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Lt. Kevin Bartlett of the Vallejo Police Department said that marijuana was found in the car and that the driver was at a medical marijuana dispensary in town prior to the crash. While Bartlett said that it’s not certain whether that played a role in the collision, it is being looked at, among other things.

car crashes, pedestrians, car crashes 2
edibles

"Marijuana legalization and commercialization is a failed policy and this new report details the impact on many of our populations already impacted by alcohol and tobacco use," said Bob Doyle, Chair of Colorado SAM and a public health professional with more than 20 years of experience in tobacco prevention.
Highlights of the survey included:

  • 1 in 3 users are daily users
  • Black adults in Colorado are using at almost 50% higher than the state average for adults; Hispanics have the lowest use rates
  • Low income Colorado adults are using at higher rates than the state average
  • Almost a third of 18-24 year olds are using marijuana
  • Almost a third of gay and lesbian adults are using marijuana - more than twice the state average for adults
  • Almost 1 in five reported driving after using marijuana

"The marijuana industry is getting rich while our communities, healthcare system, employers, and families pay the costs," Doyle added.

Colorado-0, usage

Finally, from a public health standpoint, it is crucial that we begin to address regulatory standards for this industry given that it is in the early stages; we have a unique opportunity to shape the industry practices as legislation continues to evolve. This could help decrease potentially numerous problems similar to those that have occurred with both alcohol and tobacco advertising.

youth, advertising

Researchers found that more kids are being exposed to marijuana—by the age of 5, they report in Clinical Pediatrics. Between 2006 and 2013, the marijuana exposure rate rose 147.5 percent among kids 5 and under, according to a press release—and it rose nearly 610 percent during that period in states that legalized medical marijuana before the year 2000 (by our count, five).

Children, exposure, Medical
california, Growers, PBS

The study, conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, showed a 147.5% increase in marijuana exposure among children younger than 6 years old between 2006 and 2013. That rate spiked by 610% over the same period in states where marijuana was legalized for medicinal purposes before 2000.

Children, exposure, Death, Studies

He said users' attitudes conflicted with established scientific evidence, showing cannabis increased the risk of motor vehicle crashes by up to 300 per cent.

Australia, car crashes 2, car crashes

The proliferation of foods infused or coated with THC has become a growing concern, even among some marijuana advocates. Several high-profile marijuana crimes and deaths involve consumption of edible THC products.
“When THC is available in food, it’s even harder for people to see it as a drug,” Lewis said. “But it is a drug. It is a depressant, a hallucinogen and an addictive substance that changes chemistry in the brain. Research shows all of the above.”

clearing the haze, Potency, THC levels

In March of this year plants at several growing facilities in the Denver area had to be quarantined because of the misuse of “pesticides.” The pesticides, it turns out, were improvised concoctions of chemicals, including some unidentifiable mixtures. Cannabis growers have been left to improvise since no commercial pesticides are labeled for legal use on cannabis plants.
In 2014 and 2015, nearly $6 million in pot revenues have been distributed to local governments. But the cost of increased law enforcement, drugged driving incidents, fatal crashes, loss of productivity and a huge spike in gang-related crime bring into question the cost-benefit of those dollars. Teen drug-relatedschool expulsions are also on the rise. And the notion that prisons filled with minor drug offenders would be relieved of overcrowding—a selling point of legalizing marijuana—has been blown to smithereens. Denver’s homeless population has exploded since Amendment 64 went into effect. And there are indications that finite tourist dollars are going more to pot and less to Colorado’s iconic natural wonders.

Colorado, pesticide, cost, social costs

Marijuana use for medical conditions is an issue of growing concern. Some Veterans use marijuana to relieve symptoms of PTSD and several states specifically approve the use of medical marijuana for PTSD. However, controlled studies have not been conducted to evaluate the safety or effectiveness of medical marijuana for PTSD. Thus, there is no evidence at this time that marijuana is an effective treatment for PTSD. In fact, research suggests that marijuana can be harmful to individuals with PTSD.

