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

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

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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…

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.

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

Younger age of first cannabis use or prescription drug misuse is associated with faster development of substance use disorders

A new study shows that in the time after first trying cannabis or first misusing prescription drugs, the percentages of young people who develop the corresponding substance use disorder are higher among adolescents (ages 12-17) than young adults (ages 18-25). In addition, 30% of young adults develop a heroin use disorder and 25% develop a methamphetamine use disorder a year after first using heroin or methamphetamine. These findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, emphasize the vulnerability of young people to developing substance use disorders.

The younger the initiation to substance use - of any drug - the greater the risk of addiction! This is not news for anyone caring to spelunk the already overwhelming data of drug use impact on the emerging adult.

There is no credible voice in the literature that is denying that there is NO SAFE use of any psychotropic toxin (alcohol included) for the developing brain – up to 25-30 years of age.

Beyond any obvious harms incurred, evidence continues to mount as to the exacerbated risk of developing Substance Use Disorders (SUD). This, of course, is horrendous for anyone, but even more so for the developing brain cohort.

The 'walking back out' of this damaged space is incredibly difficult, and the lost time, potential, capacity, and agency of that drug use experimenting youth cannot really be quantified.

This is yet another vital reason not to increase permission models in relation to Drugs of Dependence. A culture that sets in motion mechanisms that increase access, availability and/or acceptability of drug use, is a 'careless' culture and the intergenerational harms this also facilitates, lands at the feet of those who promote such recklessness.

It's time we stopped this current ‘War FOR Drugs’ and focused, as we did with the anti-smoking QUIT campaign, on preventing, not promoting uptake. One Focus – Once Message – One Voice in all sectors of the community, all focusing on emphasising protective and resiliency building factors into our communities and their families, not demolishing them.

 #DemandReduction #prevention #resilience

For complete article go to National Institute of Health -  Younger age of first cannabis use or prescription drug misuse is associated with faster development of substance use disorders | National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Also See Drug Policy: Building or Demolishing Community Resilience?

Cannabidiol Shows Promise as a Treatment for Cannabis Use Disorder: Boston University School of Medicine

Oh, the Irony! Of course, in the naturally occurring and naturally growing, non-engineered cannabis plant (which no longer exists on the planet - other than perhaps in regions not yet traversed by humans) Cannabidiol (CBD) is the naturally occurring agonist to the psychosis inducing THC compound in cannabis. Naturally growing cannabis historically had around 2% THC, with naturally occurring CBD ‘tempering’ the psychoactive properties of THC.

This investigation into this particular therapeutic potential, is just that, only a potential. However, with the growing research on the negatives of CBD, this may also prove ‘one step forward and two back?’

However, the breathtaking (pardon the pun) irony of all this is that the industry sells you the psychosis inducing cannabis product, then when you are dependent, sells you the 'helper' to manage it – making money going into the user stream, and making money while you attempt to exit the user stream.   

Great business model! Especially for the addition for profit industry that is.

What action negates this entire mess? Not using in the first place! But apparently that is not an option in our public and mental health ‘advancing’, yet drug permitting culture?

For considerably more research go to Cannabis As Medicine Resource Library

The industry lacks randomized controlled clinical trials that can clearly establish benefits and risks.

By ©  Jane E. Brody March 8, 2021

…. of the same health concerns raised decades ago about using marijuana therapeutically are still unresolved, even as the potency of the plant’s intoxicating ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, best known as THC, has increased fivefold. Furthermore, exclusive medical use is uncommon; in a Canadian study of 709 medical users, 80.6 percent also reported using marijuana recreationally.

“People are using a medical excuse for their recreational marijuana habit,” said Dr. Kenneth Finn, a pain management specialist in Colorado Springs and editor of a new, 554-page professional book on the subject, “Cannabis in Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach.”

The evidence — or lack thereof — of health benefits that can be reliably attributed to smoking, vaping or ingesting marijuana, even in its purest form, is described in great detail in Dr. Finn’s book. “Components of the cannabis plant can help in various conditions, but that’s not what people are buying in stores,” he said in an interview. “Let’s do the research on purified, natural, noncontaminated cannabinoids,” as the various potentially therapeutic chemicals in marijuana are called.

Three such substances have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. One, Epidiolex, a cannabidiol-based liquid medication, is approved to treat two forms of severe childhood epilepsy. The others, dronabinol (Marinol, Syndros) and nabilone (Cesamet), are pills used to curb nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients with wasting syndrome.

Another marijuana-based drug, nabiximols (Sativex), is available in Canada and several European countries to treat spasticity and nerve pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Medicinal cannabis is hardly a new therapeutic agent. It was widely used as a patent medicine in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries and was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia until passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937 rendered it illegal.

Then a federal law in 1970 made it a Schedule 1 controlled substance, which greatly restricted access to marijuana for legitimate research. Also complicating attempts to establish medical usefulness is that plants like marijuana contain hundreds of active chemicals, the amounts of which can vary greatly from batch to batch. Unless researchers can study purified substances in known quantities, conclusions about benefits and risks are highly unreliable.

