Cannabis Linked to Depression, Suicidal Behaviour in Teens: McGill Study

Good study, but what a shame they did not study the prevalence of

schizophrenia in teen pot users. It is truly frightening!

AARON DERFEL, MONTREAL GAZETTE

“We were quite surprised about suicide behaviour rates,” says the study’s lead author, Gabriella Gobbi.

Teens and young adults who consume cannabis are at an increased risk of depression and suicidal behaviour, suggests a new analysis by a team of researchers at McGill University.

The study follows an awareness campaign by the Quebec government last week that highlighted the risks of smoking pot among young Quebecers. That campaign observed that the brain continues to develop until the age of 25, making teens and young adults more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis.

The McGill study suggests that smoking pot can be linked to depression in about seven per cent of Canadians and Americans between the ages of 18 and 32. That works out to about 25,000 young Canadians and 400,000 young Americans who suffer from depression because of earlier daily or occasional use of cannabis.

The study also warns of a significant increase in the risk of suicidal ideation in teens and young adults who are already susceptible to suicidal behaviour.

“Pre-adolescents and adolescents should avoid using cannabis as use is associated with a significant increased risk of developing depression or suicidality in young adulthood,” the study concludes. “These findings should inform public health policy and governments to apply preventive strategies to reduce the use of cannabis among youth.”

The results were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry and are based on a review of nearly a dozen international studies comprising more than 23,000 individuals. The researchers, including colleagues at Oxford University and Rutgers University-Camden, did observe a weaker association between cannabis and anxiety.

''A significant percentage of suicidal attempts

are attributable to cannabis.”

“When we started this study, we expected depression to be a factor attributable to cannabis consumption, but we were quite surprised about suicide behaviour rates. Indeed, a significant percentage of suicidal attempts are attributable to cannabis,” Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a psychiatrist at McGill and the lead author of the paper, said in a statement.

In an interview, Gobbi explained that “if you have some risk of suicidal ideation, cannabis increases your risk by 50 per cent.”

“Each person is different. If you have a risk of suicidal behaviour of three per cent, cannabis will increase that risk to maybe 4.5 per cent.”

Gobbi lauded Quebec for launching its awareness campaign.

“Absolutely,” she said, “because what we know about a lot of studies on prevention is that prevention of marijuana works. The more you do in terms of prevention, the more you will decrease the quantity of young people that smoke cannabis and you will decrease the rate of depression later on.”

Gobbi disputed the notion that cannabis is innocuous because it’s derived from a plant.

“It’s not because cannabis is a plant that it’s harmless or dangerous,” she added. “Cannabis with the concentration of THC that we have today — which is more than 10 per cent — can be dangerous for the brain, and there is some risk of possibly developing depression and suicidal behaviours.”

Not to mention as much as a 1 in 6 chance of full-blown, irreversible schizophrenia.

Although Ottawa (read: our far-left, very Liberal government), legalized the recreational use of cannabis on Oct. 17, 2018, medical associations across Canada have raised a number of health concerns about its consumption. Since the Coalition Avenir Québec was elected to a majority government on Oct. 1, it has tabled Bill 2, which would raise the cannabis consumption age from 18 set by Ottawa to 21. Gobbi is to testify next week at hearings on the subject at the National Assembly.

Just 1 or 2 Experiences with Marijuana May Alter Teen Brain

Adolescent brains are going to be more vulnerable to anything

drug or environmentally related, expert says

Thomson Reuters

New findings are considered a step toward understanding the impact of cannabis on young brains.

(Ben Nelms/Reuters)

Teens who use pot just one or two times may end up with changes to their brains, a new study finds.

There were clear differences on brain scans between teens who said they had tried cannabis a couple of times and those who completely eschewed the drug, researchers reported in the Journal of Neuroscience.

There have been hints that even small amounts of pot at a young age might impact the brain, said the study's lead author, Catherine Orr, a lecturer at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. 

"Research using animals to study the effects of cannabis on the brain have shown effects at very low levels, so we had reason to believe that brain changes might occur at even the earliest stages of cannabis use," Orr said in an email.

Still, she said, "I was surprised by the extent of the effects."

With an estimated 35 percent of U.S. teens using cannabis, the new findings are concerning, the researchers noted.

Orr and her colleagues saw widespread increases in the volume of grey matter in brain regions that are rich with cannabinoid receptors. Grey matter, which is made up of nerve cell bodies, is involved in sensory perception and muscle control.

To take a closer look at the impact of mild marijuana use in developing brains, Orr's team analyzed brain scans gathered as part of the larger IMAGEN study, which was designed to look into adolescent brain development.

The researchers analyzed images from 46 14-year-olds who said they had used marijuana once or twice, as well as images from 46 non-cannabis using teens matched "on age, sex, handedness, pubertal status, IQ, socioeconomic status, and use of alcohol and tobacco," Orr said.

Brain volume

The researchers spotted clear differences between the two groups, which they suspect are due to the low-level pot use. 

They acknowledge that the study didn't actually prove that marijuana led to the differences seen in the scans. It's possible that those who chose to use weed were different to begin with and that the marijuana hadn't played a role in brain development.

In other words, they might have been brain-damaged to start.

To try to address this question, the researchers analyzed scans from a third group of teens who had not tried marijuana before they had their brain scans at age 14. By age 16, 69 of these kids said they had used marijuana at least 10 times. But their brain scans at age 14 looked no different than brain scans of other kids who had not taken up cannabis by age 16, which meant there wasn't any inborn brain difference that would have predicted who would later become a pot user.