Veterans, PTSD, mental health, Studies, Research

The Gazette kicks off a four-day perspective series, "Clearing the Haze," that examines health, social, regulatory and financial issues associated with the world's boldest experiment with legal marijuana. 
The ugly truth is that Colorado was suckered. It was promised regulation and has been met by an industry that fights tooth and nail any restrictions that limit its profitability. 

Research, regulation, crime, addiction, Colorado

Marijuana has a complex composition, containing 60 known cannabinoid compounds. Study of these compounds is ongoing, and it may well be that one or more of these compounds will become a valuable method of glaucoma treatment. At the present, however, despite public fascination with the concept, smoking marijuana as a way to treat glaucoma is not practical, useful and may be a dangerous option.

Glaucoma

Nothing has changed in over 5 years except pot has become more potent, more used, more harmful, more accepted AND still not medically approved. 

video

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, in their 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary, noted,“Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) and criminal groups will increasingly exploit the opportunities for marijuana cultivation and trafficking created in states that allow ‘medical marijuana’ grows and have legalized marijuana sales and possession.“ Meaning that marijuana legalization may well increase criminal gang activity.

crime, youth, violence, gang
alcohol, Infographics

Bertha Madras speak on the evidence that pot is not a medicine.  

video, madras, youth, Business, evidence

In Chapel Hill this week, four students were taken to the hospital after apparently overdosing.

One of the teens told ABC11 they thought they were using liquid marijuana but instead drank liquid ecstasy.

"You go to the drug store and buy Sudafed, you know exactly what's in it. When they get ecstasy or liquid marijuana, they don't know how much THC is really in that particular item. They don't know if it's mixed with something else," said Rebecca Wheeler, who is a substance abuse prevention health educator with the Poe Center for Health Education.

Liquid marijuana, or the chemical THC, can be bought in cartridges or extracted from marijuana plants.

It is often used in a vaporizer and can appear odorless and colorless making it easy for teens to conceal.

liquid, Teens, vaporizing

KAMLOOPS, B.C. - The driver of a speedboat that slammed into a houseboat on a British Columbia lake in 2010 was drinking beer and smoking pot before the crash, a witness has told B.C. Supreme Court.

Fatalities, boat, Canada

Nationally, the average price of an ounce of weed is $324. But in four states that have legalized or decriminalized pot – Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Alaska -- the price of an ounce of weed has fallen below $300. Oregon is the cheapest, where an ounce of high-quality marijuana goes for only $204, almost half the cost in North Dakota, the most expensive state.  

cost, map, price, states

The drug Tian manufactured is a synthetic substance significantly stronger than marijuana that is applied to a smokable plant material.
The drug is transported from China in powdered form, in packages labeled fertilizer or industrial solvents.

Spice, DEA

Experts agree, however, that the combination of cannabis and alcohol raises the chance of crashing more than either substance by itself. In a study of 1,882 motor vehicle deaths, the U.S. Department of Transportation found an increased accident risk of 0.7 for cannabis use, 7.4 for alcohol use, and 8.4 for cannabis and alcohol use combined.

alcohol, Research, vehicle

Increased availability and decreased perception of harm drive youth use and lowers the age of initiation to drug use — the goal of an industry working to capture lifetime customers, despite known consequences for physical and mental health.  Youth exposures double the risk of addiction.

blog, Doctors, mental health, addiction

Another death in Colorado has been listed as having “marijuana intoxication” as a factor, according to a CBS4 investigation, and several other families are now saying they believed the deaths of their loved ones can be traced to recreational marijuana use.

Death, denver

Boys who smoke marijuana go through puberty earlier but grow more slowly than those who have never smoked the drug according to a study presented today at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Dublin, Ireland. The findings will lead to a better understanding of the dangers of drug abuse on growth and development of children.

youth, Studies, Research, puberty

There are a lot of greedy selfish people who are willing to do and say anything to get money. What good is it if your pain is gone and so is your ability to think straight? We exist as humans because we think, not we exist because we don’t have pain.

political, Arizona, OpEd

Daniel Juarez, an 18-year-old from Brighton, died Sept. 26, 2012 after stabbing himself 20 times. In an autopsy report that had never been made public before, but was obtained by CBS4, his THC level — the active ingredient in marijuana — was measured at 38.2 nanograms. In Colorado, anything over 5 nanograms is considered impaired for driving.

