In 1996, California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes with the passage of Proposition 215. Now, in 2020, recreational marijuana use is fully legal within California for individuals 21 years of age and over. This report will outline the current and potential impacts of these policies.[Read More…]
Tag: legalization
The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact
The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) program has published annual reports every year since 2013 tracking the impact of legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado. The purpose is to provide data and information so that policy makers and citizens can make informed decisions on the issue of marijuana[Read More…]
Substance Use Disorders and Increased Risks from COVID-19
September 24, 2020 According to a recent study (Wang, Kaelber, Xu and Volkow) published in Molecular Psychiatry, nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population has a substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, those individuals with a current SUD are at increased risks for COVID-19 as well as its adverse outcomes. This study examined[Read More…]
Marijuana Most Common Drug Detected in Workplace Testing
Date: August 25, 2020 Read time: 5 Minutes Quest Diagnostics, a leader in workplace drug testing, reported that positive drug tests reached a 16-year high in 2019. Notable increases were seen in positive test results for cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Marijuana continues to be the most commonly detected drug in[Read More…]
Depression and Marijuana Use in Adults
Date: 08-19-2020 A new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network) examined the changes in marijuana use rates in adults with depression from 2005 to 2016. The study, “Association of Depression With Past-Month Cannabis Use Among US Adults, Aged 20 to 59 years, 2005 to[Read More…]
Smoking, Vaping and COVID Risk Factors
Association Between Youth Smoking, Electronic Cigarette Use, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 In July 2020, researchers from Stanford University (Gaiha, Cheng, et.al.) published the results of a study of over 4,300 people (youth to young adults) in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study examined the association between the use of[Read More…]
THC Concentration in Colorado Marijuana: Public Health Concerns
The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) just released a report focused on examining THC concentrations in Colorado and the implications to public health. Contained in this report is a primer on marijuana in Colorado and the evolution of THC concentration levels of products available in the open[Read More…]
Novel Insights on Cannabis and Psychosis
Marijuana is one of the most common illicit drugs used by patients with schizophrenia. Recent research into marijuana’s adverse role for people dealing with psychosis and schizophrenia is concerning. The author, Dr. Brian Miller (MD, PhD, MPH), has complied a series of research studies and their key findings that outline the[Read More…]
Drug-Free Communities Program, A National Evaluation
Marijuana still remains of concern when addressing youth use, access and health impacts. To help bridge that gap the Drug-Free Communities (DFC) program, a federally funded drug prevention and education program since 1997, focuses on reducing substance use in both youths and adults. The DFC program just released their annual[Read More…]
Illicit Marijuana Disguised as Hemp
With the passage of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also known as the “2018 Farm Bill”, hemp (part of the Cannabis Sativa L. plant) became a legal agricultural commodity. The caveat to this designation is that hemp, by definition, is to have a potency level of Delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) of[Read More…]