Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Votes On Arkansas Medical Marijuana Expansion Measure Won’t Be Counted, State Supreme Court Rules

Arkansas voters will get to decide on a medical marijuana expansion initiative at the ballot next month—but those votes will no longer count following a new state Supreme Court ruling.

Prohibitionists who challenged the cannabis measure from Arkansans for Patient Access (APA) successfully convinced the court that the ballot title was affirmatively misleading, and justices ruled on Monday that votes will not be processed after Election Day.

The state’s highest court said it was siding the anti-marijuana group Protect Arkansas Kids (PAK), agreeing that the measure’s title is misleading because it fails to adequately explain that—beyond expanding the state’s medical marijuana program—it would also more broadly legalize possession of cannabis if a federal policy change is made and would also restrict the legislature from revising the voter-approved law if enacted.

“For these reasons, we hold that the proposed amendment is misleading,” Justice Shawn Womack wrote in the majoity opinion. “Accordingly, we grant the Intervenors’ request for relief and order that the Secretary be enjoined from canvassing or certifying any ballots cast for the proposed amendment at the November 5, 2024, general election.”

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Legalizing Marijuana Does Not Jeopardize Mental Health, Studies Show, Contrary To Opponents’ Alarmist Claims 

Opponents of marijuana legalization often allege that jurisdictions that have legalized adult-use marijuana sales experience subsequent rises in incidences of cannabis-induced psychosis and other adverse mental health consequences. But nearly a decade worth of scientific data from Canada and the United States refutes this contention.

For instance, a study published last year in an imprint of the Journal of the American Medical Association evaluated the relationship between U.S. legalization laws and psychosis rates in more than 63 million privately insured individuals. Researchers described it as the “largest [study] to quantify the association of medical and recreational cannabis policies with rates of psychosis-related health care claims across US states.”

Investigators concluded: “State medical and recreational cannabis policies were not associated with a statistically significant increase in rates of psychosis-related health outcomes.”

They’re not alone in this determination. A just-published consensus study compiled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine concluded, “There is insufficient evidence of an association between cannabis policy and changes in mental and behavioral health.”

And new data from Canada, published this month in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology determined that cannabis-related emergency department visits declined among schizophrenia patients following Canada’s adoption of adult-use marijuana legalization.

“Our findings suggest that regulatory measures accompanying legalization could enhance the quality and safety of cannabis products, potentially leading to fewer adverse health outcomes in vulnerable patient populations,” the study’s authors wrote. “Furthermore, our study indicates that legalization and cannabis regulation, in certain contexts, may help reduce acute care utilization in vulnerable patient groups.”

Their findings are particularly relevant because it is well established that those suffering from schizophrenia, psychosis and similar conditions tend to consume cannabis, tobacco and other controlled substances at rates higher than those in the general population. Data also suggests that, in some cases, cannabis use may exacerbate symptoms of psychosis or even trigger a psychotic episode in those predisposed to it. Therefore, regulatory strategies that better educate, target and protect this vulnerable population is critically important.

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DeSantis Stirs Pot Again With More Anti-Marijuana Ads Funded By Taxpayers, Including One Linking Cannabis To Domestic Violence

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing new allegations of weaponizing state agencies with taxpayer-funded ads to support his campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative that voters will decide on at the ballot next month.

In an ad from the Department of Transportation (DOT), three sheriffs make various claims about the harms of cannabis—including one who suggests that marijuana use is associated with a greater risk of domestic violence, contrary to research on the topic.

“When we make home visits for domestic violence calls, they’re often associated with marijuana use,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Duval County Sheriff T.K. Waters said in the PSA, first reported by Seeking Rents, that there are “too many kids going to the ER because of weed gummies and joints laced with fentanyl.”

In one of the only statements from the sheriffs that seems directly relevant to DOT, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said “we see more traffic collisions and fatalities because of driving high.”

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Federal Court Upholds Order Requiring Alaska Airlines To Rehire Worker Who Was Fired Over Positive Marijuana Test

A federal judge in Seattle has rejected an effort by Alaska Airlines to overturn an arbitration order reinstating the employment of an aircraft maintenance technician whom the company fired over a positive test for THC.

The worker insisted that he did not knowingly use cannabis and was unaware of how the drug entered his system, speculating he may have accidentally eaten an infused edible at a neighborhood block party.

The employee, Gregory Chappell, was given a random drug test in July 2022. The level of THC metabolites came back above a minimum threshold, and he was immediately fired given the safety-sensitive nature of his lead aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) role.