Death, Intoxication, suicide, Colorado-0

Five legal standards are:

  1. Does marijuana have a known and reproducible drug chemistry?
  2. Does marijuana have adequate safety studies?
  3. Are there adequate and controlled studies showing marijuana’s efficacy?
  4. Are marijuana’s therapeutic benefits accepted by qualified experts?
  5. Are scientific data available for scrutiny?

To sustain the view that marijuana should remain in Schedule I, the prosecution team also had to show that marijuana has:

  1. A high potential for abuse,
  2. No currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and
  3. Unacceptable safety standards for its use under medical supervision.
madras, Medical, FDA

The study involved 50 participants diagnosed with dementia and behavioral symptoms. They were divided into two groups: one was given 1.5 milligrams of medical marijuana pills, while the other received placebo. They took the pills three times a day for three weeks. The researchers also assessed their behavioral symptoms by giving them a dementia questionnaire called Neuropsychiatric Inventory prior to the study and after the three-week study period for comparison.
The test scores showed no significant difference between those who took the medical marijuana pills and the placebo group. However, the study confirmed that the pills are safe to take with minor side effects.

Studies, dementia

Among the 137 people who completed the study, the number of seizures fell by an average of 54 percent, according to a team led by Dr. Orrin Devinsky, of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York City.
 Keep in mind that Epidiolex is VERY different than the so-called low THC strains of marijuana (also known as Charlotte’s Web) that are being grown and sold in several states.  Unlike Epidiolex, the strains of marijuana are  not cloned and the end products vary widely.  Most importantly, these strains contain varying levels of THC whereas Epidiolex is virtually pure CBD.

epilepsy, gw pharm, Epidiolex

Pedro Moreno, 25, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash about 5:35 a.m. Wednesday at the Loomis ramp on northbound Interstate 55. Killed was his brother, Enrique Moreno, 28, who lived with Pedro Moreno

Colorado, homicide, Fatalities, car crashes

ou are now more likely to encounter a drugged driver on the roads than a drunk driver, according to a recently released study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

vehicle, breathalyzer

The raw cannabis plant has no medicinal value. For the same reasons people no longer chew bark to cure headaches but instead buy aspirin, there is no medical reason to smoke pot. The pharmaceutical profession exists to isolate active medical ingredients from herbs and plants (or synthesize them) and to provide safe, standardized doses with minimal side effects. This is how every other drug works. There is no scientific or medical reason to make marijuana an exception.

pot, normlize, Colorado-0, youth, Medical, science, Taxes
Washington DC, Laws, video

Pot advocates have long claimed that legalization would reduce crime by suppressing illicit trade and increase government revenue all in one fell swoop.
Neither claim has proven true. Revenues from marijuana taxes in Colorado from the first full fiscal year since legalization are projected to be only 58 percent of what was expected. And there has not been a drop off in violent crime either; the state's homicide rate rose 21 percent the year after voters agreed to legalize pot, and in Denver, gang-related murders are up this year, too. 

  • Do you think increased marijuana use among teenagers and adults is good for the future of our country?
  • Would you want your son or daughter to become involved in using marijuana?
  • Do you want more impaired drivers on our interstates and roadways?
  • If you were an employer, would you want to hire an employee who uses marijuana? As an employee, do you want to work with drug users who put you at risk and run up healthcare costs?
  • Do you think this higher intoxicant level in marijuana is a positive factor for the health and safety of Americans?

