Free Republic

Marijuana is 'as bad as smoking tobacco cigarettes,' an expert said

A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health found that those who smoke weed daily are at a significantly higher risk of suffering heart attack and stroke than those who don’t. “We know that toxins are released when cannabis is burned, similar to those found in tobacco smoke,” said Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and former researcher at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, where the study was based. “We’ve known for a long...

A Pennsylvania man decapitated his 68 year-old federal government employee dad - then held up the victim's head for a YouTube video blasting the Biden administration. Justin Mohn, 32, beheaded his father Michael at their $390,000 home in Middleton Township, Pennsylvania then displayed the head during a rant blaming the federal government for 'woke mobs' and migrants he claims are destroying the United States. The appalling 14 minute clip - which remained on YouTube for six hours after it was posted - sees Mohn hold up his father's head in a bloodied plastic bag. He says: 'This is the head...

A woman who stabbed her boyfriend 100 times after inhaling marijuana sobbed in court, while clutching a picture of dog - which she also killed. Bryn Spejcher, 32, originally from Chicago, committed the horrific attack in May 2018, after taking two hits of her boyfriend's marijuana 'bong'. According to an expert witness, the violent act was a result of a 'psychotic episode' caused by the cannabis. 'Dog lover' Spejcher is said to have smoked pot just five to ten times in her life, according to testimony heard in the trial that started last week at the Superior Court of California....

Marijuana, cannabis, pot, weed—call it what you will, the psychoactive drug is incredibly popular. This is especially true in the United States, where weed is big business. A staggering 16 percent of Americans—roughly 54 million—admit to smoking weed. In 2021, 13 percent said they smoked the drug.According to a recent Brightfield Group report, the annual revenue of the U.S. weed industry is estimated to reach $31.8 billion by the end of the year. By 2028, the industry is expected to be worth $50.7 billion. In New York City alone, legal marijuana appears set to become a $1.2 billion-a-year industryIn recent...

The evidence for keeping weed illegal keeps mounting — even as the laws get looser. A new, peer-reviewed study (on a significant data set of nearly 60,000 Canadians) has shown that adults who misuse pot have a 60% higher risk of experiencing their first heart attack, stroke, or other major cardiovascular event. In other words: Weed’s not a harmless vice. It’s a killer, like cigarettes. And unlike cigarettes, it literally drives people insane. A massive Danish study based on nearly 7 million health records drew a strong correlation between heavy cannabis use and increased risk of schizophrenia in young men....

A nationwide social experiment launched by a wave of marijuana legalizations is finally bearing results in the form of higher depression rates and addiction. It started in 2012 in Colorado and Washington, setting off a domino effect that has seen restrictions lifted across nearly 40 states, including 23 where it's legal to use marijuana recreationally. The Biden administration now aims to demote the drug from its schedule I status, which lumped it in with heroin and LSD, to schedule III, the first step toward total decriminalization at a federal level. Marijuana has been lauded for its purported benefits for pain...

The new wild west of driving high… it’s a minefield out thereWhen I was a student at UCSC in 1968, my roommate and I bought a pound of Panama Red in San Diego. Afterwards, we had no money left and for two days lived in an art house movie theater that was running a round-the-clock horror movie marathon for $1 a day. In two days, we sold enough weed in the theater to head back to Santa Cruz. After two days of no sleep, and smoking Panama Red continuously, we left at midnight. On Highway One in Oxnard, a...

In particular, this information found that in the five years following the legalization of cannabis, cases of psychosis and paranoia have more than doubled. The findings suggest that the mental health effects of cannabis use may be more severe and long-term than previously thought. "This shines a light on the need for awareness, education and treatment surrounding cannabis use and mental health," said Royce Dockrill CEO at Valiant Recovery. "We're seeing more and more patients coming to us with significant psychological distress due to their cannabis use, and it is shocking. We receive phone calls every other day from families...

With excess weed, businesses seek interstate salesThe email went out to legal cannabis growers around Washington. Another of their colleagues had gone under. “Liquidation sale,” it said. Attached was a spreadsheet of items for sale: LED grow lights for $500 apiece. Rotary evaporators for hash oil, $10,000. Across the Columbia River in Oregon, where the state’s top marijuana regulator recently warned of an “existential crisis” in the industry, it’s an open secret some licensed growers have funneled product to the out-of-state black market just to stay afloat. California’s “Apple store of weed,” MedMen, is teetering with millions in unpaid bills,...

