Posted on 09/07/2019 4:37:12 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
Colorado's experiment with marijuana legalization has been an epic disaster, according to one doctor seeing its effects on the front lines.
Dr. Karen Randall, an emergency room physician certified in "cannabis science and medicine," said the legalization of marijuana has damaged, rather than helped, her home state. Randall, who spoke alongside former White House drug czar John Walters at the right-leaning Hudson Institute on Friday, said the public is being misled about the effects of recreational marijuana.
"I think the public needs to know that we are not okay," Randall said. "The grand experiment is not going so well. I don't think the public is hearing about this as they should be."
In 2012, Colorado and Washington become the first states in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The Centennial State is often pointed to as a success story with more than $1 billion in tax revenues generated since legalization. Eight more states followed in approving recreational use.
While the country has plowed ahead with marijuana legalization, less attention has been paid to potential downsides of the weed market. Randall said legalization has brought with it high-potency dope: The average joint in Colorado, she says, now contains 20 milligrams of THC, 10 times as much as the average joint at Woodstock. Concentrated products, sometimes called "shatter," can be up to 99 percent THC.
"My fellow physicians don't understand, they don't understand the potency that we're dealing with in Colorado at this point," Randall said. "The potency has dramatically increased."
Randall has seen a "marked increase in medical problems" at the emergency room she works at in Pueblo, Colo. She's experienced increased admissions for cannabis-related nausea and cardiac issues. Dr. Randall is likely not alone. One recent study found a three-fold increase in marijuana-related admissions in the aftermath of legalization.
At the same time many patients use legal marijuana heavily under the misguided impression that it has medical benefits, according to Dr. Randall. She cited one patient who used marijuana to treat his brain cancer—unsurprisingly, without success.
"Patients routinely use a gram a day, five grams a day," she said. "Why? It's okay, it's legal, it's healthy, the industry has said it will cure all kinds of diseases."
The Colorado state government is also working to perpetuate this belief. Randall cited the state's recent decision to add Autism Spectrum Disorder to the list of conditions eligible for treatment with medical marijuana, which specifically permits the drug's use by minors. The Autism Science Foundation says there is "limited research, and no evidence, on the potential short-term, long-term or neurodevelopmental risks and benefits of medical marijuana or its related compounds in ASD."
There is, however, evidence that marijuana adversely affects developing brains. The U.S. surgeon general warned that chronic teen marijuana use negatively affects IQ, school performance, and is even linked to psychotic disorders including schizophrenia.
Randall said the state government has not only ignored scientific findings about marijuana's effects to push sales, but failed in the regulatory responsibility it promised would accompany legalization. The surgeon general's report noted that marijuana use during pregnancy is linked to "adverse outcomes, including lower birth weight." A recent study of Colorado dispensaries found that 69 percent recommended women use marijuana anyway, with some actually discouraging mothers from telling their doctors about their drug use.
Randall pointed to other commonly cited effects of legalization, including a historic increase in homelessness and a growing population of chronic, marijuana-dependent users. All of these, she suggested, have gone unreported in spite of the toll they are taking on her community.
The glittering image of post-legalization Colorado—with billions in tax revenue and a happy populace—runs up against the uncomfortable reality of poor regulation and patients dangerously misguided about the risks and benefits of marijuana use.
"There are a whole host of us who are speaking out about it, and people need to start listening and looking to the future," Randall said. "This is going to be a crisis with potential long-term consequences that will far outpace the opioid crisis, with lasting damages and lasting injuries, as well as a significant cost to the public."
Yet you don’t appear to know the difference between injected, eaten, and smoked with regard to dosages.
Or are you just trying to be misleading?
No one in Trump’s family takes drugs.
Note the rousing cheer from the crowd of Deplorables when Trump said legalization should be left to the states.
Those are far more details than necessary for this discussion. Furthermore, lethality of a toxin does not vary much between different routes of exposure, typically less than 10 fold between various routes. IN ANY CASE, I was talking about pure THC, which I think is not smoked or injected.
My omission of details does not mean I do not know the details. It means that the omitted details are not necessary to make my point.
Pot makes you retarded and gay...
“medical science” my a##
Is that related to the hyperemesis syndrome caused by marijuana? How odd.
