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Father God, thank you for the love of the truth you have given me. Please bless me with the wisdom, knowledge and discernment needed to always present the truth in an attitude of grace and love. Use this blog and Northwoods Ministries for your glory. Help us all to read and to study Your Word without preconceived notions, but rather, let scripture interpret scripture in the presence of the Holy Spirit. All praise to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

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Showing posts with label legalization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legalization. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Cannabis > The abuse of medical cannabis in Australia

 

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Friday, December 13, 2024

Marijuana > The Astounding Effects it is Having on Civilization - No one is talking about

 

At least one generation of children has been sorely affected by marijuana in many horrific ways. Those effects have become a major threat to civilization as we know it in the Western world.



This could well be one of the most important documents you have ever read. Please take the time to read it and, if you agree, please do everything you can to push this post to everyone you know. 


There are so many effects that marijuana is having on children and adults, some of which are changing Western society in profound and disturbing ways.

Governments like the tax money from legal pot sales so much, that they don't bother to study the disastrous effects of the drug. There is a lot of blood on their hands.

Populations in the Western world are suffering from very low birth rates, well below the 2.2 births per woman that are needed to maintain a population. For the sake of the economy, these shortfalls are made up for by immigration. It sounds like a win-win situation, but many problems are associated with importing cultures that threaten the very existence of Western society. For instance, while Western fertility rates are almost all below sustainable levels, Muslims in the West have fertility rates that suggest a doubling, or even tripling, of their numbers every 20 years or so.

But what is causing the low birth rates? I believe that marijuana is the major contributor, for two reasons. The first, but least important is that chronic marijuana users sometimes suffer from ED. 


Chronic use of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs can cause erectile dysfunction and decreased sexual drive - Brown University

But the most important factor in falling fertility rates is that marijuana users just don't want to have children. I once had neighbors in a brand-new subdivision who were pot smokers, neighbors on both sides of me. Both couples were in their 30s. Both couples loved children, but neither wanted the responsibility of raising them.

Having watched and studied pot smokers in the nearly 50 years since, that attitude revealed itself in profound and disturbing conclusions. 

The neighbors on the one side seemed quite normal but for the lack of children. We had neighborhood parties once or twice a year, and they always drank alcohol and behaved normally. But during the last couple of years, he started using pot, and at the last party I attended with them he had grown long, bushy sideburns, wore a white shirt open to the belly button, was decked out in several gold chains, and talked a little differently. It's like he regressed to being a yuppie, which was so three or four years ago. 

The neighbors on my other side were quite fascinating. Both held down steady full-time jobs and were apparently normal functioning people. Except, when Friday afternoon arrived, off came the work clothes, and on went smocks all the way to their ankles. Barefoot most of the year, they let their hair down which reached their backsides. Then they lit up the pot and stayed high until Sunday night.

They also had Walkmans in their breast pockets and earphones through which they listened primarily to Beatles music. I thought, 'That makes sense, they are on drugs, they are listening to the Beatles drug music, ie post-Maharishi, like Yellow Submarine, Revolver, the White Album, Sergeant Peppers. But, no, they didn't listen to 'that crap', they listened to the early Beatles. That made no sense to me at all, but then I began to put it all together. 

Aside from the music, the apparel, and the vocabularies straight out of 1967 Haight-Ashbury, they drove a 1967 vehicle that they kept immaculate. I realized that this couple was stuck in 1967. That it was the fault of the pot they smoked wouldn't occur to me for many years.

Several years later, I was hitchhiking in Ottawa when a nice young man in a new pickup stopped for me. After a brief conversation, he asked how I felt about pot. I told him that I felt it was a lot like booze, a convenient way to avoid growing up instead of facing one's problems head-on. He almost stopped the truck and kicked me out, he was so angry. So I asked him if he wanted me to tell him what he wanted to hear, or the truth. He just looked at me.

Another decade or so later I encountered a boy of 15 who had begun to smoke pot. Ten years later, the young man was still acting and looking like he was 15. His wardrobe didn't change, his speech, his music preferences, his attitude, his likes and dislikes all remained the same as when he was 15. At 25, I shared my thoughts with him that marijuana leaves you stuck at the age you were when you started. He took it to heart, stopped with the pot, and suddenly began to mature and grow. 