 

legalization

 Russell admitted he had smoked marijuana at lunch and again as he drove to pick up his children in Brodhead, the criminal complaint indicates.“All I did was smoke a bowl of marijuana. It's not like I am high,” Russell is quoted as saying in the criminal complaint.“The defendant did not seem to understand that smoking marijuana and driving were illegal,” the complaint states

impaired, Death, Fatalities, car crashes
alcohol, Infographics

Researchers from Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health found an increase in adult marijuana use and binge drinking after the implementation of medical marijuana laws (MML) in ten states that permit marijuana use for medical purposes.

alcohol, binge drinking, Studies
Puerto Rico, legalization

.03%  or  93,200 children in the U.S. have severe forms of epilepsy and do not respond to current treatments of the population 320,000,000.  
 
Charlotte's Web results....Dr. Chapman and colleagues at Colorado Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado reviewed cases of 58 children with severe epilepsy who came into their care while using artisanal CBD. Parents reported seizure reduction of 50% or more in only one-third of patients, but except for two children there was no improvement in their EEGs. Adverse effects occurred in 47% of patients: 21% experienced increased or new seizures; 10% suffered developmental regression with one patient needing intubation; one patient died.  

epilepsy, Epidiolex, gw pharm
Infographics

Marijuana contains more than 400 chemicals. The primary psychoactive chemical is delta-9- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and is the component of marijuana principally responsible for the “high” experienced by pot smokers. Along with the high, users exhibit slower reflexes and decreased coordination. Marijuana also impairs judgment. Slower reaction times, impaired judgment, and problems responding to signals and sounds equal dangerous drivers. No wonder those who drive within three hours of smoking marijuana are twice as likely to be involved in a major car crash.

chemicals, vehicle, Potency

The number of patients admitted with psychotic episodes after having consumed cannabis has more than tripled in Germany over the last 15 years, from 3,392 in 2000 to 11,708 in 2013. More than half of the patients are younger than 25.

 

Psychosis, Germany
adolescent, Brain, Effects, ATTC, video
car crashes 2, impaired, TX
Teens, impaired, car crashes 2

30 nano grams 

Vermont, car crashes, Fatalities
Business, Employees, Colorado-0, Colorado

DENVER – Little Spider Creations had been making scary creations in Denver for 24 years, but the owner of the company says legalizing recreational marijuana changed everything. He recently moved his company to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Marijuana showed up in 20% more employee drug tests the first year marijuana was legalized/ Quest Diagnosis 

Employer, Moving
UF, Florida, Charlotte's Web, Epidiolex

Participants in a study who had used the drug daily for around three years in their teens had an abnormally shaped hippocampus by the time they were in their early 20s.
They also performed around 18 per cent worse in long-term memory tests than individuals who had never touched the drug.

Brain, Biomedical, youth, memory, Studies, Research
Took Kit, 4/20, Parent
drug free workplace, Business, Employer

Among the 137 people who completed the study, the number of seizures fell by an average of 54 percent, according to a team led by Dr. Orrin Devinsky, of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York City.
Keep in mind that Epidiolex is VERY different than the so-called low THC strains of marijuana (also known as Charlotte’s Web) that are being grown and sold in several states.  Unlike Epidiolex, the strains of marijuana are  not cloned and the end products vary widely.  Most importantly, these strains contain varying levels of THC whereas Epidiolex is virtually pure CBD.

Charlotte's Web, Epidiolex, epilepsy

Even though they don’t act on the disease, placebos affect how some people feel. This happens in up to 1 of 3 people. A change in a person’s symptoms as a result of getting a placebo is called the placebo effect. Usually the term “placebo effect” speaks to the helpful effects a placebo has in relieving symptoms. This effect usually lasts only a short time. It’s thought to have something to do with the body’s natural chemical ability to briefly relieve pain and certain other symptoms.

American Cancer Society, Placebo

Let us provide a rational answer to a nonsensical question. It is a nonsensical question because blood is never impaired by THC. Never. Alcohol doesn’t impair blood either. These drugs only impair the brain, not the blood.

driving, impaired, drug testing

Smoking or ingesting the wax can be deadly. Two teens overdosed in Duluth after using the drug.

hash oil, Minnesota, fire, Death, overdose

He hoped to make anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 through this illegal business venture. 

