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Cannabis & Suicide – Causal and Correlate?

Details
31 May 2021
549

Taking one’s own life, is an incredibly egregious thing, and for some, tragically, it is a decision made after a long (and in their eyes) unwinnable battle with a psycho-emotional or physical foe that has gained such overwhelming dominance, that an end is sought – it may not be death (a permanent ‘solution’ to an often-impermanent issue) but an out?

Profoundly sad and heart-breaking, but perhaps understandable in a perceived relentlessly hopeless and oppressive context.

Yet, more and more suicides are not the result of this long battle, rather the outcome of a misadventure, or worse a self-induced internal chaos that only drug use can precipitate.

Cannabis is a leading contender in the drug involved suicide stakes.

CannabisSuicide

The pro-pot propagandist, like most such lobbyists, work tirelessly to polish the ‘metal’ of what they believe are their ‘shining’ arguments for position of liberality, but you will not hear them wax philosophically about this ghastly outcome.  However, what they can do is attempt to divert and deflect, and a no more consistently used tactic is the causation verses correlation one.

“Cannabis does not lead to suicide; at worst it just appears as a correlate in it!”

Semantics and convoluted nomenclature are all part of the inevitable drug user’s denial repertoire.  Yet to play games with such a shocking outcome and work tirelessly to deny, deflect, or divert attention away for Cannabis clear implication in suicide is outrageous.

Whether it be directly, through mental health induction; use evoked delusional states; or THC fuelled misadventure, the link is both correlate and causal. Ah, but the addiction for profit industry must downplay all negative impacts of their product and the ‘spliff’ toking spin doctors bring their spurious speculations to the marketplace, attempting to lead you away from this utterly unacceptable product outcome.

The addicted don’t care! The dabbler doesn’t want to know! The non-cannabis using family member is grieved and distressed, because only they can see past the toxic smokescreen.

So, what does the evidence tell us? What is the mounting research on Cannabis involvement in suicide and all the attending mental health issues reveal?

Mental Health Harms and Suicide – a connection?

As research has begun to intensify around this burgeoning addiction for profit industry, one would think the pro-pot lobby, as with the tobacco lobby, would be employing researchers to craft not only positive projections on potentials, (still waiting for any predictions of life-changing benefits to emerge), but data sets and evidence that will, if not disprove, then cast serious doubt on the mounting evidence of the harms of this product, not least in the mental health and the suicide context.

Certainly, some have tried, with one 2018 longitudinal study of a specific male military cohort seemingly to conclude that cannabis use had little direct impact on suicide completion, though it was strongly associated with suicide,

Although there was a strong association between cannabis use and suicide, this was explained by markers of psychological and behavioural problems. These results suggest that cannabis use is unlikely to have a strong effect on risk of completed suicide, either directly or as a consequence of mental health problems secondary to its use.

Cannabis and suicide: longitudinal study | The British Journal of Psychiatry

Whilst this study confirmed correlation, it could be argued from this snapshot, that cannabis use does not lead to suicide completion.

This study was echoing (in part) a previous longitudinal study published 5 years earlier in the Journal of Health Economics Volume 32, examining a ‘from birth’ cohort concluded that cannabis use does lead to suicide ideation, but not the reverse, which is interesting in and of itself.

Our empirical analysis is based on a 30-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort. We find that intensive cannabis use – at least several times per week – leads to a higher transition rate into suicidal ideation for males. We find no evidence that suicidal ideation leads to cannabis use for either males or females.

 So, we have clear and consistent evidence of correlation with ideation, but not yet on suicide completion.

Chicken or Egg?

The idea that cannabis causes mental health issues was in flux some 10 years ago, with some evidence suggesting that people with a pre-existing condition may be pre-disposed to seek out cannabis, and once engaged, the ‘trigger’ so to speak on cannabis induced psychosis was pulled.

However, this once held position that only those with a pre-disposition for mental health risks were the ones who could experience psychosis has been put to rest. Some robust research published JAMA Psychiatry in 2018 revealed the following,

Cannabis use directly increases the risk for psychosis in teens, new research suggests. A large prospective study of teens shows that "in adolescents, cannabis use is harmful" with respect to psychosis risk, study author Patricia J. Conrod, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of Montreal, Canada, told Medscape Medical News. The effect was observed for the entire cohort. This finding, said Conrod, means that all young cannabis users face psychosis risk, not just those with a family history of schizophrenia or a biological factor that increases their susceptibility to the effects of cannabis. "The whole population is prone to have this risk," she said.

