In the not-too-distant past, we would have considered it unwise, and perhaps even dangerous, to change the federal classification of marijuana from a schedule 1 to a schedule 2 drug. But that was before 24 states and the District of Columbia passed laws legalizing the drug either for medicinal or recreational uses. The fact is, those states acted without any scientific basis, and they have turned wide swaths of the nation into incubator labs for a drug with physical, psychological and, perhaps, some beneficial medicinal consequences. With marijuana already unleashed in such an officially sanctioned way, the need to study it is imperative. [continues 492 words]
Moved by Silas Hurd's plight, a marijuana grower who specializes in plant genetics combed his seed groups for strains that might calm the boy's devastating epilepsy. The family had bouts of relief, but inevitably the seizures returned. And a growing political backlash cast shadow on their efforts. Grass Valley - Aggressive soft-tissue sarcoma had taken his wife in 2000. Colon cancer claimed his father four years later. Brad Peceimer, a former aerospace manufacturing engineer, grew marijuana and produced medicinal remedies for both of them, to help relieve the nausea and discomfort caused by their treatments. After their deaths, he kept cultivating, fascinated with plant science. [continues 3042 words]
On Dec. 1, 2015, Dalon White woke up in the hospital, unsure how he got there. The last thing he remembered was smoking a "stick" of Spice he'd bought for $5 in downtown Anchorage. "Next thing you know, the world's spinning and I was falling over," White said. White, then 21, was charged with a crime that day, but he didn't realize it. He faces a misdemeanor drug charge, one of about 50 that have been issued since Anchorage criminalized Spice six months ago. [continues 2690 words]
TRINIDAD, Humboldt County - Pot politics are nothing new to Sunshine Johnston, who has been cultivating cannabis on her organic farm near the famous Avenue of the Giants for many years. But the emergence of land speculators in the Emerald Triangle is threatening to ruin her bucolic buzz. Johnston, her friends, neighbors and fellow growers are perturbed by hordes of high rollers who are snapping up every old ranch, logging tract and forested parcel that goes on the market. The scramble for land in Humboldt County and, to a lesser extent, Mendocino County, is an apparent attempt by entrepreneurs to cash in on the possible legalization in November of recreational pot peddling in California. [continues 1850 words]
ANITA GUPTA first suspected that the Philadelphia heroin trade could be taking a deadlier turn months ago, when she saw overdose patients at Hahnemann University Hospital who didn't respond as they should have to the antidote drug emergency workers gave them. "The symptoms were worse than we were used to seeing," said Gupta, an anesthesiologist, pharmacist and pain specialist at Drexel University College of Medicine. "We were getting patients with symptoms of near-death, and often required multiple doses of the antidote naloxone." [continues 694 words]
Women Are Flocking to Medical Marijuana for Relief From Menstrual Distress When it comes to her periods, 41-year-old Katie has always had it rough. She'll typically suffer intense cramps that leave her shaking and sick enough to vomit. "The first four days are awful, brutal," says the San Francisco waitress. That is, unless she's medicated. For many years, Katie, who asked that her last name not be used, only got marginal relief from loading up on high-dose ibuprofen over the course of her seven-day cycle. Recently, she's found what she considers to be a more natural and much more effective remedy: cannabis-infused tinctures and balms designed to relieve menstrual pain and discomfort. [continues 1164 words]
Contamination in houses used to produce illegal drugs can easily be overlooked during routine inspections, which is why the province needs a comprehensive registry of former marijuana grow-ops and methamphetamine labs, according to the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR). "The information's available (to police), and we think it should be made available to our members and to potential buyers, so they're able to make an informed decision when they look to buy a house," ASR CEO Bill Madder said. [continues 553 words]
Marijuana Is the Trendy Herb for Those Who Want to Get Baked During Dinner As Matt Doherty wrapped up his cooking demonstration, a woman in the audience raised her hand to ask a question: How long would the cannabis-infused butter he had shown them how to make keep in the fridge? "I've never had it go bad," replied Doherty, the manager of a Capitol Hill hydroponic supply store. He paused. "It doesn't last long in my house." The audience at the cannabis food festival "Blazed and Glazed" giggled a little too hard at the joke. Many of the onlookers had arrived at culinary incubator Mess Hall as baked as a tray of the green herb that Doherty had put in the oven. [continues 1439 words]
On a recent bright afternoon, two teenage boys in boat shoes and shorts strolled up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in a crowd of passers-by. At 56th Street they paused as one pulled an electronic pipe out of his pocket and held it to his friend's lips. Inside was a potent and little-studied drug made from distilled marijuana; they were emboldened, they said, by the fact that the gooey wax hardly has a smell, and is so novel in New York that, even if discovered, parents, teachers or even the authorities hardly seem to know what it is. [continues 1085 words]
Bottom-Up Enforcement, Lack of Drug Treatment Preceded Sacramento's Deadly Outbreak Counterfeit pain pills recovered by federal drug authorities and masking dangerous amounts of fentanyl bear close resemblance to a milder medication. In February, when Sacramento County started its new opioid task force to address an emerging public health crisis gaining traction here, the deadly fentanyl outbreak that would eventually kill a dozen locally wasn't yet on the radar. The group's second meeting, on March 21, presented physicians with safe prescription tips for opioids, a constantly expanding class of pain-relieving medications all derived in some way from the highly addictive opium poppy. The well-attended meeting focused on the potential threat of these legal medications, which many say are dreamed up by profit-minded pharmaceutical companies, overprescribed by doctors and blamed for introducing a generation of suburbanites to the transfixing lure of a chemical high. [continues 1581 words]
