As Californians get ready to vote Nov. 8 on whether to legalize recreational marijuana, there are broader public health questions to consider. A pregnant woman has morning sickness so severe she can't keep food down, so she stirs some cannabis-infused oil into her morning tea to regain her appetite. An elderly man has chronic pain that keeps him up at night, so he smokes marijuana most nights before he and his wife go to bed. There's a growing body of research that suggests marijuana can help with conditions such as nausea and pain while posing only modest health risks for adults. But as Californians get ready to vote Nov. 8 on whether to legalize recreational marijuana, there are broader public health questions to consider, from whether it affects developing fetuses to the impacts of secondhand smoke. [continues 882 words]
Hallucinogenics May Ease Addictions, Mental Disorders Gordon McGlothlin, who took his first puff at age 12 behind his family's garage, tried to quit smoking for years, but no cessation technique worked until he used a psychedelic drug. Researchers with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine gave the 69year-old a derivative of psychedelic mushrooms similar to LSD, or acid, and watched him "trip" in a therapy room during six-hour sessions. McGlothlin experienced wild hallucinations, including watching his body slowly unraveling until it disappeared into a puff of smoke. After researchers took his blood pressure, he imagined a red blood-like fluid covering him from head to toe. [continues 1353 words]
Medical-marijuana shops are flying under the radar as federal laws dispute their very existence. Health Canada's new Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) went into effect Thursday, essentially prohibiting storefront dispensaries from selling marijuana for medical or recreational use. "Storefront operations selling marijuana, commonly known as dispensaries and compassion clubs, are not authorized to sell cannabis for medical or any other purposes," said Anna Maddison, senior media relations advisor for Health Canada. "These operations are illegally supplied, and provide products that are unregulated and may be unsafe." [continues 621 words]
Who's Afraid of the Bulgarians? I get alarmed calls every week about the Bulgarians. They're paying exorbitant sums for property in Petrolia, Bridgeville and Alderpoint, I'm told. They're jogging along rural roads with automatic rifles strapped to their backs, according to one woman at a recent community meeting. They're buying out family ranches and slowly taking over the county. And - although absolutely no proof has been offered from either my tipsters or law enforcement - they're all somehow connected to an organized crime cartel. [continues 597 words]
Rancho Cordova Bans Dispensaries, Sacramento Allows Them and Other Cities Fall in the Middle Sometimes, Stephanie Raskin smokes marijuana to stop thinking about suicide. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression, she remains stable through a blend of prescription pills that must be constantly tweaked to match her body chemistry. When the pharmaceuticals fall short, she supplements her treatment with medical marijuana. But her hometown, Rancho Cordova, bans dispensaries. And the closest one is 11 miles away. "It's frustrating," she said. "Especially with my condition, I get debilitatingly depressed to the point where everything is a monumental task. I only smoke because my depression can cause suicidal thoughts. And sativa can keep me from reaching those depths. I'm not one of those sit-on-the-couch stoners." [continues 781 words]
If a referendum was held on legalising cannabis for personal use, would you support it? You'd have to be off your scone. The New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) has been crowing about the results of its self-selecting poll, indicating broad public support for decriminalising cannabis for personal use. Rebecca Reider made history over the weekend by bringing the first legal raw cannabis flower into New Zealand, campaigners say. The NZDF has steadily become a strident proponent for law reform, to the point that they now sound more like glorified pushers, campaigning for "the removal of criminal penalties for drug use, possession and social supply." [continues 544 words]
IF JOSE Rizal were alive today, he would probably be found dead on a Manila street with a crude cardboard sign identifying him as a drug user. Rizal, after all, admitted taking hashish when he was 18 years old. But someone should explain to the trigger-happy police or vigilantes that in Rizal's time, hashish, which we know today as marijuana, "Mary Jane," or "jutes," was not what it is now: a prohibited drug. It was considered medicine and was dispensed freely from a drugstore. [continues 902 words]
The Drug Enforcement Administration's decision last week not to reschedule marijuana highlights the absurdities of its pre-election limbo. Marijuana will remain a Schedule I drug, meaning that the federal government doesn't recognize any of its medical uses and considers it to have high potential for abuse. "This decision isn't based on danger," DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg told NPR. "This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine ... and it's not." [continues 776 words]