That said, as recounted in Dr. Finn’s book, here are some conclusions reached by experts about the role of medical marijuana in their respective fields:

Pain Management: People using marijuana for pain relief do not reduce their dependence on opioids. In fact, Dr. Finn said, “patients on narcotics who also use marijuana for pain still report their pain level to be 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.” Authors of the chapter on pain, Dr. Peter R. Wilson, pain specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and Dr. Sanjog Pangarkar of the Greater Los Angeles V.A. Healthcare Service, concluded, “Cannabis itself does not produce analgesia and paradoxically might interfere with opioid analgesia.” A 2019 study of 450 adults in the Journal of Addiction Medicine found that medical marijuana not only failed to relieve patients’ pain, it increased their risk of anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

Multiple Sclerosis: Dr. Allen C. Bowling, neurologist at the NeuroHealth Institute in Englewood, Colo., noted that while marijuana has been extensively studied as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, the results of randomized clinical trials have been inconsistent. The trials overall showed some but limited effectiveness, and in one of the largest and longest trials, the placebo performed better in treating spasticity, pain and bladder dysfunction, Dr. Bowling wrote. Most trials used pharmaceutical-grade cannabis that is not available in dispensaries.

Glaucoma: The study suggesting marijuana could reduce the risk of glaucoma dates back to 1970. Indeed, THC does lower damaging pressure inside the eye, but as Drs. Finny T. John and Jean R. Hausheer, ophthalmologists at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, wrote, “to achieve therapeutic levels of marijuana in the bloodstream to treat glaucoma, an individual would need to smoke approximately six to eight times a day,” at which point the person “would likely be physically and mentally unable to perform tasks requiring attention and focus,” like working and driving. The major eye care medical societies have put thumbs down on marijuana to treat glaucoma.

Mental Health: Allison Karst, a psychiatric pharmacy specialist at the V.A. Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, who reviewed the benefits and risks of medical marijuana, concluded that marijuana can have “a negative effect on mental health and neurological function,” including worsening symptoms of PTSD and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Karst also cited one study showing that only 17 percent of edible cannabis products were accurately labeled. In an email she wrote that the lack of regulation “leads to difficulty extrapolating available evidence to various products on the consumer market given the differences in chemical composition and purity.” She cautioned the public to weigh “both potential benefits and risks,” to which I would add caveat emptor — buyer beware.

For complete article go to © NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/well/live/medical-marijuana.html

A Review of Cases of Marijuana and Violence - Research (March 2020) 

Abstract: Marijuana is the most consumed illicit drug in the world, with over 192 million users. Due to the current legalization push of marijuana in the United States, there has been a lack of oversight regarding its public health policies, as marijuana advocates downplay the drug’s negative effects. This paper’s approach is from a public health perspective, focusing specifically on the cases of violence amongst some marijuana users.

Here, we present 14 cases of violence with chronic marijuana users that highlight reoccurring consequences of: marijuana induced paranoia (exaggerated, unfounded distrust) and marijuana induced psychosis (radical personality change, loss of contact with reality). When individuals suffering from pre-existing medical conditions use marijuana in an attempt to alleviate their symptoms, ultimately this worsens their conditions over time. Although marijuana effects depend on the individual’s endocannabinoid receptors (which control behavioral functions, like aggression) and the potency level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the drug, scientifically documented links between certain marijuana users and violence do exist. Wider public awareness of the risks and side effects of marijuana, as well as a more prudent health policy, and government agency monitoring of the drug’s composition, creation, and distribution, are needed and recommended.

Introduction: In the United States, ten states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana and over 20 states have decriminalized the recreational use of it. Recent reports suggest, however, that the increase of the recreational use of marijuana is causing detrimental effects to individuals, as well as the society as a whole [1,2,3].

These effects include, but are not limited to, the increase of violence, the increase of thriving underground marijuana markets, and increase in car accident claims after the legalization of marijuana where the recreational use of marijuana was legalized [1,2,3]. This is caused by lack of oversight. Marijuana is being legally sold with high THC concentration levels without taking into account its addictive qualities and adverse effects. On the other hand, and contrary to popular belief, marijuana is still illegal in the Netherlands and it is decriminalized. However, the consumption and storage of marijuana are limited by law and the approach taken by the Netherlands is to decriminalize the drug in order to be able to help individuals struggling with marijuana use. This prudent oversight has resulted in a decreased in violence and people are able to get the care they need to deal with addiction and become less prone to violence [1,2,3].

Furthermore, the consumption of marijuana is associated with an increase in violent behavior over the course of an individual’s lifespan, a high risk of psychosis for frequent users, an increase of cardiovascular diseases, and deterioration in health for individuals who have pre-existing mental health issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, social anxiety, and depression [4,5,6].

According to research studies, marijuana use causes aggressive behavior, causes or exacerbates psychosis, and produces paranoia. These effects have been illustrated through case studies of highly publicized incidents and heightened political profiles.

These cases contain examples of repeated illustrations of aggression, psychosis and paranoia by marijuana users and intoxication. Ultimately, without the use and intoxication of marijuana, the poor judgment and misperceptions displayed by these individuals would not have been present, reducing the risk for actions that result in senseless deaths.

For full research go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7084484/

(The mounting anecdotal evidence of this growing and pervasive reality are recorded at Attacker Smoked Cannabis: suicide and psychopathic violence in the UK and Ireland – "Those whose minds are steeped in cannabis are capable of quite extraordinary criminality.")