09/01/2016

09/01/2016

A common theme among every article in this issue is the overlap be- tween NMUPD, excessive drinking, and marijuana and other forms of substance use. In every investigation, nonmedical users were observed to have a history of using alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, and other psycho- active substances. Kalyanam, Katsuki, Lanckriet, and Mackey (2017)
Kalyanam, J., Katsuki, T., Lanckriet, G., & Mackey, T. K. (2017). Exploring trends of non- medical use of prescription drugs and polydrug abuse in the Twittersphere using un- supervised machine learning. Addictive Behaviors, 65, 289–295. http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.addbeh.2016.08.019.

08/31/2016

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is a professional organization of over 28,000 practicing neurologists and neuroscientists with a deep and abiding interest in assuring the best possible care of patients with all types of neurologic disorders. With officials at state and federal levels adopting policies regarding the use of medical marijuana, it is important for the AAN to have an official position on the issue that can assist policymakers.

08/24/2016

“While marijuana can cause anxiety and paranoia, addiction, decreased cognition, behavioural problems and impaired driving,” doctors said, Trudeau’s promise to legalize it means all they can do is try to persuade him to anticipate future health costs, introduce measures to protect public safety, and ensure there is appropriate surveillance of consequences.

08/20/2016

Florida is a target for THC pushers who are already bringing in THC-infused “edibles” which are often disguised as cookies and candy that are marketed to escape detection.

08/20/2016

Edible marijuana exposures are increasing and may lead to severe respiratory depression.

08/19/2016

No medical association to include the AMA or any of the related organization associated with the disease(s) "medical" marijuana claims to cure or help proponents bring false hope and misinformation to thousands of families. 

08/17/2016

The ordinance limits the approved area of medical marijuana dispensaries to just under 4 acres next to South Florida Baptist Hospital and Maryland Fried Chicken in the C1-B Neighborhood Business District.  Additionally, medical marijuana dispensaries in Plant City must be at least 500 feet from any pre-existing school, church, daycare facility, substance abuse treatment facility, public park or residential area. 

08/15/2016

The Japanese man who stabbed and killed 19 disabled people in 2016 frequently advocated for marijuana legalization.  Just weeks before his attack, Uematsu had been diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis and paranoia.   

08/09/2016

If you wonder why America is in the grips of a heroin epidemic that kills two hundred people a week, take a hard look at the legalization of pot, which destroyed the profits of the Mexican cartels. How did they respond to a major loss in revenue? Like any company, they created an irresistible new product and flooded the market. The scariest part: this might not have happened with El Chapo in charge.

08/05/2016

Marijuana is typically four-times stronger than it was a couple decades ago. On top of the boosted potency, since legalization, growers have been able to refine their skills to grow strains for unique and specific ailments. Not to mention the exploding market of concentrates and dab culture.

08/04/2016

Through public records requests, it appears Alpha/Surterra has falsified information in order to meet the state’s requirements, in violation of both Florida and federal statutes.

08/02/2016

“There is nothing medical about this proposal, and the lack of scientific evidence that pot is helpful in treating medical conditions is far from inclusive.”

07/28/2016

The FDA just approved a new, synthetic THC product for use in treating a variety of ailments, in liquid form. But despite being the first liquid THC replacement on the market, this may not be worth the buzz.

07/25/2016

The exposures can make kids really sick, she said. The majority of the children had symptoms including sleepiness or trouble with balance, which typically goes away within six to 24 hours. But about 20 percent needed to be admitted to the hospital and 15 percent of cases were so severe they ended up in the intensive care unit. "Marijuana exposures in young children have resulted in respiratory compromise requiring the use of a ventilator and intensive care unit admission in a handful of cases,"

07/22/2016

 Risk communication was the most common form of communication. In multivariate models, risk communication was associated with increased odds of a student remaining abstinent but not with frequency of marijuana use or negative consequences. Greater permissive communication was associated with more approving student attitudes, greater odds of non-abstinence, more frequent use in the past year, and more negative consequences. These findings highlight the need to consider the different types of messages parents deliver when designing interventions aimed at engaging parents in marijuana prevention efforts.

