The "Just Say No" campaign kept me off drugs. NOT! Still, I appreciate Nancy Reagan for using ignorant scare tactics to at least try to keep kids like me away from the Devil's Lettuce. Drugs are for adults, and having a dialogue about that notion is important. The conversation does not, however, require a sizzling egg to represent your brain on drugs. Drug Abuse Resistance Education campaigns, aka DARE, were all the rage in the 1980s and '90s, sucking up hundreds of millions of tax dollars on TV spots, branded backpacks, stickers, and even cartoons featuring Daren the Lion. At its peak, the program was deployed in 75 percent of American schools, with police officers leading classroom discussions and assemblies that students absolutely loved-not because of the content, but because it got us out of math class. [continues 751 words]
Governor Baker's plan to increase opioid education, which he announced on Nov. 9 with the deans of the state's four medical schools, gets it only half right. It's wonderful to teach future doctors how to prescribe opioids safely to reduce abuse and addiction. But the United States is actually caught in the middle of two colliding epidemics, not just one: the well-publicized problem of opioid abuse, and the under-publicized epidemic of chronic pain, which affects 100 million American adults, according to the Institute of Medicine. [continues 531 words]
Florida State University defensive back Greg Reid was supposed to be a first-round NFL draft pick. University of Florida defensive back J.C. Jackson was supposed to be an elite playmaker in the Southeastern Conference. University of Central Florida running back Will Stanback was supposed to help carry the Knights' offense during what has turned out to be a dismal season. Instead, their links to marijuana altered the trajectory of their promising careers. At least 12 UF players have been linked to marijuana use by law enforcement since the start of former coach Will Muschamp's tenure in 2011, and the number is not considered exceptionally high for major college-football programs. Arrest figures were much higher during former Gators coach Urban Meyer's tenure. When schools announce that football players have been suspended for undisclosed rule violations, many immediately suspect marijuana was involved. [continues 2402 words]
We can't solve a problem without knowing its origin. To solve America's drug problem, we have to know the history of the drug war. The drug war did not start with Richard Nixon. It wasn't a Republican idea, or a traditional idea. The drug war was launched before the First World War by utopian Progressive Democrats. Woodrow Wilson signed the first federal drug law in 1914, the Harrison Act. It was intended as a weapon against opiate-using "Orientals." Some doctors supported it because it granted them a prescription monopoly. At first, the Harrison Act only increased the cost of opiates to users. But soon the doctors fell victim as well, as the Harrison Act was used to imprison pain doctors and even those who ran opiate-addiction treatment clinics. [continues 616 words]
Stricter guidelines for prescribing and dispensing powerful pain medications are needed to curb the nation's deadly opioid epidemic, according to a report released last week from public-health leaders at Johns Hopkins University. The analysis offers broad recommendations for addressing opioid abuse but focuses on the supply chain, including physicians and pharmacists. The report calls for greater monitoring, training and rule-making to prevent misuse of opioids, addiction and overdoses, and said doctors often prescribe pain medications "in quantities and for conditions that are excessive, and in many cases, beyond the evidence base." [continues 349 words]
PALMER -- Despite what one Alaska state trooper described as "a huge rise in heroin" in recent years, Alaska's fastest-growing region has no place where addicts can undergo detox when they make the hard choice to get clean. That's according to panelists at a substance abuse forum hosted by the Mat-Su Health Foundation and attended by about 130 people at Mat-Su College's Glenn Massay Theater Monday night. Detox is the process of clearing the chemical dependence on drugs or alcohol from an addict's system. Most experts advise doing it under medical supervision. Symptoms of heroin withdrawal can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or seizures -- none generally considered life-threatening in the way alcohol detox can be. Many addicts end up detoxing in jail after getting arrested on drug-or alcohol-related crimes. [continues 870 words]
Jean Kennedy has a BS in biology and a master's in special education. Now, she's trying to decide what to do with her third degree: a certificate of achievement from Oaksterdam University, the Harvard Business School of marijuana. "I'm Italian," said Kennedy, 56, a retired high school biology teacher with graying hair and a heavy New York accent. "You know Italians, we grow tomatoes. Maybe I'll grow some plants." Horticulture 102 is one of the many subjects Kennedy studies at Oaksterdam, whose storefront campus is set amid the hip cafes, restaurants and cannabis dispensaries of downtown Oakland. Founded in 2007, the school sees itself as a training ground for citizen advocates in the fight to legalize marijuana. [continues 1416 words]
This week, just some cold, hard stats. Clearly I am in support of the legalization of marijuana. And I'm passionate about the subject not only because I enjoy smoking weed, but I'd also prefer not to be arrested for buying it. Regardless, I try to be objective on the matter, understanding that not everyone likes to get high (on cannabis, anyway), and that countering decades of Reefer Madness may take time. So in an effort to be more neutral and journalistic, I'd like to let the plethora of statistics I've gathered speak for itself. Although numbers, of course, cannot speak. [continues 742 words]
Baltimore Moves to Eradicate Synthetic Drugs in the City As Emergency Room Visits Rise When you think about drugs that ultimately lead people to the E.R., the first things that come to mind might be heroin, cocaine or prescription drugs. However, there is another dangerous set of substances that are sending thousands to hospitals across the country: synthetic drugs. As an emergency physician, I have treated high school students who came in unresponsive and needed breathing tubes to stay alive. I have seen teens hallucinating and suffering seizures. I have attended to adults who sustained long-term brain, heart and kidney damage because of these harmful drugs. [continues 593 words]