It was about this time when I made another startling discovery. After learning that pot was now many times more powerful than pot of the 60's and 70's, I began to read about Michael Jackson. That uber-talented young man was mentally messed up more than anyone I know. Why? His brothers, apparently, shared pot with him before he was even 10 years old. Imagine having a body that goes through puberty and becomes a man, while your brain is still prepubescent.  It has become common knowledge that MJ had a doctor available to set up an IV drip every night so he could sleep. The IV injected pure THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, right into his bloodstream. 

MJ's friend, Tommy Chong, was quoted as saying that MJ was more a man as a child and more a child as a man - not the precise wording. He indicated that MJ regressed further into childhood the older he got. I believe it was entirely because of the THC drip that he insisted upon every night.

More recently, I encountered a girl who started smoking pot when she was 14. That was several years ago. Now, in her early 20's she acts like a 12-year-old.

Today, I am wondering if Justin Trudeau smokes pot. His marriage broke up and the media has not even attempted to explain why. But my real concern is his reaction to the Truckers protest in Ottawa. His extreme overreaction makes me think he reacted like a frightened adolescent. If he smokes pot, could he have regressed into adolescence? That's frightening! Like MJ, a prepubescent mind in an adult body, is Justin an adolescent in the office of Prime Minister of Canada?

Justin has the same attitude toward climate change as Greta Thunberg, and he was videoed at a Taylor Swift concert swapping bracelets with kids while Hamas supporters were rioting in his home city of Montreal.


Am I the only one in 50 years to see these phenomena? 

No, finally a Danish professor has documented the loss of maturity in Western society in a book titled, InfantilizedDr Keith Hayward is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Copenhagen. He has published widely on matters relating to crime, terrorism, and popular culture. He lives in Copenhagen.

He published an article in the Economist recently - 

21st Century people are far less mature than 1960s people. Why?

In it, he documents the fact that people, in general, are far less mature now than in the 1960s. Unfortunately, his conclusions as to why do not include marijuana. I'm convinced Dr Hayward needs to revisit his causal theories.


Drugs and Kids > More Scary Research into the Effects of Marijuana on Teenagers

The research announced today and published by the CBC in Canada includes these extraordinary statements: "Study findings suggest that adolescent cannabis use is linked to difficulties in successfully completing the tasks that mark the transition to adulthood," 

and, Increasing evidence shows that brain development during adolescence can be harmed by frequent cannabis use and cognitive functions can be permanently reduced.

Young people need to develop and mature and prepare themselves to meet demands in adult life.

"Cannabis use, especially frequent use, impairs this development and reduces the likelihood that a young person will be able to establish a satisfactory adult life,"


What are the consequences of the cessation or regression of maturity?

As mentioned at the top, there is a serious reluctance for pot users to have children. It's not because of poverty, or that the world is in such a horrific mess. It's because pot inhibits its users from growing up normally and developing the desire to have children.

As discussed above, the consequences are a diminishing national population, and the increasing immigration of people from other cultures, with other religions, ideologies, beliefs, and values. Europe is currently undergoing cultural suicide and will not be recognizable in two or three generations.

Russia has just introduced a bill to pay college students to have children. They also forbid the international adoption of Russian children.


Canadians concerned country’s children are too soft, with no coping skills

A Scouts Canada survey found that most Canadians are concerned that children aged 10 to 21 are too soft and have not been taught appropriate coping skills to navigate their future.

The survey, which included 1,000 Canadians, uncovered that social media channels, screens and lack of development, social/peer pressure, video games and helicopter parenting are the biggest dangers to kids today.

Not even close! Child Sexual Abuse is the greatest threat to kids today and Marijuana is a close second.

Just over a third of those surveyed are not confident that the kids aged 10 to 21 will be able to get jobs in the future and grow into successful adults.


Canadian Convulsions > Canadian Youth "Very, very, unhappy!" - Happiness report

Canada ranks 15th overall, down 2 places from last year; but 58th when you just consider under 30s. 

This is a precipitous drop in the Happiness scale for Canadian youth over the past 15 years. What has happened in that time period? 