Detective Discusses Epidemic During Senior Coffee Hour Waging a war on drugs in Lorain County hasn't been an easy task and there's still plenty of work to be done, according to Detective Gregg Mehling with the Lorain County Sheriff's Office Drug Task Force. Mehling visited the Lorain Public Library System's Columbia Branch, 13824 W. River Road North in Columbia Station, on May 9 for the monthly Senior Coffee Hour to talk about the growing heroin problem in the county and what he considers to be a tremendous health emergency. [continues 524 words]
What if LSD could treat PTSD, or magic mushrooms could help you quit smoking? Overseas research is advanced, but trials of psychedelic drugs can't get approval in Australia. Are we missing out on cures? Konrad Marshall reports. When Martin Williams' research plan was first rejected by an ethics committee in 2012, he understood why. The medicinal chemistry researcher could see some valid sticking points. For one, the psychiatrist attached to his detailed protocol didn't quite have the requisite clinical trials experience. [continues 2533 words]
Western University Researchers Find Link to Psychosis A London scientist whose research on marijuana has also paved the way to a commercial enterprise has discovered that when it comes to schizophrenia, the use of pot can be the best and worst of times. It turns out that though one of the major chemicals in marijuana is linked to psychosis, another may serve as an effective treatment, said Steven Laviolette, an associate professor at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. [continues 299 words]
A London scientist whose research on marijuana has also paved the way to a commercial enterprise has discovered that when it comes to schizophrenia, the use of pot can be the best and worst of times. It turns out that though one of the major chemicals in marijuana is linked to psychosis, another may serve as an effective treatment, said Steven Laviolette, an associate professor at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. "Within the same plant, you've got two different chemicals that are producing opposite effects," said Laviolette, whose study was published in the journal Neuroscience. [continues 275 words]
The former drug-addicted chemist who got high at work nearly every day for eight years handled more than 500 cases in Suffolk County alone - and up to 1,500 total were processed at the Amherst lab during her time there - according to officials sorting through the fallout of the state's latest drug lab scandal. The case count in Suffolk likely represents only a fraction of those district attorneys across the state are now scrambling to identify in the wake of a damning attorney general's report on the misconduct of ex-chemist Sonja Farak. [continues 361 words]
A state chemist at an Amherst drug lab got high on methamphetamines or other drugs almost every day at work for nearly eight years, consumed the lab's own supply of drugs, and cooked crack cocaine in the lab after hours - actions that jeopardize an untold number of cases - according to an investigative report released Tuesday. Investigators for the attorney general's office found that chemist Sonja Farak had tested drug samples or testified in court between about 2005 and 2013 while under the influence of meth, ketamine, cocaine, LSD, and other drugs, according to the report, much of which is based on Farak's own grand jury testimony. She even smoked crack before a 2012 interview with State Police officials inspecting the lab for accreditation purposes, she testified. [continues 768 words]
Leamington greenhouse accounts for 10% of Canada's medicinal marijuana production Aphria, a Leamington greenhouse facility, is more heavily secured than you would expect, with locks, security cameras, and fingerprint-scanning devices at every door. The medicinal cannabis producer is taking every precaution - and then some. Founded in in 2013 and fully realized in 2014, Aphria is responsible for more than 10 per cent of Canada's medicinal marijuana production. The operators should see that number increase in the next few years, as their facility continues its exponential growth. [continues 731 words]
California blazed a trail to legalize medical marijuana 20 years ago. But the Golden State is only now confronting the full complexity of regulating consumer safety and business practices in an industry that's ballooned to an estimated $2.7 billion annually. It's no simple task, requiring startup-like coordination and enforcement across a dozen state agencies looking to rein in a sector of the economy that has thrived in a decidedly spotty patchwork of local oversight. California's lack of control over the industry thus far has not gone unnoticed, according to John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who focuses on marijuana policies. [continues 1263 words]
Synthetic Cannabis Has 'Devastating Impact' On Jails, Says Chief Inspector Synthetic cannabis is having a "devastating impact" in British prisons and making it difficult for normal life to continue in some facilities, the chief inspector of prisons has warned. Sold as "spice" and "black mamba", synthetic cannabis has been blamed for deaths, serious illness and episodes of self-harm among prisoners. Some prison officers have reported falling ill from exposure to the fumes. High demand for the compound has fuelled more severe problems in the prison system than officers have faced from any other drug, with prisoners racking up greater debts and suffering worse bullying and violence, Peter Clarke told the Guardian. "Prison staff have told me that the effect on individuals and prisons as a whole is unlike anything they have seen before," said Clarke, who took up the post in February. [continues 674 words]
