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posted by janrinok on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the better-than-we-thought dept.

Weeks after cannabis legalization was passed by voters in California and other states, pranksters edited the famous Los Angeles Hollywood Sign to read "Hollyweed". This previously occurred in 1976 following the passage of a California law decriminalizing cannabis.

Researchers have found (DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303577) (DX) that legalization of medical cannabis led to an overall decrease in traffic fatalities among 19 states:

The happy side-effect wasn't uniform, however; only seven states saw significant reductions, while two states saw increases. Nevertheless, the authors of the new report in the American Journal of Public Health argue that the data bucks the common criticism that more pot access should increase car crashes and injuries.

Drops in traffic deaths may, in part, be explained by people swapping alcohol for pot, leading to reduced drunk driving, the study's authors speculated. To back that up, the authors note that the lives spared tended to belong to younger people, particularly 25- to 44-year-olds—an age group frequently involved in alcohol-related traffic deaths.

[Continues...]

The Washington Post is reporting on the use of high-cannabidiol (CBD) strains of cannabis to treat epilepsy, PTSD, anxiety, and other disorders "without the high":

What makes CBD especially appealing is that it doesn't get the user high. Most recreational marijuana users want this effect, of course, but many patients would rather avoid it. This has allowed CBD to sidestep many of the political, legal and medical concerns that have hindered the spread of medical marijuana. "CBD has been a game-changer for medical marijuana," says Martin Lee, the director of Project CBD, a Northern California nonprofit that promotes use of the compound. "Its safety and lack of psychoactivity undermines any argument that it should be illegal. It's really shifted the national discussion on this issue."

As more scientists recognize the compound's potential, there has been an "explosion of research," according to Pal Pacher, a pharmacologist and cardiologist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He has been studying the chemical for more than a decade; his work has shown that CBD may have benefits in both heart disease and diabetes.

CBS is running what some may consider a "fake news" piece about a "mysterious illness" tied to cannabis use: cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. According to FreeThoughtProject.com:

[CBS Evening News chief medical correspondent] Dr. LaPook writes: "He co-authored a study showing that since 2009, when medical marijuana became widely available, emergency room visits diagnoses for CHS in two Colorado hospitals nearly doubled. In 2012, the state legalized recreational marijuana." Dr. LaPook equivocates CHS with cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS), but the two are not the same. CVS is caused by any number of things. [...] "The authors reviewed 2,574 visits and identified 36 patients diagnosed with cyclic vomiting over 128 visits. The prevalence of cyclic vomiting visits increased from 41 per 113,262 ED visits to 87 per 125,095 ED visits after marijuana liberalization..." This corresponds to an increase from 0.036 percent of visits to 0.07 percent of visits. This seems hardly significant to warrant concern, especially since the data comes from two hospitals and there is no indication of controlling for other factors, such as migraines or childhood history. In other words, this 'study' appears to be manufactured to make its point.

Finally, the United Nations is beginning a process that may lead to the alteration of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs:

The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) recently met and initiated the first steps in a long process that could lead to the rescheduling of medical marijuana under international law, and has committed to hold a special session to discuss medical marijuana in the next eighteen months.

[...] According to an extract from the 38th Expert Committee on Drug Dependence that convened from November 14-18 in Geneva, the committee recognized an increase in the use of cannabis and its components for medical purposes, the emergence of new cannabis-related pharmaceutical preparations for therapeutic use, and that cannabis has never been subject to a formal pre-review or critical review by the ECDD. Over the next eighteen months, the committee has requested pre-reviews for cannabis plant matter, extracts and tinctures, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and stereoisomers of THC. This pre-review is a preliminary analysis used to determine if a more in-depth critical review will be undertaken by the ECDD, and will represent the first new scientific guidance on marijuana to the United Nations since 1935, when cannabis was first classified as a Schedule I/IV substance by the Health Committee of the League of Nations.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday January 03 2017, @06:23AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 03 2017, @06:23AM (#448803) Journal

    Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and Washington: No social capital.

    Some states: No social capital if medical card is easily obtainable. Social ability to talk to a chuckling pothead doctor for 5 minutes.

    Other states: In crowd if medical card is restricted to actual conditions (no anxiety/stress prescriptions).

    Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming: In crowd or black market. Not legally obtainable or extremely restricted medical use (such as deathbed disorders or non-psychoactive CBD oil only).

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  • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Tuesday January 03 2017, @09:54AM

    by t-3 (4907) on Tuesday January 03 2017, @09:54AM (#448839)

    Even in states that restrict medical cards to physical conditions, getting approved is just a formality. Judges, police, and prosecutor all laughed and told me "that doesn't matter", when I said I didn't have a card because I was healthy.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday January 03 2017, @12:33PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 03 2017, @12:33PM (#448872) Journal

      I sense privilege! ______ privilege!!!

      If the police decide to go after you, you'll wish you had that formality. If the feds decide to go after you, that formality won't help.

      And I think you'll find that certain states [wikipedia.org] are very strict on this issue, because they don't want the system ending up like your state's, or at least want to resist that state of affairs:

      • Oklahoma: governor Mary Fallin signed a bill legalizing cannabis oils for children with epilepsy
      • Pennsylvania: For medical use only. Signed by Governor Wolf on April 17, 2016. Possession of 30g or less is a misdemeanor resulting in up to 30 days incarceration and a fine of up to $500. Possession of more than 30g is a misdemeanor netting up to a year in jail and a $5000 fine.
      • South Carolina: governor Nikki Haley signed into law Senate Bill 1035, "Julian's Law", following a unanimous Senate vote and a 92–5 House vote. The law allows children with severe epilepsy to be treated with CBD oil if recommended by a physician.
      • South Dakota: Personal use possession of 2 oz or less is a Class 1 misdemeanor which is punishable by a maximum sentence of 1 year imprisonment and a maximum fine of $2,000.
      • Tennessee: First-time possession offenders can complete one year of supervised probation instead of criminal penalty of one year incarceration; *Possession of 1/2 ounce or more is automatic felony charge: possession for resale. Cannabis oil possession, as of Monday, May 4, 2015, is allowed, due to newly signed legislation, if a person is suffering seizures or epilepsy and has the recommendation of their doctor.
      • Wisconsin: A first offense for possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 6 months. A second offense is a Class I felony and is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 3.5 years.

      Formality? People in those states wish!

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