1. Marijuana was legalized. Not for kids, but the legalization is enough for kids to think there can't be any harm in smoking or eating pot or it would be illegal. Pot is easy to get in any Western country, at any age, too easy.

2. Gender fluidity is being taught in schools causing confusion and dramatically increasing the likelihood of a child attempting suicide - the very opposite of the excuse they have for teaching it.

3. Climate alarmism is pushed hard by all legacy media. Children have to worry if the world will last until they grow up. Such an irresponsible attitude by news media would never have been tolerated in the 60's and 70's.

4. Morality is just mass confusion anymore if it exists at all. The Fear of God hardly exists even in some churches.

5. Child sexual abuse is the worst atrocity the world has ever seen, and nobody wants to know.


Drugs and Kids > More Scary Research into the Effects of Marijuana on Teenagers

This study also linked the use of pot by teens as correlating well with such things as:
60% less likely to graduate
Not attending college
18 times more likely to become dependent on pot
8 times more likely to use harder drugs
Suicide attempts
Depression
More likely to need welfare

Heavy marijuana users generally report:
lower life satisfaction, 
poorer mental and physical health, 
more relationship problems, and
less academic and career success.


What are some other nightmarish effects of marijuana?

In 2008, leading psychiatrists warned people who smoked super-strength pot were 18 times more likely to suffer a psychotic episode.

“Skunk (super-strength pot), which accounts for about 80 percent of the UK market has an average THC (a psychoactive ingredient) content of 16.2 percent and ranges up to 46 percent.

“Old fashioned '60 to '70s cannabis had around 1-2 percent THC."



The famous cannabis-selling coffee shops of the Netherlands are facing new tighter restrictions.
The Dutch government is reclassifying high-strength cannabis to put it in the same category as hard drugs.

It says the amount of the main active chemical in the drug, THC, has gone up, making it far more potent than a generation ago.

Marijuana is just not the same

Regular cannabis users double their risks of experiencing psychotic symptoms and disorders, especially if they have a personal or family history of psychotic disorders, and if they start using cannabis in their mid-teens.

A regular cannabis user refers to someone who gets high at least three times a week.


Playing Russian Roulette with Your Sanity

By smoking pot! Kids under 16 have a 1 in 6 chance of developing full-blown, irreversible Schizophrenia, Paranoia, or both, from smoking pot. 1 in 6 - just like Russian Roulette. 

Does Pot make you Crazy?

Teenagers who start smoking marijuana before the age of sixteen are four times more likely to become schizophrenic.

Unfortunately, I know at least one young man, as nice a man as you could find, who suffers horribly from both schizophrenia and paranoia. His life will be one of drugs and difficulties thanks to pot.


Drugs and Kids > Cannabis linked to increased risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in young adults


Is Your Teen Smoking Pot? Is She Still Sane?

Research from the UK (reported in the Daily Mail)

Cannabis is a threat to mental health.

Cannabis use is now the biggest single cause of serious mental disorders in the UK, a leading expert warned yesterday.

Up to 80 per cent of new patients at many units have a history of smoking the drug, said consultant psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray.


Brain damage

More Research on the Dangerous Effects of Marijuana on the Brain

Research from Harvard Medical School indicates that even casual use of pot can cause permanent brain damage.

A New Zealand study found that cannabis users were more than twice as likely to have a stroke at an early age (18-55). Interestingly, there is no evidence of any correlation with heart attacks.


Marijuana is just not the same benign substance that we knew about in the 60s,” says Kerrie Watt from Coastal Health. “It does have real health impacts and impacts in the lives of young people and their families in particular, and it’s something worth taking a look at.”

“Particularly in adolescents, the memory centers of the brain appear to shrink and that they are impaired in terms of their ability to learn and have good recalls of memories.”

Dr. Wayne Hall, who conducted the study, came to some of the following conclusions:

Regular cannabis users can develop a dependence syndrome, the risks of which are around one in 10 of all cannabis users and one in six among those who start in adolescence.

Regular adolescent cannabis users have lower educational attainment than non-using peers but we don’t know whether the link is causal.

Driving while cannabis intoxicated doubles the risk of a car crash; this risk increases substantially if users are also alcohol intoxicated.