There may be serious implications to the brain changes noted by the researchers. "In our sample of cannabis users, the greater volumes in the affected parts of the brain were associated with reductions in psychomotor speed and perceptual reasoning and with increased levels of anxiety two years later," Orr said.

The reason for the higher volume of grey matter in cannabinoid-rich regions of the brain may be related to a normal process called "pruning" which may go awry when kids use marijuana, Orr said. As young brains develop, unnecessary or defective neurons are pruned away, she explained. When the system doesn't work correctly, those cells remain in place.

This may actually support the theory I have been pushing for several years. It's an observation I have made numerous times over several decades. That is, people who smoke pot often fail to progress in terms of maturity. This may be restricted to those who start using as teens; I don't know. But I have seen many pot users who started smoking joints when they were teens, and in their 30s and 40s, still acted like teenagers with regard to their dress, their taste in music, their language, their likes in many different areas. They just don't progress as normal.

The new findings are a step toward understanding the impact of cannabis on young brains, said Dr. Michael Lynch, a toxicologist and emergency medicine physician and director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "It's important that there was a change," Lynch said. "Adolescent brains are going to be more vulnerable to anything drug or environmentally related."

If pruning isn't working right, "the brain may not work as efficiently as it should," Lynch said. "But I don't think we can make a final determination on that from this study."

Definitely need more study. But let's all legalize it anyway. It's just kids we're talking about. Not like it's important.

Canada, and other countries and state's rush to legalize pot has turned a generation into an experiment. When the results of that experiment come in - God help us.

Pediatricians Need More Information on Medical Marijuana for Kids, Study Says

Finally, someone other than me is asking about the effects of marijuana on kids,

but there are many more questions need answering

About half of Canadian doctors surveyed have child or

adolescent patients who have used cannabis

The Canadian Press 

Workers produce medical marijuana at Canopy Growth Corporation's Tweed facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario. In a survey released by the Canadian Paediatric Society on Thursday, many pediatricians expressed concern about the lack of evidence about medical marijuana's effectiveness and its potential risks. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

About half of pediatric doctors surveyed about cannabis say they've encountered a young patient who had used marijuana for a medical reason.

The questionnaire for the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program found 419 of 835 respondents had a patient who had used either authorized or unauthorized cannabis for some sort of medical relief.

The one-time study did not detail how many cases involved unauthorized use, the nature of the condition being treated or the ages of the patients.

But principal investigator Richard Belanger said he's surprised by the number of young cannabis users and says it points to the need for more information for doctors, parents and patients.

The Quebec City pediatrician, also a professor at Laval University, notes that more than a third of respondents — or 316 doctors — said they had been asked by a parent or adolescent patient to prescribe cannabis.

Only 34 doctors said they had done so, with many expressing reservations about efficacy, impacts to developing young brains, and concerns about abuse and dependence.

'Truly worrisome': Pot legalization will hurt youth unless changes made to proposed law, journal says

The survey was conducted in the spring of 2017 as part of the surveillance program's larger look at a host of hot-button issues, including Lyme disease, Zika virus and eating disorders.

'Not only an adult issue'

Belanger said researchers were surprised by how many kids and adolescents appeared to be turning to medical marijuana: "We thought it was less than that."

"We really want to make clear that cannabis is not only an adult issue, either for recreational but [also] medical purposes," Belanger said of the findings.

"Sometimes when we look at treatment we tend to forget kids, and it should not be the case."

Because kids have no voice. That's why people like Dr Belanger need to speak up twice as loud, 'cause politicians are certainly not listening to kids.

Dr. Richard Belanger, a Quebec pediatrician and principal investigator for the survey, says the use of medical marijuana for children is 'a burning issue' for doctors. (Veronique Cote/Handout photo via Canadian Press)

He suspected younger kids received authorized use for conditions including refractory seizures, cerebral palsy and chronic pain, while adolescents were more likely to be unauthorized users and to treat other conditions "such as sleep problems or anxiety."

Belanger said the higher-than-expected usage could also be because the doctors surveyed generally treat kids with chronic and severe conditions that may require alternative treatments, and because most respondents came from urban and academic centres more likely to handle severe cases.

The survey response rate was also just 31 per cent, which "may under or over represent the knowledge and/or experiences of Canadian pediatricians," said the study released Thursday.

Still, the findings raise questions about how impending legalization of recreational marijuana could impact unauthorized medical use.

"We're a bit anxious regarding that," said Belanger, pointing to "mixed perspectives" among doctors.

"From a pediatric perspective, there's seldom reason to authorize cannabis and maybe seizure is one of them, but still, there's no clear, no big evidence regarding that."

The survey found a clear majority of respondents had no knowledge or minimal knowledge on why cannabis might be prescribed for a child or youth and what products and dosages may be authorized.

"Paradoxically, they have a fairly positive view regarding cannabis use for medical purposes for certain conditions, despite the lack of solid scientific evidence regarding its safety and efficacy," said the survey, noting that could be due to difficult cases with limited therapeutic options.

Although medical marijuana has been legal since 2001, many questions remain, said Belanger: "It's a burning issue."

"There's a large space for the [Canadian Paediatric Society] or any other association or authorities to give more information on what are the clear facts regarding the possible benefits and the likely adverse events that can be related to medical use of cannabis."

Belanger noted that the data was gathered prior to the publication of a pivotal study evaluating the use of cannabidiol (CBD) to treat epilepsy among children with Dravet syndrome. The study was in the New England Journal of Medicine in the spring of 2017.

