How does cannabis use affect brain health? Caution advised, more research needed

by American Heart Association 10/2/22

"There's a lot of uncertainty in the medical community about the health effects of marijuana. This scientific statement is intended to guide health care professionals in having a balanced and intentional discussion with patients about the potential known and unknown effects of marijuana on brain health," said writing group Chair Fernando D. Testai, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, a professor of neurology and rehabilitation at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

This is the Association's first scientific statement on cannabis and brain health, following a statement on marijuana and cardiovascular health, published in August 2020. Both statements are important since marijuana use in the U.S. is increasing, particularly among adolescents and young adults, with about one-third of 12^th graders and nearly half of college students reporting marijuana use in 2018.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classify cannabis as a Schedule I controlled substance, on par with heroin and LSD, for having a "high potential for abuse and little to no medical benefit." In contrast, CBD is legal when derived from hemp, which is the same species of plant as cannabis and contains less than 0.3% THC. (also see CBD Products Under Serious Review in E.U. and Is your beef ‘Grass Fed’ or ‘Weed Fed’? Industrial Hemp in Food Chain and Cannabis as ‘Medicine?’: Pot Propaganda, Emotive Anecdote, Marketing Manipulation, and the Side Stepping of Science)

To fully understand the potential impact of marijuana, it's important to know that the human body naturally produces compounds called endocannabinoids that are similar to those in marijuana. Endocannabinoids are involved in the regulation of many body processes throughout life (including learning, memory, pain control and sleep), and the action of endocannabinoids is essential to prenatal brain development and to brain maturation during adolescence. (Important: Watch Psychiatrist Libby Stuyt)

Endocannabinoids, as well as THC, can attach to neurons in the brain through molecules called cannabinoid receptors. When THC activates cannabinoid receptors in the brain, it can disrupt the normal actions of endocannabinoids. "These receptors are highly concentrated in brain areas related to cognition," said Testai.

According to the statement, previous animal studies (in rodents) indicate that prolonged exposure to THC disrupts memory and learning, and impacts brain development and maturation in specific ways if exposed at certain stages of life:

• During prenatal life, an important time for brain development, THC disrupts the normal signaling pathways of the endocannabinoid system and may alter the offspring's thinking, emotional behavior and response to stress.
• During adolescence, an important time for brain maturation, THC changes the structure and function of brain circuits, particularly in areas involved in cognition, emotional regulation and social behavior (such as the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus).

"Data obtained in these animal studies demonstrate that disruption of endocannabinoid pathways leads to behavioral and cognitive abnormalities, such as poorer memory and learning ability and a heightened sensitivity to stress. Also, there may be vital life periods—gestation and adolescence—when the brain may be particularly vulnerable to the impact of THC," Testai said.

While the exact timing and amount of marijuana exposure are more easily controlled in animal studies, as well as controlling the animals' social and environmental conditions, human research studies cannot replicate similar strict parameters. Thus, results from existing studies in humans have been mixed, yet raise similar concerns about the impact of marijuana exposure on brain health. Among the studies in humans summarized in the scientific statement, the findings included:

• While actively using marijuana, people demonstrated worse scores on driving road tests when using THC-dominant marijuana, compared to when they were using CBD-dominant marijuana or no marijuana.
• In young adults who were followed for 25 years as part of a heart disease research project, scores on verbal memory tests declined in correlation to more years of self-reported exposure to marijuana.
• There were more psychological problems and poorer cognitive function in children (average age 9) whose mothers reported using marijuana during pregnancy.
• Marijuana use during adolescence has been associated with thinning in an area of the brain involved in cognition (the prefrontal cortex), with greater exposure to marijuana associated with more thinning. However, other studies detected no difference.
• Structural changes in the brain were visible in some studies comparing marijuana users and non-users. Specifically, there was thinning of brain areas important in orchestrating thoughts and actions, or decreased volume in an area of the brain important for memory. Other studies that compared cognitive testing and brain imaging found no differences between marijuana users and non-users.
• Cannabis users were found to have an increased risk of clot-caused stroke, with one study finding 17% more and another finding 24% more strokes among cannabis users.

