The true cost of cannabis: Why don't its illnesses, deaths command media headlines?

The true cost of cannabis: Why don't its illnesses, deaths command media headlines?

We reporters covered the heck out of vaping lung illnesses starting in August. Once it became clear the culprit was THC and not nicotine, however, the news media seemed to lose interest, said former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb at a breakfast event I attended in early November. 

Indeed, a search on the news archive Nexis shows that the number of stories mentioning "vaping" and "lung illness" went from 953 in September to 584 in the first 30 days of October, a nearly 40% drop. 

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Stop the "green rush"

Stop the "green rush"

What I learned is that just because prohibition failed, it does not mean legalization is succeeding. Few of the most significant benefits legalization advocates promised were materializing. The thirst for profit and the interests of powerful corporations were swiftly sidelining small-scale producers and retailers, even as we filmed. The need to provide justice to the victims of the war on drugs has been lost in the “green rush.” It was the same old story: powerful corporate interests coopt a nominally progressive social movement and warp it to their own benefit.

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‘Dead Skunk’ Stench From Marijuana Farms Outrages Californians

‘Dead Skunk’ Stench From Marijuana Farms Outrages Californians

Marijuana Stinks and neighbors have had enough

Carpinteria High School, in particular, is flanked by cannabis greenhouses that have sent odors wafting in. In the past two years, students have complained of headaches, parents have grown angry and the high school has had to warn visiting sports teams that they might encounter the odor.

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Colorado politicians ignore major pot problems

Colorado politicians ignore major pot problems

If Hickenlooper and Gardner cared to lead on this issue, they would tell the world about the rate of pot-involved traffic fatalities that began soaring in their state in direct correlation with the emergence of legal recreational pot and Big Marijuana. They would talk about Colorado's status as a national leader in the growth of homelessness, which all major homeless shelter operators attribute to commercialized, recreational pot.

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