Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Medical Marijuana Improves Chronic Pain And Mental Health Symptoms While Reducing Prescription Drug Use, Study Shows

Results of a new yearlong study of prescribed medical marijuana for patients with chronic pain and mental health issues observed an association between cannabis use and symptom improvement, with most side effects limited to dry mouth and sleepiness. At least some of the benefits appeared to fade as the 12-month study period went on, however.

The report, published in the Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, evaluated the effects of medical marijuana on 96 patients over the course of the yearlong observational study, with measurements of pain, depression, anxiety and sleep problems taken at three, six and 12 months.

“We found that the use of medical cannabis was associated with reduced pain during the first 6 months and improved mental well-being over 12 months,” wrote authors, from the University of Melbourne in Australia. “Patients reported not only less pain but also experienced reduced interference from pain in their daily functions. Furthermore, they reported decreased use of pain medications and a large proportion felt that their pain symptoms had significantly improved, as reflected in their reported changes in the severity of pain.”

Keep reading

GOP Congressman Who Was Arrested For Marijuana Says He’ll Vote Against Florida Legalization Ballot Initiative

A GOP congressman who was previously arrested over marijuana says he will be voting against a Florida ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for adults in the state.

In an interview with Florida’s Voice on Friday, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) weighed in on several ballot measures on ballot for next month’s election. And while he said last month that he was undecided on marijuana legalization, the congressman has now affirmed he will be a “no” vote on the initiative.

“I’m opposed to it. I think if you’re going to do something like this, this is something that the legislature should weigh in on, similar to what happened with medical marijuana about a decade ago,” he said. “It should not go into the Constitution.”

In fact, Florida voters did overwhelmingly approve medical marijuana legalization as a constitutional amendment at the ballot in 2016. The legislature helped to facilitate its implementation after the fact and has continued to build upon the reform, but it was added to the Constitution via voters after years of inaction by lawmakers, as advocates hope will be the case with adult-use legalization this year, too.

“I think when you get into these types of policy issues—and no matter how you feel about marijuana or abortion—those are policy issues,” Donalds said, also referring to a reproductive rights measure that’s on the ballot in his state. “They’re not constitutional issues, and I think that’s left to the hands of the legislature and the governor. That’s what should happen.”

Keep reading

Legalizing Natural Marijuana Is The Pathway To Protect Public Health, Not Pretending Synthetic THC Products Are Hemp

In a recent op-ed by the Reason Foundation titled “Banning Hemp Products Isn’t The Way to Protect Public Health,” the author correctly makes the case that bans are often ineffective and can push consumers toward more dangerous, unregulated markets. However, the Reason Foundation overlooks a crucial distinction in this case: that most “hemp products” referred to in the piece are in fact synthetic THC products, and they are sold as substitutes for natural—but federally illegal—marijuana.

The change in federal law has led to an explosion of unregulated intoxicating products in the marketplace that masquerade as “hemp” products.

Synthetically converted THC such as delta-8, HHC, THC-O, THC-P etc. are lab-created and do not exist naturally in large enough quantities for mass production. Yet, these molecules are being commercialized at scale in labs and sold outside the purview of regulation as “hemp.”

Keep reading

Acetaminophen is unsafe for kids at any dose because it can cause AUTISM, review finds

A groundbreaking literature review by William Parker, Ph.D., has raised significant concerns about the safety of acetaminophen — commonly known as Tylenol — when administered to children. Published in Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics, the study reveals troubling associations between basic pediatric doses of the drug and severe, potentially permanent impairments in cognition and socialization in children. These cognitive impairments may lead to various levels of autism.

Acetaminophen, the gateway to autism

Acetaminophen, widely used for fever reduction, mild to moderate pain relief, and adverse events from vaccination, has long been associated with liver toxicity. Additionally, the scientific literature also provides evidence that the drug disrupts the nervous system of children in a way that can forever change how they communicate and process the world around them.

Dr. Parker, the CEO of the nonprofit research firm WPLab, highlighted a critical oversight in previous studies on this issue. These studies focused primarily on acetaminophen use during pregnancy, while neglecting postnatal exposure — an area where he suspects the greatest risk lies.

“Less than 20% of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases can be attributed to maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy. The majority of risks occur after birth,” Parker explained in an interview with the Defender.