• Mayo Clinic Scientists Raise Concerns About CBD's Unexplored Risks
• Over-the-Counter CBD. Proper Research, Caution & Regulation Needed

The statement also highlights numerous open questions on the impact of cannabis on brain health, including:

• Does marijuana's impact on brain health differ depending on the person's age?
• How does marijuana interact with other substances such as prescription medications? This is a particular concern in elderly people who may be using multiple medications such as blood thinners, antiarrhythmia or anticonvulsant medications to treat other chronic health conditions.
• Do the effects of marijuana differ whether it is used recreationally or prescribed for the treatment of a specific medical condition?
• How much marijuana is too much? In older research studies conducted when marijuana was illegal in all U.S. states, there may have been significant under-reporting of how frequently marijuana was used.
• Do different types of marijuana (such as higher THC levels or synthetic cannabinoids) impact the brain differently?
• Are there differences in brain health depending on whether marijuana is smoked or consumed in an edible product?

"Our understanding of the effects of marijuana on the brain is imperfect, and human research in this area is a work in progress. Still, the results of recent animal studies challenge the widely accepted idea that cannabinoids are harmless and call for caution when using marijuana, particularly while pregnant or during adolescence," said Testai.

For complete article go to  (medicalxpress.com)

“Lets’ not let facts get in the way of a good story!”  The old adage is ever more true, particularly in the now ‘post-truth’ culture of the less and less enlightened ‘west’.  Once Fact/Truth have their authority stripped in the public square (at least in the delusional thinking of the current cultural psyche) then anecdote steps in to fill the void My story passionately told, based on nothing more than visceral self-reassurance – ‘trusting the gut’ – now over all other authorities in what is embraced as ‘true’?

It is important to note that lived experience and earned resiliency are significantly greater than anecdote as they are always the outcome of lessons learned from bumping into reality, truth, and fact, and learning the right lessons from them.  Anecdotal musings are little more than mere felt needs being met or a psycho-social self-affirmation of a preferred perception, regardless of evidence.  So called Confirmation bias is no more prevalent than in this fact-less arena.

So, what or more importantly, who is ‘educating’ you on this psychotropic toxin?

Research: Sources of Information and Beliefs About the Health Effects of Marijuana

Abstract - Background: Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in 10 states and Washington DC while a total of 34 states have implemented varying degrees of medical marijuana. The commercialization of marijuana has been accompanied by a proliferation of false claims regarding the therapeutic potential of marijuana, which are popularized by several different information sources. To date, no study has examined where US adults get their information regarding marijuana.

Objective: To determine the sources of information associated with believing unsupported claims about marijuana.

Key results: There were 9003 respondents (response rate 55%). Forty-three percent believed unsupported claims about marijuana. The most influential sources of information were health professionals, traditional media, friends/relatives, and social media/internet. Individuals reporting social media or the Internet (1.46 CI [1.30, 1.64]), the marijuana industry (e.g., advertisements, dispensaries) (2.88 CI [2.15, 3.88]), and friends or relatives (1.41 CI[1.26, 1.58]) as the most influential source of information about marijuana were more likely to believe any statement consistent with misinformation about marijuana in comparison with those who reported other sources as most influential.

Conclusions: Individuals reporting the most significant source of information regarding marijuana was from social media or the Internet, the marijuana industry, or friends or relatives were more likely to believe unsupported claims about marijuana. Public health campaigns to counter the misinformation about marijuana to the public are needed.

Also see

• Cannabis as ‘Medicine?’: Pot Propaganda, Emotive Anecdote, Marketing Manipulation, and the Side Stepping of Science
• Science vs Marketing: Addiction for Profit off the back of Peoples Grief - unconscionable!
• Medical Marijuana Is Not Regulated as Most Medicines Are (dalgarnoinstitute.org.au)
• Association of State Recreational Marijuana Laws With Adolescent Marijuana Use
• Medical marijuana laws in 50 states: investigating the relationship between state legalization of medical marijuana and marijuana use, abuse and dependence
• Geotemporospatial and causal inference epidemiological analysis of US survey and overview of cannabis, cannabidiol and cannabinoid genotoxicity in relation to congenital anomalies 2001–2015
• Cannabis is ALL Forms takes a ‘Weed-Whacker’ to Your Chromosomes! Radio Interview with Professor Reece wethepeopleradiorecords.com/20211212/we_the_people_radio_2021-12-12_64Kbps.mp3

Communications Team – Dalgarno Institute.