'Shindig ' at Tweed plant celebrates medical marijuana's improved access SMITHS FALLS - Used internally and externally, marijuana has relieved some severe ills for Innisville's Robert Stevenson. Speaking from the 'vape-lounge' on a welcomed rainy Saturday at the Tweed marijuana plant's Front Yard Shindig here, Stevenson said traditional medicines didn't relieve his ailments. He credits a cannabis ointment for clearing up a cancerous growth on his chest and the relaxing qualities of CBD from a pot plant for relieving frequent back spasms. [continues 445 words]
To use the term marijuana as in being legalised, is deceptive and dangerous. One's use of medicinal marijuana to relieve pain is fully justifiable. The smoking of marijuana as a weed sold on the street is not. The latter, even with small usage, kills brain cells, is linked to deaths on the road, long term damage to the lungs and it accentuates depression from those already suffering from it. Any literature being promoted by the press needs to make a very clear distinction between the two. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay. [end]
Marijuana is just one of many issues in which the government is so far behind the people, it's beyond funny. The Drug Enforcement Administration proved this again just last week when it announced that after weeks of reviewing a petition to reclassify marijuana so it's no longer a Schedule 1 drug, along with heroin, Quaaludes and various psychedelics. Some who follow this issue were optimistic that the DEA might might actually reverse its long-held ironclad Reefer Madness policy. Perhaps the DEA would would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug - along with cocaine and methamphetamine - or even lower. [continues 630 words]
Medical cannabis use is very much in the news, but not without some enormous challenges, particularly for the family physician. The government has been forced to provide access and has off-loaded this access to doctors, but Health Canada still says that they have not reviewed the data and refuses to provide approval for use. Now, Ontario doctors have to find a way to deal with patients looking for relief from chronic pain. Dr. John Hanlon, the inaugural program director of the University of Toronto Pain Medicine Residency spoke to area doctors by invitation of Canadian Cannabis Clinics. A medical cannabis clinic recently opened in Collingwood, headed by Thornbury physician Dr. Linda Morel. [continues 471 words]
President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign promise to eradicate the menace of illegal drugs in the country from three to six months may soon be realized at the rate the police are cracking the whip on drug lords and pushers. As of the latest count, there are already 312 dead, 3,228 arrested, 120,209 who surrendered and 63,972 houses raided. The government is turning the tide on its bloody war against drugs. "This will be a fight to the death," said PNP chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who declared total war on drugs. He also warned police officers who are involved in drugs not to push their luck too much or else suffer the same fate as the drug lords. [continues 324 words]
I am a 37-year-old mom that suffers from bipolar and major depressive disorder. I am on prescription meds but they don't always work. Sometimes the only thing that will pull me out of a deep, suicidal depression is smoking a pure sativa strain of medical marijuana. I have my recommendation from a doctor and am able to obtain it from dispensaries. However, I live in Rancho Cordova and have realized there are zero dispensaries to be found in my city. City council has deemed that medical marijuana dispensaries are "a public nuisance in that many violent crimes have been committed that can be traced back to the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries, including armed robberies and murders." I did some minor fact checking and found that this simply is not true. ... Are you able to steer me in the right direction of whom to talk to or how to go about getting a city council to change an ordinance? [continues 369 words]
Prescription Drug Rates Drop As More Patients Turn to Cannabis Recent findings show that medical marijuana not only saves state and federal governments millions of dollars on Medicare but it may help curb prescription drug use too. A new study reports that in states where medical marijuana is available, prescriptions for painkillers have dipped drastically. There's been a spate of studies on how overdose and painkiller abuse - - particularly among chronic pain patients - are lower in medical marijuana states, but the researchers have largely hypothesized that these patients are picking pot over prescription drugs. Now, a recent report in the journal Health Affairs suggests that the link between prescriptions and marijuana is no longer just a hypothesis. [continues 950 words]
WHEN MEASURE 91 passed, I heard more than one prohibitionist sneer at the idea and ask, "What's next, legalizing all the other drugs?" And certainly there is a small, albeit growing, movement to decriminalize all drugs, and to treat the use of them more as a public health issue than a criminal one. But this being 'Murica, how would that work? What would it look like? Sweet Jesus, I'm glad you asked, because that's what this week's column is about. Welcome to... [continues 640 words]