Still, he bemoaned a dearth of material to offer guidance. While more studies are underway, he said, they mostly look at CBD and its effects on seizures and severe conditions.

See below (More Potent Pot) to see why CBD is being bred out of pot.

"There are still problematic issues of studying cannabis with kids. I won't counsel anyone from entering a study exposing someone to cannabis if they don't have severe conditions.... On the contrary, in the adult field, there are many more studies regarding cannabis either for pain related to arthritis, pain related to fibromyalgia or spasticity regarding multiple sclerosis."

In the meantime, many parents and adolescents are asking for cannabis prescriptions.

"I think that everyone right now is aware that cannabis is not a simple thing," said Belanger. "When someone starts using cannabis for a long period of time at an early age, it's probably at that time that the greater impact is likely. But at the same time, if your kids have seizures several times a day, what's the worse issue? It's kind of a tricky question for parents."

There are many other questions that need to be answered, like:

What happens to a kid who gets a steady stream of 2nd hand pot smoke?

What happens to a kid who eats a handful of marijuana edibles?

What does a one-time overdose on pot do to a small child?

How are police and social services supposed to deal with chronic pot users with small children?

What little we do know:

Medical journal calls for tighter rules on legal pot to protect young

Powerful pot strains put developing brains of young people at risk, CMAJ editorial says

CBC News 

A pot smoker has a joint at the annual 4/20 day, which promotes the use of marijuana, in Vancouver.

Cannabis shouldn't be used by young people, a medical journal editorial says. (David Horemans/CBC)

Marijuana legalization will harm the health of youth unless major changes to the proposed law are made to protect their developing brains, a medical journal editorial says.

Dr. Diane Kelsall, interim editor in chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says Bill C-45 fails to safeguard vulnerable youth.

"There are a number of things in the legislation that are truly worrisome," Kelsall said in an interview. "If the intent is truly a public health approach and to protect our youth this legislation is not doing it."

Canadian young people ranked first for cannabis use in North America and Europe, with one-third saying they tried it at least once by age 15, the Canadian Pediatric Society says. 

Before the federal election, physicians said the right legislation to legalize pot might curb teen toking by restricting access.

The editorial takes issue with several aspects of the bill, which:

- Sets the minimum age to buy recreational marijuana at 18. Kelsall calls that too young given evidence suggesting that the human brain doesn't mature until about age 25.

- Allows people to grow pot at home, which Kelsall said increases the likelihood of diversion to young people.

- Lacks national standards for retail distribution.

- Lacks limits on potency of strains despite increased risk of harmful effects with higher-strength cannabis.

The guinea pigs are the kids

"From my perspective, from my colleagues' perspective, this legislation is being pushed through," Kelsall said. "We're just very worried that we're conducting a national experiment and unfortunately the guinea pigs are kids."

On Monday, Health Minister Jane Philpott was asked by reporters if she was prepared to change the age. 

"Provinces and territories will have the opportunity to address the age," Philpott said. "Our bill is not entirely through the legislative process. It is possible that it could change along the way."

Making a product legal does not mean it is advisable or recommended, Philpott said. 

Marijuana as a psychosis trigger

At the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, psychiatrist Romina Mizrah uses PET scanners to study how cannabis use changes brain function in young people with an average age of 20.

In young people who regularly use cannabis, preliminary evidence points to a reduction in an enzyme that regulates the endocannabinoid system that buffers key chemistry within the brain, said Mizrahi.

"There is some understanding at this point from epidemiological studies that certainly marijuana is a trigger," said Mizrahi, director of the Focus on Youth Psychosis Prevention program. "Marijuana use predates the psychosis. Whether it causes the psychosis, that's a different question and that we don't know."

I suspect there needs to be a susceptibility toward psychosis present, but that susceptibility might reside in a very large segment of the population, and, it might remain dormant through a person's entire life without a trigger like marijuana.

It may be possible in the future to determine whether or not a person is susceptible to psychosis and should therefore avoid pot like the plague. But it isn't possible now, nevertheless, we rush in anyway.

Studies using MRI scanners also show physical and functional changes in the developing brains of regular users that are associated with damage, Kelsall said.

More potent pot

Mike Stroh, 35, of Toronto says he's part of a generation who grew up smoking current strains of marijuana, which have been genetically selected to produce a powerful high, with THC levels of about 20 per cent. That's up from around seven per cent in the 1960s and '70s.       

And the methodology of raising the THC requires the reduction of CBD. It's CBD that may be helpful to those mentioned above with epilepsy or certain other conditions. CBD may also decrease the risk of contracting schizophrenia or other psychosis. So, of course, we remove it to make the THC more powerful. How insane are we? 

If we had the research, the government could restrict the amount of THC and ensure a certain level of CBD be present. This would reduce the risk of developing psychosis. But, our extreme left government cannot wait for such research, we must have pot legalized and we must have it now.

"I was into sports," Stroh recalled. "I wanted to do stuff at school, but I wouldn't make it to the practice, I wouldn't make it to the tryouts, because I was either up all night selling drugs, trying to get them, fall asleep in a drug-induced coma, and then wake up in a mess."

Mike Stroh with his kids. Stroh is now a mental-health advocate who wants to show recovery is possible. (Mike Stroh)

Stroh also lived with depression and anxiety and said he was never able to like himself. "That's the torment that brought me to my knees." He felt robbed of being himself and the opportunity for emotional maturity, cognitive development and professional opportunities.  

"Because marijuana doesn't bring you to your knees as quickly as other drugs may … there's this illusion that because you can be high and do things, it's not bad, so to speak."

