosis. Or put another way, adolescent cannabis usage could potentially undermine the ability of the brain to properly pass along information.<br />
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“Some might call it a ‘bad trip’ ... which is really not what you’re supposed to expect if cannabis is a pleasurable experience,” Tibbo said. “What I’ll say to a patient in front of me is that, ‘Yes. Your friends may be smoking a lot but they’re not here. You’re here in front of me. It’s something about your brain.’”<br />
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To date, much of the prevailing theory is that marijuana doesn’t cause mental illness so much as act as a “trigger” for those already at risk, said Dr. Tim Stockwell, director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research in B.C.<br />
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“That’s the summary of the established position. Personally, I think it may be a little more of a problem than that,” Stockwell said. “I’ve encountered people who it appears from family reports had no other symptoms until they got heavily into using cannabis.<br />
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“It’s controversial and people argue fiercely on both sides.”<br />
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In a statement, B.C.’s Ministry of Health said it started encouraging hospitals to collect data in 2011 to contribute information to a national database on why people attend emergency rooms, and the cannabis data was captured as part of a wider range of information.<br />
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Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. provincial health officer, said the increase in numbers may be due to how doctors are becoming ever more aware of marijuana-related symptoms, in addition to the presence of more users overall, thanks to the proliferation of recreational marijuana in recent years.<br />
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But Henry said the issue is how THC levels are not currently measured, and the provincial government is looking to Ottawa to enforce labelling requirements on the quantity THC within recreational cannabis products. Henry said one option B.C. has at its disposal would be to set pricing based on the quantity of THC in each product.<br />
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“We know products that contain really high THC levels are ones more likely to trigger psychosis or other ill health effects,” Henry said in an interview. “If you’re somebody who has a family history of mental health issues of psychosis or anxiety, then you’re somebody who should not be using cannabis.”<br />
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Health officials also don’t know how much THC would be considered high enough to exacerbate risks due to lack of knowledge. In lieu of recommended daily dosage guidelines, the message of currently endorsed guidelines to prevent mental illness risk is simply: use less, use lower levels of THC or abstain.<br />
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None of the B.C. hospitals provided a subject matter expert, or anyone from their emergency departments, for an interview. Interior Health, which saw 81 cases at its Kelowna General Hospital in 2017, provided a statement from Andrew Hughes, the hospital’s health service administrator.<br />
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“The number of patients admitted with cannabis use disorders or overdoses has remained very small over the last eight years when taken in the context of the overall patients we see at Kelowna General Hospital,” Hughes said.<br />
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Fraser Health’s Surrey Memorial Hospital saw the largest proportion of cases, with 270 cases last year. Spokesperson Jacqueline Blackwell said the treatment for the typical patient with a cannabis-related emergency would involve determining whether there is an ongoing mental health or substance use concern.<br />
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“The addictions medical consultation team will collaboratively develop a treatment plan to support them while they are in hospital and following discharge,” Blackwell said in a statement.<br />
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Janice Jacinto started using marijuana when she was 13. As a survivor of childhood trauma, she had always understood the anguish of mental pain. She dabbled with drugs, not just marijuana, simply due to the people she would hang out with at the time.<br />
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Jacinto’s problem is that when she uses marijuana, dark memories of years past come flooding back with the intensity of a current event taking place.<br />
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“It’s not always the memory. It’s a sensation in the body that remembers the stress. I was remembering things in from sixth grade I don’t normally think about ... when you’re moving in that sped up kind of dial, the noise gets louder,” the 33-year-old said.<br />
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Her first true manic episode was in 2007. Since then, Jacinto’s been in and out of hospital for psychiatric treatment more than a dozen times, almost always due to psychosis following marijuana consumption.<br />
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For years, she was on and off anti-psychotic medications that often leave her without energy or creativity. But despite her continuing occasional consumption of marijuana, in part to offset the effects of anti-psychotic medications, she’s been able to gain a measure of control. The last time she was hospitalized was around 2014.<br />
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“I’ve always had a trace of bipolar since I was little but it only got amplified when I started using every day,” Jacinto said. “I’m not saying weed is bad. For some people it isn’t.”<br />
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The Vancouver Police Department, meanwhile, attributed the emergency room cases to an increase in mental-illness-related violence in the city. In its 2016 mental health strategy, the department described how its officers struggle to be the front-line of a mental health crisis in the city, with the number of contacts between police and the mentally ill increasing every year.<br />
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“It is only a small subset of this population who demonstrate a propensity toward violent behaviour, generally those with psychosis, often caused by schizophrenia or a related illness,” reads the mental health strategy. “The drivers of this increase include ... a 300% increase in marijuana-induced psychosis over the last five years.” The police attributed this increase to “an increase in the toxicity of marijuana in recent years.”<br />
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The data-set used by the Vancouver police is identical to the one obtained by StarMetro. Vancouver police did not provide an interview to clarify its interpretation of the information.<br />
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Henry, the provincial health officer, said she believes the incidents referred to by Vancouver police are associated with “manufactured highly concentrated THC products like shatter,” which she believes should be illegal.<br />
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“While I agree with their stats and concerns, 300 per cent increase is still quite small in the actual numbers,” Henry said. “These are dramatic but not common events.”<br />
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As one positive sign, Henry referred to 2013 figures collected from 30,000 B.C. youths from Grades 7 to 12 that showed only about one-in-four teens had used marijuana in their lifetimes, down about 5 per cent from the previous survey done in 2008. Younger users under the age of 25 have an increased risk in developing mental illness due to marijuana use, she said.<br />
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“That age group from 19 to 25 is actually the highest using age group right now of cannabis, and prohibiting it in that group is not going to help,” Henry said.<br />
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“Now is our opportunity to put out the information and to make sure people know, what are the challenges, who are the groups that are in particular at high risk of psychosis or issues with mental health problems.”<br />
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Meanwhile, Smith, the patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, said she still uses marijuana on a daily basis, but controls the amount she consumes. For her, it’s about balancing her mental wellness without crossing that invisible line between reality and insanity.<br />
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“My doctor would always tell me we give you anti-psychotics to bring the psychosis down. You smoke to bring the psychosis up because you’re addicted to the mania,” Smith, 47, said. “Sometimes marijuana gets the motor in motion, it just helps a bit ... You have to be honest. Is this actually helping or hurting?”<br />
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Correction — July 21, 2018: This story was updated from a previously edited version that errenously stated the legal age for possession of recreational marijuana as 21.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>https://www.thestar.com/news/cannabis/2018/07/21/bad-trip-from-smoking-pot-it-could-be-a-sign-of-mental-illness.html</i></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-6106485999148003632017-05-09T19:49:00.002-07:002017-05-10T22:54:33.273-07:00Marijuana-related ER visits among kids quadruples at Colorado hospital: Study <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Postmedia Network, May 8, 2017</i></span><br />
A new study that analyzed adolescent emergency room visits could cause the idea pot legalization is safe for youth to go up in smoke.<br />
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Researchers studied the critical care records of kids between the ages of 13 and 21 at Children's Hospital Colorado over a 10-year period and found ER visits related to pot use are on the rise.<br />
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According to a study presented by Dr. George Sam Wang, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, there were 639 pot-related visits to the hospital in 2014 – more than four-times the 146 similar visits in 2005. In total, researchers found there were 3,443 marijuana-related visits during the period in which the data was collected.<br />
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<b>Mental illness symptoms related to marijuana use made up the vast majority (66%) of those hospital visits.</b><br />
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Colorado has been at the forefront of marijuana legalization in North America, having enacted pot use for medicinal purposes in 2010 and recreational purposes in 2014.<br />
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"The state-level effect of marijuana legalization on adolescent use has only begun to be evaluated," Dr. Wang said, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. "As our results suggest, targeted marijuana education and prevention strategies are necessary to reduce the significant public health impact the drug can have on adolescent populations, particularly on mental health."<br />
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Following the Trudeau Liberals’ introduction of the proposed Cannabis Act C-45 in the House of Commons last month, some Canadian health care professionals, such as the Canadian Psychiatric Association, have expressed concern that any legalization of marijuana in Canada “must protect mental health of young Canadians.”<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.torontosun.com/2017/05/08/marijuana-related-er-visits-among-kids-quadruples-at-colorado-hospital-study</span><br />
<i>Related news:</i><br />
<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/er-visits-kids-rise-significantly-after-pot-legalized-colorado-n754781">http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/er-visits-kids-rise-significantly-after-pot-legalized-colorado-n754781</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-88464155462618464322017-05-09T19:24:00.003-07:002017-05-09T19:24:53.833-07:00 Cannabis use harms minds of young people<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><b>Legal age for cannabis use should be higher, not lower</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;">Dr. Gail Beck, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;">The Province, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;">21 Apr 2017</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Every day in the youth program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, my colleagues and I see young people whose illnesses are complicated by the use and abuse of cannabis or a dependence on this drug. We provide these youths and their families with information on the effect of pot on the developing brain. We are often able to convince young people to decrease their marijuana consumption or, in many cases, to stop using it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Unfortunately, legislators may not be as aware of the risks of cannabis on the developing brain as mental health professionals are. <span style="font-size: small;"><i>....</i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>click "Read More" below to continue....</i></span><br />