Marijuana For Trauma wellness centre opens in Charlottetown Veteran Jim Grant of Brackley credits a medical marijuana support service with giving him a fresh, energetic new lease on life. The 78-year-old Grant failed to access medical marijuana until he turned to Marijuana For Trauma (MFT) in New Brunswick for assistance. The company helped guide him through the hoops and hurdles to get on the federal medical marijuana program. The positive impact was immediate and major when Grant started using the drug three months ago to help address the PTSD he links to "a number of tragic events'' during his lengthy career with the Canadian navy. [continues 349 words]
Two of the most well-known cannabis activists in the country were in town today to help a local dispensary in their fight to remain open. Marc and Jodie Emery each took the stage at Spirit Square this afternoon to profess their appreciation for what WeeMedical is undergoing right now - which they say is nothing short of police harassment - and to celebrate cannabis in all its forms. Joel Wilson, operator of WeeMedical, who organized what was called the "Rally for Reasonable Access," says the point of the event was mainly to educate, but he also wanted to make it known that, despite being raided by the RCMP numerous times since opening up shop three months ago - most recently on June 30 - they're not going anywhere. [continues 964 words]
A Story of Truth, Lies and an American Addiction She had already made it through one last night alone under the freeway bridge, through the vomiting and shakes of withdrawal, through cravings so intense she'd scraped a bathroom floor searching for leftover traces of heroin. It had now been 12 days since the last time Amanda Wendler used a drug of any kind, her longest stretch in years. "Clear-eyed and sober," read a report from one drug counselor, and so Amanda, 31, had moved back in with her mother to begin the stage of recovery she feared most. [continues 5637 words]
Amputee's Plea to Legalise Medical Marijuana A WAR hero who lost both legs in an Afghan bomb blast is forced to break the law to get cannabis to ease his pain. Lance Corporal Callum Brown is now leading calls to legalise the drug for medical use. He wants to see cannabis made available to patients like him who suffer agonising pain 24 hours a day. Callum, 28, also shattered his pelvis in the huge explosion after he stepped on a boobytrap bomb while on patrol in Helmand five years ago. Speaking exclusively to the Record, he said: "As well as my other injuries, I have no skin on my backside it's just thin scar tissue so the nerve damage and the phantom pains are the main reason for smoking. [continues 883 words]
There are urgent calls from many sectors of our society for our government to end the ineffective, expensive and irrational war on drugs. Police advise that they spend $230m a year on cannabis "crime". Beverley Aldridge, president of the Otamatea Grey Power branch, said that the branch voted unanimously to create a petition to re-legalise cannabis. Her petition acknowledges the fact that cannabis has been used legally for centuries before the demonisation and subsequent prohibition of this useful plant in 1961. [continues 117 words]
Patients Can Get Anything They Want at Ottawa's Illegal Marijuana Dispensaries Inside Weeds Glass & Gifts on Bank Street, store manager Nick Dumond spots a man outside, smoking a joint. "Hey, man, are you smoking in front of my store?" he yells. "I'm trying to run a clean business here! This looks bad! Children could be walking by!" The toker had just left the store after dropping off pamphlets from the Cannabis Rights Coalition and imparting news of an upcoming rally hosted by the cannabis "community." "Sorry," he says sheepishly. "I medicate everywhere." [continues 4329 words]
Researchers at the University of Georgia have published a study in the July issue of Health Affairs showing that Medicare's prescription drug benefit program saves money in states that have legalized marijuana for medical use. Authors Ashley Bradford and Dr. David Bradford - daughter and father, BTW - calculate that in 2013, patients using medical marijuana in 17 states enabled Medicare Part D to save US taxpayers $165.2 million that would have been spent on prescription drugs. As reported by the university's media office, the Bradfords [continues 654 words]
About this series The nation is in the midst of a prescription opioid and heroin overdose epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 44 people in the U.S. die every day from an overdose of prescription painkillers alone. This series examines how the epidemic is affecting Butte County and how it will respond. Today: How did Butte County end up with one of the worst drug-induced death rates in the state? Tomorrow: A man who died from an alcohol and opioid overdose is remembered by his mother and a friend. [continues 1286 words]
