Just Because It Is Legal Doesn’t Mean It Is Good

On Saturday, The Epoch Times posted an article about one of the problems with legalizing marijuana.

The article reports:

Cases of cannabis poisoning increased after legalization and decriminalization of the drug, according to a new meta-analysis published in the journal, Addiction.

The combined results of thirty studies—which focused on legalization and decriminalization in the United States and Canada—estimate a more than three-fold increased risk of poisoning after it was legalized. Studies specific to children revealed an even higher number with episodes increasing almost four and half times the rate prior to the drug being legal.

…There’s also the possibility that changing the laws added an element of confusion to the public, Cairns continued. Consumers might assume that if marijuana is legal, it must mean the drug is safe, she said. However, that is far from true.

“Increased availability and use of edibles (gummies and chocolates, for example) appears to be an important driver of the increase in poisonings, particularly among children,” said Cairns. “Edible cannabis has a higher risk of poisoning because people tend to consume larger quantities, and the effects of cannabis take longer to show up when ingested than they do when smoked. This is concerning because edibles are especially attractive to children.”

Cannabis poisoning sets in when smokers inhale too much of the drug too quickly. It also occurs when consumers feast on drug-infused edibles with high concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns symptoms like trouble walking, sitting up or even breathing can come on quickly or slowly depending on the source, and may take hours to subside. In some instances, emergency hospitalization is required.

Cannabis is a drug, and any drug has risks. People who continually take certain pain killers for arthritis can develop stomach ulcers; certain allergy medications can cause back pain. All drugs have side effects. Legalizing marijuana simply created another way for Americans to engage in activities that can be detrimental to their health.

The Risks Of High-Potency Marijuana

On Friday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the changes to marijuana in recent years.

The article reports:

“Fifteen years ago, the idea that people would be having psychotic episodes and psychotic breaks just from THC was unfathomable—audio and visual hallucinations, and intense anxiety,” says Ben Cort.

On a recent episode of “American Thought Leaders,” host Jan Jekielek sat down with Cort to discuss a multibillion-dollar industry that he says has turned a once-natural, relatively harmless plant into a highly addictive, psychosis-inducing narcotic. Cort is the CEO of the Foundry Treatment Center and author of “Weed, Inc.: The Truth About the Pot Lobby, THC, and the Commercial Marijuana Industry.”

Jan Jekielek: Weed or marijuana is not something you typically associate with psychosis. What’s going on?

Ben Cort: Ten years ago, we rarely saw psychosis and cannabis use together.

But recently, I’ll bet we’re seeing 30 cases of THC-induced psychosis for every amphetamine case. THC is the language I’ll use for marijuana, because that’s the chemical inside the cannabis plant that gets you high. Traditionally, drug-induced psychosis was associated with amphetamines, cocaine, and methamphetamine, but in the past few years, THC has really taken that over because of how strong it has gotten.

The best study for this shows that in 2012, addiction rates to THC were about 10 percent, but that in 2020, they had gone up to 30 percent.

The authors of this study said, “It’s our belief that this is THC potency.” Until recently, the idea of physical addiction to cannabis was laughable. Now, not only can you get physically dependent on it, but withdrawal from cannabis is a really big deal, and something I see every single day working in treatment.

Fifteen years ago, the idea that people would be having psychotic episodes and psychotic breaks just from THC was unfathomable—audio and visual hallucinations, and intense anxiety.

Yet every week, I hear of a young person who has dismantled every electronic device in the house, smashed their phone, taken out all the light bulbs to check for listening devices, because they are so paranoid that they’re being spied on. It’s behavior consistent with amphetamine use, but it’s the THC.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. The potency of today’s marijuana is very different from the potency of the marijuana of the 1960’s. Legalizing marijuana for any reason is putting our children and young adults at risk. There are better ways to deal with the medical problems that medical marijuana is supposed to solve.

This Has Happened Before

KOMO News in Washington state reported yesterday that the number of Washington state drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for THC has doubled.

The article reports:

According to research by AAA between 2008 and 2012, an estimated eight percent of Washington drivers involved in fatal crashes were positive for THC. That rate now is more than double since weed became legal in Washington.

In the five years before legislation, an average of 56 Washington drivers involved in fatal crashes each year were THC positive. In the five years after legislation, that average jumped to 130.

“We know that marijuana use can inhibit concentration, slow reaction time, and cloud judgment. There’s no reason to think that’s not going to happen when you are behind the wheel. That doesn’t suddenly change,” said Kelly Just of AAA.

THC is the active compound in marijuana and can stay in your body for a period of time before disappearing.

“There really isn’t a test to show impairment, so you may have it in your system, may not be impaired. You may have it in your system and may be impaired. Because of that our recommendation is if you use marijuana, don’t drive and if you plan to drive don’t use marijuana,” said Just.

“We’re running across people under the influence and driving all the way from teenagers, all the way up to people in their forties and fifties. So keep in mind the safest bet is just to not get behind the wheel if you plan on using marijuana that day or night,” said Trooper Chris Thorson of the Washington State Patrol.