Teens, illegal, california
Intoxication, Children, Colorado, symptoms

The autopsy showed Foster had a .098 milligrams-per-liter level of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the intoxicating ingredient of marijuana. Pearson said that is a significant level.
“That indicates very recent use,” she said. “I would say she used marijuana within a half-hour or an hour before she died.”

 

Death, car crashes 2, alcohol, Florida, tampa
THC, CBD, Potency
second hand smoke, tobacco

The toxicology report showed that Goodman had THC in his system, but not at a level considered legally impaired. Edibles are a bit more dangerous just because they do have a longer absorption period and a slower drop than smoking," said Breckenridge Police detective Caitlin Kontak.

Colorado, suicide
youth
  • The chemistry of medical marijuana is not known and not reproducible.
  •  There is a lack of evidence of safety for the use of marijuana under medical supervision.
  • There is a lack of evidence of efficacy of medical marijuana.
  • Qualified experts do not accept the drug.
  • Scientific evidence is not widely available.

 If you have a medical problem, chances are, there are far more effective treatments than smoked marijuana; prescribed treatments have undergone meticulous testing procedures to minimize risk. Though some may be disappointed, today’s smoked marijuana should not be confused with real medicine. Smoking and inhaling a large array of chemicals in order to deliver a drug is a backward step in medicine and a risky step for a patient.

Simply put, marijuana is not a pure compound; there is no way to make sure that ingredients are measured reliably and are consistent from one batch to another. ...

science, evidence, blog, madras

The "gold standard" in medical research is "peer-reviewed, randomized, double-blind" studies, which all medicines are subjected to before the Food and Drug Administration will allow them to be prescribed by doctors to their patients, said Mikaya, who added that none of those studies have been conducted on medical marijuana. In the case of medical marijuana, those studies would show, among other things, whether medical marijuana "is effective as a medicine" and "whether its benefits outweigh its risks," Mikaya said.

evidence, Studies, legalization
workplace
crime, Minnesota
Minnesota, crime
Colorado-0, Death, edibles
Colorado-0, car crashes 2, Impairment
Colorado-0, Potency, THC
Colorado-0
Teens, Took Kit
Colorado-0, Death, edibles

More than 40 states have reported seizures of Colorado marijuana and THC products, according to the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The federally funded task force also reports that seizures involving Colorado marijuana bound for other states have risen nearly 400 percent, from 58 incidents in 2008 to 288 in 2013 — the year before Colorado’s marijuana retail stores opened. That is consistent with Denver police records showing a nearly 1,000% spike in the amount of marijuana officers have seized — 937 pounds in 2011 compared to a little more than 4 tons last year.

Black Market, Colorado

In old-school dope, levels of THC — the psychoactive chemical that makes people high — were typically well below 10 percent. But in Colorado's legal bud, the average THC level is 18.7 percent, and some retail pot contains 30 percent THC or more, according to research released Monday.
"This shows that marijuana is a GMO product just like other products sold by big business. And just like other industries, now you have a big marijuana industry determined to hide these findings from the public. Where is their outcry? Where are the promises to change the way they do business?" 

Potency, Colorado, GMO

A study by a team from Children's Hospital Colorado that was presented during the AES Annual Meeting in December 2014 and has recently been accepted for publication in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior, found that artisanal "high CBD" oils resulted in no significant reduction in seizures in the majority of patients and in those for whom the parents reported improvements, these improvements were not associated with improvement in electroencephalograms (EEGs), the gold standard monitoring test for people with epilepsy.

 

Additionally, in 20% of cases reviewed seizures worsened with use of cannabis and in some patients there were significant adverse events. These are not the stories that you have likely 

heard in your public hearings, but they are the reality of practitioners at Children's Hospital Colorado who have cared for the largest number of cases of children with epilepsy treated with cannabis in the U.S.