And that’s without discussing cannabinoid neurotoxicity which is also severe and transgenerationally transmissible... (For complete research go to Cannabinoid Genotoxic Trifecta - Cancerogenesis, Clinical Teratogenesis and Cellular Ageing | The BMJ

We don’t want this insanity to happen here – Bringing an illicit psychotropic toxin into the currents of trade fixes NOTHING, but only empowers the addiction for profit nightmare on more fronts, with taxpayer funded governments active participants int this public safety and public health nightmare.

Marijuana wars: Violent Mexican drug cartels turn Northern California into ‘The Wild West’

COVELO, Calif. — Mexican drug cartels are muscling in on America's burgeoning multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry, illegally growing large crops in the hills and valleys of Northern California.

The state legalized marijuana in 2016 for adult recreational use, yet the black market continues to thrive with thousands of illegal grows. Criminal syndicates, in turn, are cashing in across the U.S. on the "green gold rush."

Americans' growing embrace of marijuana has given the cartels an avenue to expand their reach, employing the same vicious tactics they use to push out competitors in the illicit opioid trade.

It’s the Wild West. We’ve got people in gunfights on a regular basis over marijuana.

"And, the number of missing people is insane," especially in the Emerald Triangle. "During grow season, people call the sheriffs' offices up there looking for loved ones who may never be found."

Headless bodies and murder victims

The sheriff said he doesn't have enough deputies to safely serve a search warrant amid increasing violence.

A glimpse at what he's dealing with: Christopher Wayne Gamble, who allegedly operated large illegal crops near the town of Willits, in central Mendocino County, is charged with murdering a 17-year-old boy and his father who came from Mexico seeking work, according to Mendocino County Superior Court records.

On a second property Gamble owns, detectives found the victims' headless bodies in April in a ditch under a pile of tires that had been set on fire.

"It’s a punishment to the person who stepped out of line," the sheriff said. "And a message to the next person: 'Don’t step out of line.'"

*****

The Courier Journal spent a week in the valley town of Covelo and throughout Mendocino County, touring cattle ranches, permitted marijuana farms and a licensed dispensary and talking with conservationists, lawmakers, teachers, police and fire officials and tribal members.

Some gave differing opinions about marijuana and laws governing its crops, but all agreed that crime and related problems have only worsened with legalization.

The newspaper investigation found:

• Illegal growers are using dangerous chemicals from Mexico that poison animals and contaminate soil.
• Armed criminal networks set up illegal grows on federal land in national forests.
• Illegal cannabis used to make a nearly pure form of THC is linked to explosions that have burned children and killed adults.
• Some veteran lawmen surprisingly approved of legalizing marijuana federally as a way to cripple the black market. (For complete journal piece go to Courier-Journal )

The mind-boggling cognitive dissonance and out and out chaos this ‘let’s legalize weed and the black-market will disappear, and we’ll have a veritable cornucopia of funding from the taxed addiction for profit cannabis’ is, pardon the pun, breath taking!

To the point where, what little tax revenue that was being raised – and almost immediately lost on the bureaucracy enforcement of this new ‘market’ and the escalation public health and safety costs of this drug – is now being completely excised, and why? To ‘try and stop illegal market’! It beggars belief.

San Francisco Suspends Cannabis Tax To Combat Illegal Marijuana Sales

San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance to suspend the city’s Cannabis Business Tax through the end of next year, in an attempt to curb illegal marijuana sales. (For complete story CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bay City News Service.)

As stated, we saw this emerging in all the key North American jurisdictions years ago, and it’s time policy and law-makers stopped listening to the pro-pot propagandists and cared for the people they were hired to care for – The taxpaying public.

