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SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ADDICTION
A study published in the scientific journal Addiction suggests that, contrary to what some are claiming, people in the US may not be substituting cannabis for opioids.
This study examined the direction and strength of association between cannabis and opioid use over 90 consecutive days. Among adults who used non-medical opioids, the study compared the probability of non-medical opioid use on days when cannabis was used with days when cannabis was not used. The study included 13,271 days of observation among 211 participants from the greater New York area.
Study co-author, Deborah Hasin, states, "Our study is among the first to test opioid substitution directly, suggesting that cannabis seldom serves as a substitute for non-medical opioids among opioid-using adults, even among those who report experiencing moderate or more severe pain. In other words, our study suggests that cannabis is not an effective way
For complete article go to Pro-Pot Propaganda Popped!
For Research go to Is Cannabis being used as a substitute for non‐medical opioids by adults with problem substance use in the United States? A within‐person analysis
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Missouri Medicine: Medical Fraud, Mislabelling, Contamination: All Common in CBD Products – Glaucoma Made Worse by Marijuana – Other Critical Reviews of Unscientific Cannabis Claims
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Is it inevitable that legalization of recreational cannabis will result in more dependence and psychosis? In theory, it is possible to legalize cannabis in ways that do not increase potency and prevalence of use but, so far, experience with commercialization in North America is not encouraging. Governments that decide to legalize cannabis should use some of the tax revenue to monitor cannabis price, consumption, and potency levels and to carefully evaluate the long term repercussions for mental health in different US states and Canadian provinces. Such monitoring would enable policies to be developed to minimize harm. In the absence of such an approach, it seems likely that the current commercialization of recreational cannabis in North America will be followed in a few years by a rise in the incidence of new cases of psychosis and in the prevalence of people with more chronic psychoses. (To find out why even this will fail, and only harms will increase see Then There Were Three – Marijuana Markets)
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Date: September 15, 2020 Source: University of Cambridge
Summary: Migrants arrested for tending plants in the flats, houses and attics where cannabis is grown in bulk are often victims of trafficking and 'debt bondage' - yet many are not recognized as such by police, according to a new study
While growers -- often Vietnamese nationals -- are not always imprisoned within farms, many work under threat of extreme violence towards themselves or family back home, with little in the way of language or contacts in the UK.
As such, migrants end up serving years in UK prisons despite being forced to commit the cultivation crimes by gangs who seize passports and threaten -- and administer -- violence.
"The abuses of freedom in cannabis farm cases do not tally with traditional perceptions of slavery. Victims may be held against their will, forced to work and unable to leave, despite an unlocked door," said Prof Heather Strang, the study's senior author.
Dalgarno Institute Comment: What’s egregious about all this, and Dalgarno has been highlighting is grotesque social injustice for years through it’s RIPPED OFF Seminars to schools and communities, is that not only severe environmental harms are done via these illegal grows with shocking misuse of power and water, but that human trafficking and slavery are part of this, and for what? So that carnage creating addiction for profit industries can meet the ‘demand’ of cashed up consumers, who continue to self-indulge or (now hooked) self-medicate their various ‘felt needs’ or perceived ills, and all to an ever diminishing and dysfunctional end.
These new ‘faux freedom rights’ and shameless profiteering not only harm the user, but the ripple effect on their families and communities is also devastating.
Do you know what will put the toxic ‘cherry’ on all this chaos? The pro-drug sector will attempt to harness these atrocities via misapplied drug policy to recommend that making these toxins legal and commercialize them for tax purposes will ‘solve the problem’ of crime and trafficking. That of course is now a completely busted myth, with jurisdictions doing this very thing, seeing their black-markets grow and slavery flourish.
Time to address the real issues. Time to reduce demand and facilitate drug use exiting recovery. #RecoveryMonth
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The findings are reported as use of cannabis during pregnancy has 'skyrocketed'
Date: September 23, 2020 Source: Washington University in St. Louis
While cannabis use during pregnancy is on the rise, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found evidence that the resulting children are more likely to have psychopathology in middle childhood.
"There have been increasingly permissive and lenient attitudes toward cannabis use among pregnant people," said Sarah Paul, a clinical psychology graduate student. "It has skyrocketed in the past few years," she added, with data indicating a quick rise from 3% to 7% past-month use.
"Unfortunately, despite the increase in use, we know remarkably little about the potential consequences of prenatal cannabis exposure," Paul said. "Prior studies have linked prenatal cannabis exposure to birth-related outcomes such as lower birth weight and infant characteristics like disrupted sleep and movement. Relatively fewer studies have examined behavior and problems as children age," and, she said, "findings have been tenuous due to inconsistent replication and an inability to account for potential confounding variables."
Their findings were published today in JAMA Psychiatry.
They looked at data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study), an ongoing longitudinal study of nearly 12,000 children ages 9-11 and their parent or caregiver from 22 sites across the United States that began in 2016.
The researchers grouped participants into three mutually exclusive groups: Children who were not exposed to cannabis prenatally; children who were prenatally exposed to cannabis before the pregnancy was known, but not after; and children who had been exposed to cannabis after the pregnancy was known, regardless of exposure before.
The data showed children who were exposed to cannabis in the womb (regardless of when that exposure occurred) were slightly more likely to have adverse outcomes. They had elevated psychopathology -- more psychotic-like experiences; more problems with depression and anxiety as well as impulsivity and attention; and social problems as well as sleep disturbance. They also had lower cognitive performance, lower indices of global brain structure during middle childhood as well as lower birth weight.
"Cutting to the chase ... clinicians and dispensaries should discourage cannabis use among those who are pregnant or are considering becoming pregnant.
"However, when we look at exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy, which corresponds to when endocannabinoid type 1 receptors are expressed in the fetal brain, the associations with child psychopathology largely remain -- these children tend to have more psychotic-like experiences, more impulsivity and attention problems, and social problems," he said. "This raises the intriguing possibility that prenatal cannabis exposure may plausibly impact child behavior. It in no way shows causation, but documenting that effects are independent of common confounding factors provides incremental support for potential causation."
"Being attentive to substance use problems among family members and providing them with support and access to help is critical for anyone regardless of pregnancy status," Bogdan said. "Learning of one's pregnancy may produce additional reason to stop use. Someone who has just learned of a pregnancy and has previously used cannabis, might think, well I have already exposed the fetus to cannabis, so I may as well not stop. The current data might provide the clinician and parent-to-be with evidence that stopping after learning of the pregnancy may reduce the likelihood of negative outcomes among their children."
From a public health perspective, Bogdan suggested looking to the highly effective public health campaigns and clinician attention directed at reducing the use of tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy. In fact, he said, "This study found that prenatal cannabis exposures were more strongly and consistently associated with adverse child outcomes than prenatal tobacco or alcohol exposure."