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<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2605" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There are three categories of concern with respect to cannabis use by youth and their health. First, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are concerned about the impact of marijuana on brain development. Second, there is a correlation between marijuana use and the onset of psychotic illnesses. Finally, there may be particular risks related to adolescents who are driving under the influence of cannabis.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">There is good evidence that marijuana use can have an effect on the developing brain, which can continue into a person’s mid-20s. Health professionals had hoped that the legal age for marijuana use might be 25, to reduce these impacts. Most of us realize that marijuana use can impair concentration and cause a deterioration in such cognitive tasks as remembering, problem-solving and decision-making. These effects will reverse in adults a few weeks after discontinuing marijuana. In youth under 25, however, this isn’t the case.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2609" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">These difficulties often result in long-term functional deterioration. Young people may even find their academic achievement deteriorates at a time in their lives when they can least manage this. From the age of 18 until 25, a young person is finishing high school, beginning post-secondary education and starting a career. Most of us call upon all our mental resources during this period and we don’t need cannabis clouding our judgment.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2611" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">A second concern is related to the development of mental illnesses, particularly psychotic illnesses. Research has demonstrated a correlation between marijuana use and the onset of anxiety disorders, depression and psychotic disorders in youth with a predisposition to these conditions because of family history. Mental health symptoms are also a concern in acute, toxic, dose-related episodes of intoxication, including anxiety, depression, paranoia and psychotic episodes.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2613" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In our youth psychiatry program, we educate our patients and their families about this research. We have found that this is necessary since so many Canadians believe that marijuana is relatively harmless compared with other substances or alcohol. It’s for this reason that public health and mental health professionals have requested that a robust education plan accompany the implementation of marijuana legislation.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2615" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Finally, we must remember that even when they’re not intoxicated, youth — especially young men — are implicated in more motor-vehicle accidents than any other age group. Marijuana intoxication is as dangerous as other intoxication and has been linked to an increased rate of traffic accidents. This link was demonstrated in an increased rate of motor vehicle accidents in Colorado since the legalization of marijuana there.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2617" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Mental health professionals had hoped that the federal government would keep public health concerns in the forefront as they introduced marijuana legalization. As a physician and parent, I am inclined to be protective where the evidence merits it. But I am also realistic. I know that young Canadians use twice as much marijuana as their counterparts in other similar countries. I had hoped that this legislation would regulate marijuana, so that there could be access to safe amounts only, keeping in mind the mental health of young Canadians.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2619" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Having had an opportunity to consider the federal plan to legalize marijuana, health professionals will now take our concerns to provincial governments. Since the cost of negative outcomes will be borne provincially, perhaps these legislators will be more cautious with age restrictions.</span><br />
<br id="yiv7300664567yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1492809453322_2621" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">More importantly, perhaps health professionals will be able to convince young Canadians and those who care for them of the health risks of marijuana, in much the same way as we are able to convince my patients and their families. That would be the best prevention.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Dr. Gail Beck is clinical director of the youth psychiatry program at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. This piece first appeared in the Ottawa Citizen.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">http://theprovince.com/opinion/op-ed/dr-gail-beck-legal-age-for-cannabis-use-should-be-higher-not-lower</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-19167735998819088362017-05-09T19:22:00.001-07:002017-05-09T19:32:07.883-07:00Fake reasons for pot legalization<b>What was Justin smoking? </b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>by Margaret Wente, The Globe and Mail, Apr. 17, 2017</i></span><br />
Legalizing pot is trickier than it looks, and the Prime Minister might soon be wondering if the hassle is worth the price. ....<i>click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
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Justin Trudeau’s vow to legalize marijuana – made without much thinking, one suspects – was one of his signature campaign promises. It was intended to brand his party as progressive, youthful and enlightened. And the time seemed right. Most Canadians agree that it’s time to make it legal.<br />
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But when the government unveiled its long-awaited legislation – on the eve of a long weekend – our hip Prime Minister was nowhere in sight. He left the job to a bunch of hatchet-faced ministers, who grimly assured us that this was going to be all about law and order and harm reduction, not fun. Clearly, the government hoped that everyone would get distracted by the holiday and move on.<br />
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Legalizing pot is trickier than it looks. Some of the benefits have been wildly overstated and some of the consequences are unintended. Take, for example, the Liberals’ blithe assurance that tough new laws will, if anything, reduce the availability of pot to youth. This ain’t gonna happen. It hasn’t happened in Colorado and it won’t happen here. Nor is it easy to believe that all those new laws will be vigorously enforced. Do you really think the cops, who barely have the resources to fight drug crime now, will waste their time busting teenagers for possession?<br />
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As for the black market, it will change but it will not disappear. Not everyone will be willing to fork over the high prices (to be determined) that will be charged in the legal market. The higher the price, the greater the opportunity for illegal suppliers to grow their market share. “If people can save significant amounts of money, then they will,” says security and crime expert Christian Leuprecht, who is a professor at the Royal Military College and Queen’s University. Consider contraband cigarettes, which now account for a whopping 30 per cent of the Ontario market. Why would pot be any different?<br />
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Marijuana costs peanuts to produce. But in the United States, sky-high taxes and onerous regulations make legal pot vastly more expensive than the illegal stuff. That may not matter to well-heeled casual users, but it matters a great deal to downmarket folks, who make up a large part of the consumer base. In Oregon, illegal marijuana still accounts for more than 35 per cent of the market. “The new system has clearly not replaced or even threatened, corner dealers either in Washington or Colorado,” Tom James wrote in The Atlantic. Meanwhile, Uruguay – another poster-country for legalization – has become a major dope distribution hub for South America.<br />
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Another lucrative business for the black market is export sales. A large amount of Colorado pot is sold illegally to neighbouring states. Canada’s already robust illegal export business could get a significant boost too, Prof. Leuprecht says. “It is naive to believe all our dope will stay here.” He wonders how many friends that will make us south of the border.<br />
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The provinces are not happy about all this, and for good reason. It’s they – along with municipalities and local police forces – that will bear the burden of enforcement, regulation, extra health-care costs and public-safety campaigns. It will be up to them to figure out distribution networks, age of majority and how to do roadside safety checks. (The only safety check currently on offer is a saliva test that doesn’t work yet.) The feds haven’t promised one new penny for any of it, and enforcement could be uneven, to say the least.<br />
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/what-was-justin-smoking/article34723818/<br />
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There will be winners, though. The biggest winners will be the current incumbents in the business. Despite the fantasies of nostalgic hippies and pot libertarians, there will be no room in the market for artisanal growers or idealistic mom-and-pop pot shops. They won’t be able to compete. Waiting in the wings are well-capitalized investors who are poised to set up massive grow-ops and sophisticated retail and mail-order chains, with the expertise and lawyers to help them through all the hoops that governments devise. Many of these pot pioneers are intimately familiar with the workings of government, having been in it themselves. As in the United States, they will work closely with politicians and bureaucrats to make sure the regulations are as advantageous and marketfriendly to themselves as possible.<br />
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The road to legalization is paved with good intentions – and also massive potholes. With more urgent matters on his plate, Mr. Trudeau might well be wondering whether the hassle is worth the price.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/what-was-justin-smoking/article34723818/</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-28758555391503565762017-05-09T18:30:00.000-07:002017-05-09T19:33:44.024-07:00Pot shots at pot legalization<b><i>Letters to The Globe and Mail, April 18, 2017:</i></b><br />
Fifteen years from now, there will be a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for legalizing marijuana (Liberals Table Historic Marijuana Legislation, April 14). It will be brought about by all the people who will be hurt by smoking marijuana. It can harm your health and is linked to depression.<br />
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If you want to get a good perspective on legalizing marijuana, visit the rehabilitation centres and interview the drug addicts who are trying to get free of drug addiction. They say it is not a good idea. <i>– Vincent Heffernan, Toronto </i><br />
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While I do understand the reasoning behind legalizing marijuana, I believe that the public health risks outweigh the legislative benefits. It is an intoxicant and causes effects similar to alcohol, and can cause impairment of both perception and motor skills. These faculties need to be functional to ensure safe driving, for example.<br />
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Legalizing marijuana may lead to greater incidents of accidents – and possible deaths – because of intoxication. We are already working toward mitigating road deaths related to alcohol. Adding marijuana to the mix poses an additional liability to public safety. <i>– Sohail Temoor, Kitchener, Ont. ....click "Read More" below for more....</i><br />
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There have been plenty of articles lately about the legalization of marijuana yet nobody seems to be talking about where people will be allowed to smoke. I smell it nearly every time I’m walking in my neighbourhood and it’s not even legal yet.<br />
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We have made such great progress over the past 20 years limiting cigarette smoke. Remember when people used to be able to smoke in restaurants and on patios? Most of us are so happy to live in a nearly smoke-free environment.<br />
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Now I am very worried that when pot is fully legalized, the smell will be everywhere.<br />