More than 450,000 incidents of emergency room admissions related to marijuana occur every year, and heavy marijuana use in adolescence is connected to an 8-point reduction of IQ later in life, irrespective of alcohol use.


Marijuana Use Linked to Brain Abnormalities

The results showed differences in two brain areas associated with emotion and motivation — the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens. Users showed higher density than non-users, as well as differences in shape of those areas. Both differences were more pronounced in those who reported smoking more marijuana.


I posted this open letter  from my Facebook page, Voice of the Children: (https://www.facebook.com/GaryWmMyers), and asked these questions before Canada legalized marijuana. Of course, I got no answer.

What are the effects on a child born to a woman who is a regular user of pot?

What are the effects on a child of growing up in a home where one or more parent is a frequent user of pot?

Several years later, I would ask how many toddlers have been treated in ERs for marijuana consumption because of chewables, and what are the long-term effects of that likely to be?


Japan has just passed laws making possession of marijuana a crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison. Their motivation was the rapidly increasing use of pot by Japanese youth. A most responsible decision by a national government needs to spread all over the world before we destroy another generation of youth. 


There is the Denver man who, hours after buying a package of marijuana-infused Karma Kandy from one of Colorado’s new recreational marijuana shops, began raving about the end of the world and then pulled a handgun from the family safe and killed his wife.


It's time to end the madness!

Please push this tweet, blog post, or FB page as fast and as far as you can. Keep pushing until a horde of sociology Masters students all over the world are studying this.


Gary Wm Myers

garymsmail@gmail.com

@GaryWmMyers

Thursday, December 12, 2024

If you are going to Japan > Don't take any pot with you

 

A  good move by Japan. If only it spread across the world. 

Under new laws, Japan's hard stance on cannabis

could imprison users for up to 7 years

By Mike Heuer
Cannabis users in Japan could be imprisoned for up to seven years under new laws that took effect on Thursday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Cannabis users in Japan could be imprisoned for up to seven years under new laws that took effect on Thursday. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Recently revised Japanese cannabis and narcotics laws went into effect on Thursday and could land violators in prison for up to seven years.

A general concern about rising use of cannabis among Japanese youth spurred the nation's lawmakers to criminalize possession, cultivation or distribution of marijuana and cannabis products that contain the psychoactive ingredient THC.

The new laws categorize cannabis and THC as narcotics and punishes violators with up to seven years in prison, while the old laws did not make it a criminal offense to use marijuana or products containing THC.

The new laws also legalize cannabis products used for medicinal purposes when those products are proven to be safe and effective at treating medical conditions.

Japan reported a record 6,703 cannabis-related offenses in 2023, which was more than cases related to methamphetamine violations.

It also was the first time Japan had more marijuana-related cases than those triggered by methamphetamine offenses.

Many attributed the rise in cannabis use among Japan's youth to a lack of penalties despite cannabis and THC being banned.

Because there were no criminal penalties, many people say that encouraged youth to use cannabis because there was no effective legal deterrenceWith the new penalties in effect, Japanese lawmakers seek to reverse the trend of rising cannabis use among the nation's youth.

The new laws also give Japanese law enforcement more tools to investigate cannabis offenses and prosecute people who test positive for THC in urine, hair, or blood samples.



Saturday, December 26, 2020

Mind-Bending Paradox - Russian Orthodox Church More Open to Abortion Than Russian Government - Correction

..
Correction: see comments below

Russian Orthodox Church has ‘soft & flexible’ stance on abortion & does not demand practice be made illegal, spokesman reveals
26 Dec 2020 12:33
By Jonny Tickle, RT

FILE PHOTO Vladimir Legoyda © Sputnik / Nina Zotina


The Russian Orthodox Church is not proposing a blanket ban on abortion and its official position is actually “more flexible” than a complete prohibition. That’s according to Vladimir Legoyda, the institution's main spokesperson.

Speaking on Saturday to RTVI, a New York-based Russian-language channel aimed at expats, Legoyda revealed that the Church is not entirely against the termination of pregnancy being legal.

“We are taking a softer and more flexible position in this case: we demand [abortion] be withdrawn from the compulsory health insurance fund,” he said. The Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund is a taxpayer-funded state program that guarantees the provision of free medical care for a wide range of illnesses.

