Tag: marijuana

Study Shows Marijuana Is ‘Significantly Associated’ With Reduced Use Of Unregulated Opioids

A new federally funded study has found that marijuana is “significantly” associated with reduced opioid cravings for people using them without a prescription, suggesting that expanding access to legal cannabis could provide more people with a safer substitute.

Researchers at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and UCLA surveyed 205 people who use cannabis and opioids without a prescription from December 2019 to November 2021, aiming to test the theory that marijuana represents an effective harm reduction tool amid the overdose crisis.

The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, found that 58 percent of participants reported that their motivation to use marijuana was to reduce opioid cravings. And a multivariable analysis showed that cannabis use “was significantly associated with self-reported reductions in opioid use.”

The researchers said that, to their knowledge, this represents the first study of its kind to specifically investigate “outcomes of intentional cannabis use to manage opioid cravings” among those who are using painkillers that they may be getting from the illicit market, which comes with a risk of obtaining contaminated products.

“These findings indicate that cannabis use to manage opioid cravings is a prevalent motivation for cannabis use among [people who use unregulated opioids] and is associated with self-assessed reductions in opioid use during periods of cannabis use,” the study authors wrote. “Increasing the accessibility of cannabis products for therapeutic use may be a useful supplementary strategy to mitigate exposure to unregulated opioids and associated harm during the ongoing drug toxicity crisis.”

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) provided funding for the study. One of the seven study authors disclosed that he has professorship backed by the cannabis company Canopy Growth to research marijuana science at the University of British Columbia.

This is one of the latest pieces of research in a large pool of scientific literature suggesting that marijuana can serve as a substitute for both legal and illegal substances and prescription drugs.

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Fully Half Of American Adults Have Tried Marijuana, With Current Cannabis Smoking Outpacing Cigarettes, Gallup Poll Shows

Fully half of Americans have tried marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll—and more people now actively smoke cannabis than tobacco cigarettes. Additionally, a majority say they are not especially concerned about the effects of adults regularly using marijuana

The survey, published on Thursday, found that about one in six U.S. adults (17 percent) say that they currently smoke cannabis, while separate recent Gallup polling shows that just 11 percent say they smoke cigarettes.

Further, the marijuana question—which asked specifically about whether people “smoke” the substance—likely does not reflect overall current cannabis use given the range of non-smokable products that people consume such as edibles, tinctures and vapes. But when it comes to smoking, it’s become clear that Americans are increasingly opting for marijuana over cigarettes.

Looking at generational data, the trend appears likely to continue. Broken down by age, 29 percent of those 18-34 say they currently smoke marijuana. In contrast, a Gallup survey from last year showed that 12 percent of people 18-29 smoke cigarettes. (The age groupings used in the polls are slightly different but comparable).

Meanwhile, with nearly half of the states in the country now having legalized marijuana, the new poll shows lifetime use has hit a record high of 50 percent, up just two percentage points from 2022 but statistically higher than 2019, when 45 percent said that they’ve tried cannabis.

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SMOKING WEED MAKES YOU NICER AND LESS GREEDY, SCIENTIST SAYS

Good news, stoners! Science is finally backing up what you’ve long known: that smoking weed does, in fact, make you nicer — and less greedy, to boot.

In a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, University of New Mexico researchers found evidence that cannabis use makes people more empathetic, as well as less motivated by money.

Though the study focused on the “prosociality” of cannabis use — that is, as the Scientific Reports paper defines it, “the intentional act of advancing the well-being of other people” — lead author Jacob Vigil said that he’s interested in reframing how other researchers approach studying weed as well.

“They see cannabis users as unmotivated, or they see them as addicted, or perhaps believe that they are losing sight of their goals,” he told Albuquerque-based nonprofit news site The Paper. “It’s never really been approached objectively to see what’s going on before making negative interpretations.”

Basically, Vigil told the site, his team gave college students a “battery of psychological tests” — and also tested their urine for THC, the most psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

The results?

“We found that folks that had recently used cannabis showed higher levels of pro-social behaviors, and higher measurements of empathy — the empathy quotient was statistically significant across two groups — as well as what researchers refer to as ‘moral foundations,'” he told The Paper. “These are basically the types of ideals that we think about when we justify what is right and what is wrong.”