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I presume there will be limitations similar to using alcohol, but that won’t be enough to keep the smell out of my airwaves. I’m fine with pot being legalized. I just don’t want to have to smell it or breathe the second-hand smoke. <i>– Donna Spreitzer, Toronto</i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-ottawaquebec-edition/20170418/281672549816985</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-82817187628027324452017-03-07T22:46:00.002-08:002017-03-07T22:46:35.174-08:00Health risks of smoking medical pot in spotlight<b>Smoking medical pot ‘a really dangerous thing for your lungs’</b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press, 3/5/2017</span></i><br />
VANCOUVER — Not all medicinal marijuana is created equal. That’s what some experts are saying as they warn about the health risks and curtailed effectiveness associated with smoking medicine.<br />
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As medical pot becomes increasingly mainstream and Canada moves toward legalizing the substance, health experts are emphasizing the need for doctors and patients to consider the sometimes serious side effects linked to the various ways of consuming the drug.<i> ....click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
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Paul Farnan, an addictions specialist at the University of British Columbia, likened a recommendation to smoke medicinal marijuana to a doctor handing out a prescription to light up an opium pipe.<br />
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“We know there’s something in opium that helps pain, and we’re able to pharmaceutically develop morphine and other analgesics, but we wouldn’t say to people, ‘You have pain? Why don’t you smoke opium?’ ” he said.<br />
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“We’re kind of saying to people, ‘We think there’s some stuff that cannabinoids will be helpful for. Why don’t you just smoke cannabis?’ First of all, cannabis is actually a really dangerous thing for your lungs.”<br />
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Mikhail Kogan, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said he sees no reason for people to smoke marijuana medically anymore.<br />
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It’s difficult to absorb enough of the drug through the lungs, and gastric acids interfere when someone eats it, he said, adding that it’s more effective to take the drug by other means, such as under the tongue.<br />
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“Rectally is actually a lot more preferred because of the volume of absorption. You can put a lot more and it gets absorbed a lot better, but not everybody is open to this way of administration,” Kogan said.<br />
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“We have so many other products now, so many modes of delivery, that smoking in my opinion is very archaic and has very little clinical applicability,” he added.<br />
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“Having said that, I think that probably the majority of people still smoke because it’s the most available method.”<br />
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Health Canada officially recommends against smoking marijuana.<br />
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“Many of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke are also found in cannabis smoke,” reads its website.<br />
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The Canadian Medical Association has no formal position on the consumption of medicinal pot, but it officially opposes the inhalation of any burned plant material.<br />
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Association spokesman Jeff Blackmer added that many physicians are reluctant to prescribe medical marijuana because of the absence of peer-reviewed research into whether the drug is medically effective, its possible side effects, appropriate dosage and more.<br />
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A “strong majority” of doctors would prefer not to be involved as so-called gatekeepers, Blackmer added.<br />
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“Most of them hate it,” he said.<br />
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“This is something that was imposed on us by the government and the majority of physicians do not want to have anything to do with it.”<br />
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Debra Lynkowski, head of the Canadian Lung Association, urged patients and doctors to take lung health into consideration when discussing medicinal marijuana<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://globalnews.ca/news/3288671/smoking-medical-pot-a-really-dangerous-thing-for-your-lungs/</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-75986759643240477762017-03-01T00:54:00.002-08:002017-03-01T00:54:41.228-08:00Doctors warn against teen pot use amid looser marijuana laws<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Canadian Press, Feb. 27, 2017</span></i><br />CHICAGO — An influential doctors group is beefing up warnings about marijuana's potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use.<br /><br />Many parents use the drug and think it's OK for their kids, but "we would rather not mess around with the developing brain," said Dr. Seth Ammerman.<br /><br />The advice comes in a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, published Monday in Pediatrics. The group opposes medical and recreational marijuana use for kids. It says emphasizing that message is important because most states have legalized medical use for adults, and many have decriminalized or legalized adults' recreational use. <i>....click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
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Those trends have led parents to increasingly ask doctors about kids' use, said Ammerman, a Stanford University pediatrics professor who co-wrote the report.<br /><br />"Parents will say, 'I use it moderately and I'm fine with it, so it's really benign and not a problem if my kid uses it,'" he said.<br /><br />Doctors need to know how to respond to that thinking, and parents and teens need to know the risks, Ammerman said.<br /><br />POTENTIAL HARMS<br /><br />The brain continues to develop until the early 20s, raising concerns about the potential short- and long-term effects of a mind-altering drug. Some studies suggest that teens who use marijuana at least 10 times a month develop changes in brain regions affecting memory and the ability to plan. Some changes may be permanent, the report says.<br /><br />Frequent use starting in the early teen years may lower IQ scores, and some studies have shown that starting marijuana use at a young age is more likely to lead to addiction than starting in adulthood. Not all teen users develop these problems and some may be more vulnerable because of genetics or other factors.<br /><br />MEDICAL VERSUS RECREATIONAL USE<br /><br />Solid research on medical marijuana's effects in children and teens is lacking, although some studies have suggested it may benefit kids with hard-to-treat seizures. The report says other potential benefits, doses and effects are mostly unknown.<br /><br />Recreational use is illegal for those under age 21 even in states that allow adult use. Parents should avoid using marijuana in front of their kids and should keep all marijuana products stored out of kids' sight, the academy says. Some young children who accidentally swallowed their parents' pot-containing cookies or drinks have landed in the emergency room for mostly minor symptoms although some developed breathing problems.<br /><br />WHO'S USING<br /><br />Government data show that almost 40 per cent of U.S. high school students have tried marijuana, about 20 per cent are current users and close to 10 per cent first tried it before age 13. Use has increased in recent years among those aged 18 and older but not among young teens. Still, kids aged 12-17 increasingly think that marijuana use is not harmful.<br /><br />Dr. Sheryl Ryan, a Yale University pediatrics professor and lead author of the academy report, said marijuana "is the drug of choice" for many of her teen patients in New Haven, Connecticut. Some think daily use is safe, noting that their parents or grandparents smoked pot in college and turned out OK. But today's marijuana is much more potent and potentially more risky, Ryan said.<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pediatricians-warn-against-pot-not-060639376.html</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-18408593883754232892017-01-04T16:44:00.001-08:002017-01-04T16:48:23.414-08:00Cannabis is the new tobacco<b>Little research on marijuana’s dangers</b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Lawrie McFarlane / Times Colonist, Dec. 30, 2016 </span></i><br />
The greatest public-health disaster our species ever brought upon itself began in Europe 400 years ago — the introduction and use of tobacco.<br />
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In the 20th century alone, 100 million people died from cigarette smoking worldwide. And while the incidence rate has fallen in western countries, it remains high in Third World nations. Six million tobacco users still die each year.<br />
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The cause of smoking deaths is not, primarily, the active ingredient in tobacco — nicotine. Rather it is the chemicals that comprise tobacco smoke — among them various tars, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde.<br />
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Collectively, these chemicals cause a host of fatal maladies, including cancer, heart disease and emphysema. In short, a perfect horror show.<br />
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Now at this point, you’re probably saying: Tell me something I didn’t know. Well, here it is.<br />
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Many of those same chemicals form marijuana smoke, and we are about to legalize the consumption of this drug. .....<i>click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
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It’s not clear yet which forms of use might be authorized. If smoking is not among them, we might yet avoid another public-health calamity.<br />
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True, there are worrisome effects that come with consuming marijuana by other means, among them elevated pulse rates and memory loss. But these are minor matters, by comparison.<br />
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However, if smoking marijuana is blessed for general use, we might have an entirely different situation on our hands. For here is what is currently known with medical certainty about the health impacts of lighting up a joint: Nothing.<br />
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Since marijuana is currently illegal in all but physician-approved circumstances, there have been no properly constructed clinical trials of smoking this drug.<br />
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For the same reason, there have been no robust after-market research projects, in which users are tracked down years later, and their health status compared with that of non-users. Yet this is an essential process in revealing whether drugs that appear safe at first blush turn out to have serious side-effects downstream.<br />
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There have been suggestions that marijuana might act as a gateway drug to such potent narcotics as heroin and fentanyl. But whether these are anecdotal or fact-based, no one really knows.<br />
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There is also the matter of what is called the dose effect. Cigarettes have a high dose effect, meaning the risk of illness increases exponentially the more you consume. Hence the toxicology maxim: “The dose is the poison.”<br />
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So what is the dose effect of smoking marijuana? Again, we simply do not know. This is no small concern.<br />
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Generally speaking, it seems fair to assume that making an addictive substance more readily available will increase consumption rates. So what happens if people begin smoking 20 marijuana joints a day?<br />
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What happens if manufacturers find ways to strengthen the active ingredient — THC — while making their product less harsh? That’s what cigarette companies did.<br />
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In short, we are on the brink of approving a form of drug use, the medical consequences of which remain uncertain, but which might involve inhaling carcinogens.<br />
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You would think the history of tobacco might have taught us something about fooling with addictive substances before we know the facts. In particular, you might think we would have learned how difficult, if not impossible, it is to close a Pandora’s box like this after it has been opened.<br />
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Once a government-sanctioned infrastructure of production, marketing and distribution is erected around marijuana, and millions of additional users are recruited, there will be no going back, regardless of whatever medical verdict is finally rendered. That’s principally why we continue to license tobacco production, despite its many ills.<br />
