The association between cannabis vaping and other substance use
Research Highlights
Around a third of past 12-month cannabis users report cannabis vaping.
Proportion of cannabis vapers is higher among younger cannabis users.
Cannabis vapers have higher likelihood of using other substances.
Younger cannabis vapers are at risk of using more other substances.
Conclusions: Overall, the findings suggested that cannabis vaping was associated with the use of other substances such as alcohol, cigars, cigarettes, other tobacco products, illicit drugs, and prescription drug misuse. The use of cannabis vapes was also higher among youths and adolescents and was observed to decrease with increasing age.
It appears that here in Australia the same State and Federal problems are emerging that are being experienced in the U.S now?
In the U.S. the States were able to ‘go on their own’. Early inconsistencies between state and federal cannabis regulation prevented and/or discouraged the cannabis industry from complying with Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) requirements. Cannabis products are promoted as safe and attributed with providing effective therapeutic treatment for numerous medical conditions.
Disparities between federal and state cannabis regulation, coupled with protracted federal enforcement, have facilitated the proliferation of a multi–billion dollar cannabis industry that generally evades compliance with federal consumerprotection laws. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) established regulatory pathways for the lawful development of products such as food, drugs, and dietary supplements. The FDCA uses a science-based approach to protect consumers from harmful products, but early inconsistencies between state and federal cannabis regulation prevented and/or discouraged the cannabis industry from complying with FDCA requirements. Cannabis products are promoted as safe and attributed with providing effective therapeutic treatment for numerous medical conditions, yet the claims often lack the rigorous evidence-based support typically expected by regulators and the medical community. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its expectation that cannabidiol (CBD) products comply with the FDCA and follow a science-based approach to product development. The FDA is addressing violations involving unsubstantiated CBD health claims and is working to clarify the future regulatory pathway for CBD products.Meanwhile, the state-approved cannabis market continues to operate, selling numerous products that have circumvented the FDCA consumer protections. This article examines the need for strengthening consumer protections in the cannabis market. We use evidence-based medicine as a model to address the importance of science-based product development and to contextualize a science-based comparison of regulatory pathways for cannabis drugs, food, and dietary supplements.
Environmentalists, Policy Makers, Futurists, Communities, Families, and anyone who cares about the well-being of our planet, cannot – must not – endorse, enable, or empower cannabis use. Only the in-toxic-ated don’t care about the environmental catastrophe that is the #cannabisindustry.
“It's an incredibly, unusually energy intensive activity,” said Dr Evan Mills, a Californian energy scientist who was one of the first to examine the environmental impact of indoor cannabis cultivation. In a landmark study in 2011 Mills estimated that each kilo of weed grown indoor in the U.S. takes 6,074 kilowatt-hours of electricity to produce… Every kilo of weed grown in UK illegal cannabis farms produces the same carbon emissions as a return flight from London to New York.” Vice – Illegal Cannabis Farms are Making Climate Crisis Worse
“The cannabis industry accounts of 1% of the US total Energy use, equivalent to the energy use to 1.7 million homes…The emission associated with producing just one kilogram of Weed is equivalent to driving across the continental United States 11 x in 44 mile per gallon car.” Dr E Mills (Source: Why weed isn't sustainable.)
Most of this data was from 2012! Guess what’s happening now!?
This addiction for profit industry is a not only addicted to energy, but it is also a ‘gift’ that just keeps on TAKING – Not least from our precious environment.
Whilst many pro-pot activists are screaming for the closure of fossil fuel driven power sources, the same are drawing down even harder on the already taxed power-grid for their Indoor pot-producing practices.
A 2020 study of the environmental impact of Colorado’s indoor cannabis grows saw it exceed the Coal Industries greenhouse gas output!
Sustainable Cannabis Policy in California: Addressing the Legal Cannabis Industry’s Carbon Footprint: As cannabis cultivation can be highly energy-intensive, the legalization of cannabis growing has created concerns for energy forecasting, electric system reliability, rate design, and energy efficiency policies, as well as possible ramifications for the state’s electricity grid (California Energy Commission, 2018b). Indoor cannabis cultivation in California accounts for 3% of the state’s total energy consumption (Mills, 2012), and as the industry continues to grow, its energy consumption will result in significant greenhouse gas emissions, unless otherwise mitigated (Warren, 2015). The addition of a new industry that is highly energy-intensive, such as the legalized cannabis industry, is a problem for California. The legalized cannabis industry’s high demand for energy consumption will result in significant greenhouse gas emissions, leading to higher concentrations in the atmosphere, and may adversely affect local governments’ climate goals, if renewable energy and energy efficiency standards are not incorporated when developing local cannabis regulations in accordance with new state regulations.