Chappell denied using marijuana and said it was possible he’d unwittingly consumed an edible at the neighborhood party, where none of the potluck foods were labeled. The airline did not investigate that claim, instead relying on the company’s policy against drug use by safety sensitive employees.

Chappell’s union challenged the firing, and in October of last year, an arbitration panel reversed his termination.

Alaska Airlines promptly filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to undo the arbitration board’s decision, arguing that it was undisputed Chappell failed the marijuana test. The company said the employee’s claim “that he may have unknowingly and accidentally ingested a marijuana edible at a block party simply” amounted to “a fantastical story” and “bizarre speculation,” according to the arbitration panel’s account of the case.

But in a federal court order on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun rejected the company’s challenge, ruling that the arbitration board “did not exceed its jurisdiction” in ordering Chappell be rehired.

“To vacate an adjustment board’s award, a court must conclude that the board’s reasoning was ‘wholly without foundation in…fact,’” the court wrote.

“And insofar as Alaska Airlines contests the Board’s reinstatement of Chappell,” the decision continues, “Alaska Airlines cites no authority suggesting that the board’s remedy was unfair, much less warranting judicial intrusion in an area over which the Board has special expertise.”

The judge further awarded the union attorneys fees and costs for the case, though it remanded the matter to the arbitration board to determine how to handle backpay and benefits for the past year.

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Army Updates Drug Policy To Explicitly Ban Delta-8 THC Hemp Products And Warn Soldiers Against Eating Poppyseed Bagels

The U.S. Army has updated its drug policy to clarify that soldiers are prohibited from using intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products like delta-8 THC. It is further cautioning servicemembers against eating foods containing poppyseeds, which can produce false positives when testing for opioids.

The update to the Army’s substance misuse guidance took effect on October 4. And with respect to the delta-8 THC components, it represents one of the latest examples of how government and private institutions are attempting to navigate the legal grey area that’s emerged since hemp and its derivatives were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The military branch’s prior policy enacted in 2020 made clear that the “use of products made or derived from hemp,” even if it’s legal for civilians, is prohibited for soldiers. But that guidance came before delta-8 and other intoxicating cannabinoids became a mainstream feature of the largely unregulated cannabis market.

Instead, the Army at the time focused on non-intoxicating CBD, which servicemembers are also barred from using. It remains the rule that prohibited cannabis products include those that are “injected, inhaled, or otherwise introduced into the human body; food products; transdermal patches, topical lotions and oils; soaps and shampoos; and other cosmetic products that are applied directly to the skin.”

“This provision is punitive, and violations may be subject to punishment,” it says.

Congress and state legislatures have been paying closer attention to the intoxicating cannabinoid market in recent years, with various proposals to regulate or outright ban such products. The language of the earlier Army guidance would seem to apply to delta-8, even if it’s not explicitly mentioned, but now the branch is putting the policy more clearly into writing.

The new regulations, first reported by Task & Purpose, specify that soldiers are banned from using controlled substance analogues, which include “synthetic cannabis and other tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) substitutes that have no known application other than mimicking the effects of THC in the human body.”

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Millions Of Americans With Depression Could Be Eligible For Psilocybin Therapy If Approved By FDA, Study Shows

As many as 6 in 10 people currently receiving treatment for depression in the U.S. could qualify for psilocybin-assisted therapy if the treatment were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That’s according to a recent study in the journal Psychedelics that highlights the broad impact that could result from wider clinical availability of the entheogen.

“Our findings suggest that if the FDA gives the green light, psilocybin-assisted therapy has the potential to help millions of Americans who suffer from depression,” Syed Fayzan Rab, an MD candidate at Emory University, and the study’s lead author, said in statement about the report. “This underscores the importance of understanding the practical realities of rolling out this novel treatment on a large scale.”

The study, authored by a three-person team from Emory, the University of Wisconsin and UC Berkeley and published last month, sought to estimate the upper, midrange and lower boundaries of current depression patients—including both major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD)—who would likely be eligible for the psychedelic treatment. Its low-end figure is 24 percent, the midrange estimate is 56 percent and the upper boundary is 62 percent of current patients.

Overall, the report gives a range of estimates on the number of depression patients who’d qualify for psilocybin therapy, with between 4.7 million and 6.6 million MDD patients and between 1.4 million and 1.9 million TRD patients potentially eligible.

“These ranges highlight the potential variability in our estimates based on changes in the assumptions underlying comorbidity prevalence, emphasizing both the robustness and the uncertainty inherent in our projections,” the paper says.