There are many claims made for marijuana, or some of its components. Few have any medical evidence to back them up. Even for some of the effects that have been scientifically verified, the side effects outweigh any medical benefit.
“Start by substantiating your LD50 number.”
I am just using the numbers from the papers linked, I am not making up my own. the 30 mg/kg came from a more recent study (2014), but the 130 mg/kg came from monkeys, which are generally a closer approximation for humans (of course, lethal testing is not conducted on humans).
You are of course welcome to conduct your own searches, for an LD50 you assess to be more reliable. I would recommend that, before flippantly casting aspersions on other people for doing so.
“Using the much lower number for intravenous dosage is extremely misleading. One might call it an outright lie.”
It would be a lie, to call it a lie. I am specifying the methodology of the study - highlighting it - not trying to hide or misrepresent it. If you read the rest of the thread, you will see that we discuss oral, IV and inhaled.
I saw one study which said that inhaled LD50 was a LOWER dose than IV, and did not post or mention it, because it seems counter-intuitive to me.
THC is a potent agonist for dopamine. Concentrates allow people to take 1,000 effective doses at once. Of course there are going to be significant effects. High doses raise heart rate and blood pressure - the same mechanism by which it kills across the species tested for LD50 (rats, dogs and monkeys).
LD50 is an average - individuals will vary. LD50 kills one out of two, on average - but some lower dose will be fatal for one out of a hundred, or one out of 100,000. There is a point where people start dying, and it looks like it is some number of grams of pure THC, well under an ounce (likely under 10 grams, for a small person vaping concentrated THC oil (80% or better) in a rapid manner).
Swallowing a big mouthful of such oil would likely threaten most people’s lives.
So it is not some mild substance, like olive oil or honey. People can be fatally poisoned with it. Below the lethal dose, they will be profoundly hallucinating.
Your ass and your thick skull too.
Your “medical science” consists of Soros paid for crap papers with zero scientific method.
Medical science has been studying marijuana long before Soro’s showed . You sound like all the hypocritical Prohibitionists. A real “Mr Know It All’’, aren’t you?
An issue on which her medical credentials have no bearing. This was not a medical statement but simple axe-grinding. Shame on her.
And what are YOUR “credentials”?
I'll simply let the stupidity of your post speak for itself.
Thank you. Yes they are remarkably stupid. The absolute, pig headed stubbornness, and flat out hypocrisy of the prohibitionists is what galls me. It isn’t that marijuana is without harmful side effects, it does have them but they are far out weighed by the damage alcohol and tobacco does. The fact that marijuana has remained illegal is just something I can’t fathom. Drug dealers don’t ask for id and so it’s available to kids, has been for decades.
I don’t know honey why don’t you take it up with the American Cancer Society
The big picture here is it is simply not your call to make if someone else voluntarily chooses to ingest something. A decent respect for your fellow man demands you back the f off and mind what is actually your own business and what actually does deserve your attention... something like say, your local schools sending your local schoolchildren to have story time with sex predators.
You’re not everybody’s mom nor anyone’s master, and you should not presume to assume those roles - as any such presumption leaves you in the actual role of tyrant whether that is your intention or not. The only real difference in the content of such an argument vs. that of gun-banners or hamburger-banners is the subject of debate, whereas the object of such a debate is identical.
Anyway, I highly recommend you do things like read the Declaration of Independence, you may absorb a bit of why this country was founded and why the Founders would have had no regrets about putting a bayonet through you. You might even become a genuine American along the way, if you absorb enough of it.
FUD
Not even noteworthy FUD at that!
Still thriving as a daily legal medical cannabis user here. Zero issues. Zero complaints.
https://www.carnivorecast.com/podcast/brett
“There is a point where people start dying, and it looks like it is some number of grams of pure THC, well under an ounce (likely under 10 grams, for a small person vaping concentrated THC oil (80% or better) in a rapid manner).”
From even a casual search this is not typical usage.
People report weeks to months of use from a 1 gram vape pen.
Edible THC products appear to contain 2-20mg per dose.
So who is really taking 1000 effective doses at once?
This is like saying Dulce De Leche allows people to do the same with sucrose.
Sucrose (table sugar) LD50 : g/kg 29.7
Dulce De Leche Sugar per cup: 151g (37.8 tsp)
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