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But a new study has found a growing connection between cannabis use and detrimental effects on mental health. Smoking weed has previously been found to have an impact on the brain by altering dopamine activity that closely resembles patterns observed in psychosis. Now, a study led by McMaster University and published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry has shown that increasing cannabis use and worsening mental health symptoms are appearing together more and more often. “We see that Canadians who use cannabis tend to be more likely to meet criteria for anxiety and depressive disorders, and more likely to report...

The New York Times recently came clean, saying it was wrong about the effects of legalizing marijuana. The paper had once argued that weed was mostly harmless and not truly addictive, but now admits those old claims don’t hold up today. Back in 2014, an editorial writer claimed marijuana wasn’t addictive like heroin, while also noting that users might still crave it and struggle to quit. The NY Times even admitted that heavy users needed more of the drug over time and some got withdrawal symptoms. This week, the Times’ editorial board finally said, “It is now clear that many...

At the Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa, the parking lot at Golden Nest Pancakes and Cafe is always packed. But now, some customers feel like they’re caught in the middle. It’s because of this sign inside: “Please do not enter if you smell of marijuana. Golden Nest Pancake and Cafe is a family restaurant and this is unappealing while guests are dining.” “I always come to Golden Nest. It’s one of my favorite breakfast places, actually. I’ve been here twice this week,” said customer Iyani Raines. “If you have a preference, that’s one thing, but I just don’t feel like everyone’s...

Not even a month in the hospital on a feeding tube was enough to make Sydni Collins quit pot. Collins had reached for her weed pen most days since she turned 16, even as waves of extreme nausea and vomiting overtook her. One particularly brutal episode left her vomiting nonstop during a flight in the spring break of her senior year. “There were some days when it lasted until noon and I would not go to school because of how bad it was,” Collins, 23, told The Post. “I would be puking all morning. I would let out yells or...

Alex Berenson, author of Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, pointed out that the New York Times had curiously removed from an article about the Uvalde school shooter a former coworker’s recollection that he complained about his grandmother not letting him smoke weed. The Times didn’t append a correction to the story as it might be expected to do when fixing a factual inaccuracy... Assuming the elided detail was accurate, it would fit a pattern. Mass shooters at Rep. Gabby Giffords’s constituent meeting in Tucson, Ariz. (2011), a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. (2012), the...

After more than 10 years of partnering on search and rescue missions, wildfire fights and medical interventions, Bernalillo County firefighters have been ousted from the Sheriff's Office's helicopter unit. The reason? A policy change allowing firefighters to smoke marijuana while off duty. "Sheriff John Allen made this decision in early June 2025 following a county policy change that allows firefighters to use marijuana off-duty and removes random cannabis testing," Jayme Gonzales, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, said in a news release Wednesday. "MASU (Metro Air Support Unit) performs aviation operations and life-saving rescue work where the margin for error is...

A string of deadly shootings connected to Oklahoma marijuana farms — including a quadruple execution and a home-invasion murder — has exposed a shadow network tied to New York money, organized crime and groups with links to China, according to a new report. Authorities told the New York Times that the operations were fueled by out-of-state cash, concealed ownership and lax marijuana laws — allowing criminal groups to scale up illicit grows, exploit immigrant labor and divert massive amounts of weed into the black market. The trail led investigators far from rural Oklahoma to New York City, where real estate...

A new review of more than 120 studies concluded that there is little evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis for a variety of conditions, including insomnia.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved cannabinoids, a chemical compound extracted from cannabis, for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and seizures, among other conditions. Many patients use cannabinoids or other medical cannabis for other conditions, such as anorexia, insomnia, and chronic pain, either through off-label prescriptions or through state availability. A look at research published from January 2010 through September, though, showed that for many conditions, “evidence is insufficient,” researchers with the University...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug SummaryPresident Trump signed an executive order on December 18, 2025, directing agencies to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, facilitating expanded medical research while not legalizing it nationwide. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz announced that the CMS Innovation Center is launching models allowing millions of Medicare beneficiaries to access doctor-recommended hemp-derived CBD products at no cost starting as early as April 2026, provided products meet state and local quality/safety standards and come from legitimate sources. Patients...