Russia's religious debate around abortion hit the headlines in November, after Oleg Apolikhin, the chief fertility specialist at the Ministry of Health, suggested creating ‘abortion centers,’ that would be used exclusively for pregnancy terminations. Apolikhin expressed the opinion that terminating a pregnancy had become fashionable and instead wanted to change it into a “socially negative phenomenon.” The specialist also suggested removing abortion from the schedule of state-provided care.

His suggestion was knocked back by the ministry itself, which disagreed with both proposals. However, this idea has complete support from the Russian Orthodox Church, which also agrees with Apolikhin’s view that doctors should be able to refuse to perform an abortion.

“The Church has repeatedly said that doctors who, per their religious beliefs or internal convictions, do not want to perform abortion surgeries, should be able to not perform them,” Legoyda wrote on Telegram in November.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has previously called abortion a sinful practice, believing that terminating a pregnancy because of a discovered abnormality is “even criminal.”

In his opinion, abortion should not be an option just because an embryo “might not make a good football player, or a good lawyer, or a very strong and healthy person.”



Thursday, June 25, 2020

More Than 100 Toxic Chemicals Found in Cannabis Smoke: U of A study

Kelsey Dyer
CTVNews Edmonton

A young man smoking marijuana at a rally in Vancouver, B.C., on April 20, 2011.
(Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

EDMONTON -- A study from the University of Alberta found 110 toxic chemicals in cannabis smoke, drawing attention to potential health risks.

The group of engineering researchers, led by U of A post-doctoral fellow Robert Nishida, compared smoke samples from a marijuana joint with samples from a tobacco cigarette.

"When it comes to how that effects your lungs, how that effects your health, it's a question of dose in the right spots of your lungs,” Nishida told CTV News, “for example where it's going to have these effects and those sorts of health-related questions."

Tobacco was chosen as a benchmark because it has been studied extensively.  

The researchers found that the physical and chemical properties of the two were quite similar. They have 69 toxic compounds in common, although tobacco had more in total, 173.

The particles in the cannabis smoke were found to be larger, impacting where they get deposited in a smoker's respiratory system.

“Whether it's in the throat or the upper airways, or if it gets transported all the way down into the alveoli, that depends on the size of the particles and their other physical characteristics,” Nishida said.

The researchers also concluded that more research needs to be done on the effects and the potential health risks of cannabis use.

Canada legalized cannabis in October 2018. Before legalization, a University of Calgary study found that 8.9 per cent of Albertans said they had used cannabis, less than the national average.

Cannabis retailers saw a spike in sales at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta.



Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Marijuana is Nothing Like it Used to Be - Says Mom of 19 y/o Who Suicided

A mom whose 19-yr-old died by suicide has a vital message for parents about marijuana today
Annie Reneau

Laura Stack/Facebook

Laura Stack's son Johnny lost his life to suicide three months ago when he was just 19 years old. Though she says the grief of his death is "still fresh," Stack took to Facebook to share something that happened three days before Johnny died, hoping it will help other parents whose kids may be at risk.

She wrote:

"On Sunday, November 17, 2019 around 5:30 PM, he came over for dinner. He lived in our condo a couple miles down the street and would often pop in for a home-cooked meal. This evening, he was a bit agitated but lucid. 'I need to tell you that you were right,' he told me. 'Right about what?' I asked. 'Right about the marijuana and the drugs. You told me weed and drugs would hurt my brain, and it's ruined my mind and my life. You were right all along. I'm sorry, and I love you.' He died by suicide three days later."

Stack explained that Johnny had "dabbed" since he was 15 or 16. "Do you understand the difference between smoking pot (and some edibles) and dabbing high-THC wax, shatter, or butter?" she asked. "Most of my friends look at me blankly when I say these words and say, 'I've never even heard about this.' If you don't know what cannabis extracts are, and you have children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews between the ages of 14 and 24, PLEASE keep reading."

"I am NOT talking about those of you who are supporters of legal recreational marijuana for adults over 21 years old—it's your life—do what you want," Stack clarified. "I know some people who take it successfully for specific medical purposes, so please don't write comments in my post about my personal experience. I'm specifically talking about illegal usage by children and young adults under 21, whose adolescent brains are still forming. You may be thinking, 'C'mon, Laura, it's no big deal – it's just pot.' 'Pot's legal, so it must be safe.' Or 'I did pot when I was a kid, too, and look, it didn't hurt me.'

