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Opioid commission's anti-marijuana argument stirs anger
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, head of the presidential commission on opioids, warned of the dangers of marijuana in a letter to President Donald Trump earlier this month about the panel's findings, saying the current push for marijuana legalization could further fuel the opioid epidemic.
"There is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential for marijuana. This mirrors the lack of data in the 1990s and early 2000s when opioid prescribing multiplied across health care settings and led to the current epidemic of abuse, misuse and addiction," Christie wrote in the letter, which was released with the commission's final report.
"The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic."
[...] But some experts say the commission's fixation on marijuana was bizarre and troubling, lending credence to outdated views of marijuana as a gateway drug. And these experts want to nip such thinking in the bud.
They emphasized that they support efforts to curb the nation's opioid epidemic, but not the demonization of marijuana in the process.
"I was surprised to see negative language about marijuana in the opioid report," said Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, a professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Research that examines pain and marijuana shows that marijuana use significantly reduces pain. In addition, the majority of studies examining marijuana and opioids show that marijuana use is associated with less opioid use and less opioid-related deaths."
You had one job.
Previously:
Study Finds That Legalized Medical Cannabis Led to a Decline in Medicare Prescriptions
New Attorney General Claims Legal Weed Drives Violent Crime; Statistics be Damned
4/20: The Third Time's Not the Charm
Jeff Sessions Reboots the Drug War
President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
According to Gallup, American Support for Cannabis Legalization is at an All-Time High
Opioid Crisis Official; Insys Therapeutics Billionaire Founder Charged; Walgreens Stocks Narcan
FDA Blocks More Imports of Kratom, Warns Against Use as a Treatment for Opioid Withdrawal
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:44AM (2 children)
They didn't fail. They did exactly what their pharma donors wanted them to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @07:11PM (1 child)
that's right -- when the summary had the line 'Christie wrote in the letter" that told me right away that it was written by the pharmaceutical industry.
synthetic opoids have various patent protections and a giant industry to vouch for their use. Marijuana... it's a weed.. various potency. wild and uncouth, only illegals and immigrants use it because they can't afford to be productive members of society due to their natural uncouthness.
now, if they had a giant syntheic cbd and thc industry already in place, I am sure poppies would be harmful but for now no one is talking about legalizing poppies so synethic opiods are positive and natural unpatented products are harmful because all wild anything can kill you unless it increases shareholder value, then please take more.
(Score: 1) by evilcam on Friday November 17 2017, @02:22AM
Not to mention decriminalising marijuana would result in far fewer disenfranchised black and latino voters, not to mention lower profits from for-profit prisons...
GOP couldn't have that...
(Score: 4, Funny) by VanessaE on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:58AM (3 children)
Well, they've certainly got the right idea. Maybe they ought to argue for anti-cannabis folks to take a nip of some bud while they're at it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday November 16 2017, @01:11PM (2 children)
Can't be done. Fatso would be compelled to immediately try heroin and PCP [reason.com] after taking the first puff, and Jeff might have to kill his dealer [theconversation.com].
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(Score: 2) by VanessaE on Thursday November 16 2017, @03:59PM (1 child)
Jeez, I was going for funny here. Tough audience. :-P
(Score: 5, Funny) by LoRdTAW on Thursday November 16 2017, @04:23PM
Funny? You think getting Chris Christie high is a fucking joke? There arent enough buffets in Trenton to keep him from turning on people.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @09:32AM (2 children)
The reasons for the lack of data are different but very telling.
- Lack of data about marijuana is due to government restrictions on medical research.
- Lack of data about opioids was due to big pharma hiding the truth so they could sell more pills and produce more addicts.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 16 2017, @01:00PM
FDA Blocks More Imports of Kratom, Warns Against Use as a Treatment for Opioid Withdrawal [soylentnews.org]
1. We don't approve of using kratom to treat opioid withdrawal.
2. We understand that people are interested in using kratom as a treatment, and we encourage you to conduct the research to help us understand the risks and benefits.
3. By the way, we are seizing shipments of kratom even though it isn't a scheduled substance.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday November 16 2017, @06:55PM
> Lack of data about marijuana is due to government restrictions on medical research.
The people in government were in the right age range in the sixties. It would be surprising to hear that they all didn't inhale. Are they all addicts now?
I thought those religious guys always pushed their personal beliefs and experience as more important than silly academics.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Thursday November 16 2017, @12:35PM (2 children)
This commission knowingly and willingly failed to act in the best interests of the US population, and for that, they should be held accountable. They have spread dangerous misinformation. They are attempting to block a benign medication in favor of, quite frankly, extremely dangerous opioid painkillers. Who paid them? No informed person makes this recommendation, despite the science, despite common sense, unless money was involved.
Pharmaceutical companies who make prescription opioid drugs have caused this epidemic. People get these dangerous and powerful drugs handed out to them by respected medical practitioners after surgeries. People, at this point, think very very hard if you need the pills or not! Do without if at all possible. Yes, a doctor gave them to you. Yes everyone takes them. But they are extremely dangerous! You think you won't be hitting the street for a much cheaper and available fix in a very short time? You have no idea of the power of those pills. When they cut you off from your prescription you may very well find out.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Thursday November 16 2017, @12:54PM (1 child)
Chris Christie: Does he have ties to the mob? Would his hypothetical mob friends prefer to see cannabis stay illegal?
Do any of the Commission members have ties to the cartels? By the time we figure it out, a lot more people will have died.