A bombshell new report found “insufficient evidence” to back up most of its supposed benefits — and raised serious red flags about hidden risks. “Patients deserve honest conversations about what the science does and doesn’t tell us about medical cannabis,” Dr. Michael Hsu, an addiction psychiatrist at UCLA and lead author of the study, said in a statement. SNIP Even though more than half of users try it for acute pain, Hsu and his team found no solid clinical evidence that it works. Current guidelines don’t recommend cannabis-based treatments as a first-line option for pain management.

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...

Researchers have found that cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a vomiting condition tied to chronic cannabis use, rose sharply in US emergency departments between 2016 and 2022 and has stayed elevated. As of June 2025, nearly half of US residents live in states with legalized recreational cannabis, and policy shifts have expanded adult-use access through legalization, medical programs, and decriminalization. Among cannabis-related harms, cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) has been described as a growing concern in clinical and public health settings. CHS was first identified in 2004 in Australia and remains a syndrome with uncertain etiology. Proposed neurophysiological mechanisms include downregulation of cannabinoid...

If the guests at your Thanksgiving table this year are a bit moonier than usual, don’t assume they ate too much turkey. And if they seem extra enthused about digging into pie after a filling meal, well — Adding to late November’s ever-growing list of festivities and shopping promotions, cannabis brands are now marketing “Green Wednesday:” the day before Thanksgiving, when childhood friends reunite and presumably light up. And consumers are heeding the call: Green Wednesday is the second-largest holiday for cannabis behind April 20, said Joyce Sinali, co-founder of the Cannabis Media Council, a trade group that seeks to...

On the day the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into law in 2021, the man who was to become mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, made the following statement: “I’m proud to be here today to debate the adult use of marijuana – also known as loud, Sour D, herb, Mary Jane, kush, green, pot, weed, zaza, a jazz cigarette and marijuana. In the course of this debate I’ve heard many of our colleagues from across the aisle discuss that smoking or ingesting marijuana is an indication of lawlessness and a deteriorating quality of life, makes...

A Navajo Nation man charged by federal prosecutors with running a vast illegal cannabis cultivation and distribution ring pleaded guilty Tuesday to 15 felony crimes and faces up to life in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. Dineh Benally, 48, admitted in his federal plea agreement that he operated more than 30 farms covering some 400 acres on land obtained from Navajo Nation members. He also admitted hiring illegal Chinese workers to grow cannabis on his farms. Benally entered the plea on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque before U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Robbenhaar. Benally also admitted that...

News that Minneapolis monster Robin Westman worked at a pot shop until just two weeks ago should give pause to those in the White House reportedly pushing President Donald Trump to take a landmark step toward federal approval of marijuana use. Westman, 23, was apparently fired from Rise, an area cannabis dispensary, on Aug. 16 over chronic tardiness and absenteeism. If you know anything at all about the culture of this biz, that tells you the odds are awfully good that he was using, too. And medical research in recent years keeps producing fresh evidence strongly suggesting that heavy marijuana...

To properly understand an object, it is necessary not only to understand its function but also to understand the web of values, associations, and historical contexts that surround the object. If we are to put the chamber pot in its proper place in Victorian society, it is necessary to understand the chamber pot’s history and the values that emerge from that history.

Long-term cannabis use can lead to severe vomiting, and U.S. emergency departments are seeing increasing numbers of adolescents with this illness, according to recent research out of Boston.Increases were seen across the U.S., regardless of states’ recreational cannabis legalization status, the study said. Severe nausea and vomiting caused by long-term cannabis use is called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The only cure is to stop using cannabis, although hot baths and showers may relieve symptoms. Research findings recently published in a research letter in JAMA Network Open stated that: -U.S. emergency department visits for cannabis hyperemesis syndrome...

“It can be just devastating to watch a child in that state” Marijuana lobbyists promised states like Colorado and California that they could legalize marijuana and make lots of money. What actually happened is that the illegal businesses, especially those controlled by cartels and triads, soared, while the ‘legal’ taxable businesses struggled to compete because of high taxes and high prices. Social problems caused by a boom in marijuana use soared, boosting the homeless crisis in Denver, ground zero for drug legalization, and major cities where pot had been legalized. There’s also another side effect.

“The employment of individuals under the age of 21 in the cannabis industry is strictly illegal, a serious matter, and is not tolerated,” the statement said. “We encourage anyone with information about child labor or trafficking at any facility to immediately contact the Department.” Glass House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. But in a statement posted to X last week, the company said it “does not and has never employed minors.” Federal officials raided the company’s operations in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign against undocumented immigrants in...