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I recognize we already turn a blind eye to occasional or “recreational” use of marijuana. But between turning a blind eye and conferring on this drug an official stamp of approval lies a world of unknown harm.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/lawrie-mcfarlane-little-research-on-marijuana-s-dangers-1.5806400</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-8057592531754351062016-11-18T16:52:00.001-08:002019-06-02T20:39:16.474-07:00Sickness from marijuana<div style="text-align: left;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="219" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iajrZolGJKE" width="390"></iframe><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">-------------------------------------------------</span></b></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Medical marijuana user warns about cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome</b></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">CBC, November 16, 2016</span></i><br />
A Halifax woman says she threw up "all day long" for eight months straight — and her medical marijuana is to blame. <br />
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It wasn't until a specialist diagnosed Dawn Rae Downton with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, and she stopped taking marijuana entirely, that she says the vomiting finally ended.<br />
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"Vomiting and just a complete malaise, I was bedridden most of the time," she said of the period she took marijuana.<br />
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The condition, which was first documented in 2004 and has not been widely researched, is characterized by cyclical bouts of nausea, vomiting and gastrointestinal discomfort, said Toronto family doctor Peter Lin.<br />
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If it occurs often enough, it can lead to things like weight loss, dehydration, and vomiting blood, said Lin, who is also a health columnist for CBC. <i>.....click "Read More" below to continue.... </i><br />
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Health Canada, however, does not mention the condition on its consumer information page for cannabis.<br />
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Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome is most commonly diagnosed in long-term, frequent marijuana users, Lin said. However, that doesn't apply to Downton.<br />
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"I got sick within two weeks of ingesting this stuff," she said.<br />
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<b>'Shooting myself in the foot'</b><br />
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Downton said she lost her appetite, and when she wasn't in bed, she was vomiting. "It would start the minute I woke up and the only way that it would stop is when I went to sleep," she said.<br />
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Downton, who was baking her medical marijuana into cookies and eating them to treat a medical condition she doesn't want to disclose publicly, said she was under the impression that marijuana could ease nausea. <br />
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"I was actually taking more, thinking that it was going to help me," she said, "and not realizing that I was shooting myself in the foot."<br />
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<b>Diagnosed by specialist</b><br />
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Downton said it took eight months to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist, and she continued to ingest medical marijuana — and vomit — every day.<br />
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/medical-marijuana-user-warns-cannabinoid-180928483.html<br />
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On Oct. 24, she said she went to her appointment and the specialist diagnosed her "virtually the minute he saw me."<br />
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"I was on the scope table, getting ready for an endoscopy. He said you have the symptoms of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome," Downton said, "and immediately I thought, 'This guy's nuts.'"<br />
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<b>'I want to warn people'</b><br />
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Downton told the gastroenterologist she had stopped taking marijuana for a week as a test to see if it caused the vomiting, and it didn't work. <br />
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He told her cannabis has a long half-life, and she would need to stop for a more extended period of time in order to clear it from her system, Downton said. She stopped, and about a month later, the vomiting did too.<br />
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"I'm afraid that people are walking into trouble" when they start taking medical marijuana, she said.<br />
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Downton said her family doctor had never heard of the condition. "I want to protect people, I want to warn people," she said.<br />
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<b>Spike in cases</b><br />
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Lin said in American states like Colorado, where marijuana is legal, hospitals are reporting a spike in the number of people reporting cyclical vomiting conditions.<br />
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He said it's possible that cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome has been misdiagnosed in the past.<br />
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Traditional treatments for nausea and vomiting don't seem to help in these cases, Lin said, although hot showers or baths can provide temporary relief. The best solution, he said, is to stop taking marijuana entirely.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">https://ca.news.yahoo.com/medical-marijuana-user-warns-cannabinoid-180928483.html</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-6873742687107582052016-11-11T15:21:00.001-08:002016-11-11T15:21:45.013-08:00Pot-induced murder (ditto Columbine, etc.)<b>More study needed on the link between pot and psychosis</b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Gordon Clark, Vancouver Province, Nov. 9, 2016</i></span><br />Canadians, especially lawmakers, gleefully rushing headlong to legalize marijuana should pause to consider the horrifying, heartbreaking stabbing death of 13-year-old Letisha Reimer, as innocent a crime victim as one can imagine.<br /><br />Gabriel Brandon Klein, the 21-year-old homeless man from Alberta charged with second-degree murder in the death of the Abbotsford Senior Secondary School student, and aggravated assault in the non-fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old girl in the Nov. 1 attack, was a heavy pot smoker who recently “became manic, paranoid and frightened,” some of his friends told CBC.<i> ....click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>continues....</i></span><br /><br />Nathaniel Spidell, 23, told a CBC reporter that Klein believed “he’d smoked pot that had been tampered with acid, and began acting very strange, talking about leaving Canada, and trusting no one.”<br /><br />“Everything went downhill after that. He wasn’t the same person,” Spidell told the reporter, expressing shock that his “best friend,” who he couldn’t imagine being violent, had been charged with murdering a young girl. “He never carried weapons at all. He was just a stoner. He loved his mom.”<br /><br />“People are labelling him as some monster now and that’s just not the person I knew,” another friend, Jordan Reid, 23, told CBC.<br /><br />There is an implication in the comments of Spidell, Reid and other people Klein knew who spoke to other media outlets, that the accused was just another happy hempster — “just a stoner” — as if that made the act he is accused of committing even more surprising.<br /><br />No one seems to be noticing or discussing what to me seems obvious — that Klein’s heavy use of marijuana, well known to induce psychosis, especially in young people, may have led directly to Reimer’s unspeakably tragic death.<br /><br />Klein’s mental state, according to the last reports, has not yet been examined by a psychiatrist and so we don’t know if his heavy marijuana use is a factor in the crime for which he is accused. But marijuana-linked psychosis is now commonly noted by forensic psychiatrists in reports written for the courts involving accused with mental illness. And every time governments move to liberalize marijuana laws, doctors and other health experts warn about the dangers, especially to the health of young people and their developing brains, of making pot more freely available.<br /><br />The Schizophrenia Society of Canada notes an “accumulating body of evidence has suggested that there is an association between some youth who use cannabis regularly and enduring psychosis. Several recent studies suggest that frequent cannabis use during adolescence is associated with a clinically significant increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other mental illnesses which feature psychosis.”<br /><br />While the society noted that more research is needed to better understand the link, why are we risking the health of children — and potentially future violent acts linked to psychosis, even if they are rare — by removing the prohibitions on marijuana? Surely we should be asking those questions before legalizing pot. Certainly those who like to get stoned or who make a lot of money off the sale of pot — the ones pushing the pro-marijuana agenda on society — are not.<br /><br />The experience of liberalized marijuana laws and access in Colorado show that the proportion of young people using pot and the subsequent adverse affects in terms of hospitalizations, impaired driving and school attendance all rise, not drop, after prohibition ends.<br /><br />In an interview with 60 Minutes aired Oct. 30, Dr. Steven Simerville, medical director of the newborn intensive-care unit at St. Mary-Corwin Medical Centre in Pueblo, Colo., noted the rise in babies being born with THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, in their blood. Babies exposed to marijuana in utero are at risk of developing verbal, memory and behavioural problems in childhood, reported 60 minutes correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.<br /><br />“This drug has been shown to cause harm in developing brains,” said Simerville, who opposes legalized recreational pot. “You need to be able to protect babies and you’re going to need to protect teenagers, and by teenagers, or developing brains, you have to take in mind that marijuana potentially permanently affects brain growth until people are 25 or 30.”<br /><br />Politicians jumping on the feel-good, aren’t-we-hip, “no one should ever say anything is wrong or tell others what to do” bandwagon of modern self-indulgence around marijuana use should reconsider whether having an increasingly stoned populace is such a great policy. The friends and family of Letisha Reimer likely are.<br /><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gordon Clark is a columnist and editorial pages editor of The Province</span></i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnists/gordon-clark-more-study-needed-on-the-link-between-pot-and-psychosis</span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-88125191319133861432016-11-01T16:05:00.002-07:002016-11-01T16:05:25.339-07:00Fatal car crashes triple among drivers high on marijuana after legalization in Colorado; double in Washington state<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>By Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun, October 31, 2016</i></span><br />
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to legalize marijuana should take into account “sobering” U.S. experiences where the first states to legalize the drug have seen big increases in fatal car crashes among cannabis-impaired drivers, according to a B.C. doctors’ group.<br /><br />Washington State and Colorado started taxing and regulating cannabis in 2012 and the Council on Health Promotion, a section of Doctors of B.C., said vehicle fatality statistics, post-legalization, are “sobering.”<br /><br />“In Washington State, fatal crashes among drivers who tested positive for marijuana doubled from eight per cent in 2013 to 17 per cent in 2014. In Colorado, the number of drivers in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana without other drugs in their system tripled between 2005 and 2014 from 3.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent,” Nanaimo General Hospital emergency room Dr. Chris Rumball said in an opinion piece in the B.C. Medical Journal, which he wrote on behalf of the council. <i>.....click on "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
<a name='more'></a><i>continues....</i><br />
