Search Results: hsa (19)

An interesting finding

Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.

The Centers for Disease Control found that more Americans are using cannabis but the abuse rate has fallen. For additional details see here.

At the L.A. Times, Robin Abcarian looks at the links between cannabis use and psychosis.

A study found that being high decreases cannabis users’ motivation, but that it returned when they were sober.

The DEA said it would add the psychotropic tropical plant kratom, which some consider to have health benefits, to its list of schedule I substances, alongside LSD, heroin, cannabis and other drugs it considers to have no medical uses.

Israeli doctors will begin a first of its kind study to test the effects of cannabis on individuals with autism. The country also plans to start exporting MED.

New York state will expand its MED program, and allow home delivery. Crain’s New York Business asks if the state will allow the industry to thrive. Oregon licensed its first two testing labs.

This month, a Manhattan gallery owner known as Mr. Grey will host an exhibit of bongs valued between $500 and $250,000. You can see pieces from his collection on his Instagram page.

The Forward has a “ Pot Shabbat” with “Jeff the 420 Chef.” The challah, matzo balls, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and cookies were all laced.

Vice meets an Englishman who legally changed his name to “ Free Cannabis.” He planted cannabis in Glastonbury’s celebrated flower displays.

A new cannabis social network caters to seniors. Jimi Hendrix is enshrined in a new line of edibles.

The great comedian Gene Wilder died. Though it did not make the connection, The Cannabist reviewed Snozzberry, an indica dominant hybrid, named for a fruit invented by Willy Wonka. Wilder also appears to smoke weed in “Blazing Saddles.”

Way more than doctors anticipated.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

In Colorado, the number of young children exposed to marijuana, mostly through edibles, is up 150 % since 2014, a study found. Reason and The Washington Post argue that the risk remains very small.

A study in rats found that exposure to pot smoke can damage blood vessels.

One in 13 Americans older than 12 have used marijuana in the past month, a new government studyfound. That figure has held steady for about 25-years. It’s least popular between Texas and Alabama. (Here’s a map.) States where it’s less common are more likely to be concerned about marijuana.

A Globe and Mail investigation found that mold and other contaminants are widespread in the Toronto MED supply. Colorado released numerous seized batches after they tested negative for pesticides.

Following a scare, Colorado determined that THC was not in the drinking water in the tiny town of Hugo, Colo.

A bill in Congress that would expand MED research does not include products containing THC or the parents of children with autism in its “Safe Harbor” clause.

In Arizona, a long-anticipated study to test MED on veterans with PTSD will begin seeking patients soon.

Michael J. Stevens writes on the promise of cannabis tissue culture.

The Guardian can’t find any evidence for the myth that babies are awash with endocannabinoids, cannabinoids produced by the human body at birth.

Carfentanil, a powerful opioid used to sedate elephants is causing overdoses in heroin users. Time asks if MED can mitigate the opiate epidemic. (See The Hill for more.)

A Colorado judge blocked the suspensions of four doctors, the first in the state to be punished foroverprescribing the number of plants MED patients can grow or trust to caregivers. Heavy prescribing doctors could see business decline with legalization, the Guardian reports.

Dr. Michael Soler is the first physician in Puerto Rico allowed to recommend MED.


A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) collects data from each state to determine the use of alcohol and drugs. Among the findings? Texans like their booze, and they like a lot of it.
The report divides the findings by age group and type of substance abuse, such as general alcohol use, binge drinking, illicit drugs, and marijuana use. For Texas adults, numbers show that they aren’t generally fond of pot. Only around 5 percent of adults smoked pot in the past month.

Opposing Views
Drug Czar Gil Kerlkikowske adamantly refuses to consider rational policy alternatives that don’t involve criminal penalties, according to the Marijuana Policy Project’s Morgan Fox

Marijuana Use Rises in 2011 While Alcohol and Prescription Drug Use Decline
 
In a press conference Monday morning, representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the release of the latest results of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As is their custom, the federal officials used the event — and the survey itself — as an opportunity to decry the use of marijuana in the United States and focused on perceived risk as a driving factor for increased use.
Marijuana use has slightly increased in the past year, while alcohol use has declined.

Those of us who have been through a few media cycles of hysteria over the “latest drug menace” are always skeptical when the mainstream whips itself up into a fine frenzy over the newest chemical bug-a-boo threatening the citizenry. 
But even a stuck clock is right twice a day, and it appears that there’s some substance behind the negative publicity surrounding “bath salts,” which in no small part due to sensationalist press coverage, have become the latest quasi-legal drug craze to sweep the nation.

Although bath salts are sold through a loophole as a harmless substance used for relaxation, people are ingesting them seeking euphoria. In addition to experiencing altered moods, some bath salts users are having psychotic episodes marked with agitation, hallucinations and violent behavior.

LIFE
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske claimed on Thursday that the regulation of alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs has not worked, so regulation of marijuana could not be expected to work, either

​The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on Thursday announced the latest results of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As is their annual custom, the federal officials used the event — and the survey itself — as an opportunity to decry the use of marijuana in the United States.

“What we saw today was just more of the same stale old rhetoric and exaggerations about marijuana use,” said Morgan Fox, communications manager for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). “The analysis SAMHSA included with the National Survey on Drug Use and Health seeks to blame what they claim is a significant increase in teen marijuana use on relaxed perceptions of harm, caused by the ongoing discussion of marijuana reform, particularly medical marijuana.

Graphic: MJ Dispensaries of Southern California

Retail Market Is $1.5 Billion To $4.5 Billion Per Year


There are now more than 750,000 medical marijuana patients in California, representing two percent of the population according to the most recent data, estimates California NORML. At the high end, an estimate of more than 1,125,000 patients, or three percent of the population, is consistent with the data.

This represents a substantial increase from Cal NORML‘s earlier estimates of 300,000 in 2007, 150,000 in 2005, and 75,000 in 2004, but is in line with registration rates in other comparable states that enjoy similar wide access to medical cannabis clinics and dispensaries.

The exact number of patients in California is uncertain, because patients aren’t required to register in the Golden State. Under Prop 215, California’s medical marijuana law, patients need only a physician’s recommendation to be legal.

Graphic: The Truth Source

​Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin’.


Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)
The quote below, from a news release, is a political statement that is based on incomplete and biased science. Remember, once science is politicized, it is no longer science.
“No sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.”
Not true! An overwhelming number of studies exist to firmly support cannabis as all-purpose medicine and very possibly a strong candidate as a cure for cancer as was originally reported by the National Cancer Institute.
There has never been a single documented primary human fatality from overdosing on cannabis in its natural form in any amount. How’s that for safety!
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