Psychosis, whether a temporary outcome of a cannabis use episode, or more permanent state due to ongoing use of the substance, is a clear driving factor in many, if not most cannabis involved suicide attempts and completions – again, at the very least correlation is proven.

Of course, the wealth of literature on the link of Cannabis use with poor mental health outcomes is staggering, so the reality of these harms are clear.

Yet there is growing research on cannabis use with suicide in direct impact on suicidality in all its stages.

Cannabis has been touted as a possible aid for managing PTSD. This has proven not only incorrect, but counterproductive. Yet, such is the power of pot-propaganda, and the incessant use of many who have bought this error, that they continue to self-medicate that condition with a proven propellant of even greater mental health issues.

Just last year the Journal of Affective Disorders published research on Cannabis impact on suicidality in US Veteran Population  

Cannabis use and CUD are associated with substantial psychiatric and suicide-related burden among veterans, highlighting the need for screening, education, and treatment to mitigate potential cannabis-related harm. These veterans were also more likely to report suicidal ideation and attempt.

Suicide ideation attempts and completions that are driven by mental health disorders are well established, and this is where the pro-pot ideologues seek to muddy the water of research. As mentioned earlier, pro-pot researchers (taking from the Big Tobacco play book) might even concede correlation, but work tirelessly to extinguish notions of causation.

Yet, as this public health nightmare grows, both evidence and research are beginning to follow.

A 2017 study published in Medscape concluded there was a…

"Robust" Link. By contrast, both early and frequent cannabis use were "robustly associated" with MDD [Major Depressive Disorders] as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviours, with adjusted ORs ranging from 1.28 to 2.38, after adjustment for covariates.

These significant associations persisted, even when the researchers excluded lifetime never-users of cannabis from the analysis. Frequent users were twice as likely to report suicidal ideation and attempt than were lifetime but less-frequent users.

In February 2019 Medical Xpress News publish findings from a Canadian Study on Cannabis use in teens and the subsequent risk of depression and suicidality in that later younger adult cohort. This research

They found that cannabis use among adolescents is associated with a significant increased risk of depression and suicidality in adulthood (not anxiety). While the individual-level risk was found to be modest, the widespread use of the drug by young people makes the scale of the risk much more serious.

The researchers went on to say that this new evidence ‘filled a gap’ in research and was vital in developing better understanding and better public health strategies.

Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University and a scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, states: 'While the link between cannabis and mood regulation has been largely studied in preclinical studies, there was still a gap in clinical studies regarding the systematic evaluation of the link between adolescent cannabis consumption and the risk of depression and suicidal behaviour in young adulthood. This study aimed to fill this gap, helping mental health professionals and parents to better address this problem.'

Professor Andrea Cipriani, NIHR Research Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said: ‘We looked at the effects of cannabis because its use among young people is so common, but the long-term effects are still poorly understood. We carefully selected the best studies carried out since 1993 and included only the methodologically sound ones to rule out important confounding factors, such as premorbid depression.

‘Our findings about depression and suicidality are very relevant for clinical practice and public health. Although the size of the negative effects of cannabis can vary between individual adolescents and it is not possible to predict the exact risk for each teenager, the widespread use of cannabis among the young generations makes it an important public health issue.
‘Regular use during adolescence is associated with lower achievement at school, addiction, psychosis and neuropsychological decline, increased risk of motor vehicle crashes, as well as the respiratory problems that are associated with smoking.
’

Again, the research points unequivocally to correlation and is also starting to intractably link cannabis induced depression, suicidal ideation, and attempt.

 

Suicide, Cannabis & Colorado

With the US State of Colorado being ‘ground zero’ for full legalisation of cannabis it is important to look at the data emerging from that jurisdiction on suicide.

Colorado has tracked suicides before and after legalisation, and policy makers should be alarmed by the results.

The numbers show an increasing number of suicides by year and by age group.  The youngest group (10 – 14 yo) have increased nearly 270% from 2005-08 to 2013-16.  The next age group (15 – 19 years) increased by 133% over the same period. The 20-24 years group increased by 128% over the same time period. All of these jumps are very significant.

On the Colorado Centre for Health & Environment website: Suicides in Colorado data page, you will see that Marijuana is the number one substance found in suicide completions in Colorado youth between 15-19 years old.

Yes, correlation confirmed again, but is cannabis, not alcohol or other drugs that is party to this shocking outcome. Many conclusions can be drawn from this, including the fact that self-medicating distress with weed does not help prevent escalation to suicidal ideation, but adds to it, confirming previous research.