A 22-year-old content creator and model is getting real about withdrawal symptoms she said she’s experienced since she stopped smoking marijuana two months ago. Suede Brooks from Las Vegas made a viral TikTok on Sunday in which she claimed to have gone through a pound of weed every three months while smoking every day for nine years. “Thought I would open up a bit,” she captioned the clip, which has sparked over 2.3 million views. “For the longest time, I never thought I had a problem with it until I realized the amount of money that I was spending …...

Those who knew the 21-year-old suspect, Robert Crimo III, say he habitually smoked cannabis, a habit he appeared to share with young mass shooters, including at Uvalde, Dayton, Parkland and Aurora...At some point, his father moved out of the family home into a house two miles away in Highwood, while Crimo stayed with his mother and the Highland Park house fell into disrepair...But when Crimo turned 18, his personality changed, Pacileo told NBC News,..."Instead of therapy, he turned to drugs..."...Another former friend, Bennett Brizes, described the Crimo he knew from age 14 to 17 as "an isolated stoner who completely...

You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to know that the Highland Park shooter is sick in the head. His evil act is unfathomable, but he does fit a familiar pattern of mass killers: alienated young male stoners who appear to be in the grip of a distinctively American madness. Those who knew the 21-year-old suspect, Robert Crimo III, say he habitually smoked cannabis, a habit he appeared to share with young mass shooters, including at Uvalde, Dayton, Parkland and Aurora. Obviously weed didn’t make them commit their evil acts, but it may have scrambled their brains enough for empathy...

Bill Maher has argued Republicans could easily 'steal' the issue of federal marijuana legalization by making it an issue about freedom after Democrats inserted 'too much stuff' about racial 'equity' in the House-passed measure aimed to decriminalize pot. The comedian, argued Friday night that legalization of marijuana swings in the favor of Republicans and is 'something we ought to do.' 'Republicans are gonna steal the issue. I think eventually,' Maher told former Attorney General Eric Holder after being asked why President Joe Biden hadn't yet pushed for federal legalization of pot. 'I mean, it could be one of those freedom...

Rep. Nancy Mace, a first-year Republican from South Carolina, introduced a bill on Monday that proposes to end the federal prohibition on cannabis.

Nikolas Cruz entered guilty pleas to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this morning Now 23, Cruz was a 19-year-old expelled student with a history of mental health and behavioral issues at the time of the 'cold, calculated and premeditated' killings At the hearing Cruz said he was experiencing 'anxiety' but understood the nature of the proceedings At his sentencing Cruz addressed the victims and their families. 'I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it everyday,' he said 'I hate drugs and I...

The Green Party has lost more than 50 members since the weekend, according to a report by news group Uutissuomalainen, after the party voted in favour of an initiative calling for the legalisation of cannabis in Finland. The initiative was approved by a very narrow margin of 183 votes to 181, and has sparked widespread debate over the issue in the days since the vote.

FUDAfest (Fully Unclothed Dancing Activism) grew into a place where hundreds would flock to party, dance and, for a few, get naked.

According to a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey published in 2019, nearly 70% of Americans think it’s unlikely a driver will get caught by police for driving while high on marijuana. Additionally, 14.8 million drivers report getting behind the wheel within one hour after using marijuana in the 30 days before they took the survey. Since Washington state passed Initiative 502 to legalize recreational marijuana, rates of drivers under the influence of cannabis and involved in fatal collisions have risen at an alarming rate.

NORML: According to the most recent national data, police made 545,602 arrests for marijuana-related violations in 2019. That is 1,494 people a day. That is 62 people an hour. That is more than a person minute. This is not justice. This is not freedom. This should not be normal. Zuri Davis: Lives are being ruined forever over a plant that is safer to consume than legal alcohol. A criminal record is a life sentence. 545,602 people will now struggle to find jobs, a place to live, and a business loan. They can’t vote or buy a gun for self-defense.