1. Marijuana growers are responsible for theft of water during droughts.
2. This water is needed elsewhere to grow food and to fight wild fires, and for human use.
3. Many “legal” and all illegal marijuana grows are not regulated safely.
4. The increase in water theft has exposed the vulnerabilities in the state systems to secure water and the complications of weak marijuana law enforcement.
5. Current marijuana cultivation activities have led to significant environmental impacts, including habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation or burying of streams, diversion of surface waters, and impacts to water quality, including sediment, garbage, pesticides, and petroleum products.
6. Intimidation by marijuana growers is an impediment to more robust reporting and enforcement.
7. Much of the marijuana industry is out of control and has made water more scarce and more polluted.
8. Lack of clean water and pollution is killing wildlife.
9. Although there may be some regulations, there are massive number of illegal grows that are not regulated.
Conclusion: The states that have legalized marijuana and do not really regulate marijuana growing must choose. They cannot continue as they are and have water and wildlife and weed.
Are Marijuana Growers Sucking California Dry? “Adult marijuana plants use 5 to 10 gallons of water a day…we estimate that marijuana cultivation in watersheds can consume all of the stream flow…”
And remember, when we distil this all down to its base elements – a growing addiction ensnared demographic are stripping, wrecking, and depleting our precious natural resources so some people can manufacture a more potent means of getting…‘stoned’!
All the other verbiage around this is psychotropic environmental wrecking ball is just a ‘smoke-screen’ intended to get you to look the other way from this shocking environmental catastrophe.
Cannabis giant to slash its workforce by 60% as the legal pot industry’s recent boom goes bust amid a haze of finger-pointing
February 10, 2023
Canopy Growth, backed by Corona beermaker Constellation Brands Inc., will close major operations and cut 60% of its jobs as it says Canada’s marijuana industry has failed to meet expectations due to competition from a thriving black market.
The scaling back of Canada’s second-largest pot producer is the second restructuring in less than 12 months. Together with job cuts announced in April, Canopy estimates it can save as much as C$310 million ($230 million) and be profitable, helping it become the right size for Canada, and enter the US through Canopy USA. On a conference call, Chief Executive Officer David Klein cited Canada’s thriving illicit market for revenue declines.
“Today, there are two very different cannabis markets in Canada. One that’s legal, highly taxed and regulated, and one that’s thriving and illicit,” he said, estimating that the black market represents about 40% of Canada’s overall cannabis sales. That has meant that the $7 billion marijuana market that was supposed to materialize in Canada hasn’t come to fruition, Klein said, and forces companies like his to try to compete on price with illegal operators who don’t have to pay taxes.
Canopy Growth, backed by Corona beermaker Constellation Brands Inc., will close major operations and cut 60% of its jobs as it says Canada’s marijuana industry has failed to meet expectations due to competition from a thriving black market.
The scaling back of Canada’s second-largest pot producer is the second restructuring in less than 12 months. Together with job cuts announced in April, Canopy estimates it can save as much as C$310 million ($230 million) and be profitable, helping it become the right size for Canada, and enter the US through Canopy USA. On a conference call, Chief Executive Officer David Klein cited Canada’s thriving illicit market for revenue declines.
“Today, there are two very different cannabis markets in Canada. One that’s legal, highly taxed and regulated, and one that’s thriving and illicit,” he said, estimating that the black market represents about 40% of Canada’s overall cannabis sales. That has meant that the $7 billion marijuana market that was supposed to materialize in Canada hasn’t come to fruition, Klein said, and forces companies like his to try to compete on price with illegal operators who don’t have to pay taxes.
Shares fell as much as 18% in Thursday trading.
It’s a massive shakeup for a business that was once the standard-bearer for Canada’s pot sector after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government legalized the use of recreational marijuana in 2018. That same year, Constellation, the marketer of Corona beer and Robert Mondavi wines, struck a multibillion-dollar deal that gave it a 38% stake in the cannabis firm.
Canopy was Canada’s most valuable marijuana company — now it’s second to Tilray Inc. — and at one point its stock-market value rose to nearly $20 billion. But business results have fallen far short of expectations and it has never been able to fully realize Constellation’s high hopes for pot-infused beverages.
(So, now what will the Government do? Cut taxes to give the industry a boost? If so, then the already scarce revenues being consumed by compliance, bureaucracy, enforcement of regulations, the continuing policing of the on going illicit market, and the growing health and mental health costs – are going to be reduced even more. Hmmm? So much for the cornucopia of cannabis! – Dalgarno Institute)
What about Weed & Water?