Self-harm and other preludes to suicide attempts and completions, particularly among young males, has also been affirmed by recent research published in JAMA earlier this year. The research also review by Stanford Medicine, found that aggressive permission models of use, including ‘commercialisation’ of the product for recreational use are clear contributors to self-harm and the harm of others.

Conclusion

The metaphorical ice upon which cannabis harm deniers skate, is thawing with the growing research of cannabis direct link to all phases of suicide.  Tragically the unwillingness of both civil and medical governing agencies to act, at the very least, cautiously on greater cannabis use liberalization is disturbing.

Young male cohorts seem most vulnerable to this burgeoning mental and public health crisis.

For more information on this cannabis connection to suicide go to Impact of Marijuana on Adolescent Suicide. 

DrRogersCannabisRegulation

Also see  Associations of Suicidality Trends With Cannabis Use as a Function of Sex and Depression Status

 

If you are struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide, please contact your local mental health care professional, addiction specialist/counsellor or call your local community ‘Help-Line’

 

Research Team – Dalgarno Institute

 

 

 

 

 

Union Says – Legalize Cannabis!?

Details
21 May 2021
322

Legal marijuana push gathers steam in Victoria – with powerful union urging government to raise huge amounts by taxing the drug

        • A powerful health union are pushing for Victoria to legalise recreation cannabis 
        • The Health and Community Services Union want Victoria to grow and sell weed 
        • They argue the billions in tax revenue could be spend on social services 

Attention Grabbing Headline with ‘arguments’ that are not only nothing but overused ‘memes’ but that have been proven faulty and, in some instances, utter failures in the real world. But hey, let’s not let facts get in the way of ‘good sound-byte’? (https://twitter.com/LeviJParsons87)

Mantras and messages that sound ‘logical’ (especially to the time poor and pop-culture weary and majority non-weed using citizen) but have no basis in purported outcomes are all part of the Pro-pot propaganda process.

SmokescreenOnlyWEED

 

You will note in the article the classic mix-messaging with ‘decriminalisation, legalisation, commercialisation’ terms and/or ideas all thrown into the superficial narrative. Again, that is the idea – create hazy definitions and generate dubious impressions to get the uniformed thinking ‘positively’ about legalising weed as an option. And, of course, throw in the term ‘medical’ and you have people ponding the possibilities of what might be?

Yet, a simple spelunking of the already overwhelming data on just the small sample of evidence below, would inform any caring community, family, and children well-being focused individual, that this is not only a bad idea, but a failed one,

    • Failed promises of revenue – utterly – net deficits all round, not including blow outs in escalating health costs. (“For every dollar gained in tax revenue, Coloradans spent approximately $4.50 to mitigate the effects of legalization.”).
    • Continuing and increasing black market, and the adding of a third ‘grey market’.
    • The lack of evidence of anyone being ‘locked up’ for simply using cannabis is breathtaking (“In total, one tenth of one percent (0.1 percent) of all state prisoners were marijuana possession offenders with no prior sentences.” Bureau of Justice Stats) However, it is what the cannabis user does whilst on the drug that gets the criminal charges.
    • The failing and grossly misrepresented Portugal policy.
    • The public health disaster that greater cannabis use brings.
    • Growing Environmental Disaster and the escalating costs with increasing use.

It is time the truth of the short- and long-term harms of Cannabis were as promoted as robustly as the harms of tobacco – harms that go way beyond the litany of physical harms, but also add the devastating psychological harms that profoundly, and often permanently, impact individuals, their families and the community. An already mental health crisis blown wide open.

If you want to go beyond the ‘sound-byte’, for more evidence, not theory, check out…

  • Lessons Learned from States Marijuana Legalization
  • Cannabis Impact Report – Colorado & California
  • Smokescreen Documentary
  • Cannabis Conundrum Resource Library

Research & Communications Team – Dalgarno Institute

Pot Permission Models, Modes & Mantras All Lead to Greater Consumption

Details
18 May 2021
236

The Dalgarno institute has long posited the consumption principle that, accessibility, acceptability, and availability all increase consumption, and our 2014 published paper warning of such has proven accurate.

With the misanthropic experiment of cannabis use normalisation and legalisation underway in parts of the United States, Uruguay and Canada, we are now able to better measure the extent of impact. Most research in this arena is still very new and limited, as this social experiment is still in early stages.