Yes on Issue 1 We strongly support Issue 1 on the Ohio ballot this Tuesday. It sets up a much fairer process for drawing district lines for Ohio House of Representative and Senate seats. Under the current corrupt system, maps for state legislative and congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years, after updated Census numbers are released. A five-member state Apportionment Board, whose members include the governor, secretary of state, state auditor and a legislator from each major party, draws the legislative districts. A simple majority wins any vote on the board, so the party that controls the board (Republican in recent years) has absolute control over how the legislative lines are drawn. [continues 1267 words]
Parents, if you haven't already done so, be sure to cull through the kids' Halloween bounty to check that all goodies are safe to eat. That should be a routine every year - but this September, there have been reports here of high school students being sickened by candy containing THC, the active ingredient and toxicant in marijuana. The packaging was innocent-looking enough, with one "100% vegan and organic" fruit roll-up product bearing the label Shaka Organics Hawaii. Be warned that cannabis candies are being sold in the several states that have legalized recreational pot, and, of course, all over the Internet. [end]
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As a member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, a collector of antique marijuana apothecary jars, the founder of an industrial hemp business and "a pot smoker consistently for 47 years," Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio lawyer, has fought for decades to make marijuana legal, calling it "my life's work." But when Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday to consider a constitutional amendment to allow marijuana for both medical and personal use, Mr. Wirtshafter will vote against it. [continues 1193 words]
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As a member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, a collector of antique marijuana apothecary jars, the founder of an industrial hemp business and "a pot smoker consistently for 47 years," Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio lawyer, has fought for decades to make marijuana legal, calling it "my life's work." But when Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday to consider a constitutional amendment to allow marijuana for both medical and personal use, Wirtshafter will vote against it. Issue 3, as the proposed amendment is known, is bankrolled by wealthy investors spending nearly $25 million to put it on the ballot and sell it to voters. If it passes, they would have exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in Ohio. [continues 1049 words]
These days, it's become fairly square to criticize marijuana and its rush toward legalization. Twenty-three states have condoned the drug in some form, with four permitting recreational use, and Massachusetts is set to vote on permitting it next year. The proposed federal CARERS Act of 2015 would let states legalize medical marijuana without federal interference and demote pot from a Schedule I drug-one with high abuse potential-to Schedule II. The path toward nationwide decriminalization is looking unobstructed. [continues 775 words]
Tainted Treats Send Several High-Schoolers to the Emergency Room Manufactured cannabis-laced fruit candy that has sickened Oahu teens in recent weeks may be touching off anxiety among parents of trick-or-treaters this Halloween. Several high school students wound up in Oahu hospital emergency rooms after ingesting candy with THC, the active ingredient and chief intoxicant in marijuana. The source was traced to packaged rolled-fruit candy, said Keith Kamita, state Narcotics Enforcement Division chief. As part of Halloween-safety awareness, "we are educating the public there are candies and fruit roll-ups that they should be aware of," Kamita said. Candies containing THC - whether in chocolates and brownies or fruit roll-ups and hard candies - are illegal to distribute in Hawaii, he said. [continues 505 words]
It's been Red Ribbon Week across the country and in local school systems, a time for a focused effort to educate kids about drugs. It's also a time for instructors and counselors and law enforcement personnel to reflect on the state of things. Red Ribbon Week is most effective in the younger grades before students establish bad habits, said Bruce Morton, director of student welfare and attendance with the Yuba City Unified School District. Drugs rarely enter the school system before the fifth grade, and in those cases it's often something the student found at home belonging to an older sibling who they look up to, Morton said. [continues 173 words]
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders announced his support Wednesday for removing marijuana from a list of the most dangerous drugs outlawed by the federal government - a move that would free states to legalize it without impediments from Washington. The self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont shared his proposal during a town hall meeting with college students that was broadcast on the Internet across the country from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. No other presidential candidate has called for marijuana to be completely removed from the schedule of controlled substances regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 61 words]
Needle-exchange programs are an effective means of preventing the spread of HIV, connecting individuals in need with social services and even preventing the improper disposal of drug paraphernalia. According to the latest figures from the California Department of Public Health, Orange County reported 972 Hepatitis C cases and 502 of Hepatitis B in 2011. As of June 30, 2014, the county also had the fourth-highest number of HIV cases in the state. Injection drug use is a significant risk factor for all of them and a known factor in the majority of Hepatitis C cases and roughly 10 percent of HIV infections. [continues 537 words]
An Examination of Traffic Stops and Arrests in Greensboro, N.C., Uncovered Wide Racial Differences in Measure After Measure of Police Conduct. GREENSBORO, N.C. - Rufus Scales, 26 and black, was driving his younger brother Devin to his hair-cutting class in this genteel, leafy city when they heard the siren's whoop and saw the blue light in the rearview mirror of their black pickup. Two police officers pulled them over for minor infractions that included expired plates and failing to hang a flag from a load of scrap metal in the pickup's bed. But what happened next was nothing like a routine traffic stop. [continues 5063 words]
It would be foolish to look solely at the economic benefits generated from legally sold marijuana in Colorado and declare the entire undertaking an unqualified success. Yes, Colorado racked up $700 million in sales of medicinal and recreational pot last year, as The Denver Post reported this week. And yes, those sales generated $76 million in state revenue, including sales taxes and fees. Indeed, one in 11 industrial buildings in central Denver is full of marijuana. But economic benefits aren't everything. [continues 462 words]