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Workers Who Use Marijuana Off The Job Are No More Likely To Be Injured Than Non-Users, Study Finds

Workers who use marijuana off the clock are no more likely to experience workplace injuries compared to those who don’t consume cannabis at all, according to a new study that challenges “overly broad” zero-tolerance employment policies.

However, people who indulge doing work hours are nearly twice as likely to be involved in a workplace incident than non-users and off-duty users, researchers at the University of Toronto, University at Buffalo and Toronto Rehabilitation Institute found.

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health on Monday, followed 2,745 Canadian workers in safety-sensitive and non-safety-sensitive positions over two years, analyzing the 11.3 percent of those in the sample who experienced a workplace injury during that time period.

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NASA employee used COVID relief funds to grow weed, pay off debt

An employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) pled guilty to federal charges Monday alleging that he used COVID relief funds earmarked for the organization to finance an illegal marijuana cultivation operation and pay off personal real estate loans, the US Justice Department announced this week.

Armen Hovanesian, a 32-year-old resident of Glendale, Arizona, made false and fraudulent statements on three loan applications made out to business entities under his control between June and October of 2020. 

Hovanesian received a total of $151,900 for loans provided by the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) – a program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided financing to small businesses, renters, and homeowners in regions impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hovanesian assured the EIDL he would use the loan proceeds “solely as working capital to alleviate economic injury caused by disaster,” as per the terms and limitations of the EIDL program.

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American Medical Association Promotes Psychedelics Research, Opposes Kratom Criminalization And Affirms Support For Marijuana Drug Testing

The American Medical Association (AMA) has adopted a series of new drug policy positions, including advocating for psychedelics research, opposing the criminalization of kratom, calling for an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine and supporting the continued inclusion of marijuana metabolites in employment-based drug tests.

The organization’s House of Delegates, which met last month to consider numerous resolutions, also declined to approve an additional measure to revise its stance on marijuana in a way that would have maintained its opposition to legalization while implicitly recognizing the benefits of regulating cannabis products—instead opting to continuing its advocacy for prohibition without the newly proposed regulatory language.

This comes about a year after AMA delegates voted to amend its policy position to support the expungement of past marijuana convictions in states that have legalized the plant.

At the most recent meeting, the body tackled several different areas of drug policy.

The American Kratom Association (AKA) cheered the adoption of a new resolution that says people “who are using kratom only for personal use should not face criminal consequences”—though the measure also says that the substance should be “evaluated by the relevant regulatory entities for its appropriateness for sale and potential oversight via the Controlled Substances Act, before it can be marketed, purchased, or prescribed.”

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Federal Judge Orders Kansas Cops To Stop ‘War’ On Drivers Coming From Legal Marijuana States

The Kansas Highway Patrol has been ordered to stop its infamous “two-step” technique by a federal judge, in what the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas calls a “huge win” for all motorists using state highways.

The U.S. district court ruled KHP’s policies and practices violate the Fourth Amendment, releasing a Friday opinion that the KHP “has waged war on motorists—especially out-of-state residents traveling between Colorado and Missouri on federal highway I-70 in Kansas.”

The trial challenged the constitutionality of the KHP’s policy of targeting out-of-staters and other “suspicious” people for vehicle searches by drug-sniffing dogs, along with the “Kansas two-step” maneuver. The “ two-step” is a technique taught to KHP personnel, in which they end a routine traffic stop and begin a separate effort to dig for information and gain entry to a vehicle to search for contraband.

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New Congressional Amendments Would End Marijuana Tests For Federal Job Applicants And Encourage Psychedelic Research

New marijuana and psychedelics amendments have been filed by bipartisan congressional lawmakers as part of large-scale spending bills—including proposals that would end the practice of drug testing job applicants at certain federal agencies for marijuana.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) introduced two versions of the same cannabis measure for separate appropriations bills, one covering Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies (MilCon/VA) and another on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies. It would prevent the use of funds to drug test most applicants for cannabis at the agencies covered by the legislation.

There’s also an amendment to the MilCon/VA bill from Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI) and Lou Correa (D-CA) that’s meant to encourage the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out “large-scale studies” into drugs like psilocybin and MDMA that have been designated as “breakthrough therapies” by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The sponsors are also the founding co-chairs of a congressional psychedelics caucus that promotes research into entheogenic substances.