Australian Professor John Toumbourou and his Deakin University team in the course of their decade long longitudinal studies of comparison with US and Australian youth investigated the impact of such permission models and found that, “Cannabis legalization is associated with increased risk factors – availability, perceived prevalence, acceptability – leading to increased frequency of use (along with increased potency), increased adult use and similar long term harms.”

ToumbourouYOUTUBEILE

Smart Approaches to Marijuana in their “Lessons Learned from State Marijuana Legalization”, saw not only increasing harms from increasing use, but that use amongst 8th, 10th and 12th Graders had increased approximately 40%

Further to that a recently published research in the US only confirms these emerging and public health harming realities.

Effects of Recreational Marijuana Legalization on College Students: A Longitudinal Study of Attitudes, Intentions, and Use Behaviors.

Purpose: As legal recreational marijuana use expands rapidly across the U.S., there is growing concern that this will lead to higher rates of use among college-aged young adults. Given the limited research addressing this issue, a longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the effects of legalizing recreational use on the attitudes, intentions, and marijuana use behaviors of college students in two different legalization contexts, Washington State and Wisconsin.

Results: Ever use, attitude, and intention-to-use scores did not change significantly more in Washington after legalization than in Wisconsin. However, among prior users, the proportion using in the last 28 days rose faster in Washington after legalization that it did in Wisconsin (p < .001).

Conclusions: The findings suggest that legalization had the greatest effects on current marijuana users, who are surrounded by a climate that is increasingly supportive of its use.

For complete research Published: May 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.03.039

 

ImpactLegalization

Research Team – Dalgarno Institute

Nomenclature Matters! Especially when it comes to Pro-Pot Propaganda Narratives.

Details
07 May 2021
404

Whilst cannabis has some exceedingly small therapeutic capacities, their limit and efficacy too are small, with only really two to three approved medicines in play, which include Sativex ® and Epidiolex ®. However, that has not stopped the pro-pot, addiction for profit industry misusing medical phraseology to promote their products, regardless of detrimental impact or simple placebo pass offs.

One health peak body is publicly calling out the pro-pot industries propaganda messaging and ensuring the misleading medical meme of ‘medical marijuana’ isn't entrenched in the public psyche. The Dalgarno Institute have consistently challenged this narrative for over 5 years.  

At least one national peak medical body has taken deliberate and necessary steps to address that marketing manipulation – The College of Psychiatrists Ireland.

The following is a letter to the editor titled, Cannabis and public health—a need to reclaim the narrative, published in Irish Journal of Medical Science on 24th February this year.

The Department of Health recently produced guidance for doctors in which the terms “medical cannabis” and “medicinal cannabis” were appropriately and carefully avoided. However, when launching the program for the public, the Department of Health opted to call it the Medical Cannabis Access Programme which erroneously promotes the idea of cannabis as a medicine. The Department of Health has now set the precedent where politicians largely bypass the Health Product Regulatory Authority in determining what is and what is not a medicine. This is a slippery slope to legalization, as those with non-qualifying conditions, especially chronic pain, will insist that they too are added. Despite the lack of scientific evidence for efficacy, chronic pain is by far the most common reason for dispensing of cannabis-based products in other countries.

The letter outlined, again what all objective science and best practice adhering agencies embrace; that medicine cannot be ‘voted for’ alone. Robust research and thorough and exhaustive clinical trials must inform legislation and prescription around drug use, not emotionally and/or market manipulated political sentiment.

Words matter, and marketers know this – not least the addiction for profit cannabis industry. As far back as 1993, the agenda of using ‘medical marijuana’ was set in motion to ‘convince’ the public that this substance was not only ‘relatively harmless’, but potentially ‘good for you.’

Important to mention also, it is not just Irish Psychiatry that are calling for the upholding of right standards and best-practice, other international peak bodies have been challenging this fallacious narrative of the ‘medical marijuana’. The International Academy on the Science & Impact of Cannabis continue bring science and fact to the table, along with another international peak body and academic Think Tank, The Society for Prevention Research  have joined a growing chorus of concerned scientists, doctors, and researchers challenging not only the over-reaching claims of the industry, but this disturbing process of community misleading manipulation.

Of course, as a significant part of the Dalgarno Institutes education, advocacy, and resourcing mission, we continue to seek to inform the public about the facts being ‘buried’ by pop-culture manipulated and relentless evidence excluding marketing. You will continue to find news and research on Cannabis as Medicine? Along with Cannabis Conundrum and Cannabis Conundrum Continues.

