Posted on 10/04/2022 2:10:52 PM PDT by Cercyon
As drug legalization groups and the cannabis industry lobby to legalize cannabis across the United States, with initiatives to legalize marijuana on the November ballot in five more states, many experts warn this will only increase the physical and mental harm from the unregulated, high-potency cannabis.
President of the American Board of Pain Medicine and a vice president of the International Academy on the Science and Impacts of Cannabis, Dr. Ken Finn, said high potency cannabis use is being linked to poisonings in young children, as well as psychosis and schizophrenia in an increasing number of regular users.
“A lot of my colleagues that work in psychiatry and emergency medicine are seeing a sharp rise in marijuana-related psychosis,” Finn told NTD’s The Nation Speaks in an Oct. 1 interview.
Data from Europe ties these mental health problems to high levels of the THC chemical in cannabis that causes people to feel high, Finn said.
“The European data shows that there’s a fivefold increase risk of first-episode psychosis with what they described as high potency THC, which generally is about 10%. So we are really in uncharted waters here [in Colorado, with THC potencies of between 40 to 60 percent], with all these states going down this pathway.”
“The NIH came out with a paper last week showing that kids that are exposed [to cannabis] in utero tend to have psychotic-like episodes by the time they’re 10 years of age,” Finn warned. Supercharged
Ben Cort, author of “Weed, Inc.: The Truth About the Pot Lobby, THC, and the Commercial Marijuana Industry,” said the reason that cannabis products are increasing their THC content is to offset the tolerance threshold existing users have developed to the compound.
“The more problems the user [has], the higher the concentration they have to consume, and the more frequently they have to consume, just to come back to that dopamine baseline,” Cort told The Nation Speaks.
“It’s just inevitable that in a commercialized market that depends on problem use, you will end up with these 99.9% pure THC products.”
“They’ve so supercharged it [cannabis products] and changed fundamentally what it is, it’s become a really significant issue,” he said.
While cannabis-induced psychosis won’t affect most people after they halt their use, for some, it can persist for weeks or months before things return to normal, Finn said. “So this is potentially a very dangerous product, particularly if there’s a young person that is exposed.”
There just aren’t enough placements available for the mental health care needed, he said.
“And in a very rare circumstance, sometimes [the psychosis] doesn’t reverse at all,” he added. “There’s a very strong correlation to cannabis use of high potency with schizophrenia, although it the link of a causal effect has not clearly been proven but it’s strongly suspected.”
Growing Problem Users
Monitoring the Future’s panel study found that marijuana use by young adults 19- to 30-years-old increased significantly in 2021 compared to previous years, which Cort said shows a “lower perception of risk” in the community although the actual risk has gone up.
“The lower the perception of risk for any substance, the higher the use rate will be,” he said.
“Any sort of industry that has addictive potential is absolutely dependent on the ‘problem user,’” Cort said. Just like in the alcohol industry, where roughly 20 percent of consumers drink 80 percent of the alcohol, seven percent of the consumers who buy cannabis represent 76 percent of sales, he added.
According to a study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and NYU School of Medicine, states in which recreational marijuana use is legal have seen a 26 percent increase in use among young adults as well as an increase in problem users. An Unregulated Industry
“Poison control calls are skyrocketing across the country in states that have both medical and recreational [cannabis] programs, particularly in the zero to five age group,” Finn said.
Finn is concerned that because the industry has circumvented the FDA drug development process, many of the products available tend to be contaminated with fungicides, anticoagulants, rodenticides, heavy metals, and sometimes mislabeled.
In addition, many cannabis products labeled to contain CBD—a secondary chemical in cannabis that does help with relaxation but does not elicit euphoric states—actually contain THC, Finn warned.
Children will accidentally get a hold of edible cannabis products that often look like candy but because they are unregulated, is of super high THC potency, Cort said.
A factor that contributes to children ending up in hospital is that edibles are sold by weight, not potency.
Profit
“Multinational corporate interests,” which care a lot about profit, are behind the cannabis industry, Cort said. “The idea here is absolutely not social justice, nor any sort of reform in a meaningful way. The intent here is to get richer.”