Behind the wide range of estimates are open questions about who would be eligible for psilocybin-assisted therapy (PSIL-AT). For example, authors said the variance was “largely influenced by the removal of alcohol and substance use disorders as exclusion criteria” as well as analysis of other comorbidities that may or may not affect patient eligibility.

Other issues involve the degree to which healthcare providers would dispense psilocybin for off-label use (meaning for conditions other than depression), whether treatment is covered by insurance and whether other psychedelics—for example LSD—become available as alternatives to psilocybin.

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New Study: Cannabis Use Tied To Higher Physical Activity, Dispelling Myth of Lazy Stoner

A just released new study on Cannabis use and physical activity dispels myt of lazy stoners. A new study shows that contrary to lazy stoner stereotypes, legal medical marijuana “promotes greater physical activity” in people with chronic medical conditions and that “legal recreational cannabis promotes (even more so) greater physical activity in those not experiencing chronic medical conditions.”

Per the study, activity increased from 73.16% in 2016 to 75.72% in 2022 (3.5% increase) and current cannabis use increased from 7.48% in 2016 to 14.71% in 2022 (96.7% increase). Current cannabis use was 6.5% higher in areas of legalized recreational cannabis (vs. not legal) and 0.7% higher in areas of legalized medical cannabis (vs. not legal). For the combined years, the OR measuring the association between cannabis use and physical activity was 1.24 (95% CI 1.10–1.41), after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, employment status, education, smoking status, weight classification, legal status, and chronic medical condition. The adjusted OR was 1.47 (95% CI 1.34–1.62) in areas with legalized recreational and medical cannabis (vs. illegal) and 1.05 (95% CI 0.98–1.12) in areas with legalized medical cannabis only (vs. illegal). Having a medical condition was significantly associated with lower prevalence of physical activity in the adjusted models (overall adjusted OR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.73–0.85). However, this significantly lower odds ratio was insignificant for current cannabis users.

An online survey of 605 current adult cannabis users found that 81.7% endorsed using cannabis simultaneously with exercise (YorkWilliams et al. 2019). Those who used cannabis concurrently with exercise were more likely to be younger (mean age 36.3 [SD = 14.9] vs. 43.1 [SD = 18.0]) and male. After adjusting for age and sex, those who used cannabis concurrently with exercise engaged in more minutes of aerobic and anaerobic exercise per week than those who did not. A majority also endorsed using cannabis before or after exercise, indicating that it enhanced enjoyment and recovery from exercise. Approximately half of the participants said that it increased their motivation to exercise.

With legalization of cannabis increasing in recent decades, there is greater potential for people to combine cannabis with physical activity. In 2016, cannabis use was legal for recreational and medical use in 17% of the U.S. states and territories and for medical use only in 43% of the area. In 2022, corresponding values were 41% and 36%. Hence, cannabis was legal at some level in 60% of the areas in 2016 and 77% of the areas in 2022. Consequently, the prevalence of cannabis use in adults increased from 7.48% in 2016 to 14.71% in 2022. Further, during 2016–2022 the prevalence of cannabis use was 9% higher in areas where medical cannabis only was legal and 81% higher in areas where recreational cannabis was legal (vs. not legal) (Merrill 2024). Of interest is whether the prevalence of being physically active is greater in areas with legalized cannabis for recreational and medical (vs. illegal) and medical only (vs. illegal).

Having a chronic medical condition such as arthritis may limit physical activity because of pain and other possible problems. People with arthritis may be concerned that physical activity might worsen their pain or joint damage, or they may not know what activities are safe (Wilcox et al. 2006). However, if cannabis use is perceived to help lower arthritis pain and other potential problems such as inflammation, it may correspond with increased physical activity among these patients. Indeed, recent research has found that CBD treatment can reduce pain and inflammation-causing fibroblasts in rheumatoid arthritis (Lowin et al. 2020; Frane et al. 2022). Hence, of interest is whether the association between having a chronic medical condition and physical activity is moderated by current cannabis use.

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After Locking Up 1000s For Weed Possession, Kamala Harris Patronizes Black Men In Pot Pandering Scheme

On track to post Democrats’ worst presidential-election performance with blacks in 64 years, a desperate Kamala Harris smashed the vote-buying button on Monday, proposing an “Opportunity Agenda” for black men that includes dishing out one million “forgivable loans” at $20,000 each. 