Yours in Better Health and Well-Being, Dalgarno Institute

Celebrating Earth Day by…Cultivating Climate Destroying Cannabis??

Details
22 April 2021
749

Insatiable Demand for Cannabis Has Created a Massive Carbon Footprint – And Other Environmental Harms!

Colorado State University researchers provide the most detailed accounting to date of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.    

By COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY MARCH 8, 2021

 USACannabisGreenHouseMap2021

The life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from indoor cannabis cultivation modeled across the U.S. Credit: Hailey Summers/Colorado State University

It’s no secret that the United States’ $13 billion cannabis industry is big business. Less obvious to many is the environmental toll this booming business is taking, in the form of greenhouse gas emissions from commercial, mostly indoor production.

A new study by Colorado State University researchers provides the most detailed accounting to date of the industry’s carbon footprint, a sum around which there is only limited understanding. What is clear, though, is that consumer demand for cannabis is insatiable and shows no signs of stopping as more states sign on to legalization.

The study, published in Nature Sustainability, was led by graduate student Hailey Summers, whose advisor, Jason Quinn, is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Summers, Quinn and Evan Sproul, a research scientist in mechanical engineering, performed a life-cycle assessment of indoor cannabis operations across the U.S., analyzing the energy and materials required to grow the product, and tallying corresponding greenhouse gas emissions.

They found that greenhouse gas emissions from cannabis production are largely attributed to electricity production and natural gas consumption from indoor environmental controls, high-intensity grow lights, and supplies of carbon dioxide for accelerated plant growth.

“We knew the emissions were going to be large, but because they hadn’t been fully quantified previously, we identified this as a big research opportunity space,” Summers said. “We just wanted to run with it.”

The CSU group’s efforts update previous work by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers, which quantified small-scale grow operations in California and predated the cascade of state-by-state legalization since Colorado was first to legalize in 2012. To date, 36 states have legalized medical use of cannabis, and 15 have legalized recreational use.

Mapping variable emissions

Their research shows that U.S. indoor cannabis cultivation results in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of between 2,283 and 5,184 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of dried flower. Compare that to emissions from electricity use in outdoor and greenhouse cannabis growth, which is 22.7 and 326.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide, respectively, according to the New Frontier Data 2018 Cannabis Energy Report. Those outdoor and greenhouse numbers only consider electricity, while the CSU researchers’ estimate is more comprehensive, but the comparison still highlights the enormously larger footprint of indoor grow operations.

The researchers were surprised to find that heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems held the largest energy demand, with numbers fluctuating depending on the local climate — whether in Florida, which requires excessive dehumidifying, or Colorado, where heating is more important.

The high energy consumption of cannabis is due in part to how the product is regulated, Quinn said. In Colorado, many grow operations are required to be in close proximity to retail storefronts, and this has caused an explosion of energy-hungry indoor warehouses in urban areas like Denver. According to a report from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, electricity use from cannabis cultivation and other products grew from 1% to 4% of Denver’s total electricity consumption between 2013 and 2018.

For complete article Insatiable Demand for Cannabis Has Created a Massive Carbon Footprint (scitechdaily.com)

 

Colorado's legal cannabis farms emit more carbon than its coal mines.

Legal cannabis production in Colorado emits more greenhouse gases than the state’s coal mining industry, researchers analysing the sector’s energy use have found.

Hailey Summers and her colleagues at Colorado State University have quantified and analysed the greenhouse gas emissions produced by cannabis growers.

They found that emissions varied widely by state, from 2.3 to 5.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per kilogram of dried flower produced.

In Colorado, the emissions add up to around 2.6 megatonnes of CO2e, which is more than that from the state’s coal mining at 1.8 megatonnes of CO2e.

“The emissions that come from growing 1 ounce, depending on where it’s grown in the US, is about the same as burning 7 to 16 gallons of gasoline,” says Summers For complete article go to New Scientist 2021

******

Of course, we haven’t even touched on, let alone measured, the impact of the exponentially burgeoning illegal grows, and their contribution to this environmental disaster – including depleting of natural resources at accelerated rate; diminishing water security; potential for growing threat to food security – But the following will give you a little snapshot of what that is beginning to look like…

         

 IndoorGrow              OutdoorGrowDump

Water:

