Since California legalized the sale of medicinal marijuana in 1996, 22 more states plus the District of Columbia have followed suit. In the coming years that number is likely to increase. Elsewhere in the world cannabis is increasingly gaining legal status and is now available medicinally in much of Europe, South America and soon Australia. As more places legalize, questions intensify around regulation and protection.
“Such rules should depend on which of legalization’s benefits a jurisdiction wants to prioritize and what harms it wants to minimize. The first consideration is how much protection users need. As far as anyone has been able to establish (and some have tried very hard indeed) it is as good as impossible to die of a marijuana overdose. But the drug has downsides. Being stoned can lead to other calamities: in the past two years Colorado has seen three deaths associated with cannabis use (one fall, one suicide and one alleged murder, in which the defendant claims the pot made him do it). There may have been more. Colorado has seen an increase in the proportion of drivers involved in accidents who test positive for the drug, though there has been no corresponding rise in traffic fatalities.”
Those in favor of looser regulations argue that easier access saves police money, raises tax revenue, thwarts criminals, and extends personal freedom to holistically medicate. Others believe, however, that laws should discourage consumption.
“Danger and harm are not in themselves a reason to make or keep things illegal. But the available evidence persuades many supporters of legalization that cannabis consumption should still be discouraged. The simplest way to do so is to keep the drug expensive; children and heavy users, both good candidates for deterrence, are particularly likely to be cost sensitive. And keeping prices up through taxes has political appeal that goes beyond public health.
Can patients easily access medicinal marijuana in your state? Read this report.
A study conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.
“The research, still at an early stage, indicates that memory loss, the first and primary symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, can be slowed down significantly in mice by cannabidiol. Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects some 24.3 million people worldwide.”
In the study, mice were injected with a molecule to induce symptoms of Alzheimers and treated with cannabidiol. Following treatment, learning was assessed by measuring the length of time needed to complete a maze.
“Those mice injected with cannabidiol successfully performed the task within 25-30 seconds, compared to mice in the control group who had not been treated with cannabidiol, who took almost double the amount of time, 45-50 seconds, to complete the task.”
Did you know cannabinoids are known to act as neuroprotective agents in the brain? Read the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, and titled “Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology by Cannabinoids: Neuroprotection Mediated by Blockade of Microglial Activation”
The fight for legalization has one more advocate. Senator Elizabeth Warren D-Mass. asked Center for Disease Control Chief, Tom Friedan to explore, “the impact of the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana on opioid overdose deaths,” in an open letter to the agency. Her call brings attention to considerable research suggesting medicinal marijuana is often used as an exit drug.
“From a public health standpoint, Warren is right. Research published last year in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review found that 80 percent of medical marijuana users reported substituting pot for painkillers, and 52 percent said they drank less when taking medical marijuana. ‘The high rate of substitution for prescribed substances, particularly among patients with pain-related conditions, suggests that further research into cannabis/cannabinoids as a potentially safer substitute for or adjunct to opiates is justified,’ the researchers concluded.”
In another study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, states where medicinal marijuana is legal reported a 24.8 percent decrease in opioid overdoses compared to states without legalization laws.
“Medical marijuana availability decreases the rate of opioid dependency and death. An NBER working paper published last year found that the presence of marijuana dispensaries was associated with a 15 percent to 35 percent decrease in substance abuse admissions and a similar drop in opiate overdose deaths.”
When it comes to delivery options, medicinal marijuana patients like to consume their cannabis or eat marijuana-infused edibles according to a new study conducted by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
“The RAND study surveyed 1,994 people in four western states in October 2013, a transition period when Colorado and Washington had legalized recreational marijuana (though the sales wouldn’t start until a couple months later) and Oregon and New Mexico had medical cannabis programs.
While only 3 percent of the surveyed recreational users vaporize marijuana and 8 percent consume edibles, 18 percent of their medical counterparts vaporize and 32 percent eat edibles, according to the study, signifying a potential shift away from smoked cannabis.”
The study also showed that a surprisingly low number of patients use dispensaries to obtain medicine.
“Medical patients rely on dispensaries (32 percent) and dealers (23 percent) much more than recreational users, 2 percent of whom buy from dispensaries and 4 percent from dealers. More than half of recreational users say they got the pot for free (58 percent) or paid a friend (29 percent) when they last got high, while those figures for medical patients (13 and 16 percent, respectively) were significantly lower.”
Read the full study, published in the journal Addiction, and titled “In the weeds: a baseline view of cannabis use among legalizing states and their neighbors.”
Battling Cannaphobia in the Tech Industry DOES MASSROOOTS EXIST?
It’s called cannaphobia or cannabias, and many have experienced it. Cannaphobia occurs when a person holds an unreasonable fear or antipathy of cannabis and the people who use it.
“People in the Silicon Valley talk like they have these very progressive views, but when it comes to cannabis, they are really very regressive,” said Dietrich in an interview with Marijuana Business Daily.
Deitrich made his comments following a controversy where Dell Computers declined to judge a high-profile contest among start-up companies after learning that a cannabis-related company was competing.
“Many tech companies, including household names like Facebook and Google, discriminate against marijuana companies by not allowing them to advertise on their sites. There’s a disconnect between tech leaders and the tech public on this issue. There needs to be public pressure put on these people to get things to change,” Dietrich said.
See how one city came together to fight cannaphobia in this video.
With side effects ranging from catatonia to profound anxiety and vomiting, it’s clear synthetic marijuana does not offer the therapeutic benefits of the real medicinal plant. Still, low cost, wide availability, and an ambiguous legal status are leading more consumers to light up. What exactly is synthetic marijuana, and what information should you share?
“The most important fact to understand about synthetic marijuana is that it isn’t just one thing. It’s more like a category of things, a family of man-made chemicals that have one major characteristic in common: They interact with the same cell receptors in the brain as THC, the active ingredient in natural cannabis. In theory, someone could ingest these chemicals in any number of ways, but manufacturers play up the association between their products and traditional marijuana by spraying their chemicals onto diced-up dry plant matter that can be sold in baggies and smoked.”
How synthetic cannabinoids impact smokers depends on several factors including the chemicals used in these products and how those chemicals are sprayed. Often imprecise distribution results in products with “hot spots” where the chemical concentration is dangerously high.
“It’s definitely more dangerous than regular marijuana, which has mellowing properties that synthetic cannabinoids don’t have. While drugs like heroin and methamphetamine cause far more deaths in absolute terms, the number of emergency room visits involving synthetic cannabinoids does seem to be growing.” Where did synthetic marijuana come from? Meet the chemist who unwittingly created them.