Stroh is now a mental health advocate who draws on his personal and family experiences to educate.

"We need to teach kids how to take care of themselves so when they do feel anxious and do feel depressed, scared or … frustrated with life, because yes, that's a part of being a teenager, then they learn that there's so many things they can do to help themselves as opposed to use drugs."

The Mad Rush to Legalize Pot Will Result in a Lot of Canadians Suffering Intolerably

Ottawa isn't putting a cap on the potency

of many cannabis products

New regulations unveiled today don't place upper limits

on THC content

Catharine Tunney · CBC News 

A worker collects cuttings from a marijuana plant at the Canopy Growth Corporation facility in Smiths Falls, Ont., in this Jan. 2018 photo. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Health Canada has released its new regulations for the legal recreational marijuana market, but they don't include a clear limit on how much tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive component in cannabis — can be sold in many products.

As of Oct. 17, Canadians will be permitted to legally buy fresh or dried cannabis, cannabis oil, plants and seeds, and to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis or its equivalent in public.

​Government officials, speaking on background, updated reporters on the regulations for producing and marketing those products during a conference call Wednesday morning.

The regulations, which will be officially published July 11, say THC cannot be added to a dried product and place limits on the net weight of dried cannabis products, but do not impose a cap on the potency of dried cannabis.

The officials said the lack of a threshold fits into the goal of the government's bill.

"There are significant varieties of cannabis, some with high levels of THC. This is consistent with the medical regulations that exist today. There is not a hard cap on the potency of dried cannabis," one official said.

"(It's) a means to move to a regulated, diverse marketplace that can compete with the illegal marketplace and successfully achieve the government's objectives."

It's a means of ensuring many Canadian teenagers will contract Schizophrenia or other psychosis. The high potency THC in cannabis is accomplished by replacing 'cannabidiol' with THC. Cannabidiol helps protect the human brain from some of the damaging aspects of THC, psychosis, for instance.

In breeding cannabidiol out of pot and replacing it with higher levels of THC, pot becomes exponentially more dangerous than ever. That's why in the Netherlands, a government committee has recommended declaring pot with levels of THC higher than 15% - a hard drug. 

However, there are strict potency rules for cannabis products other than dried marijuana. For example, cannabis products intended to be "administered orally, rectally, vaginally or topically" must not exceed a maximum yield quantity of 10 milligrams of THC.

Cannabis products "intended to be used in the human eye" will be banned.

As the official legalization date looms, some have questioned whether there will be enough product to serve the new legal recreational market.

Federal licences will be required to cultivate and process recreational cannabis, but they won't be processed until after legalization comes into effect.

Still, officials say they're pretty confident they'll have enough legal marijuana to meet the demand when legalization kicks in this fall.

Provincial governments are responsible for determining how and where recreational cannabis is sold. In some provinces — including Ontario, Quebec and most of Atlantic Canada — the stores will be run by the provincial governments. Elsewhere, the private sector will take the lead.

When asked about supply, officials speaking on background said they're pretty confident there will be enough cannabis for opening day.

According to the regulations, licence applications will be assessed on merit and a record of previous drug-related offences, including trafficking, won't automatically disqualify an applicant. So having a criminal background won't necessarily prevent Canadians from getting into the industry.

In March, Health Canada unveiled its proposals for the packaging and regulation of recreational cannabis.

The regulations released Wednesday confirm that cannabis products will have to be sold in plain packaging, with strict guidelines on logos, colours and branding, and must include health warnings.

The packaging also would have to indicate how much of the primary active compounds in cannabis — THC and cannabidiol (CBD) — are in a particular product.

Limits for micro growers

The rules outline how the federal government would regulate small cultivators and processors.

A micro-cultivator — someone growing pot on a small, boutique-like scale — will be restricted to a "plant canopy area" of no more than 200 square meters.

The regulations also impose rules on security and state where growers can set up shop. For example, a producer can't grow and harvest plants outside if the operation is adjacent to a school, a public playground, a daycare facility or any other public place frequented mainly by people under 18 years of age.

I would like to see some mention of the protection of children from 2nd hand pot smoke, and from consuming edibles. I don't see any mention of small children in this or any other article by the government on marijuana. Children are voiceless - those responsible for them must be twice as vigilant and protective. I don't see any research in this field at all.

Why Colorado's Black Market for Marijuana is Booming 4 Years After Legalization

Briar Stewart · CBC News

Criminal organizations have moved into Teller County, a community of 24,000 nestled in the Rocky Mountains about 160 km south of Denver, and are illegally growing marijuana there that they smuggle out of state. The sheriff's office in the county says it has 400 kilograms of marijuana sitting in storage as evidence. (Teller County Sheriff)

When recreational marijuana went on sale in Colorado in 2014, the government's goal was to regulate and tax a drug that was already widely used and to squeeze out dealers and traffickers in the process.

But law enforcement authorities in the state say legalization has done the exact opposite.

Even though there are more than 500 recreational marijuana dispensaries in the state, the black market is booming. It's being driven by criminal organizations that grow weed in Colorado and smuggle their crop into states where it is still illegal and can be sold for a much greater profit. 

The black market hasn't gone away within the state, either, because some marijuana users are deterred by the higher dispensary prices and are loyal to their long-time dealers.

Investigators say the illegal trade has flourished because the state laws around growing marijuana were overly generous in the beginning and hard to enforce.

As Canada prepares for legalization, CBC News spoke to insiders to get their perspective on why the black market is thriving in a place where pot is legal.