07/14/2016

9:50 to 14:30. - Temple Terrace and Lakeland strategies.

07/01/2016

An increased risk of psychosis, changes in the brain's reward system and the scrambled neuron signals that may underlie "the munchies" are just some of the many potential effects of marijuana use on the brain.

06/30/2016

The latest incident involved a man swinging a large pipe at pedestrians near the McDonald’s at the intersection of Cleveland Place and the 16th Street Mall. A video of the wild behavior was posted online and received hundreds of thousands of views.

06/29/2016

“Many existing marijuana intervention programs target students age 15 and older,” Chen said. “Our findings demonstrate the need to start drug education much earlier, in the fourth or fifth grade. This gives us an opportunity to make a preemptive strike before they actually start using marijuana.”

06/25/2016

Officers searched Calloway’s vehicle after smelling the pot. Officers say they found 22.9 grams of hash oil, 2,320 grams of pot and 84 bags of gummy candies laced with THC. 

06/21/2016

In Colorado, homeless programs are severely overextended, housing costs are skyrocketing and while marijuana might be legal, public consumption of it isn’t — which means those like Butts who don’t have private residences can still face harsh consequences for using it. It doesn’t help that marijuana jobs are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain by those struggling with homelessness. 

06/20/2016

All told, several hundred marijuana migrants struggling with poverty appear to be arriving in Colorado each month. Some of them, like Butts, come to use cannabis recreationally or medically without the fear of arrest. Others are hoping to get jobs in the new industry. But many arrive to find homeless services stretched to the breaking point, local housing costs increasingly prohibitive and cannabis use laws that penalize those without private residences.
Fresh off the bus from Texas, Butts didn’t know any of this. He was still optimistic that legal marijuana would be his lifeline as he struck out on a new path. “I’m going to get clean, man,” he said. “That’s what the marijuana industry is for. I think being here in Colorado is going to help.”

06/19/2016

It's certainly possible to go to a musical festival and take in the performances while consuming the substance(s) of your choice responsibly and having a genuinely enjoyable time, and it's just as possible to experience the exact opposite.

06/17/2016

Analysis indicated that for each year adolescent boys engaged in regular marijuana use, their projected level of subsequent subclinical psychotic symptoms increased by 21% and projected risk for subclinical paranoia or hallucinations increased by 133% and 92%, respectively.

06/14/2016

"The rapid growth in concentrates and edibles is the continuation of a two-year trend, as consumers increasingly prefer alternative consumption methods to smoking," BDS Analytics CEO Roy Bingham told Civilized in an e-mail. 
Also, increased are hospitalization, ER visits and vehicle fatal accidents. 

06/06/2016

The law and D49's policy only allows non-smokeable marijuana to be used on school grounds. The medicine would have to be brought, administered, and taken away from the school by the student's primary caregiver. No school employee would be required to give the student cannabis.

06/06/2016

“They told me I was having a psychotic episode brought on by cannabis,” said Thibodeau, who requested that the Star use his grandmother’s surname as he is still recovering from the breakdown.
“I was shocked. We live in a society where there is such a culture around smoking dope that people think it is cool to be a stoner. Nobody ever talks about the pitfalls.”

05/26/2016

Recent research has documented high rates of comorbidity between cannabis use disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans.
Overall, 14.6% of participants reported using cannabis in the past 6 months. After controlling for age, race, service era, and combat exposure, past 6-month cannabis use was associated with unmarried status, use of tobacco products, other drug use, hazardous alcohol use, PTSD severity, depressive symptom severity, and suicidality. The present findings show that cannabis use is quite prevalent among veterans seeking PTSD specialty treatment and is associated with poorer mental health and use of other substances.

05/22/2016

The driver involved in the crash that killed a Massachusetts state trooper in March had visited a medical marijuana dispensary and had a half-burnt marijuana cigarette in his car, authorities said Wednesday.