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday November 16 2017, @08:38PM
More likely Christie has ties to the pharmaceutical companies that make Oxycontin and the like. What has been reported in states that have legalized Cannabis is a drop in opioid addiction/use so big pharma would not want Cannabis legalized at the Federal level since it would really start to cut into their profits.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @12:45PM (3 children)
...than to have smoked THE DEVIL'S LETTUCE!
Honestly I think Big Pharma will be OK with MJ only after they develop a prescription pain pill dervied from it that they can sell you.
--Ashley
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday November 16 2017, @12:56PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol#Brand_names [wikipedia.org]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @09:50PM
From what i can gather this is not liked. Probably the mix is important no cbd or any of the other (variable) components.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday November 16 2017, @03:09PM
Nope, that would make them even more opposed to it - who needs competition from an organically grown weed?
Case in point - how are opium poppies doing in the U.S.?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @01:38PM (2 children)
That fat fuck is a self dick sucking pig. Has anyone ever been able to overdose on a joint no matter what potency the weed is? No, you get too high to take another puff. Abuse what? It reduces my pain better than fentanyl without the fentanyl side effects like... severe constipation then diarrhea, loss of memory, depression of the senses, terrible addiction and withdrawals, etc. The medical marijuana is also safer because you never know what the street drugs are laced with. It took almost a year for the doctor to ween me off the fentanyl, never again.
(Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday November 16 2017, @08:47PM (1 child)
To the best of my knowledge there has only been one death that was claimed to be from an overdose of Cannabis, Bob Marley. And that claim has been challenged by other doctors. In the entire history of Cannabis use there have been no other deaths attributed to the use/over use of the substance. Deaths caused by operating machinery, etc. are of course another matter. But alcohol is still responsible for more deaths each year just from it's toxicity than from people driving while under the influence of Cannabis.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @07:46PM
didn't bob marley go to austria or some shit to be cured of cancer but it didn't work and he died? never heard this smoked himself to death bullshit (besides lung disease from smoking too damn much plant matter) before.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 16 2017, @02:37PM (2 children)
is that the number of criminal dope dealers does not scale down when part of their product line becomes legal. So what you have is (from their perspective) a product line that is now no longer marketable, and so they are moving into other markets. Specifically opiods.
Drug dealing is the same as any other market. At the end of the day you have to make your numbers.
We all know that the "gateway drug" argument used for decades was total bullshit. But there is an economic argument that, the number of drug dealers vs. the available market share of dollars (dollars being the commodity being traded rather than the drugs) is going to stay relatively fixed regardless of which drugs are and aren't legal.
So the bigger solution is to produce less dope dealers. But that would require parents take responsibility for the emotional abuse they allow Hollywood and the social media networks inflict on their children. Because the dope market does no where near the scale of harm being caused by those institutions. The production of dope dealers and addicts has less to do with the laws ability to lock people up, than it does with our societies effort to abuse itself. Fix that, and the other resolves itself.
By the AMA definition of "addiction", TV is way worse than heroine ever was. And in truth, probably a lot of the revenues from dope are being used to venture fund TV shows and major motion pictures. The reason I say that, is that the formats you're seeing in a lot of mainstream content suggest a pathology that is consistent with criminal behavior.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Thursday November 16 2017, @03:27PM (1 child)
Umm, no. Dealers sell what the market is buying. They may try to convince you to buy more profitable drugs - but to do that they need to talk to you. And if you're buying your weed legally, they never get that opportunity.
Meanwhile, almost everywhere marijuana is legalized we're seeing a decline in both opioid and alcohol use, as people move to a safer and often more pleasant recreational drug.
Drug dealing is the same as any other market - when the market collapses, the merchants start looking for other work. In fact, they mostly already have it.
There have been some interesting exposes on the drug trade - the fact is that drug dealing isn't actually very profitable for the dealers themselves, they mostly already have to also work a legitimate job just to make ends meet. It's quite lucrative for the major distributors, the "kingpins" and their immediate flunkies, but that's a very small part of the workforce. As you move down the hierarchy the profits dry up, and the small-time distributors are mostly just putting on a show of false wealth in order to attract would-be dealers with false promises of lucrative profits to be made in the face of very real dangers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 17 2017, @12:38AM
they mostly already have to also work a legitimate job just to make ends meet
Not really. It is a good theory. But having been exposed to this world for a few years I can safely say they are just fucking morons. One dude my wife dealt with? He would get nearly 100-300 bucks a day cash tax free. He also had gov subsidies and lived section 8. I back of the envelope estimated he was clearing 3-6k a month cash on top of the 1200 or so of gov benefits he got. He had NO clue how much he had coming or going. He would regularly do his shopping at the local gas station. Flashy junk that was broke in a week. He had zero clue how to actually do better by himself. Hell I kinda felt sorry for the dipshit. I would give him financial advice and how to save money. No clue. After we got out of that world and all of his customers dried up last I heard he had to get a real job (which screwed his section 8 and SS benefits) he is making about 800 a month now (before taxes). He was begging around a few weeks ago to try to get 100 bucks to pay 500 bucks worth of speeding tickets. If they get a real job it means they lose their SS, food stamp, and section 8 benefits. The system is perversely rigged to create the very environment they want to get rid of.
Legalizing it would actually screw a lot of people. It would also help a lot of people. I would say it would help more than harm.
Also if anyone tells you that smoking weed will help with withdrawal symptoms does not know what they are talking about. Swing by a NA meeting and you will find out PDQ.