For an evidence-based read go to “And Then There Were Three – Marijuana Markets, That Is” (A brief overview of the chaos of the Legal, Black and Grey Marijuana Markets: Focus on California, Canada & Colorado)

Dalgarno Institute Communications Team

Are we really going to continue to make the same ridiculous and tragic errors with Cannabis as were made with Tobacco and Opioids? Are we that 'forgetful' or stupid, or are we being blinded by the SMOKESCREEN?

Worsening toll of teens hooked on cannabis is a ‘silent epidemic’

Young abusers don’t realise the drug’s ​​​​​​potency and end up mentally ill and in debt

December 12 2021

Bobby Smyth, consultant psychiatrist at the HSE’s adolescent addiction service, was employed at the height of the heroin epidemic in the early 2000s in Dublin to help wean teenagers off the opioid .

In the intervening years, he has seen the numbers of youngsters hooked on that drug fall by 99pc.

Now Dr Smyth is dealing with a much more insidious addiction in adolescents. While heroin addiction is almost eradicated in that age group and cocaine addiction is grabbing all the headlines, cannabis addiction in under-18s has been snowballing silently in the background to unprecedented numbers.

The figures from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System are stark. Last year, 579 children were treated for cannabis addiction — more than 12 times the number for cocaine addiction.

The Health Research Board data reveal the number of children in treatment for drug addiction of all types almost doubled from 430 cases in 2004 to 822 cases in 2019. There were 18 children treated for heroin addiction in 2004, falling to just six cases in 2014; there are no recorded cases of children being treated for addiction to the opioid over the past five years.

“There is a societal complacency about this drug,” Dr Smyth said. “Cannabis is the drug that really scares me at the moment. It generates 75pc of my work. Back in 2003 and 2004 you would have the odd cannabis or hash user — it accounted for 5pc or 10pc of my work. 

“The drug problem was discussed on the six o’clock news [recently] and it was all about cocaine, crack cocaine, and pictures of people using heroin, but cannabis wasn’t mentioned.

“There’s no one telling young people — apart from some of the SPHE stuff in school — that cannabis actually is a drug which needs to be treated with respect.

“All they’re hearing outside of school is that it’s a medicine and a cure-all for everything, and the law is stupid, and it should be sold in shops.”

“They didn’t seem to know that if you start smoking cannabis from morning till night, that this could become a problem,” he said.

“Young people know that you don’t start supping away at tins of Heineken before going to school and on your lunch and through the evening.

“They’ve actually way more respect for alcohol than they do for cannabis.”

“Anxiety is probably one of the main most common symptoms that young people will present with. There’s low mood sometimes, self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviours,” he said.

“I have been contacted by at least one dad who shared his son’s story with me. He blames cannabis completely on his son’s suicide. I’m sure he’s not alone. The most common thing parents mention is just the anger and the aggression.

While youngsters addicted to cannabis tend to present at 16 or 17, they can start off on the drug as young as 11 or 12. Boys are up to seven times more likely than girls to be treated for addiction. 

Another worrying feature is the debts run up by teenagers, who can smoke as much as 2g a day — costing €30-€40.

“Back in the 1990s, heroin users used to shoplift and rob. Cannabis users don’t do that, they just get into debt, and then when things escalate the dealers come knocking on the door of the parent and say, ‘Your son owes us €1,000, you’d better sort it out or we’ll smash up your car or break your son’s legs.’”

Dr Smyth believes a cannabis addiction can be stamped out among adolescents in the same way that heroin has been.

“We could deal successfully with this as we have in the past with the heroin problem. It starts by calling it out for what it is, which is a substantive problem — and unlike heroin, which affected people from the most deprived communities, cannabis is everywhere.

“Cannabis is unique in that there is a campaign to normalise it. That pro-cannabis campaign probably needs to be countered with a fact-based campaign informing people of the risks and harms.” 

For complete article go to https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/worsening-toll-of-teens-hooked-on-cannabis-is-a-silent-epidemic-41142331.html