Keep reading

15.5 Million Adult Americans Think They Have ADHD

Like most alleged psychiatric disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a fraud diagnosis. Put simply, and honestly, there is no abnormality in the brain that is ADHD.

The mental health and pharmaceutical industries can say it exists…that it’s a real brain disorder, but it just isn’t true. This doesn’t stop such august institutions like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from reporting that fifteen and a half million American adults suffer from ADHD. Of course, this is the same federal agency that said the covid vaccine was effective, would stop people from getting covid and stop them from spreading covid. Oops!

Nevertheless, the recent report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) claims that 15.5 million US adults are living with the condition and explain that “many are being let down by poor access to treatment.”

First let’s review what the American Psychiatric Association says about ADHD in its billing bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5. According to the nation’s top psychiatric doctors, ADHD in adults consists of the following:

An ADHD presentation that’s predominantly hyperactive/impulsive can be diagnosed if five or more symptoms of hyperactivity/impulsivity have persisted for at least six months. The person should also have less than five symptoms of inattention.[3]

Keep reading

Cannabis Treatment Reduces Chronic Nerve Pain With ‘Minimal To No Side Effects,’ New Scientific Review Finds

A newly published review of research on marijuana and chronic nerve pain concludes that treatment with cannabinoids offers “significant relief from chronic pain” with “minimal to no side effects”—potentially providing patients a “life-changing alternative” to conventional pharmaceuticals.

“The positive effects of cannabinoids in pain management are clear and their merit in the treatment thereof is evident,” says the research, published last month in the journal Cureus. It adds that “the fact that cannabinoids are natural garners it support over traditional synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs.”

Authors considered thousands of research papers for the review, ultimately including in their analysis five placebo-controlled randomized control studies published between 2000 and 2024. They found that treatment with cannabinoids offered markedly more pain relief than did placebo.

“Compared to placebo, cannabinoids provided significant relief from chronic pain (33% vs 15%) as measured by the visual analog scale,” the paper says. “The transdermal application of CBD led to a more pronounced reduction in sharp pain, according to the neuropathic pain scale. Minimal to no side effects were recorded, further highlighting the potential benefits of cannabinoids.”

Authors, from Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College, in Mauritius, noted that while there’s still “insufficient evidence available on their long-term adverse effects and drug interactions, due to their ambiguous legal status and heightened social taboos globally,” the results indicate that cannabinoids nevertheless offer a paradigm-changing alternative to pharmaceuticals.

“The potential benefit of cannabinoids is that they are naturally derived drugs that have already been shown to have the potential to effectively decrease chronic pain with minimal side effects as compared to the standard drugs being used,” the review concludes. “The ability of cannabinoids to provide pain relief with minimal side effects and concurrently be a naturally derived product may potentially be a life-changing alternative that the pharmaceutical market is in dire need of.”

The research looked specifically at neuropathic pain, caused by damage to or dysfunction of the nervous system and often associated with conditions such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, shingles, multiple sclerosis and even side-effects from certain pharmaceutical drugs or radiation therapy. Treatment of such pain “is a complex endeavor,” the paper notes, “which often requires specialist care and intensive drug therapy.”

“Cannabis-derived drugs in their most effective formulation and dosage can be a major breakthrough in the treatment of chronic pain,” authors continue. “It is thus obvious that a greater emphasis should be put on medical cannabis as a treatment option through larger scale clinical trials.”

Keep reading

Managers Of New York Cannabis Social Equity Fund Earned $1.7 Million Despite Accusations Of Predatory Lending And Mission Failure

They haven’t come close to fulfilling Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) goal of helping 150 people victimized by the state’s old, racially biased drug laws enter the legal cannabis business—and some they have assisted fear their dispensary dreams are collapsing.

But the three managers of a public–private loan fund established to carry out the primary social mission of New York’s sweeping cannabis legalization program are doing just fine.

Records obtained by THE CITY show that they earned $1.7 million over the most recently tallied 12-month period and stand to make millions more in years to come, even though the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund has faced charges of predatory lending, secrecy and mission failure. By a conservative estimate computed by THE CITY, the managers’ longterm haul could easily come to $15 million over a decade.

The state selected the three managers, who operate under the almost identical name of Social Equity Impact Ventures, after a bidding process in June 2022: Bill Thompson, a former New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate; the former NBA star Chris Webber; and Lavetta Willis, a former sneaker entrepreneur based in Los Angeles.

