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50% of U.S. teens who use marijuana on a regular basis admit to driving while high, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.
The reach these findings, researchers looked at data from the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. "Marijuana can impair cognitive abilities that are critical for safe driving," the study’s lead researcher Dr. Motao Zhu, an associate professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University College of Public Health said. "This is a serious issue that requires our attention." "Definitely, there's more availability of marijuana from legal channels," Zhu said. "Maybe teens feel marijuana isn't as harmful as they thought in the past."
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Background: Whilst many studies have linked increased drug and cannabis exposure to adverse mental health (MH) outcomes their effects on whole populations and geotemporospatial relationships are not well understood.
Conclusion: Data show all four indices of mental ill-health track cannabis exposure across space and time and are robust to multivariable adjustment for ethnicity, socioeconomics and other drug use. MH deteriorated with cannabis legalization. Cannabis use-MH data are consistent with causal relationships in the forward direction and include dose-response and temporal-sequential relationships. Together with similar international reports and numerous mechanistic studies preventative action to reduce cannabis use is indicated.
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Abstract
Objective: To investigate changes in emergency nursing workload related to cannabis ingestion or inhalation by adult and pediatric patients in states and bordering states where recreational cannabis is legal.
Results: The legalization of recreational cannabis in some US states is reported as resulting in an increase in patients presenting with cyclic vomiting syndromes, and increased difficulty in managing both associated behaviors and repetitive ED presentations. New presentations also include unintentional intoxication in both pediatric and geriatric populations. An unexpected finding was the displacement of local homeless populations by younger, indigent “cannabis tourists”; social services agencies might consider this while planning for cannabis legalization in their state or territory.
Conclusions:To protect public health and safety, regulatory efforts to standardize the formulation, dosing and labeling of cannabis products would be beneficial along with educational initiatives for both consumers and health care providers.
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Highlights:
- Veterans with cannabis use and disorder had higher odds of psychiatric morbidities
- These veterans were also more likely to report suicidal ideation and attempt
- In line with these findings, they endorsed greater mental health service utilization
- Even so, <40% of veterans with cannabis use disorder reported mental health care
- Outreach and education about treatment are needed to mitigate cannabis-related harm
Abstract
Background: Cannabis use is associated with psychiatric illness and suicidality, which are prevalent among U.S. military veterans. However, the psychiatric burden of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) among veterans is unclear. Using data from a nationally representative sample of veterans, we evaluated associations of lifetime cannabis use and CUD with psychiatric problems, suicidality, and treatment utilization.
Conclusions: Cannabis use and CUD are associated with substantial psychiatric and suicide-related burden among veterans, highlighting the need for screening, education, and treatment to mitigate potential cannabis-related harm.
September 2020 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032720327956