Indeed, marijuana is the most frequently detected drug in crash-involved drivers, after alcohol. So while the Canadian government intends to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 2017, studies are indicating that road safety concerns must be considered in the consequences, he said. And various levels of governments must find ways to mitigate the risks of driving while impaired by marijuana.<br /><br />“Canadian discussions around the legalization of marijuana must include a clear-headed assessment regarding the impact of legalization on road safety. We must create a scientifically sound and fair approach … standards and penalties to enforce any new laws,” Rumball said.<br />
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<br />Apart from more deaths related to stoned drivers, Rumball cites the lack of any scientifically proven and practical roadside testing tools for police which means that sobriety testing is left to only the most highly trained officers. When police suspect a driver is drug-impaired, they can demand a Field Sobriety Test. If the driver fails, they can be compelled to go to a police station for further evaluation and ordered to submit a blood, urine or saliva sample.<br /><br />The cumbersome process has been highlighted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which has called the increase in fatal crashes involving marijuana alarming.<br /><br />“Washington serves as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug,” said Peter Kissinger, foundation CEO.<br /><br />Roadside and other testing is problematic because of a lack of scientifically valid tests and lack of consistency tying impairment to levels of marijuana metabolites in the blood. Marijuana affects people differently; frequent users may have persistently high levels of the drug long after use while drug levels can fall rapidly in occasional users. Rumball said while<br />the most common standard used to label drivers as marijuana-impaired is 5 ng/mL, such levels vary significantly among jurisdictions. THC, the main psychoactive ingredient, is fat soluble, which means it is hard to tie a person’s current state of impairment to a certain blood level.<br /><br />Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher, a Vancouver General Hospital ER specialist who has done extensive research on impaired driving, said that while some may take issue with the American statistics or study designs, the increase in crashes and fatalities are disconcerting.<br /><br />“And when marijuana is legalized, there will be an increase in crashes, injuries and fatalities,” Brubacher said.<br /><br />Brubacher, who was not involved in Rumball’s piece, said there are about 80 specially trained police in B.C. who are drug recognition experts and law enforcement agencies should think about training far more for the post cannabis legalization era because roadside testing will be the greatest deterrent to marijuana-impaired driving.<br /><br />“We probably need to give police extra authority to do random drug testing because right now, people do not believe they will get caught,” he said.<br /><br />In research published in the British Medical Journal earlier this year, Brubacher and his co-authors showed the results from crash patients sent to seven trauma hospital centres in B.C. from 2010 to 2012. Study participants were drivers who had a blood test within six hours of a crash. Overall, 40.1 per cent of drivers injured tested positive for alcohol or at least one other drug and 12.7 per cent tested positive for more than one impairing substance.<br /><br />Brubacher said while alcohol is involved in about a third of serious motor vehicle accidents resulting in severe injuries or deaths “We do know a stoned driver is safer than a drunk driver.”<br /><br />“But a sober driver is still the safest,” he said<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://vancouversun.com/health/local-health/fatal-car-crashes-triple-among-drivers-high-on-marijuana-after-legalization-in-colorado-double-in-washington-state</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-66786504941800879932016-10-17T17:11:00.000-07:002016-10-17T17:11:25.886-07:00"Harmless pot" propaganda gone to pot<b>WEED GONE BAD</b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Reid Southwick, National Post, 10/17/2016</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i> Longtime marijuana user Cody Morin was shocked to learn the bouts of severe illness he suffered were due to pot use, not ulcers doctors thuoght he had.</i></span><br />Cold sweats, dizziness, nausea — and those are just the ill effects suffered by some adult pot users.<br /><br />When he arrived at a southern Ontario hospital emergency room, Cody Morin was badly dehydrated and vomiting blood. He was rushed into quarantine as doctors worried he was infected with the Ebola virus. His father wasn’t allowed at his bedside without wearing a haz-mat suit.<br /><br />Hours before, Morin was at his fiancée’s Whitby, Ont., home after work, where he smoked a bowl of pot, a daily routine for the drywaller, accustomed to smoking at least four joints a day. Not long afterward, he was overwhelmed by cold sweats, dizziness and nausea. He vomited uncontrollably for about two hours before his fiancée drove him to hospital in nearby Oshawa.<br /><br />The agony was familiar. Morin had been in and out of hospital for several years with similar bouts, which lasted for six hours at times. <i>....click "Read More" below to continue....</i><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Continues....</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> </i></span><br />“You instantly feel light- headed, like you’re going to pass out, and your stomach starts spinning like crazy,” Morin said. “I was so dehydrated (from vomiting) when I went to the hospital they couldn’t stick an IV in my arm because my veins kept collapsing.”<br /><br />Mercifully, as Morin lay in isolation during the horrific episode in late 2014, doctors brought in a stomach specialist who gave him the diagnosis that would ultimately relieve his misery — he had cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.<br /><br />Scientists don’t know what causes the condition, but they believe avoiding marijuana is the only cure, said Dr. Andrew Monte, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado’s school of medicine who has studied the syndrome.<br /><br />Morin initially balked at the diagnosis, having smoked for well over a decade, but he watched his symptoms disappear after he stayed off marijuana. Now, he has discovered other pot smokers who endured similar torment.<br /><br />Emergency rooms at two Colorado hospitals have seen a doubling in the rate of patients with cyclical vomiting syndromes such as cannabinoid hyperemesis, said Monte, who believes the spike is largely due to the legalization of marijuana. Hospitals across Colorado see several new cases every week.<br /><br />The growing prevalence of the debilitating condition was among several unexpected health effects of legalizing pot for medicinal and, later, recreational use, he said.<br /><br />Monte said the most concerning unexpected health effects have involved children who consume marijuana, mostly in edible products, by accident. Pot is often sold in chocolates, candies and other goodies. In the five years before medicinal pot was legalized, the Children’s Hospital Colorado had not treated any youngsters for mistakenly ingesting marijuana. In the second year of medical legalization, there were 14 cases.<br /><br />Across the state, the rate of children younger than nine being hospitalized for possible marijuana exposure has increased dramatically, according to a public health committee that has been measuring the impact of legalization in Colorado. There was roughly one case for every 100,000 hospitalizations in Colorado from 2001 to 2009, the initial period of medical legalization. The rate spiked to 13 cases per 100,000 in 2014 through to June 2015, the first year and a half of retail legalization.<br /><br />Children who eat marijuana candy bars or cookies can develop pneumonia from a depressed central nervous system. Their heart rate can double normal levels to 200 beats per minute. They can become comatose.<br /><br />“A hundred milligrams in an adult may cause some hallucinations, may cause their heart rate to go very fast, which may be a risk, but it’s a risk in a subset of patients,” Monte said. “Every single pediatric patient shouldn’t have 100 milligrams, and that’s really only one cookie.”<br /><br />Monte said edible products should not be sold in retail pot shops, given the health risks. According to his research, edibles are behind most health care visits due to marijuana intoxication, for patients of all ages. Concentrations of THC in these products can vary wildly, while the effects can take hours to fully kick in.<br /><br />Marijuana has medicinal properties and is often prescribed for a long list of ailments, such as chronic pain, nausea linked to cancer chemotherapy, insomnia and depressed mood associated with chronic diseases, and pain due to multiple sclerosis.<br /><br />Overconsumption, however, can lead to increased anxiety, rapid heart rates, high blood pressure and vomiting, among other symptoms that land users in emergency departments.<br /><br />A review of scientific literature on the health effects of marijuana use found substantial evidence that pot smoke contains many of the carcinogens that are in tobacco smoke, and that heavy pot smoking is linked to bronchitis, including chronic cough and wheezing.<br /><br />The literature review, conducted by Colorado’s public health committee, found adolescent and young adult users are at higher risk of developing psychotic symptoms or disorders in adulthood.<br /><br />In Canada, public health officials have a better chance of reducing these and other harms by legalizing and regulating marijuana than by keeping it in the illicit market, said Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer at Vancouver Coastal Health.<br /><br />“We’ll know what’s in it and how it’s grown, what the strength is, and the product will be labelled. We’ ll know who made it, who sold it,” Lysyshyn said, adding regulations should also include childproof packaging and other steps to keep pot away from children.<br /><br />“If there are problematic products out there, then we’ll have them withdrawn off the market. People used to go blind from drinking moonshine; that doesn’t happen anymore. We have to get safe products out there that people can use safely.”<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">https://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20161017/281552290383817</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-75310272272518576782016-09-10T01:18:00.000-07:002016-10-16T02:22:23.089-07:00Misc. News<b>• <a href="http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/ottawa-sanctioned-grow-op-cost-me-135000-in-damages-b-c-property-owner">Marijuana grow-op cost $135,000 in damages: B.C. property owner</a></b><br />
<b>• <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/news/energy/there-is-already-madness-brewing-in-the-oilpatch-over-ottawas-reefer-legalization?__lsa=db1f-20ef">There is already madness brewing in the oilpatch over Ottawa’s reefer legalization</a></b><br />
<b><b>• <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cma-urges-government-not-to-sell-pot-to-canadians-under-21/article31764725/">CMA: Pot is not a health product</a></b></b><br />
<b><b><b>•</b> <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/should-pharmacies-sell-natural-health-products/article32040267/">Should Canadian pharmacies sell natural health products?</a></b> </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-43556917141894342912016-07-14T23:48:00.000-07:002019-06-05T23:33:34.256-07:00Psychosis & rampages in pot-fuelled Colorado <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Yeah, it was sure a great idea to legalize pot after Columbine and Aurora. Imagine this happening <span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif;">across</span></span> the whole country.<b><br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xph-bGD2nz0"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xph-bGD2nz0</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-12834941576278161932016-07-11T00:20:00.000-07:002016-07-15T00:15:33.898-07:00The Big Lie: Pot legalization reduces harms & usages<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Letter published in The Province newspaper, July 8, 2016)</i></span><br />
<b>More Grade 12 students in Colorado trying legalized pot</b><br />
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New data shows that there are regions in post-marijuana-legalization Colorado that are in big trouble.<br />
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Regions that refused to allow pot shops experienced a decrease in use or it stayed flat. Where commercial marijuana is plentiful, there has been a great increase in use among students. The data showed that the proportion of Grade 12 students who had used marijuana in the past month was, on average, more than 50 per cent higher than the value reported for their age group nationally.<br />
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For example: Students in Boulder and Broomfield area were 98 per cent above the national average; Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle, Summit, Grand (79 per cent higher); Pueblo (70 per cent); and Denver (56 per cent). <i>--Pamela McColl, SAM Canada, Vancouver</i><br />
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*(Editor's note: Not to mention deaths/injuries from pot-DUI)<i><br /></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-76787422973787964562016-05-20T17:21:00.000-07:002016-05-30T22:29:35.362-07:00You Can't Deny Marijuana Is Dangerous For Developing Minds<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R. Hutchings via Getty Images</td></tr>