Keep reading

Addicted To Drug — Statistics

I have long told you that when drug companies produce statistics, for the consumption of regulatory agencies or the public, their products look better than the same statistics produced by others, or on trials when the drugs are in the wild.

Partly this is because of the greater care pharmaceuticals take in running their clinical trials. It’s true. They are forced into this vigilance by regulatory agencies. I do not mean the results are therefore more likely to be correct. I mean trials proceed in a more orderly manner, including the writing of the statistics at the end, that the process is better controlled for them than in teams of researchers laboring away in the hope of papers.

Drug companies know how to get wee Ps better than anybody, since it is their business. Regulatory agencies require wee Ps, you see. Alas, wee Ps are proof of nothing. Nothing having to do with whether a drug works, or it causes harm, or is useless, or anything like that. I know I am almost alone in saying this. For now. Maybe after reading this, you will join me.

In the speech I gave to the at Hillsdale (blog/Substack), which included many nervous scientists who met beforehand to plan a strategy of reaction, I remarked, “The British Medical Journal 2017 review of New & Improved cancer drugs found that for only about 35% of new drugs was there an important effect, and that ‘The magnitude of the benefit on overall survival ranged from 1.0 to 5.8 months.’ That’s it. An average of three months.”

In other words, two-thirds of new drugs that waved their wee Ps in the faces of regulators failed when released into the wild. And the ones that succeeded provided a barely there effect.

This is only one of many similar stories of what happens when drugs are out of the hands of manufacturers and put into the hands of the people who you ask if the drugs are right for you. The well known John Ioannidis examined forty nine top medical papers and found: “…7 (16%) were contradicted by subsequent studies, 7 others (16%) had found effects that were stronger than those of subsequent studies, 20 (44%) were replicated, and 11 (24%) remained largely unchallenged.”

Keep reading

SCOTUS Case Involving Cannabis Fraud Highlights the Illogic of Federal Drug Testing Mandates

The U.S. Supreme Court last week considered a case involving a trucker, Douglas Horn, who lost his job because he tested positive for THC after consuming a CBD tincture that was advertised as completely free of that psychoactive compound. Horn sued the companies that made and marketed the tincture under the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organizations (RICO) Act, arguing that he was “injured in his business or property by reason of” the defendants’ mail and wire fraud.

The issue in Medical Marijuana Inc. v. Horn is whether the economic losses that Horn suffered fit that statutory language, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit held last year. But the case also highlights the weak scientific basis for the federally mandated drug test that Horn failed, which reflects the ongoing conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.

In 2012, Horn bought Dixie X CBD Dew Drops 500 mg Tincture to treat the pain and inflammation caused by hip and shoulder injuries he had suffered in a truck accident. Since he was well aware that testing positive for marijuana would endanger his job, he investigated the product to make sure it did not contain any federally illegal substances. He says he was reassured by Dixie’s claim that its CBD extract was made from hemp containing less than 0.3 percent THC (the federal limit) and that, after processing, it contained “0.00 THC.”

According to a High Times article that Horn cited in his 2015 RICO lawsuit, the tincture was produced via “a proprietary extraction process” from “a strain of high-CBD hemp grown in a secret, foreign location.” The article said the resulting tincture “contains 0% THC and up to 500 mg of CBD.” Tripp Keber, Dixie’s managing director, averred that “we are importing industrial hemp” that is “below federal guidelines for THC, which is 0.3%,” and “extracting the CBD.” Keber said Dixie had “meticulously reviewed state and federal statutes,” and “we do not believe we are operating in conflict with any federal law as it’s related to the Dixie X (hemp-derived) products.”

Keber offered similar assurances in several YouTube videos, saying those products were “THC free” and contained “no THC.” Just to make sure, Horn says in a Supreme Court  brief, he contacted a customer service representative, who “confirmed that Dixie X contained ‘zero percent THC.'”

Based on those assurances, Horn’s brief says, he “purchased and consumed Dixie X in
September 2012.” A few weeks later, he was dismayed to learn that he had tested positive for marijuana in “a routine random drug screening.” As a result, “his employer immediately fired him.” He “lost his career and income,” which meant “financial ruin” for his family.

Keep reading