05/21/2016

"It’s the best educated guess that we have," United for Care director Ben Pollara said. "It’s up to the Department of Health and the Legislature. … It could be 2,000, it could be 20. It could be 5,000."
The state health department did project 1,993 medical marijuana dispensaries would be needed to serve potential patients, based on data from Colorado compared with Florida. That is more than the 840 Walgreens and 233 Walmart supercenters and discount stores in the state, although the comparison seems like a bit of a red herring.
It’s important to remember that while the health department report is the only real estimate available, this figure isn’t definite. The agency and the Legislature would decide the actual number of stores and how they are regulated after the amendment passes. That total is anyone’s guess.
 

05/21/2016

Endangers health of community and drains precious health resources.

05/19/2016

PowerPoint Presentation comparing Marijuana & Alcohol,

05/19/2016

An Amendment IS NOT legalizing an FDA approved medication... IT IS NOT A PRESCRIPTION.
NO MEDICAL ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS AMENDMENTS or BILLS... not ethically or morally right to legalize via popular vote.

05/16/2016

Morgan, a major Democratic fundraiser who told the audience that former President Bill Clinton visited him at his home last week, quickly backpedaled from his apparent truth telling, however.
 
“I didn't really lie. What I did was, I said this could be two-for-one, because I started my marijuana deal before Charlie got in the race. … That's the truth. I got real fired up about it because I thought, hey, we could get marijuana and Charlie. So that really motivated me,” Morgan said.

05/14/2016

Fatal driving accidents have risen 122 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission.

The science is clear and unambiguous—pot is a dangerous substance. It is not like alcohol at all. There is a reason it is classified as a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance, right along with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. The American Medical Association, the American Lung Association, and other reputable doctors and scientists all reject legalization.

05/14/2016

Morgan peppered his 50-minute speech with f-bombs, attacks on the Florida Legislature and a declaration that the future of medical marijuana has reached a “tipping point” in Florida and the nation.

05/12/2016

05/11/2016

05/10/2016

The percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who recently used marijuana more than doubled from eight to 17 percent between 2013 and 2014.
One in six drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2014 had recently used marijuana, which is the most recent data available.
“The significant increase in fatal crashes involving marijuana is alarming,” said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Washington serves as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug.”

05/10/2016

Fatal crashes involving drivers who recently used marijuana doubled in Washington after the state legalized the drug. Washington was one of the first two states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, and these findings serve as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug. 

05/10/2016

Warsame told his schoolmate he had never smoked marijuana and would like to try it, and the two smoked together, according to the report.

A toxicology screen by the medical examiner found “relatively high levels”  of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent in marijuana, in Warsame’s system.

05/08/2016

05/08/2016

"The cannabis industry, with a capitalization in excess of $4 billion, has embraced the free market. Its opponents, such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana, counter that unfettered legalization means another Big Tobacco. The danger is that “better products” (mostly high-THC pot and more seductive ways to deliver it) will produce more addiction, accidents, psychoses and cognitive deficits, particularly among daily users who account for the vast majority of sales. When the core business model is phishing for phools by exploiting misinformed buyers, more research is not necessarily welcome. If rescheduling produces additional studies confirming that regular cannabis use causes abnormal brain development, memory impairment and diminished IQ, the drug would look more like lead exposure than a harmless party plant."

05/04/2016

The effects on public health and safety and on the relationship of law enforcement to minority communities will take years to manifest fully, but one impact has become abundantly clear: Legalized marijuana is getting very cheap very quickly.

05/01/2016

http://gis.hcso.tampa.fl.us/crimemapping/  must use firefox

04/29/2016

Swedish researchers analyzed the records of more than 45,000 men beginning in 1969 and 1970. The scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm reported that 4,000 died during the 42-year follow-up period, and men who'd used marijuana heavily at ages 18 and 19 were 40 percent more likely to die by age 60 compared to guys who hadn't used the drug.

04/20/2016

04/17/2016

Why is it called “medical” marijuana? It cannot be prescribed by a doctor, and you will not find it for sale in any pharmacy. 

There is no scientific research from those who support the legalization of marijuana that is smoked or eaten.