As she battles symptoms of lupus and depression, Alexandra Rice says she depends on easy access to medical marijuana to control widespread pain and to improve her mood. The 21-year-old resident of Grand Terrace, near Riverside, has pictures of cannabis flowers on her Twitter profile and friends whose live lihoods depend on the pot industry. She's also an unlikely opponent of a November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for all adults in California. "If it is legalized, more people who don't respect it and just want to get high are going to take advantage of that," Rice said. "And people who genuinely need it as medicine will be misplaced and thrown to the side." [continues 1317 words]
MLAs on a committee inquiring about addiction recovery got another reminder recently about how addiction can bring anyone down. It was in the form of an appearance from someone who used to move in legislature circles. Marshall Smith was a ministerial aide who made a name for himself as a smooth operator in the B.C. Liberals' first term, before his life disintegrated. His story, which has been told a few times over the past several years, involved a shift from drinking to cocaine to meth. He lost his job, did some jail time and lived on the streets in Victoria and Vancouver for about four years. [continues 616 words]
Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for conditions like nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs. Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings would equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis was available in every state, the authors projected. [continues 421 words]
Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for conditions like nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs.Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings could equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis was available in every state. [continues 223 words]
Fewer Meds Are Sought in States With Legal Marijuana. Patients fill significantly fewer prescriptions for such conditions as nausea and pain in states where medical marijuana is available, researchers reported Wednesday in one of the first studies to examine how medical cannabis might be affecting approved treatments. Prescriptions for all drugs that treat pain combined, from cortisone to OxyContin, were nearly 6 percent lower in states with medical marijuana programs. Anxiety medication was 5 percent lower. The result was a drop of more than $165 million in health-care spending in states that had medical marijuana programs running in 2013, including New Jersey, according to the analysis of national Medicare data. The savings would equal 0.5 percent of the entire Medicare program's drug budget if medicinal cannabis were available in every state, the authors projected. [continues 1156 words]
The arrival of medical marijuana in Massachusetts and other states is changing the way doctors prescribe conventional medications, a study published Wednesday reports. The study, one of the first to investigate whether medical marijuana laws alter prescribing patterns, analyzed data from 17 states and Washington, D.C. It found that after medical marijuana laws were adopted, doctors wrote fewer prescriptions for Medicare patients diagnosed with anxiety, pain, nausea, depression, and other conditions thought to respond to marijuana treatment. That translated to about $165 million less spent on prescription drugs in just one year in the Medicare program, which provides health insurance for older adults, according to the study published in the journal Health Affairs. [continues 764 words]
A small circle of physicians - 13, to be precise - has provided the vast preponderance of approvals needed by Massachusetts patients to gain access to medical marijuana, state records show, a pattern that underscores the continued growing pains of a new industry. These doctors certified nearly three-quarters of the 31,818 patients who had received permission to use medical marijuana by early June. The concentration of approvals in the hands of so few physicians is a story of both opportunity and fear. For the baker's dozen of doctors, medical marijuana certifications provide a robust stream of patients, who typically pay $200 out of pocket for an initial office visit. [continues 1174 words]
When Gillian FitzGibbon's doctor suggested she try cannabis to reduce her chronic knee, hip and ankle pain, she figured anything was better than the cocktail of opioids she had been prescribed for years, medication that she said left her in an "abyss." As health-care providers sound the alarm over rising opioid addiction and the lack of available pain management alternatives, some patients like FitzGibbon - along with their physicians - are turning to cannabis derivatives for relief. Ottawa physician Hillel Finestone co-authored an article published on June 14 in the journal Canadian Family Physician that calls opioid use in Canada an epidemic and links it to the lack of options offered by doctors for pain management. The authors say this is happening, in part, because non-medical pain management services - like physiotherapy to address physical tension and psychologists and social workers to address stress - are not covered by government health insurance plans, and therefore typically not considered part of a pain management plan. [continues 512 words]