The loans would be offered to black entrepreneurs “in partnership with trusted organizations like mission-driven lenders and banks with a proven commitment to their communities,” the Harris-Walz campaign said. If these “forgivable loans” are anything like the ones dished out to businesses during the madness of Covid stimulus, they’ll be loans in name only — meaning this is just a blatant wealth redistribution scheme aimed at buying black votes.  

Unsurprisingly, the campaign provided few details about the program’s requirements — such as just how black one will need to be to qualify.

The pledge comically evidences Harris’ generationally-terrible poll numbers among blacks. Consider that, in 2012, President Obama owned the black vote by an 85-point margin. Today, Harris is up by just 54 points. The numbers are even worse among black men age 18 to 45: Obama won by 81, and Harris is up 41. Among all black men and women, Harris is poised to have the lowest share of the black vote since John F. Kennedy faced Richard Nixon in 1960.  

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Medical Marijuana Availability Improves Mental Health In Older People, Research Finds

Medical marijuana being legally available “improved self-reported mental health among people aged 65 years and older,” according to a new study.

Among adults overall, “medical cannabis availability was not associated with self-reported poor mental health,” it adds. “Collectively, these results suggest medical cannabis availability has limited mental health effects on the population at large, with considerable mental health benefits for older adults.”

For people 65 and older, authors noted that living within 30 minutes of a dispensary “decreased the probability having a poor mental health day in the past month by about 10 percent,” which they point out was “a 3.5 percentage point decrease from an original probability of roughly 36 percent.”

“What may explain our finding that medical cannabis availability improves the self-reported mental health of people aged 65 and above? Likely pain relief,” the research brief from authors at the libertarian Cato Institute says. “Cannabis is a good treatment for chronic pain caused by nerve disease (neuropathy)—the most common justification for medical cannabis and a common chronic condition among older adults.”

The study used geographic data to” estimate medical cannabis dispensary availability’s effects on self-reported mental health in New York state from 2011 through 2021 using a two-stage difference-in-differences approach to minimize bias introduced from the staggered opening of dispensaries,” the paper says.

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The Remarkable History and Safety of DMSO

My time in the medical field has led me to accept many medical practices are adopted because of politics or economics rather than because existing evidence shows they work. Nonetheless, certain instances of this happening still astound me to this day, particularly the blacklisting of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) as:

•This simple chemical is incredibly safe and effective and treats a wide range of challenging medical conditions that impact millions that still lack an effective therapy (outside of DMSO).

•Because of its efficacy, once discovered, it took the country by storm, resulting in millions using it, the scientific community getting behind it and publishing thousands of studies on DMSO, numerous pharmaceutical companies making large investments to bring it market, professional athletes promoting it, numerous governors, congressional representatives and senators (on behalf of both themselves and their constituents) pressuring the FDA to give it a fair chance for decades and state legislatures independently legalizing it because the federal government would not.

•Many approved pharmaceutical products take advantage of DMSO’s properties to work (e.g., in those products, DMSO is often classified as an inert “vehicle”). Similarly, DMSO is FDA approved for one condition (interstitial cystitis) and is approved for a wide variety of veterinary uses (e.g., the same conditions it treats in humans).

•Over the past 40 years, more than 10,000 articles on the biological implications and 30,000 articles on the chemistry of DMSO have appeared in the scientific literature—much of which, as I’ve shown here is remarkably compelling and paradigm shifting in healthcare.

•Yet, despite all of that, DMSO was effectively erased from history. It is now widely seen as an unproven and dangerous therapy, and even within the natural health field, most people do not know it exists.

Because of all that, I’ve felt a responsibility to use this platform to get the knowledge on DMSO out, which I began by presenting the strong case that DMSO is an incredible therapy for:

•Circulatory disorders like Reynaud’s and varicose veins.
•A wide range of neurological disorders, including ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, and spinal cord injuries leading to paralysis or dementia.
•Allowing patients who’ve had decades of chronic pain (from a variety of different causes) to get their lives back.
•Healing a wide range of injuries (e.g., sports injuries, traumatic impacts) and chronic musculoskeletal problems (e.g., spine and shoulder issues) and wounds (e.g., burns or surgical incisions).
•Chronic rheumatic conditions (e.g., arthritis).
•Complex protein disorders (e.g., amyloidosis).
•Down Syndrome.

In turn, I’ve received numerous reports from readers (I’ve been gradually sharing here) from readers who’ve experienced rapid life-changing benefits from DMSO, very similar to the data I provided, which showed DMSO had an 80-90% success rate in treating.

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