The DEA

Investigators with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) focus on the largest and most serious drug trafficking rings operating in the United States.

Paul Roach, a DEA supervisor, says his team spends about 15 per cent of its time on marijuana trafficking cases — a threefold increase from before legalization.

"Colorado has basically become the marijuana capital of the United States," he said.

And Canada is determined to become the marijuana capital of the world! There are several companies already planning on growing massive amounts of pot in Canada and shipping it to Europe. Of course, they will only be going to legitimate markets. 

"You find drug trafficking organizations moving here, setting up shop in Colorado and sending it back to their home states where they can sell it at incredible profit."

Not in Canada, all our drug trafficking organizations will be legal, honest and completely trustworthy. Sunny ways, my friends, sunny ways.

DEA agents document Operation Golden Gopher, in which they raided several Denver warehouses they say housed marijuana intended to be smuggled out of state.

Colorado's high-altitude weed is being trafficked to dozens of states, but some of its largest recipients are Florida, Illinois and Texas, according to a report by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area. It works to support the national drug control strategy while co-ordinating investigations between different authorities. 

When DEA agents raided this home in April, they found marijuana grow lights, dodgy electrical wiring, and mildew and mould. They say the people who were living here had hastily packed up. (Briar Stewart/CBC)

Criminal organizations, including groups tied to Mexican and Cuban drug cartels, are growing marijuana in rental homes, warehouses and even on forested federal land.  

In some cases, they are operating in plain sight and are disguised as legitimate operations.

"The cartels and drug trafficking organizations, in general, will go where they will make money," Roach said.

"If they see an opportunity in Canada to increase their profits by exploiting Canada's laws, then I expect them to do that."

The local sheriff

Jason Mikesell is sheriff of Teller County, Colo., a rural community nestled against the Rocky Mountains.

This picturesque county of 24,000 is favoured by young families and retirees, but Mikesell says criminal organizations are also moving in to smuggle pot out.

"Never would we have thought that we would have this issue going on in our community," he said.

Jason Mikesell, who will soon be up for re-election as Teller County sheriff, says the issue of illegal marijuana is a major concern for his rural community. (Chris Corday/CBC)

While he believes most of the illegal marijuana grown in Teller County is destined for out of state, he also says there is a local black market.

Last fall, Mikesell wanted to sell an SUV, so he listed it on Cragislist. A prospective buyer offered to trade for nearly two kilograms of pot.

Mikesell set up the trade, and when the buyers arrived, they were arrested and charged with illegal distribution of marijuana. One of them was convicted and recently sentenced to four years in prison.

Bucolic Teller County has seen an uptick in illegal activity related to marijuana following legalization of the drug in Colorado in 2014. (Briar Stewart/CBC)

Mikesell says Colorado was the test subject for legal weed in the U.S., and the state regulations that made enforcement difficult because people were allowed to grow so much of their own marijuana.

In the beginning, each person could grow up to six plants, and they could pool them together in a co-op.

Medical patients could grow up to 99 plants and appoint a caregiver to grow it for them.

More restrictive laws were introduced earlier this year, limiting each residence to a maximum of 12 plants, so the sheriff's office has been able to ramp up enforcement.

The sheriff's team has raided eight houses so far this year and has seized more than $3.5 million US of marijuana. During those investigations, they arrested more than 20 cartel members with connections to Cuba and Miami. 

Mikesell says his team has been tipped off about some of the grow operations because people have called in complaining about strong odours in their neighbourhood. 

"We know there are another 60 or 70 marijuana houses we haven't got to yet," said Mikesell.

Other local police departments in Colorado are getting similar calls from residents who also report excessive noise from air conditioning units and blown electrical transformers, according to the DEA.

I can hardly wait for the stink and the noise to come to Canada full force.

The drug dealer

A dealer who agreed to speak with CBC News on condition that he not be named said he spends most of his days in the front seat of his sedan driving around Denver. An air freshener dangles from the mirror of his vehicle, but it can't disguise the lingering smell of weed.

On his lap, he holds a plastic bag containing marijuana buds.

"In a good day … I am making $400 to $500," he said.

This man advertises online and runs a marijuana delivery service in the Denver area. He has his own plants and also gets product from other growers. (Briar Stewart/CBC)

The father of two advertises online along with dozens of others who grow and sell marijuana illegally.

He runs a delivery service and sells marijuana that he's picked up from a network of growers who have "extra" product, and he also grows his own. He compares himself to a pizza delivery man because, he says, he guarantees delivery to anywhere in Denver in less than an hour.

He says legalization hasn't had a big impact on his business because he caters to clients who don't want to be seen going into a dispensary. 

"I have had nurses that have contacted me via the internet and have a delivery brought to their home or their office or wherever they feel comfortable," he said.

His clientele also includes a number of truck drivers, who are prohibited from using marijuana under federal transportation laws.

Dozens of ads listing cannabis for sale in bulk quantity can be viewed on sites like Denver Craigslist. (Craigslist)

While the dealer's operation helps him provide for his family, it isn't his full-time job. He says he has a couple of more "respectable" side projects that keep him busy, but he says one of his goals is to make marijuana more accessible.

He does worry about being caught by the police but admits there are other risks to operating in the black market.

"I have had people sit right there ... with a gun to my head," he said, pointing to the front passenger seat.

"It's a definite risk."

This tourist from Michigan was one of the thousands who gathered in Denver's Civic Center Park in April to take part in the city's annual 420 celebration. (Chris Corday/CBC)

The advocate

Whenever Larisa Bolivar, 42, wants to pick up some marijuana, she heads to one of her preferred Denver dispensaries where she can buy cannabis to smoke and edibles to eat. 