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<b>You Can't Deny Marijuana Is Dangerous For Developing Minds</b><br />
<i>by Dr. Diane McIntosh, 04/08/2016, huffingtonpost.ca</i><br />
I have many patients with psychotic illnesses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Many were vulnerable because of their family history, but some share another important life experience: they smoked pot from an early age.<br />
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Physicians have not effectively confronted pot-related myths, nor have we adequately educated our patients. When I tell parents about marijuana's risks, they often express shock. Many believe it's like oregano... a safe "natural product" that adds a little spice to life.<br />
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But pot is not benign and there's a mountain of scientific evidence, compiled over nearly 30 years, to prove it poses serious risks, particularly for developing brains......<i>click on "Read More" below to continue.....</i><br />
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Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) produces marijuana's "high", but it's not your parent's pot anymore. Over the last 50 years, street pot has been selectively bred to heighten its potency, from one to four per cent THC to 12 to 40 per cent, making pot more impairing, more addictive and more dangerous.<br />
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<b>Myth: Marijuana is safe because it's a "natural product."</b><br />
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Another "natural product," tobacco, causes cancer from mouth to anus and everywhere in between, yet it took decades for people to believe cigarettes were dangerous. Smoking pot also produces toxins that cause cancer and chronic lung disease, but beyond the smoking risk, pot use has been associated with lowering IQ, neurotoxicity (brain cell damage), mental illness, motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and much more.<br />
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<b>Myth: Pot doesn't impair drivers .</b><br />
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Any mind-altering substance impacts driving. While nearly 80 per cent of us believe alcohol impairs drivers, only 30 per cent believe pot causes impairment. Yet like alcohol, pot affects brain functions required for safe driving (judgment, attention, vision, reaction time, motor coordination), rendering pot-impaired drivers less able to adapt to sudden changes while driving.<br />
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There is a direct correlation between impaired driving and blood THC levels. Pot smoking doubles the risk of causing a MVA. The argument that pot-impaired drivers "compensate" by driving more slowly is ridiculous.<br />
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A 2014 study found that since legalization in Colorado, there has been an increase in marijuana-positive drivers involved in fatal MVAs. Because many drivers don't believe pot is impairing, they're more likely to drive high.<br />
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A 2013 study found that if drivers feel confident they won't be harshly judged by their peers, this sharply increases the likelihood they'll drive high, especially if they don't believe pot impairs their driving.<br />
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<b>Myth: Alcohol is worse for teens than pot.</b><br />
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Comparing favourably to alcohol -- a substance associated with massive medical and social problems, isn't much to crow about -- but is pot a safer alternative? There's a pot store on every corner in Vancouver and its sale is largely unregulated, so it's more difficult for a teen to get alcohol than pot. Because it's easily accessible and socially acceptable, teens think it's safe and their parents often agree.<br />
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The impact of THC on a developing brain can be profound and life-altering. Adolescence is a time of massive brain remodeling, when brain cells (neurons) are pruned and critical connections are made. Most mental illnesses first present during this remodeling phase.<br />
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A 2016 study reviewed 31 scientific papers and reported compelling evidence that high THC levels found in street pot alters brain structure, size and function, especially for frequent, heavy users. Neurons in brain areas that are rich in cannabinoid 1 (THC) receptors are damaged or destroyed by THC. This includes neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus and amygdala.<br />
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The PFC is necessary for mature adult behaviour. It's the brain's executive, responsible for organizing, planning, forward thinking and critical thinking. If you have a teenager, you know their PFC isn't fully developed; for most people that happens by age 25.<br />
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THC is a neurotoxin -- it damages neurons in critical brain areas like the PFC -- and the amount of damage is directly correlated with smoking frequency and the age when pot use begins.<br />
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Fact: Early and frequent pot use is linked to psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia.<br />
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THC is more neurotoxic when it's used during the time of critical brain remodeling during adolescence. The onset of psychotic symptoms is up to six years earlier in those who start smoking pot before age 15.<br />
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Greater emotional and social development before the onset of symptoms is associated with less illness-related functional impairment, which is why age at illness onset is so critical. If avoiding pot delays the onset of schizophrenia by several years, this has a tremendous impact on educational attainment, developing relationships, independence and engagement in treatment.<br />
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<b>Myth: Pot improves cognitive functioning in schizophrenia.</b><br />
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Previous studies have been of poor quality, but a well-designed 2013 study found no cognitive benefits associated with marijuana use.<br />
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<b>Myth: Pro-pot crusaders don't have an agenda.</b><br />
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There must be an agenda behind those who argue that mountains of scientific research is wrong. Perhaps it's to bolster confidence in their personal use of pot, whether employed for pleasure or as treatment. Perhaps it's for financial gain, since teens are the largest pot market. There is simply no evidence-based, cogent argument for pot's social good, especially for teens. No one should tell a parent that pot is safe for their child.<br />
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I look forward to getting pot out of the hands of organized crime. We need to tax it to pay for all the physical and mental illness it causes, increase public awareness regarding its risks and regulate its availability.<br />
<b><br />Fact: Marijuana is dangerous for a developing brain.</b><br />
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Some brains are more vulnerable than others. Trouble is, we don't always know who has a vulnerable brain. As an adult, using pot is a personal decision, but when advising our children, we must consider what they stand to lose and what the pot-seller/user has to gain by attempting to discredit the science. It's a no-brainer: the evidence overwhelmingly supports the need to protect developing brains.<br />
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<i>Dr. Diane McIntosh is a Psychiatrist and clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia</i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/diane-mcintosh/marijuana-developing-brain_b_9643654.html</span><br />
<b><span style="color: #660000;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Related Topic: </span></span></i></span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>• </strong><a href="https://news.vice.com/article/this-is-how-one-pot-smoker-learned-that-weed-plays-a-mysterious-role-in-psychosis">This Is How One Pot Smoker Learned That Weed Plays a Mysterious Role in Psychosis </a></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>• </strong><a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/pot-can-pose-psychosis-risk-for-teens-with-developing-brains-researchers-1.2409607">Pot can pose psychosis risk for teens with developing brains: researchers</a></span></b></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-66601693853213581922016-05-10T23:19:00.004-07:002016-07-30T15:50:54.627-07:00Driving while high on marijuana causing spike in fatal accident<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>by Tom Costello, Today.com</i></span><br />
Any time Mary Gaston drives by the intersection where a driver high on marijuana plowed into her son's motorcycle two and a half years ago, the loud bang of the impact replays in her head. <br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4261" />
Blake had hugged her before he left the suburban Seattle restaurant's parking lot — it was the last time she would ever feel his embrace.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4263" />
"I heard it and I knew instantly," Gaston remembers. "I said 'that's Blake' and I just ran. It was not even 50 feet away. And he was lying in the intersection bleeding out."<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4265" />
Though doctors tried to save his life, 23-year-old Blake Gaston didn't make it.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4267" />
His story is becoming frighteningly more common. A new report by the American Auto Association (AAA) has found that the percentage of drivers who are high on pot during fatal accidents in Washington State more than doubled between 2013 and 2014.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4269" />
In Washington, only looking at crashes in which at least one driver tested positive for active THC, there were 40 fatalities in 2010, compared to 85 in 2014, according to AAA estimates. However, a large number of drivers were not tested for THC or did not have available blood test results, so THC-related fatalities could be much higher, the report notes.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4271" />
The AAA report focused only on Washington state, while legalized the sale and possession of marijuana in 2012. It did not track driving while high fatality trends in Colorado, which also legalized pot that in 2012.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4273" />
But with marijuana on the ballot to become legal in more states, AAA researchers fear that the numbers will rise more sharply. <br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4275" />
The problem is, many people don't realize that "driving under the influence" isn't just about drunk driving. It also means driving when you're high.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4277" />
"Driving is already a tough task," says Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research at AAA. "When you add a drug that impairs our ability to manage that task, it's a recipe for disaster."<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4279" />
Currently 20 states allow medicinal marijuana use, while four states and Washington, D.C., allow recreational use.<b> </b><br />
<i><b><span style="color: blue;"> Related:</span> <span style="color: #b45f06;"><span style="color: #660000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pot-fuels-surge-drugged-driving-deaths-n22991"><span style="color: orange;">Pot fuels surge in drunk driving deaths</span></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></i><br />
After the accident, Mary Gaston learned that the driver of the car that hit her son's motorcycle, 33-year-old Caleb Floyd, admitted he had been smoking pot. He was eventually convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to three years in prison.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4285" />
That's little comfort to Mary, who wonders where her bright, talented son would be now if he not been hit by a stoned driver. <br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4287" />
A computer whiz who developed websites, Blake was also an accomplished musician.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4289" />
By 23, he'd already mastered numerous musical instruments, including piano, guitar and drums. He didn't just play music, though, he also wrote songs too.<br />
<br id="yiv1411590962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462940964517_4291" />
"Blake was going to change the world," Gaston says. "Blake had an energy about him. He affected people's lives in such a positive way. It makes me happy to think about him. Even in 23 years he lived a hell of a life. His life was way too short. But he lived a hell of a life." <br />