I know there is a move for legalization of marijuana, but I question the wisdom of legalizing a drug for recreational use in the middle of an opioid epidemic. There are a lot of pathways to drug addiction and a lot of things that can happen when drugs are used for recreation. The pattern of increased accidents caused by an increase in marijuana use as a result of legalization has been seen in other states. The legalization of marijuana may make some people happy, but it makes all of us less safe.

If You Dislike ‘Big Pharma’, You Should Also Dislike ‘Big Pot’

There is a move in America to legalize marijuana. I don’t know if it can be stopped. I doubt it can. Marijuana is proclaimed to be a miracle cure for everything from headaches to ingrown toenails. Well, it may have medicinal value, but it also has a pretty serious downside. I remember looking at the Sunday paper in California after medical marijuana was legalized. The last four pages were ads from doctors who would prescribe it to cure any ailment. All you had to do was call. The legalization of medical marijuana essentially made recreational use much easier to do legally. So what are the consequences of legal marijuana?

Yesterday Dr. David B. Samadi posted an article at Fox News about some of the dangers of legalizing marijuana.

The article states:

From a health standpoint, why is legalization of another mind-altering drug the right thing to do?  The U.S. is already in the midst of a devastating prescription opioid and heroin crisis.  And individuals from all walks of life struggle with the abuse of alcohol and drugs.

It may be too late, but taking an illegal drug and making it legal needs to be well-thought out, to determine what impact this major step will have on future generations.

…What is especially concerning is the fact that the marijuana of today is not the same as it was back in the 1960s or 1970s. Over the past few decades, the concentration of THC in the cannabis plant has been increasing, making it more potent than ever.

A fairly recent popular method of getting high is smoking THC-rich resins extracted from the plant. Extracts are quite powerful, delivering very large amounts of THC to the body. This has sent many users to the emergency room.

…Researchers are still studying the long-term effects of marijuana. But what is known is that the younger a person begins using pot, such as in the teen years, the greater the declines in general knowledge, impaired thinking, learning difficulties and lowered IQ.

The article discusses the medical claims and research on marijuana:

At this time, treating medical conditions using marijuana is still illegal on a federal level. There is still insufficient data from large, long-term, well-designed studies on the potential risks versus benefits of using marijuana to relieve symptoms of certain medical conditions.

There are however, ongoing studies on cannabidiol, a component of marijuana that does not have the mind-altering effects of THC. That may hold potential promise in helping conditions like drug-resistant epilepsy and some psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, substance use disorders, schizophrenia and psychosis.

The article concludes:

No matter how much fun using marijuana looks like on TV or in the movies, no matter what your friends say about it, no matter how many people tell you it’s harmless, and no matter what laws politicians pass to get votes or raise tax revenue, remember one thing: unless you have certain medical conditions where the drug may be beneficial, you are better off without it.

The campaign to legalize marijuana is not unlike the campaign to encourage smoking that went on in the motion picture and entertainment industries up until recent years. We all saw how well that turned out.

Some Consequences Of Legalizing Marijuana

On April 30, the American Academy of Pediatrics posted a story on their website with the following information:

A new study to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 Meeting found that one in six infants and toddlers admitted to a Colorado hospital with coughing, wheezing and other symptoms of bronchiolitis tested positive for marijuana exposure.

The study, “Marijuana Exposure in Children Hospitalized for Bronchiolitis,” recruited parents of previously healthy children between one month of age and two years old who were admitted to Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHC) between January 2013 and April 2014 with bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the smallest air passages in the lung. The parents completed a questionnaire about their child’s health, demographics, exposure to tobacco smoke, and as of October 2014, whether anyone in the home used marijuana. Marijuana became legal in Colorado on January 1, 2014.

Of the children who were identified as having been exposed to marijuana smokers, urine samples showed traces of a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana, in 16 percent of them. The results also showed that more of the children were THC positive after legalization (21 percent, compared with 10 percent before), and non-white children were more likely to be exposed than white children.

The findings suggest that secondhand marijuana smoke, which contains carcinogenic and psychoactive chemicals, may be a rising child health concern as marijuana increasingly becomes legal for medical and recreational use in the United States, said lead researcher Karen M. Wilson, MD, MPH, FAAP, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and section head at CHC. Most states with legal marijuana do not restrict its combustion around children, she said.

Smoking pot around your children is not any healthier than smoking cigarettes around your children. Back in the days of dinosaurs when I grew up, parents thought nothing of smoking around their children. I grew up in a blue haze and married a smoker. From the time I was little until the time my husband quit smoking, I had chronic sinus problems. Since I now live in a pretty much smoke-free world, I very rarely get sinus infections. Also, the number of colds my children had decreased noticeably after my husband quit smoking. Second-hand smoke, regardless of its source, is simply not healthy.

On May 10, Today reported:

…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.

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.

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.

But with marijuana on the ballot to become legal in more states, AAA researchers fear that the numbers will rise more sharply.

Is this where we want to go?