  • To kill bugs, growers soak the plants in chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. The toxic carcinogens are ingested by the consumer or run off directly into scarce water supplies.  (Robert Corey)  
  • Fertilizers with high nitrates are of particular concern as nitrate loading contributes to cyanobacteria which kill fish and animals.
  • The pesticides and poisons used to grow marijuana are leeching into the soil and in turn the watersheds that serve literally millions of people, including the central valley and San Francisco Bay Area. The State Water Resource Board has indicated they don’t test for these toxins, and don’t have adequate resources to expand their operations.
  • Marijuana plants consume 6 to 9 gallons of water per day during the 5-month growing season. There are over 50,000 outdoor cultivation sites, with growers depleting streams and water tables. The average number of plants grown at each site is not determined, but taking a range of 100 to 1,000 plants, the water consumption would range from 4.5 to 45 billion gallons a year. California is already in drought conditions while the illicit marijuana industry is sucking the state dry.

OutgrowWaterUseSanfranciso

If that’s not enough, what about….

Soil: 

  • Poisons, chemicals, and illegal fertilizers are commonly used in both permitted and unpermitted grows. These are left to leach into and accumulate in the soil. 
  • Planting cannabis for commercial production in remote locations is creating forest fragmentation, stream modification, soil erosion and landslides.  

Animals and habitat:  video link  

  • Marijuana cultivation in California and other states has caused great harm to our wildlife, including endangered species such as the Spotted Owl, Pacific Fisher and Humboldt Marten and potentially irreparable damage to salmon and steelhead populations. 
  • Use of the banned pesticide Carbofuran, so toxic that 1/8th of a teaspoon can kill a 300 lb. bear, has been found at 70% of the grow sites not licensed by the state. 
  • Diversions of streams for marijuana cultivation effectively dewaters all downstream habitat displacing or killing any water dependent species downstream.

People:

  • Insecticides, fertilizers, etc. not intended for food crops are often used during the growing process. These impurities are found and accumulated in marijuana products. Thousands (if not millions) of marijuana users are poisoning themselves unknowingly. 
  • Research from February 2017 revealed that 93% of marijuana produced in California was laden with dangerous pesticides, yet neither the state nor federal government acted to stop the distribution. This is a threat to health and safety of Americans throughout the US as, according to State and marijuana industry sources, California supplies 60 to 70% of the entire US black market.
  • Marijuana (the plant, including hemp) is a bio-accumulator.  (It was even used to attempt to clean up the Chernobyl site.) It accumulates heavy metals, poisons, and contaminates (even radioactivity) from the soil and concentrates those poisonous components and elements. 
  • Particle concentrations from dabbing and vaporizing cannabis can create levels of indoor air pollution similar to those seen in extreme air pollution events like wildfires and severe industrial pollution. Exposure at these concentrations can cause cardiovascular and respiratory disease.
  • Marijuana corporations have been caught using the notorious Eagle-20 Fungicide on their marijuana plants. Eagle-20 is designed only for outdoor ornamental plants, i.e. outside flowers that you only look at, not plants consumed by humans, and definitely not for indoor enclosed environments. Eagle-20 contains myclobutanil, a chemical which, when heated, turns into hydrogen cyanide, a lethal gas. The effects of this gas are even more pronounced when it is concentrated and stuck into artificial plastic vape pens for heating, which are easier to carry and harder to detect, thus have become the preferred method of consumption for teens, along with glass “dab rigs” that resemble crack pipes.
  • All Marijuana Users Should Be Tested for Heavy Metal Toxicity


Communities:

  • Second-hand pot smoke contaminates multi-unit housing
  • Smells and exhausts impact residents and businesses nearby.
  • Approximately 10% of the population have allergies to marijuana. Those near marijuana grows often have to move to retain their health. 
  • Many wildfires have been linked to marijuana use or campfires at cultivation sites.
  • Butane Hash Oil (BHO) labs have caused numerous explosions often in residential neighborhoods leading to death and severely burned victims.

*(source: AALM: Not Green)

Environmentalism and Drug use are not just incompatible, they are an oxymoron – Yet that is the kicker – Under the influence of psychotropic toxins, and the ‘Stoner Logic’ that ensues, one can convince oneself that ‘everything is fine, and my Weed use really isn’t hurting too much.’

Make it a Happy Earth Day 2021 and Stop the Pot!

For more go to Cultivating Disaster  and www.silentpoison.com

#EnvironmentalJustice

Dalgarno Institute

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The Dalgarno Institute was named after a woman who was a key figure in the early reformation movements of the mid 19th Century. Isabella Dalgarno personified the spirit of a large and growing movement of socially responsible people who had a heart for both social justice and social responsibility....

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