Craving cannabis: is marijuana addictive?

Craving cannabis: is marijuana addictive?

To Weiner the villain is the for-profit marijuana industry. Legalization has gained widespread support in the US thanks to a two-pronged PR strategy of promoting cannabis as a “medicine” and wellness product, even when the evidence of its benefits is anecdotal or non-existent, and trying to demolish the stigma of cannabis as a drug for losers. “Their goal is not public health, their goal is addiction,” Weiner says. “When I speak out against this topic it’s against my financial interest – which I can’t say for the people on the other side.”

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John Boehner’s claim that ‘we have literally filled up our jails’ with people for minor marijuana possession

John Boehner’s claim that ‘we have literally filled up our jails’ with people for minor marijuana possession

In the federal system, the numbers for marijuana possession are astonishingly low. Only 92 people in 2017 were sentenced for marijuana possession in the federal system out of a total of nearly 20,000 drug convictions, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. That is one-half of 1 percent.

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Big Marijuana moves to exploit the Opioid Epidemic

Big Marijuana moves to exploit the Opioid Epidemic

The National Institute on Drug Abuse analyzed data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and found respondents who reported past-year marijuana use in their initial interview had 2.2 times higher odds than nonusers for having a prescription opioid use disorder and 2.6 times greater odds of abusing prescription opioids.i

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As legalization of pot ramps up in California what should citizens be considering?

As legalization of pot ramps up in California what should citizens be considering?

The “medipot” industry has been lawless. Those willing to break the law are not likely to obey new, weak and unenforced regulations. Local law enforcement throughout the state, including our own Chief Zimmerman pled for banning commercial pot drug dealing operations. Most jurisdictions in the state have listened. Sadly several cities, including San Diego City, have not.

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The Myths of Marijuana

Myth: “No one gets hurt from Marijuana”

In fact, the reality is:

26.9% of seriously injured drivers test positive for marijuana and 20% of all vehicle crashes are attributed to drugged driving.

Myth: “No one gets sick or dies from smoking marijuana”.

In fact, the reality is:

  • 290,563 emergency department visits involved marijuana, the second leading drug cause, surpassing heroin, for an ER visit. (DAWN 2006).
  • Emergency department mentions of the drug among 12- to 17-year old’s jumped 48 percent since 1999. Especially troubling is the possibility that this rise in teen emergency department mentions is related to the increased potency of the drug. (CASA 2008)
  • Of the 53,481 alcohol-related ED (emergency room) visits by patients aged 12 to 20 where alcohol was combined with another drug, 69 percent involved an illicit drug. Marijuana was involved 47% of these cases. (DAWN 2006-2)
  • Marijuana use accounted for 87,150 emergency-room admissions, up 455 percent from a decade earlier. 40,000 of these came from young people aged 12-25 years old. (DAWN 1999)
  • To investigate the relationship between marijuana use prior to driving, habitual marijuana use and car crash injury, this population-based case–control study suggests that habitual marijuana use is associated with a 10-fold increase in the risk of car crash injury. The relationship between both habitual and acute marijuana use and car crashes is complex and is likely to be related to other risktaking behaviours, particularly risky driving. (GEORGE 2004)

Myth: “The push for marijuana legalization is a movement organized by concerned Californians”

In fact, the reality is:
Who is Behind Legalization?

In 1996 Proposition 215 was a hoax under the guise of compassion for the seriously ill. Three out-of-state billionaires funded it. (source)

“We are trying to get marijuana reclassified medically. If we do that, we’ll be using the issue as a red herring to give marijuana a good name. That’s our way of getting to them (New Right) indirectly.”

NORML Chairman Keith Stroup
The Emory Wheel, Emory University

“The key to it [legalization] is medical access because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana medically under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be blown…Once there’s medical access and if we continue to do what we have to do-and we will-then we’ll get full legalization.”

Richard ‘Dick’ Cowen
National Director of NORML

While at a conference celebrating the anniversary of LSD

No One Serves Jail Time for Smoking Pot

No One Serves Jail Time for Smoking Pot

A currently hip cause is to rail against sentencing pot smokers to jail time. It sounds good considering alcohol is legal, smoking pot is not considered harmful to others, and our jails are already overcrowded, straining taxpayers’ wallets. The only problem is there isn’t a shred of truth to it.

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Legalization didn’t unclog prisons

Legalization didn’t unclog prisons

Of all the misunderstandings about marijuana’s impact on the country, perhaps none is greater than the belief that America’s courts, prisons and jails are clogged with people whose only offense was marijuana use. This is the perception, but statistics show few inmates are behind bars strictly for marijuana-related offenses, and legalization of the drug will do little to affect America’s growing incarceration numbers.

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