Pot Has Helped Gillian Fitzgibbon Find Relief and Kick Opioid Use When Gillian FitzGibbon's doctor suggested she try cannabis to reduce her chronic knee, hip and ankle pain, she figured anything was better than the cocktail of opioids she had been prescribed for years, medication that she said left her in an "abyss". As health-care providers sound the alarm over rising opioid addiction and the lack of available pain management alternatives, some patients like FitzGibbon - along with their physicians - are turning to cannabis derivatives for relief. [continues 892 words]
I SHOT heroin and cocaine while attending Columbia in the 1980s, sometimes injecting many times a day and leaving scars that are still visible. I kept using, even after I was suspended from school, after I overdosed and even after I was arrested for dealing, despite knowing that this could reduce my chances of staying out of prison. My parents were devastated: They couldn't understand what had happened to their "gifted" child who had always excelled academically. They kept hoping I would just somehow stop, even though every time I tried to quit, I relapsed within months. [continues 1180 words]
TEHRAN - At the Tehran party there was alcohol, of course, though it was a quiet affair, nothing like the wild, over-the-top events of urban legend. People just sat at a table, sipping drinks and talking as they would in many places across the world. After a while, someone made a phone call, and a few minutes later the doorbell rang and in walked a nondescript-looking man getting on in years. He worked quickly, opening his briefcase to put his goods on display - - an impressive variety of locally produced marijuana brands with varying degrees of potency, with names such as Royal Queen, DNA and Nirvana. All the while, his phone kept ringing, and though Iranian etiquette prescribes that he allow the partygoers to take their time in choosing, he kept discreetly checking his watch. He had a lot of other stops to make. [continues 1158 words]
In a rare ruling, an arbitrator has found that Lane County government erred in firing an employee for his off-duty use of medical marijuana late last year. Michael Hirsch, a 60-year-old prostate cancer survivor, will be reinstated to his job as a senior programmer and systems analyst next week and given $21,550 in back pay for the six months since he was terminated. Arbitrator Jeffrey Jacobs based his ruling on the fact that the county provided no evidence Hirsch had used marijuana at work or that his off-duty use hurt his job performance. Hirsch, hired by the county in early 2015, had received "a number of very positive messages and reviews" from supervisors, Jacobs wrote. [continues 1110 words]
A B.C. man who spent years fighting an attempt by the province's Civil Forfeiture Office to seize his home has launched a legal action of his own, accusing the government office of abusing its authority. David Lloydsmith was at his home in Mission, B.C., in October, 2007, when an RCMP officer knocked on the door and said he was responding to a 911 call. Mr. Lloydsmith told the officer he was the only person at the home and had not called 911. The officer asked to enter the residence, a request Mr. Lloydsmith refused. But when he attempted to close the door, the officer barged in and restrained him, a judge later found. A subsequent search turned up marijuana plants, and Mr. Lloydsmith was arrested for production-related offences. [continues 569 words]
"I had a run-in with Vicodin; that turned into a habit that I had to kick," said Laurent. "Opiate withdrawal - I never want to deal with that again." Laurent isn't this Detroiter's real name. He didn't want to use it because he uses marijuana both medically and recreationally, and because he's young and hopes to become a social worker - maybe a substance abuse counselor - and doesn't want this column to pop up in some employer's search. [continues 1360 words]
If not for stepping out for a coffee, my oldest nephew, Jay, would have been among the nearly 100 arrested in the coordinated police raids of 43 storefront Toronto pot dispensaries at the end of May. Instead, he got grainy smartphone footage of the takedown of the dispensary where he works as a clerk - footage taken from across the street of police with guns drawn, of his co-workers in handcuffs, and even a "patient" in a wheelchair being cuffed as well. [continues 507 words]
PM Rushing to Force His Vision on Country In the eight months that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ruled Canada, he has already left an indelible imprint upon this land. With so-called "democratic reform" he aims to make that impression even more evident. Despite all the ballyhoo, I wonder if an uninterested public is even aware that Trudeau is pushing a proportional representation electoral system in this package, whereby parties are represented in the House of Commons as a percentage of the vote they receive during an election. [continues 536 words]