As president of Colorado's Cannabis Consumers Coalition, she is both a longtime user and an advocate. For the past two years, she has conducted online surveys by polling marijuana users about just where they get their pot from. She reached out through the coalition's Facebook page, which has 17,000 members, and contacted people directly after obtaining customer lists from cannabis-related companies. 

Larisa Bolivar, president of the Cannabis Consumers Coalition, conducted a series of online surveys asking people to disclose where they purchase their marijuana. The surveys found around 50 per cent of respondents are not getting their marijuana at dispensaries. (Briar Stewart/CBC)

She had 527 people respond to her 2017 survey, and while she is still tallying the results for this year, she says the findings are consistent. 

Black market still bigger than legal one

"There is still a larger percentage of people buying from the black market [than legally]," she said.

The results of Bolivar's Facebook survey suggested nearly 50 per cent of the respondents were not shopping at the state's licensed dispensaries. Bolivar says most are buying their pot off of friends or sticking to their regular dealers because they trust them.

In Colorado, you have to be 21 to buy from a dispensary, and you have show identification. Bolivar says accessibility is also an issue: not all communities have retail stores.

And, there is a large market for under-21s that needs to be serviced. Legalizing pot does not reduce the number of teens accessing it. In Colorado, more teens are using pot than ever and it is very dangerous for teens, especially young or mid-teens, to smoke pot as it frequently results in the onset of Schizophrenia and/or other psychotic disorders that seriously affect the rest of your life.

Colorado, which has a population of around 5.6 million, has more than 500 recreational marijuana dispensaries. (Briar Stewart/CBC)

Taxes and fees on marijuana have brought in more than $250 million US to the state last year. Bolivar says those additional costs are the biggest driver toward the local black market.

"I really think a lot of it has to do with price," Bolivar says.

The tax rates vary by municipality. In Denver, for example, people buying recreational marijuana pay a tax of 23.15 per cent.

"If I can save $5 on a purchase, that is a cheap lunch," Bolivar said.

The haste in Canada to start collecting taxes from pot smokers without serious study of the consequences, is extremely disturbing. I believe there will be unforeseen, and even foreseen consequences that will cost Canadian society dearly. Instant and inexpensive gratification will continue to increase dramatically to the detriment of long-term planning and the next generation. Nothing good will come out of this.

French TV Show Calls Transgender Man ‘Mom,’ Divides Social Media

The New Normal - Gender Dysphoria

The French Twittersphere is abuzz over a TV show that invited on a couple of transgender men and their child, calling the one who gave birth “a mother.” Some have slammed the show as intolerant.

The now hotly-discussed show called ‘Hello, earthlings!’ was aired on Saturday. It featured an American transgender couple, Biff Chaplow and Trystan Reese, who were both born women. The latter chose to keep his uterus to bear their child, who was also present on the show.

During the show a banner reading “Mom is on the left” appeared on the screen, referring to the 34-year-old, causing an uproar on social media and splitting it into two camps.

The first half believed that calling a transgender man “a mother” could be offensive for those who wish to change, or have changed, their gender. They immediately accused the TV show of intolerance. “What the hell is it? Mom? It’s a joke?!” one angry person tweeted.

Another person said he thought that the biological mother was somewhere on the left. But when he realized that the banner pointed to Reese, he was furious.

Others believe the controversy is a bit exaggerated. After all, Reese decided to keep his female reproductive organs, the ‘pro-Maman’ front argued.

“The guy on the left of the screen was a woman and gave birth to a child, so yes technically he is the child’s ‘Mom’, even if she changed sex,” one person said.

“He carried a child,”“But it is not a man! It’s a woman who took hormones to get hair!” were among the other arguments.

Meanwhile, Chaplow and Reese hope that the TV show will apologize for the inappropriate ‘Maman’ banner. “We know they will issue an apology for calling me a “mother,” and hope they will remember that many, many other men have given birth before I did,” Reese wrote with a kissing face emoji.

However, the TV show has so far remained silent on Twitter.

Oh, God! How long?

Five Years After Legalization Decision, Colorado Sees Teen Use of Pot Highest in the Country

Legalization actually became official 1 January, 2014, in Colorado

Colorado Springs Gazette Opinion

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of Colorado's decision to sanction the world's first anything-goes commercial pot trade.

Five years later, we remain an embarrassing cautionary tale.

Visitors to Colorado remark about a new agricultural smell, the wafting odor of pot as they drive near warehouse grow operations along Denver freeways. Residential neighborhoods throughout Colorado Springs reek of marijuana, as producers fill rental homes with plants.

Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot.

Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based on research by the pro-legalization Denver Post.

Colorado ranks first in the country for marijuana use

among teens, scoring well above the national average

Five years of commercial pot have been five years of more marijuana in schools than teachers and administrators ever feared.

"An investigation by Education News Colorado, Solutions and the I-News Network shows drug violations reported by Colorado's K-12 schools have increased 45 percent in the past four years, even as the combined number of all other violations has fallen," explains an expose on escalating pot use in schools by Rocky Mountain PBS in late 2016.

The investigation found an increase in high school drug violations of 71 percent since legalization. School suspensions for drugs increased 45 percent.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found Colorado ranks first in the country for marijuana use among teens, scoring well above the national average.

The only good news to celebrate on this anniversary is the dawn of another organization to push back against Big Marijuana's threat to kids, teens and young adults.

