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.
Though no state received the highest grade and several received grades of a C or lower, overall the study showed that the legal landscape continues to improve.
“One example is California, which passed several new bills in 2015 to enhance the medical cannabis program. One such bill is a potentially life saving measure introduced by Assembly member Marc Levine which protects medical cannabis patients from being excluded from the organ transplant waiting list. Without this protection, the consequences are likely to be devastating – even fatal – for patients.”
While Raymond Schwab, a US Veteran and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) sufferer, and his wife prepared for a move from Kansas to Colorado, Kansas State took their five children away. The charge? – suspicion of child endangerment. Raymond manages his PTSD symptoms with medicinal cannabis — a recommendation he obtained in Colorado, where it is legal.
There’s still a stigma against parents who use medical marijuana,” says Jennifer Ani, a family law attorney who says she sees around five similar cases a month – in 95% of which she believes the child was in no reasonable danger. “As much as marijuana is a moving target throughout the nation, with Child Protective Services it’s even more so.”
“A US navy veteran who served in the Gulf war, Schwab says that he uses a homemade cannabis butter to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and chronic pain. For years, he says, his mental health issues went undiagnosed, resulting in a bout of alcoholism and substance abuse. He was prescribed a variety of sedatives, antidepressants and chronic pain medication, which he says often made him feel worse. “I got addicted to the pain medication, which led to heroin addiction.”
Schwab says that he has been sober since a stint in rehab in 2011, and that cannabis is the only medication that helps with his anxiety, depression and physical pain.”
Do you know about Weed For Warriors? The nonprofit’s sole purpose is to advocate for veterans to be able use medical marijuana as an alternative to psychiatric drugs. Learn more.
Research shows medicinal marijuana alleviates PTSD! Read the full study, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, and titled” PTSD Symptom Reports of Patients Evaluated for the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Program”.
Medicinal marijuana has been shown to successfully manage seizures and treat pain. Now these benefits are being applied to dogs, as more owners turn to CBD for ailing pets.
“Biscuits, edibles, and capsules containing non-psychoactive cannabinoid compounds like cannabidiol (“CBD”) are being marketed to owners of ailing and elderly animals as a way to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Since they do not contain any tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”), the products don’t produce the “high” associated with marijuana and some human-focused medical and recreational cannabis edibles and other products.”
Increasingly, companies are stepping up to meet pet owners’ needs by producing hemp-based, CBD-infused pet products. Though these treats are currently legal to sell, the FDA is taking notice.
“Companies in California, Oregon, and Washington are making these hemp-based products, including publicly traded companies like Peak Pharmaceuticals Inc. (PKPH 0.1149 -25.39%), Greenhouse Solutions Inc. (GRSU 0.274 -8.05%) and American Green Inc. (ERBB 0.0033 -4.90%).
Since hemp is completely legal to sell in food products, following the infamous HIA v. DEA lawsuit, these companies are free to sell the products without approvals. That doesn’t mean that regulators haven’t taken any action.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) took a bite out of the industry in February of 2015 when it issued several warning letters to firms that were “marketing unapproved drugs for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of diseases.”
Learn more about the benefits of CBD for treating pain in this study published in the journal Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, and titled “Cannabinoids in the management of difficult to treat pain”.