Many of the organizations that advocate for legalizing marijuana and other drugs say it would promote social and racial justice because it would prevent black and brown people from going to jail for drug offenses, and instead help them access treatment for their addiction. They claim that legalizing marijuana would also create jobs, save on health costs, and make the products safer than what would otherwise become a black market.
The marijuana industry has little to no regulation and is similar to how the tobacco industry used to be before the public was made aware of the health risks and some guardrails were put in place, Cort said.
“The only thing that changed, both the opiate world with the pharmaceutical companies and the tobacco companies, was tort,” he said. “It really is going to take massive lawsuits to change any of this because these people making money hand over fist are absolutely not going to change it on their own accord.”
A diagnosis of “drug-induced psychosis” as regards MJ most likely means someone ate a far too large dose of edibles and they are tripping balls. Not that they have suddenly acquired a permanent psychotic condition.
I notice he doesn’t actually INHALE, just holds the smoke in his mouth then puffs it out, if I was a doper I would say that is a waste of a good joint.
Nope. Never even smoked a cigarette.
I don’t generally believe people with agendas coming out with “studies” and “facts”. I also don’t generally believe the weed-loving fools either. MJ may not be addictive in the normal sense, but it sure is addictive in how it makes a person feel, and the MJ addict returns to that feeling again and again.
For my depression I tried some chewable cannabis. I was told it was suppose to calm you down, but I actually became MORE paranoid.
To regulate the potency of marijuana, it would first have to be legalized by the feds. So far the states that have legalized it haven’t seen fit to regulate it.
Of course it is. It's EXACTLY the same. Why, the next thing you know, those buzzkill Gladys Kravitz-types will be banning rock and roll.
Where's Kevin Bacon when you need him?
It's a fact.
You’re right, he’s puffing it like a cigar.
Who Dat?
Marijuana-Related Psychosis. This is why George Soros and the democrat party wants to legalize marijuana.
You have to be crazy to vote for democrats.
#14 Musk was smoking marijuana when he decided to buy Twitter.
Not to mention opioids have been great. Yeah no problems there.
It’s the concentrated THC edibles that are the problem. Kids and dogs are getting poisoned and adults are whacking out their brain chemistry.
As always, it’s the dose that makes a poison.
Opioids are practically non-existent. You might have a difference in attitude if you had severe pain in your life. The War on Drugs has been a disaster. I don’t smoke pot (bad for the lungs). I know people who do. Vets with PTSD and they say it helps who am I (or you) to judge? Opiates can alleviate pain in extreme instances. I’m thankful I’m not. You should be thankful you’re not. Medication should be between doctor and patient. Period. As far as the fentanyl/heroin ODs. Take the narcan off of the ambulances and let nature take its course when they OD.
These are not your typical cuttings/natural pollination or cross breeding. The commercial grade marijuana is specifically engineered for maximum THC levels, and for some reason to minimize the levels of CBD in the flowers (I can only guess that to accommodate the high THC the CBD is reduced).
If you purchase an edible type product it tells you on the package how much THC and CBD you will consume in each piece. If you buy the flower they too tell you how much THC is in the plant - but the user cannot possibly know how much they are consuming in each puff.
In any case I postulate that the lack of balance between the cannabinoids is the reason for higher incidence of psychosis. You need both the THC and CBD in balance. Otherwise you are overloading the neurotransmitters in the brain and the neuroreceptors cannot adapt. Causes that paranoia feeling in some people and if the authors of this study are correct, potentially bigger problems for some.
>>You might have a difference in attitude if you had severe pain in your life.<<
My dad suffered severe pain after an amputation and father-n-law with some sort of late-stage muscular degenerative ailment. Grown men turned in to whimpering babies because of pain. So sad to watch.
Their quality of life went to crap after the war on opiates. This is crazy. Here, take a Tylenol every four hours...good luck.
Opiates in the form of heroin and fentanyl pouring across the border.
Just like prohibition. Folks will figure out a way to get the substances they need and or want.
The stupid damn government scares the hell outta doctors for prescribing pain meds to those who really need them.
Not sure what the answer is, but letting people struggle and suffer in pain is definitely not the answer.
I’m seeing this with two family members. One goes off the rails while screaming and hissing....horrible.
More of the left doing what the left does....helping Satan by destroying lives and minds....
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