The cannabis measures from Garcia would prevent THC drug testing for job applicants in the relevant federal agencies, except for “positions listed as Presumptive Testing Designated Positions by the Selection of Testing Designated Positions Guidance under Federal Drug-Free Workplace Program.”

The proposals also curiously only cover select states, including some such as Tennessee and Texas that have extremely limited low-THC medical cannabis programs while excluding others such as Ohio and Pennsylvania that have more comprehensive medical marijuana laws.

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Immigrants Can’t Naturalize if They Own a Marijuana Dispensary, Court Says

Running a state-legal marijuana dispensary is grounds to deny a legal resident’s application for U.S. citizenship, a federal appellate court ruled earlier this month.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Maria Elena Reimers’ application for naturalization could be denied because she operates a licensed marijuana business in Washington state. While her business is legal under Washington law, marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

The court affirmed that violating the CSA “categorically precludes her from qualifying for naturalization” since it demonstrates a lack of “good moral character.” The ruling rejected Reimers’ claim that she is treated differently than marijuana business owners who are U.S. citizens. Washington has licensed almost 500 marijuana dispensaries since legalizing recreational sales in 2012.

Reimers has no criminal record, yet in a letter announcing the denial of her naturalization application, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) described her as an “illicit trafficker of a controlled substance.”

“We have a legal business and pay taxes, tons of taxes to the government. And yet they say I’m not morally fit to be a citizen,” Reimers tells Reason.

Reimers immigrated legally to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2004 with her now-husband Rick, who was born in the United States. Rick started Cannarail Station, a recreational dispensary in Ephrata, Washington, in 2014. Reimers submitted her naturalization application in May 2017, fully disclosing her involvement with the business.

After her initial interview in August 2017, Reimers says she passed the naturalization test and was scheduled for an oath ceremony. Then USCIS changed her application to pending. In June 2018, she appeared for a second interview, where immigration officers extensively questioned her about the business. Reimers testified honestly that she was a co-owner and employee of Cannarail Station.

In July 2018, Reimers received a denial letter from USCIS. In May 2019 she had an appeal hearing with USCIS, but a year later they reaffirmed the decision. Reimers filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington in December 2020, which granted summary judgment to USCIS in February 2022 solely on the basis of her marijuana business. She appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit, which heard the case in April 2023.

Her attorney, Alycia Moss, tells Reason, “She’s qualified in every other way. The only denial reason was based on lack of ‘good moral character.'”

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Ron DeSantis Says He Would Not Decriminalize Marijuana If Elected President

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, said he would not federally decriminalize marijuana if elected to the White House—arguing that cannabis use hurts the workforce, inhibits productivity and could even lead to death if contaminated.

At a campaign event in South Carolina on Thursday, a person who said they were representing wounded veterans asked DeSantis if he would “please” decriminalize cannabis as president.

The governor responded directly: “I don’t think we would do that.”

He then talked about Florida’s medical marijuana program that was enacted by voters, saying veterans are “actually allowed access” to cannabis under that model. But he said the issue is “controversial because obviously there’s some people that abuse it and are using it recreationally.”

DeSantis rattled off a number of concerns he has about cannabis use, starting with the potency of marijuana that “they’re putting on the street” and his understanding that illicit products are being laced with other drugs such as fentanyl.

“If you do something with that, it could be goodnight right then and there,” he said. “You could die just by ingesting that, so I think that that’s problematic.”

Experts and advocates have questioned law enforcement claims about the prevalence of fentanyl-tainted cannabis in the illicit market. In any case, DeSantis also didn’t acknowledge that creating a regulatory regime where marijuana is subject to testing before consumers can buy it could mitigate instances of contamination.

“I think that we have we have too many people using using drugs in this country right now. I think it hurts our workforce readiness. I think it hurts people’s ability to prosper in life,” he said, adding that people he knew in high school who used marijuana “suffered.”

“All their activities, all their grades and everything like that—so particularly for the youth, I just think we have to be united,” the candidate said. He also plugged a Florida program overseen by his wife that involves sending athletes to schools to warn students about “the stakes of using some of these drugs nowadays, and this is not something you want to mess around with.”

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