http://www.today.com/health/driving-while-high-marijuana-causing-spike-fatal-accidents-t91746<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i><b>Related News:</b></i></span><br />
<a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/316148-marijuana-related-deaths-injuries-study/"><b>Marijuana-related deaths, suspensions & problems spike in Colorado – report</b></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">https://www.rt.com/usa/316148-marijuana-related-deaths-injuries-study/</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-63255210045253364762016-05-10T21:44:00.001-07:002016-05-25T17:28:17.495-07:00Pot harms unborn babies / Dopamine levels may go up in dope smoke<b>Hopes of moms-to-be can go up in pot smoke</b> <br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Drs. Oz and Roizen HEALTH TIPS FROM MEHMET OZ, M.D. AND MICHAEL ROIZEN, M.D.<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1960" />The Province, 9 May, 2016</span></i><br />
Up
In Smoke (a Cheech & Chong movie,1978) may have floated the hazy notion that
smoking marijuana was harmless fun, but new research shows that a
woman’s chance for delivering a healthy baby is actually what goes up in smoke if
she lets smoke into her brain and lungs while pregnant.<br />
<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1965" />
Researchers
from the University of Arizona looked at 24 studies of pregnancy and
marijuana smoking. They discovered pregnant women who smoke cannabis
were more likely to be anemic and babies more likely to end up in
neonatal intensive care with a low birth weight.<br />
<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1967" />
Low birth weight is associated with intestinal and respiratory woes, brain bleeds, and heart and vision problems.<br />
<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1969" />
This
study comes at the same time that researchers in Leipzig’s Helmholtz
Centre for Environmental Research discovered that tobacco smoking during
pregnancy causes epigenetic disruption that dysregulates several genes
at once and can trigger a roster of health problems for a newborn and
throughout life.<br />
<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1971" />
Plus,
various studies indicate that cannabis smoke is almost as toxic as
tobacco smoke and can reduce levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine,
impairing memory and making it hard to stop smoking without feeling
depressed.<br />
<br id="yiv0731005161yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462832721222_1973" />
These
studies together should be more than enough to convince every young
woman that if she smokes marijuana, tobacco or both, her dreams of a
healthy baby may just go up in smoke. <br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-province/20160509/281719793795001</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">More pot news by </span></b><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Drs. Oz and Roizen</span></i>:</span></b></span><br />
<a href="https://www.arcamax.com/healthandspirit/health/youdocs/s-1830578"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Dopamine levels may go up in dope smoke</b></span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-34803000052820133532016-04-24T00:22:00.000-07:002016-04-24T01:05:48.780-07:00Potheads rescue Big Tobacco<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOigqQuPhzp0rZafmIXpnLU8osHcEy1vBPiVlA8dU-T6Trm2qx6L817-35P7KUsE8Iy_xDUfnpKUGyLrTIqbjXQRTzFC31xFzlvEEPeb5nDyDBVvMmDzxkncGjUiLsOMSHjnu5J1OizK4/s1600/altria-fotor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOigqQuPhzp0rZafmIXpnLU8osHcEy1vBPiVlA8dU-T6Trm2qx6L817-35P7KUsE8Iy_xDUfnpKUGyLrTIqbjXQRTzFC31xFzlvEEPeb5nDyDBVvMmDzxkncGjUiLsOMSHjnu5J1OizK4/s1600/altria-fotor.png" /></a><i>(Memo to potheads: All fumes from all fires are harmful and carcinogenic -- there's no such thing as a harmless or healthy fume from a fire, an<b>y </b>fire</i><b><i>)</i></b><br />
<br />
<b>Is It Inevitable That Big Tobacco Will Shift To Big Marijuana?</b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"> By Chris Morran, Consumerist.com, Apr 20, 2016</span></i><br />
<br />
Four states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized recreational marijuana use, while medical <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYPHTDJNTkx5nTipxWWn6B5CoghWSjFhyGKzXkexBdHY3bSU9Uk0YI1hWmlDBUt5ydL7Uo7x2WTa9_pQJzUiIEo531u8BxjlQzcWjurXABXOgD2-A2C9lKw2exTMdZhdeWBtL8W25JBw/s1600/reynolds-fotor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYPHTDJNTkx5nTipxWWn6B5CoghWSjFhyGKzXkexBdHY3bSU9Uk0YI1hWmlDBUt5ydL7Uo7x2WTa9_pQJzUiIEo531u8BxjlQzcWjurXABXOgD2-A2C9lKw2exTMdZhdeWBtL8W25JBw/s200/reynolds-fotor.png" width="200" /></a>marijuana use is currently legal (or about to become legal) in around 20 states — not to mention the many states that have decriminalized the drug. At the same time, tobacco use continues to decline and the few remaining cigarette giants can only merge with each other so many times. So is Big Tobacco destined to become Big Marijuana?<br />
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<br />
The tobacco industry, for all its feigned ignorance about the health hazards of its products, is not stupid and has been thinking about dabbling in marijuana since at least the 1960s. <i>....click "Read More" below to continue.... </i><br />
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<br />
“We are in the business of relaxing people who are tense and providing a pick up for people who are bored or depressed. The human needs that our product fills will not go away,” reads an internal Philip Morris memo from 1970, making the argument that pot could be hazardous, not to the moral fabric of America, but to the tobacco industry’s bottom line. “Thus, the only real threat to our business is that society will find other means of satisfying these needs.”<br />
<br />
In the decades since, we’ve seen tobacco use plummet in the U.S., with fewer than 20% of adults smoking cigarettes -- though smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death, according to the Surgeon General.<br />
<br />
To combat the shrinking domestic audience, the number of companies making cigarettes has been reduced to what is effectively a duopoly. In 1994, when then-Congressman Henry Waxman called the heads of the nation’s largest tobacco companies to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, there were executives from seven different companies there. If Congress were to hold that hearing today, there would be only three: Altria, Reynolds — which together comprise nearly 80% of the U.S. market — and the significantly smaller Liggett. Further consolidation stateside just isn’t an option.<br />
<br />
Over at Bloomberg Gadfly, columnists Tara Lachapelle and Rani Molla make the argument that it’s not a matter of “if” the tobacco industry will get into the pot business, but “when” that change will happen.<br />
<br />
They point out that there is a reported $45 billion a year consumer demand for marijuana in the U.S., more than chocolate or wine, and about half the demand for tobacco or beer.<br />
<br />
However, the demand for tobacco is expected to continue to decline while alternatives like e-cigarettes are expected to grow in popularity.<br />
<br />
Analysts tell Bloomberg that the demand for marijuana is too big for Big Tobacco to ignore, especially when you consider that these giant cigarette producers have some equipment and processes that could be easily repurposed for the production of commercial pot products.<br />
<br />
While Altria and Reynolds have both previously denied any current interest in pursuing marijuana, it seems like they are fated to head that route as the nation moves toward legalization on the federal level.<br />
<br />
Lachapelle and Molla conclude that the “reality of marijuana joints in big brand-name packaging may still seem far away. But it’s coming a lot sooner than you think. Companies doing the groundwork and getting ready to pounce will have a first-mover advantage.”<br />
<i>https://consumerist.com/2016/04/20/is-it-inevitable-that-big-tobacco-will-shift-to-big-marijuana/</i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Article's source:</b></span><br />
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-04-20/marijuana-could-be-big-tobacco-s-next-pot-of-gold"><i>http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-04-20/marijuana-could-be-big-tobacco-s-next-pot-of-gold</i></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-14909751949848135822016-04-19T15:36:00.000-07:002016-04-22T00:00:20.394-07:00Free At Last From Pot<div style="text-align: right;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjyIT26_9kB5gXkAaaDZz5jaBir0wCP_RT0q-VhdvTyMd6hZ_dkuJUVehyphenhyphenH5pSPtQdehuevFf_XQxl8ZvpldO0z3kd24cMWlPpsv00x9L4E_qxGyHzFtMhaaHrAIJG8Icd5OBLa16l7A/s1600/annapike640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjyIT26_9kB5gXkAaaDZz5jaBir0wCP_RT0q-VhdvTyMd6hZ_dkuJUVehyphenhyphenH5pSPtQdehuevFf_XQxl8ZvpldO0z3kd24cMWlPpsv00x9L4E_qxGyHzFtMhaaHrAIJG8Icd5OBLa16l7A/s200/annapike640.jpg" width="190" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Anna Pike, who until recently smoked marijuana daily for more than two decades, is amazed at how her life has improved since she quit and fears how liberal pot laws will harm others.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>‘Get out of the smoky fog and get living’</b></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Anna Pike, The Province, April 17, 2016</span></i><br />
My name is Anna.<br />
<br />
I smoked marijuana solidly for 22 years. When I smoked my first joint at 18 years of age, I thought I had found the path to endless happiness. In my 20s, using the drug was wonderful and manageable. But in my 30s, it became a problem, as any addiction does as you age.<br />
<br />
I have not smoked marijuana for the past three months.<br />
<br />
As the smoke has cleared, I am the happiest I have been in my life. I am about to turn 40 and am excited for this turning point, particularly because I don’t have my old friend/enemy living with me and controlling so many of my choices.....<i>click "Read More" below to continue.....</i><br />
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The impetus to quit was not a conscious one.<br />
<br />
In November, I started a new job that was particularly mentally challenging for me. I found myself forgetting critical things, having erratic energy and living in a paranoid fog.<br />
<br />
While I considered that pot might be the problem, I wasn’t ready to give it up.<br />
<br />
In February, I went on a two-week trip to Mexico with my family and my partner. I knew I would not be smoking pot and was OK with that. What I didn’t expect was how great I would feel.<br />
<br />
Prior to that, I had never gone a day without smoking marijuana for more than 20 years. As the first week was done and my irritability waned, I was filled with an incredible joy.<br />
<br />
The sky was brighter, the birds were more beautiful, the ocean was an absolute marvel.<br />
<br />
My love for my family and partner was boundless. I even contemplated adopting a child to share this wonderful joy.<br />
<br />
When I returned home, I happened to have no pot in the house, which was a good thing, as instinct and habit would have made me smoke.<br />
<br />
As the days went on, and I remained pot-free, I became fearful of the prospect of smoking. The paranoia, the addiction, the uselessness of that drug became apparent to me.<br />
<br />
That moment was when it became a conscious decision for me to remain pot-free — one day at a time.<br />
<br />
I write this because I am concerned about the attitude to marijuana in our culture.<br />
<br />
The new policies and laws being lobbied and passed to promote pot are, to me, equal to the big business of cigarettes.<br />
<br />
I respect the use of cannabis for those in chronic pain or in palliative care with incurable ailments. It can be a light in a very dark place, and I acknowledge that.<br />
<br />
My fear is the belief that it is a healthy recreational drug.<br />
<br />
I fear for my nieces, both under 13, being able to purchase pot at the local store. I fear for people getting into a car and driving high. I fear for pregnant moms hurting their babies’ brains, not to mention their own.<br />
<br />
I would encourage pot smokers to get out of the smoky fog and get living, start dreaming when you sleep (my dreams have never been so vivid since I quit pot).<br />
<br />
Stop worrying about the smell, getting arrested, how you are harming yourself and being unable to remember what you ate 10 minutes ago.<br />
<br />
I would ask people to speak up against new legislation that promotes pot as healthy.<br />
<br />
It doesn’t make you more creative or interesting, it just dulls whatever issues you don’t want to deal with.<br />