The Marijuana Accountability Coalition formed Nov. 6 in Denver and will establish satellites throughout the state. It resulted from discussions among recovery professionals, parents, physicians and others concerned with the long-term effects of a commercial industry profiteering off of substance abuse.

"It's one thing to decriminalize marijuana, it's an entirely different thing to legalize an industry that has commercialized a drug that is devastating our kids and devastating whole communities," said coalition founder Justin Luke Riley. "Coloradans need to know, other states need to know, that Colorado is suffering from massive normalization and commercialization of this drug which has resulted in Colorado being the number one state for youth drug use in the country. Kids are being expelled at higher rates, and more road deaths tied to pot have resulted since legalization."

Commercial pot's five-year anniversary is an odious occasion for those who want safer streets, healthier kids and less suffering associated with substance abuse. Experts say the worst effects of widespread pot use will culminate over decades. If so, we can only imagine the somber nature of Big Marijuana's 25th birthday.

It will take some years before the count of teens developing schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions is made known. I suspect they will be horrifying statistics and yet, nothing will be done to stop it. Big money is involved; there's no going back; there's no room for morals; there's only money.

And soon, Canada will make it a national experiment. God help us.

Despite Health Risks for Babies, Pregnant Women are Using More Pot

Pot use among pregnant women of all ages continues rise – study

© Mark Leffingwell / Reuters

More than one-fifth of American teenagers are using marijuana during pregnancy, a new study finds. Use of the drug, found to impair an infant’s brain development and function, is on the rise with pregnant women of all ages.

The number of women who self-reported using marijuana during their pregnancy rose from 2.4 percent in 2009 to 3.9 percent in 2016, according to a new study published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

From 2009 to 2016, prenatal use of marijuana increased most significantly for women under the age of 25. In 2016, more than one-in-five (21.8 percent) women under the age of 18 reported to using the drug in the past month, up from 12.5 percent in 2009. Use among women between the ages of 18 and 25 nearly doubled during that time, from 9.8 percent in 2009 to 19 percent in 2016.

The study notes that marijuana is “the most commonly used illicit drug during pregnancy,” adding that use of the drug has been increasing.

Prenatal marijuana use also increased among women of all ages. Last year, 5.1 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 34 years old reported to using marijuana while pregnant, up from 3.4 percent in 2009. A total of 3.3 percent of women older than 34 also reported to using the drug during their pregnancy in 2016, an increase from 2.1 percent in 2009.

Statistics are underreported

Researchers relied on self-administered questionnaires completed by 279,457 women eight weeks into their pregnancy. The women were treated at Kaiser Permanente facilities that had screening for marijuana use as part of standard prenatal care.

I wonder why they surveyed women so early in their pregnancies? That, in itself, would certainly reduce the numbers.

However, the study notes that some of the patients who did not say they used marijuana on their questionnaires, later tested positive on a cannabis toxicology test, leading researchers to state their data was “likely” underreported. The study adds that prenatal use may increase even more in 2018, after recreational use of marijuana is set to become legal in California.

Health risks for babies

While studies on pregnant women who use marijuana have been limited, the researchers state that prenatal use of marijuana may impair fetal growth and neurodevelopment.

In October, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which discourages marijuana use among pregnant or breastfeeding women, said that prenatal marijuana use could cause harm to an infant’s brain development and function.

Citing studies, the ACOG warns that “children who were exposed to marijuana in utero had lower scores on tests of visual problem solving, visual-motor coordination, and visual analysis than children who were not exposed to marijuana in utero.”

“Obstetrician–gynecologists should be discouraged from prescribing or suggesting the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes during preconception, pregnancy, and lactation,” The ACOG committee wrote in an opinion. “Pregnant women or women contemplating pregnancy should be encouraged to discontinue use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in favor of an alternative therapy for which there are better pregnancy-specific safety data.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also warns pregnant mothers against using marijuana to ease nausea and other pregnancy symptoms, saying that the drug can cause problems in newborns, including low birth weight, and developmental problems.

Recreational marijuana use is now legal in eight US states and the District of Columbia. A total of 23 states have laws that allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes to some extent. However, on a federal level, it is still illegal to possess, use, buy, sell, or cultivate marijuana.

Locations that sell marijuana should be required to display large signs indicating the dangers of pot to prenatal children and thoroughly discourage pregnant woman from purchasing it.

There is probably not enough research available to tell whether children born of a mom who uses pot is more susceptible to Schizophrenia or not. We know that teens who use pot are much more susceptible, especially those in their early teens. This needs to be studied.

Five Years Later, Colorado Sees Toll of Pot Legalization

Colorado Springs Gazette 

Last week marked the fifth anniversary of Colorado's decision to sanction the world's first anything-goes commercial pot trade.

Five years later, we remain an embarrassing cautionary tale.

Visitors to Colorado remark about a new agricultural smell, the wafting odor of pot as they drive near warehouse grow operations along Denver freeways. Residential neighborhoods throughout Colorado Springs reek of marijuana, as producers fill rental homes with plants.

Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot.

Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based on research by the pro-legalization Denver Post.

Five years of commercial pot have been five years of more marijuana in schools than teachers and administrators ever feared.

"An investigation by Education News Colorado, Solutions and the I-News Network shows drug violations reported by Colorado's K-12 schools have increased 45 percent in the past four years, even as the combined number of all other violations has fallen," explains an expose on escalating pot use in schools by Rocky Mountain PBS in late 2016.

The investigation found an increase in high school drug violations of 71 percent since legalization. School suspensions for drugs increased 45 percent.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found Colorado ranks first in the country for marijuana use among teens, scoring well above the national average.