Within GOP, Sentiment Appears to Be Growing to Allow More Remedies. Is Texas ready to embrace expanding medical treatments from marijuana? Some state elected officials - along with some eager entrepreneurs - would like to see more allowable uses of the controversial plant when the 2017 legislative session comes around. Last session, many Capitol observers were stunned when both chambers passedSenate Bill 339 and Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law. The law - which was authored by now-departing state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, and sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth - allows patients who suffer from a rare form of epilepsy to be treated legally with cannabidiol, or CBD as it is better known. [continues 1507 words]
If not for stepping out for a coffee, my oldest nephew, Jay, would have been among the nearly 100 arrested in the coordinated police raids of 43 storefront Toronto pot dispensaries at the end of May. Instead, he got grainy smartphone footage of the takedown of the dispensary where he works as a clerk - footage taken from across the street of police with guns drawn, of his co-workers in handcuffs, and even a "patient" in a wheelchair being cuffed as well. [continues 508 words]
It wasn't until the state police and the DEA were sitting in my primary care office that I finally stopped denying that I was hopelessly addicted to prescription opiates. The DEA agent said, "Doc, cut the crap, we know you've been writing bad scrips." The windows in my office didn't open, otherwise I might have jumped out and fled. As it was, I was charged with three felony counts of fraudulent prescribing. Physicians are invested with awesome responsibility and trust. [continues 795 words]
The opioid epidemic facing our state is one of the worst health care crises California has ever seen. Currently, California hospitals treat roughly one overdose every 45 minutes due to heroin or prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet. In 2014, California had the largest number of overdose deaths of any state in the country: 4,521 of our sons, daughters, and loved ones lost. This past weekend, the Orange County Register highlighted my personal story. I lost my son James to an accidental overdose in 2014 just two days before his 27th birthday after a long struggle with both depression and addiction. We need to talk about what can be done to change these stories and statistics. [continues 516 words]
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio - Nicholas DiMarco was 18 when he died from a dose or heroin laced with fentanyl. He left behind a grief-stricken father tormented by questions. "The biggest mistake that I made I looked at my son and I thought of it as a rational, normal person," Fred DiMarco said. "I was like, well he's going to quit. If he doesn't quit, he's going to go to prison for three years. Who would take that risk? He's going to quit. It's killing people. Who would take something that's going to kill them?" [continues 605 words]
ONE of the most painful experiences of being a psychiatrist is having a patient for whom none of the available therapies or medications work. A while back, I was asked to do a consultation on just such a patient. This person had been a heroin addict in her early 20s. She had quit the opioid five years earlier, but her life was plagued with anxiety, apathy and self-doubt that prior treatments had not helped. At the end of the session, almost as an afterthought, she noted with irony that the only time in her adult life when she had been able to socialize easily and function at work was when she had been hooked on heroin. [continues 1128 words]
Says general population won't take it up once it's legalized Stoned Nation? A Toronto psychologist who treats depression, anxiety and addiction says he doesn't expect the general population to take up marijuana with great enthusiasm once legalized. Even as police in Toronto swooped down on marijuana dispensaries this week, the countdown clock is ticking towards next year when it is expected the drug will no longer be considered an illegal substance. Dr. Richard Amaral said he expects some interest will be fired up in the early days after legalization. [continues 429 words]
Industry Folk at Lift Cannabis Expo All Abuzz Over Cop Crackdown on Toronto's Marijuana Dispensaries Toronto resident Vicki Trueman swears by cannabis oil to treat her chronic migraines and insomnia, as do some of her friends who suffer from seizures and depression. Though she and her pals have doctors' prescriptions to access the medicine legally, Trueman said she has no problem with people buying it for recreational use, particularly on the cusp of legalization in Canada. And, echoing the overwhelming sentiment at the Lift Cannabis Expo, she said it's "ridiculous" that Toronto police raided 43 pot dispensaries Thursday, just two days before Canada's biggest cannabis convention welcomed thousands of industry people from around the world. [continues 666 words]
Medical professionals worry about marijuana's effect on young people Even as the federal Liberal government moves toward legalizing marijuana, medical professionals hope that tight regulations will decrease its use and protect young people from what studies have proven can be significant damage to their brains. "Regular use of marijuana before the age of 25 has been shown to negatively affect brain development leading to lower IQ in adulthood," says Dr. Raina Fumerton, the Northern Health Authority's Terrace-based medical health officer for the northwest. [continues 714 words]