Charlotte's Web, epilepsy, Legislation, Colorado, Studies, Research
edibles, emergency room, Florida

A teen accused of killing 16-year-old Broomfield High School student Chad Britton in a November car accident near the school was driving under the influence of marijuana, according to police.
He got behind the wheel of his car after smoking weed, even though a friend tried to persuade him not to drive, police officers testified at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
The 17-year-old driver, who authorities have not identified because he is a minor, is accused of killing Britton by hitting him with the car. The teen is suspected of smoking marijuana before the crash, and had only had his drivers license for six days, police testified.

Teen, car crashes 2, car crashes, Fatalities
My fear is that, if CBD is made widely available in an uncontrolled way, families will run to it because of the hype, often using it to replace rather than augment current therapy. Some children might benefit. But it will not work for everyone and, if it is used as a stand alone therapy in children for whom it does not work, then some of those children will die. These children need to be protected from uncontrolled seizures but they also need to be protected 
from unproven therapies. Sadly, the good intentions of their desperate, loving parents have the potential to put some of these children in harm’s way.
Charlotte's Web, Idaho Epilepsy Center, Dr. Wechsler

Because many of these products are packaged to mimic popular candies, they may be attractive to kids, MacCoun said. "There's the concern that young children will find these products and eat them, thinking they are ordinary sweets," MacCoun told Live Science. "This can be a very traumatic experience, and there are even some indications it can be physically dangerous for young children,

edibles

The study is among the first to say the hippocampus is shaped differently in heavy marijuana smokers and the different looking shape is directly related to poor long-term memory performance.
The study also found that young adults with schizophrenia who abused cannabis as teens performed about 26 percent more poorly on memory tests than young adults with schizophrenia who never abused cannabis.

youth, memory, Schizophrenia

For some marijuana users, it is not only the plant itself that may cause an allergic reaction. Pot can become very moldy when it is being stored, and people who are allergic to mold may have reactions,

allergy
Ohio, legalization
car crashes 2, Fatalities, PA, car crashes, highways
Pregnancy, baby, youth, addiction, news video clip, news article

·        These consequences include impaired short-term memory and decreased concentration, attention span, and problem solving, which clearly interfere with learning. Alterations in motor control, coordination, judgment, reaction time, and tracking ability have also been documented; these may contribute to unintentional deaths and injuries among adolescents (especially those associated with motor vehicles if adolescents drive while intoxicated by marijuana).
·        Negative health effects on lung function associated with smoking marijuana have also been documented, and studies linking marijuana use with higher rates of psychosis in patients with a predisposition to schizophrenia have recently been published, raising concerns about longer-term psychiatric effects. New research has also demonstrated that the adolescent brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex areas controlling judgment and decision-making, is not fully developed until the mid-20s, raising questions about how any substance use may affect the developing brain. Research has shown that the younger an adolescent begins using drugs, including marijuana, the more likely it is that drug dependence or addiction will develop in adulthood.
·         A recent analysis of 4 large epidemiologic trials found that marijuana use during adolescence is associated with reductions in the odds of high school completion and degree attainment and increases in the use of other illicit drugs and suicide attempts in a dose-dependent fashion that suggests that marijuana use is causative.

youth, American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP, Studies, Research

Marijuana was found in Moreano’s car and investigators believe booze contributed to the crash, according to a police source.

car crashes, Fatalities, NY
car crashes 2, impaired, Fatalities, pills, car crashes
Survey, Studies, youth, increase, usage
tea

Warnings: Stem tea may not relieve your medical condition, but it might make you a bit happy. If you substitute medical marijuana buds and leaves for the stems, you will get very happy, and you will be very tired when the happiness dissipates. The resulting feeling you get from making medicinal stem tea may take between 30 to 50 minutes to hit you, so drink just a small amount and wait before re-dosing.

 

video, dabbing, wax, BHO
youth, School, Medical
Legislation, Fay, Medical
Colorado-0, Pregnancy, baby
Colorado-0, Attorney General, legalization
car crashes 2, car crashes

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