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Being smoke-free has forced me to live in the present and to be thankful for the wonders and beauty this world has to offer.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Anna Pike is an associate store manager with a high-end home products retailer in Toronto who has an educational background in industrial design.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Source: http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/04/17/anna-pike-get-out-of-the-smoky-fog-and-get-living/</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Related topic:</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>A letter in response to Pike's column above, published in the Letter section on 4/19/2016::</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Thank you so much for printing the op-ed by Anna Pike on Sunday.<br /><br />My daughter has been in a haze of pot smoke since she was 18 and claims it calmed her nerves in university and at the several jobs she has had since then. She refuses to believe that marijuana is bad for you.<br /><br />All smoking is bad for your health. I doubt lungs recognize one smoke from another."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">James Rackitts, West Vancouver </span></span></i></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-76858126596077415232016-04-11T17:55:00.001-07:002016-04-23T17:27:40.199-07:00Revised medical marijuana manual lists many adverse effects<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="spaced"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Health Canada is about to issue a newly revised medical marijuana manual, called "Information for Health Professionals," with many new warnings about adverse effects. CBC News obtained a draft copy. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="spaced"><br />
</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="spaced">By Dean Beeby, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/cbc-news-online-news-staff-list-1.1294364">CBC News</a></span> <span class="delimited">, Apr 11, 2016</span></span></i><br />
Health Canada has significantly expanded its medical marijuana manual for health-care professionals, adding major new sections about the potential adverse effects on the teenaged brain and driving safety.<br />
<br />
The document is much larger than the previous 2013 edition, and responds to doctors' complaints about having too little information on the medical science even as they're being asked to authorize marijuana for a growing number of patients.<br />
<br />
The heavily revised manual arrives as the Liberals sort out how to legalize recreational marijuana as promised in the federal election – and the document's fresh litany of cautions may provide ammunition to opponents.<br />
<br />
CBC News obtained a draft copy of the 158-page manual, dated Dec. 23, 2015, and due to be published this spring, under the Access to Information Act.<br />
<br />
The document replaces a three-year-old, 94-page document, and features an "adverse effects" section that is more than 50 per cent longer than its predecessor. The section reviews in greater depth whether cannabis may affect the onset of schizophrenia or psychosis, among many other medical issues. .....<i>click "Read More" below to continue.....</i><br />
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The older manual also referred only to dried plant, while the new one cites fresh marijuana and oils, which are also now available under a new commercial regime consisting of 30 Health Canada-approved growers shipping to about 37,000 patients. The document also features a new section on vaping, that is, cannabis electronic cigarettes.<br />
<br />
<b>New sections on dangers</b><br />
<br />
Like the old document, the expanded "Information for Health Care Professionals" is prefaced with a boldface warning that "it should not be construed as expressing conclusions from Health Canada about the appropriate use of cannabis … for medical purposes."<br />
<br />
A section on adolescents has been added to a chapter on fetal and child development; there's new information on "sperm and testicular health;" a new section on depression; more information about therapeutic uses to relieve epilepsy; and five new pages on cannabis and driving.<br />
<br />
"Studies have shown that acute cannabis administration (ie. THC) affects areas of the brain involved in perception, attention, concentration, inhibitory/impulsivity control, executive control/decision-making, awareness, alertness, and co-ordination all of which are required to safety operate a motor vehicle," says the expanded version.<br />
<br />
The language is dense and the tone balanced, often citing conflicting research and cautioning against hard conclusions, with hundreds of detailed citations throughout.<br />
<br />
A spokesman for Rona Ambrose, former health minister and now the Conservative party's interim leader, says she did not direct the department to produce the new manual, whose revisions were begun under her watch. Ambrose has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Liberal plan to legalize recreational marijuana, which a task force is now considering.<br />
<br />
"While the update may have been initiated while Ms. Ambrose was still the health minister, it was not done as a result of any direction from her, but rather by non-partisan public servants at Health Canada," said Mike Storeshaw.<br />
<br />
"Any additional cautions or warnings would therefore reflect the submissions and evidence they received from the medical community, which have been significant in many cases."<br />
<br />
The president of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Cindy Forbes, said she welcomes the new manual, especially any new research on cannabis and adolescents.<br />
<br />
"We're very concerned about the young developing brain and nervous system, and so if there is new information or clarity around guidelines in this area, it will be welcomed," she said from Halifax, adding that the science can help inform Canadians about recreational marijuana as well.<br />
<br />
"I think the information is going to be useful in general."<br />
<br />
A spokesman for Health Canada, Sean Upton, said the document reflects international research carried out since the 2013 edition, with sections on potential therapeutic uses of cannabis as well as harmful effects. He said the new evidence about cannabis and youth will also help inform the task force on recreational marijuana.<br />
<br />
<b>Input to task force</b><br />
<br />
"The government of Canada has committed to legalizing, strictly regulating and restricting access to marijuana to keep it out of the hands of youth," Upton said.<br />
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"Keeping marijuana out of the hands of youth is strongly supported by this evolving evidence base. This and other evidence will be an important input to the task force mandated to examine the issues related to the legalization and regulation of marijuana, and which will consult broadly with experts in public health, substance abuse and law enforcement."<br />
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Health Canada maintains an "adverse reaction" database for drug companies, consumers and others to record incidents involving pharmaceuticals and other substances, including medical marijuana.<br />
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Of some 45,000 reports registered in 2014, the first full year in which accredited marijuana firms were required to report adverse incidents, just four cited medical marijuana. Only nine such reports were registered in 2015, with unwanted side effects including paranoia, asthma and dizziness, none of them serious. The database includes voluntary reporting by doctors and patients.<br />
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Health Canada issued its first, much slimmer, medical marijuana manual in 2003.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">https://ca.news.yahoo.com/revised-medical-marijuana-manual-lists-050000683.html</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Follow @DeanBeeby on Twitter</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048370166387335067.post-32389359638398750122016-03-19T00:50:00.001-07:002016-04-11T17:55:28.950-07:00Drugstores had sold alcohol, then cigarettes, and now pot?<b>Public-health specialists worried that Shoppers Drug Mart will sell pot</b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">By CARLY WEEKS, The Globe and Mail, Feb. 25, 2016</span></i><br />
Leading public-health and addiction specialists are condemning plans by Canada’s largest drugstore chain to investigate the idea of selling marijuana, calling it a profit-motivated move that would have devastating effects.<br />
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The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday that Shoppers Drug Mart is exploring the possibility of selling marijuana in its stores. According to people involved in the discussions, the company has held meetings with licensed medical-marijuana producers. It also has not ruled out a move into selling marijuana for recreational purposes. Currently, pharmacies are not permitted to sell medical marijuana, but the federal government has promised to legalize the drug, which could open the market.<br />
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“This is corporate greed,” said Meldon Kahan, medical director of the substance use service at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital. He said it would be “destructive and dishonest” if Shoppers and other health-care facilities were to present their plans as a medical service.<br />
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Dr. Kahan compared the sale of marijuana in drugstores to the Prohibition era, when pharmacists could fill prescriptions for alcohol. There is little convincing scientific evidence that either substance can treat medical conditions, and pharmacies are not the appropriate venue for the sale, he said.<br />
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Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, said there is “insufficient evidence to call [cannabis] medicine,” and warns opening the market to pharmacies could lead to increased use and serious side-effects. <i>....click "Read More" below to continue.....</i><br />
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“This is not a health product and don’t try to peddle it as a health product,” he said. “It’s the wrong direction.”<br />
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Rebecca Jesseman, policy director of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, said the organization is concerned allowing marijuana in drugstores would convey that it is safe and effective when the evidence is far from clear.<br />
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“We know that cannabis has risks and harms associated with use. If we were to put it in a pharmaceutical context, does that give an illusion of safety?”<br />
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She added that 50 years ago, pharmacies used to profit from the sale of tobacco and marketed cigarettes heavily. If marijuana moved into drugstores without strict government oversight, it could harm public health, she said.<br />
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Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, said pharmacies may be the right place to dispense marijuana. But the bigger focus should be on ensuring whatever system is adopted gives priority to public health, not a company’s bottom line.<br />
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In a statement, the Canadian Pharmacists Association said it is “concerned about the health effects of marijuana and cautions the government to act first with the health of Canadians in mind.” The organization is rewriting its policy on pharmacist dispensing of medical marijuana.<br />
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In a 2013 submission to the federal government, the association emphasized the concern over the possibility of having pharmacists dispense medical marijuana given the lack of evidence supporting its safety and efficacy.<br />
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The federal government has not approved marijuana as a medicine, but doctors are allowed to prescribe it. Although it has many proponents, the scientific literature is not conclusive.<br />
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An analysis of studies on cannabinoids – active chemical ingredients in marijuana – published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found some evidence they help chronic pain. But evidence was poor for whether cannabinoids helped other conditions, such as nausea from chemotherapy. The studies compared cannabinoids to a placebo, rather than a medical treatment. So the evidence does not give an accurate picture of how well cannabinoids work when stacked against existing medical treatments, Dr. Kahan said. At the same time, use of cannabinoids was linked to a higher risk of problems like vomiting, confusion and hallucinations. Some research suggests cannabis is linked to psychosis.<br />
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Many questions are still unanswered about medical cannabis, in part because tight restrictions make research difficult.<br />
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Mark Ware, a pain specialist who studies medical cannabis, said drugstores could be a viable option because pharmacists could counsel patients about drug safety and interactions with other medications.<br />
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Shoppers spokeswoman Lana Gogas said in an e-mail the company’s efforts are “directed at the safe dispensing of medical marijuana.” Ms. Gogas did not respond when asked several times if the company would rule out sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/public-health-specialists-worried-that-shoppers-drug-mart-will-sell-pot/article28896065/</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0