- Details
- Hits: 2036
The Legalization of marijuana in Colorado has introduce a host of problems for the state – problems often glossed over by the pot industry and the regulators and decision makers they finance. Today’s highly potent marijuana represents a growing and significant threat to public health and safety – a threat amplified by a new marijuana industry intent on profiting from heavy use. State laws allowing marijuana has (in direct contradiction to federal law) permitted this industry to flourish. The full extent of the consequences of these policies will not be known for decades!
See S.A.M (Smart Approaches to Marijuana)
- Details
- Hits: 2163
Australian youth are drinking and smoking less than before. AAP
School-aged Aussie kids are drinking less alcohol and smoking less tobacco and cannabis, The study is the work of researchers at Deakin University, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, and has been published in the Drug and Alcohol Review journal.
Better parental attitudes about the dangers have been linked to the trend, identified by an analysis of more than 40,000 student surveys completed in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia between 1999 and 2015.
But so, too, has the fact it’s become harder for kids to get their hands on harmful substances.
“Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use all fell significantly from 1999 to 2015,” Australian researchers found, but noted higher levels of use in Victoria compared to the other two states.
Parental supply of alcohol has dropped from a high of 22 per cent in 2007, to 12 per cent.
The sale of alcohol to minors also has plunged from 12 per cent in 1999, to just one per cent.
“It is plausible that a reduced tendency for parents and other adults to supply adolescent alcohol are implicated in the reductions in adolescent alcohol use observed across Australia,” the study found.
“This is a game changer; we can see that parents are taking on the advice from our national health guidelines that even a small amount of alcohol is harmful to teenagers, And we believe this is what has seen Australia go from having one of the highest rates of alcohol use by high school students in the world, to one of the lowest…findings also point to the value of school drug education programs, restrictive underage purchase laws and market regulations.” Lead researcher Professor John Toumbourou, from Deakin University
- Details
- Hits: 2227
The analysis revealed that suicidal ideation was related (OR 0.71–0.77) to subsequent alcohol, nicotine and cannabis use. Suicide attempts were associated with (OR 1.44–1.61) later alcohol, nicotine and cannabis dependence, even after accounting for covariates.
- Details
- Hits: 2146
In a brutally honest account Kerryn Redpath describes the terrifying scenes she witnessed as what began as "a bit of fun" spiralled into a shocking journey through the dark world of drug addiction. Chilling stories of drug overdoses, precious lives lost, drug and alcohol fuelled fights, months spent gravely ill in hospital, at one point being given less than two hours to live, will have the reader gripped to every page….This is a compelling story that takes the reader through one person’s journey from the depths of despair to the realms of hope and is hard to put down until the final page is read.
“This is a story that should be read by all - young and old, parents, teenagers and current or past addicts of all persuasions.” - Associate Professor Peter Ryan
- Details
- Hits: 2191
Cocaine traffickers attempting to launder their profits are responsible for the disappearance of millions of acres of tropical forest across large swaths of Central America, according to a report.
The study, published on Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that drug trafficking was responsible for up to 30% of annual deforestation in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala, turning biodiverse forest into agricultural land.
The study’s lead author, Dr Steven Sesnie from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said: “Most of the ‘narco-driven’ deforestation we identified happened in biodiverse moist forest areas, and around 30-60% of the annual loss happened within established protected areas, threatening conservation efforts to maintain forest carbon sinks, ecological services, and rural and indigenous livelihoods.”