The only good news to celebrate on this anniversary is the dawn of another organization to push back against Big Marijuana's threat to kids, teens and young adults.

The Marijuana Accountability Coalition formed Nov. 6 in Denver and will establish satellites throughout the state. It resulted from discussions among recovery professionals, parents, physicians and others concerned with the long-term effects of a commercial industry profiteering off of substance abuse.

"It's one thing to decriminalize marijuana, it's an entirely different thing to legalize an industry that has commercialized a drug that is devastating our kids and devastating whole communities," said coalition founder Justin Luke Riley. "Coloradans need to know, other states need to know, that Colorado is suffering from massive normalization and commercialization of this drug which has resulted in Colorado being the number one state for youth drug use in the country. Kids are being expelled at higher rates, and more road deaths tied to pot have resulted since legalization."

Commercial pot's five-year anniversary is an odious occasion for those who want safer streets, healthier kids and less suffering associated with substance abuse. Experts say the worst effects of widespread pot use will culminate over decades. If so, we can only imagine the somber nature of Big Marijuana's 25th birthday.

— Colorado Springs Gazette

The reference to decades here probably has to do with mental health. I've shown several times on this blog that there is a connection between teen use of pot and the development of schizophrenia, paranoia and other mental health issues. This should begin to show up in statistics in the next 5 to 10 years and get worse for decades. This is cultural suicide. 

The commercialization of marijuana will result in major players supporting programs that normalize pot, convincing people that it is a good thing. Just as the 'wild west' commercialization of guns has resulted in Americans being convinced that making automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons available to every lunatic in the country is somehow a good thing. 

Medical Journal Calls for Tighter Rules on Legal Pot to Protect Young

Powerful pot strains put developing brains of young people at risk, CMAJ editorial says

CBC News 

A pot smoker has a joint at the annual 4/20 day, which promotes the use of marijuana, in Vancouver. Cannabis shouldn't be used by young people, a medical journal editorial says. (David Horemans/CBC)

Marijuana legalization will harm the health of youth unless major changes to the proposed law are made to protect their developing brains, a medical journal editorial says.

Dr. Diane Kelsall, interim editor in chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says Bill C-45 fails to safeguard vulnerable youth.

"There are a number of things in the legislation that are truly worrisome," Kelsall said in an interview. "If the intent is truly a public health approach and to protect our youth this legislation is not doing it."

Canadian young people ranked first for cannabis use in North America and Europe, with one-third saying they tried it at least once by age 15, the Canadian Pediatric Society says. 

Before the federal election, physicians said the right legislation to legalize pot might curb teen toking by restricting access.

The editorial takes issue with several aspects of the bill, which:

Sets the minimum age to buy recreational marijuana at 18. Kelsall calls that too young given evidence suggesting that the human brain doesn't mature until about age 25.

Allows people to grow pot at home, which Kelsall said increases the likelihood of diversion to young people.

Lacks national standards for retail distribution.

Lacks limits on potency of strains despite increased risk of harmful effects with higher-strength cannabis.

"From my perspective, from my colleagues' perspective, this legislation is being pushed through," Kelsall said. "We're just very worried that we're conducting a national experiment and unfortunately the guinea pigs are kids."

Marijuana as a psychosis trigger

At the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, psychiatrist Romina Mizrah uses PET scanners to study how cannabis use changes brain function in young people with an average age of 20.

"There are physical and functional changes in the developing brains of regular users that are associated with damage".

Dr. Diane Kelsall

In young people who regularly use cannabis, preliminary evidence points to a reduction in an enzyme that regulates the endocannabinoid system that buffers key chemistry within the brain, said Mizrahi.

"There is some understanding at this point from epidemiological studies that certainly marijuana is a trigger," said Mizrahi, director of the Focus on Youth Psychosis Prevention program. "Marijuana use predates the psychosis. Whether it causes the psychosis, that's a different question and that we don't know."

Studies using MRI scanners also show physical and functional changes in the developing brains of regular users that are associated with damage, Kelsall said.

In fact, I believe that it stops all maturing processes in developing brains leaving adult people trying to function in society with the brain and maturity of a teenager. It doesn't work!

More potent pot

Mike Stroh, 35, of Toronto says he's part of a generation who grew up smoking current strains of marijuana, which have been genetically selected to produce a powerful high, with THC levels of about 20 per cent. That's up from around seven per cent in the 1960s and '70s.       

From age 13, Stroh got high almost daily until age 30.

"I was into sports," Stroh recalled. "I wanted to do stuff at school, but I wouldn't make it to the practice, I wouldn't make it to the tryouts, because I was either up all night selling drugs, trying to get them, fall asleep in a drug-induced coma, and then wake up in a mess."

Mike Stroh started smoking pot almost daily from age 13 until he was 30. He says it's an 'illusion' that pot is a relatively harmless drug. (CBC)

Stroh also lived with depression and anxiety and said he was never able to like himself. "That's the torment that brought me to my knees."

He felt robbed of being himself and the opportunity for emotional maturity, cognitive development and professional opportunities.  

"Because marijuana doesn't bring you to your knees as quickly as other drugs may … there's this illusion that because you can be high and do things, it's not bad, so to speak."

Stroh is now a mental health advocate who draws on his personal and family experiences to educate.

"We need to teach kids how to take care of themselves so when they do feel anxious and do feel depressed, scared or … frustrated with life, because yes, that's a part of being a teenager, then they learn that there's so many things they can do to help themselves as opposed to use drugs."