Well, have you recently studied TODAY'S pot, and have you personally seen its effects on your children like I have?"

Stack explained why today's recreational cannabis is so different:

"First, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis that gives the 'high,' is extracted out of the cannabis so that it's nearly pure. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis. Then a butane torch is used to heat the crystals (similar to beeswax) or oil in a 'rig' (just google it), or a vaping device with a heating element called a dab pen can be used. Forget the 'grass' or 'papers' that were rolled in the 70s and 80s. The pot we grew up with (10% or less THC content) is HUGELY different than today's high-concentrate extracts (often 80% THC content or higher)."

She also explained why young people tend to be affected more by these high THC concentrations, and that the earlier they start the more likely it is that they'll develop a disorder.

"The brain is still developing through a person's 20s, and psychotic disorders typically develop in the late teenage years. During brain formation, heavy cannabis use has been shown to have a negative effect on the formation of neural pathways. It can also lead to heavier drug use. While the vast majority of marijuana smokers never experience CIP, researchers have found that the earlier and heavier someone starts dabbing, the more likely it is that they will develop a disorder at some point (often years later). We must educate our children when they are young (10-12 years old) and use hyper-vigilance in the early teen years, which we found was much easier before the age of 16, when they could drive. We couldn't lock him up or monitor him 24/7. Keep talking and keep trying!!

The harmful combination of a still-forming mind, high-potency THC products, and a high frequency of use = Cannabis-Induced Psychosis. Yes, that's a real diagnosis (or High-THC Abuse – Severe). Repeated CIP incidents can trigger schizophrenia or other mental illness, and even when the cannabis is withdrawn, the psychosis doesn't go away. This is what happened to my beautiful boy. When he died, the toxicology report showed he had ZERO drugs in his system. He wasn't depressed, neglected, drugged, or unloved. He was psychotic, paranoid, and delusional by the time he reached 19, and he refused the anti-psychotic drugs that he now needed, because he thought he wasn't sick (common to schizophrenia)."

It's so easy to think that marijuana use isn't that big of a deal, especially since some states (and Canada) have begun legalizing the drug for recreational use and many people see it as "natural." But the mild, laid-back high many people picture with pot use is not the reality of many of today's marijuana products or methods. Parents need to be aware of the dangers cannabis-derived drugs pose to their children's mental health and educate them as early as possible.

Stack included the following links to articles and studies backing up what she's learned about today's THC products. These are things we all should read and share, as this knowledge and awareness could literally save someone's life.










Sunday, February 9, 2020

Halifax Researcher Studies How Cannabis Affects Brain Function in Young Adults

Study taking place in Halifax, N.S. and London, Ont.


Aly Thomson · CBC News 

Dr. Philip Tibbo, a professor of psychiatry, is conducting the study with researchers at Western University in London, Ont. It involves 180 people in both provinces between 18-35 who use cannabis to varying degrees.

One group taking part in the study is affected by some form of psychosis, such as schizophrenia, while the other group is unaffected by an illness. 

Tibbo said daily cannabis use, or even in some cases occasional use, has been shown to negatively impact early gains made by people diagnosed with psychosis.

He said he's looking at how cannabis can impact brain white matter — nerve fibres that connect various parts of the brain — during its final development phase in young adulthood.

It also happens to be a time when cannabis use can be quite heavy.

"This will actually give us a little bit better insight into how cannabis can affect brain structure and brain function," he said.

In this practice scan on the brain of a researcher at Dalhousie University's psychiatry department,
white matter is shown outlined in blue. (Submitted by Kyle McKee)

Tibbo said he will look at whether abnormalities form in white matter as a result of cannabis use. Abnormalities in these connections mean your brain is not functioning at peak capacity.

"Each area of the brain doesn't work independently — it's all interacting. It's very complex. If you have more dysfunctional connections, the brain is not working the way that it should be," he said.

"If there's a particular threshold that is met, you could have symptoms of that disconnection, and part of that could be the expression of illness such as schizophrenia."

Using cutting-edge techniques to image the brain, Tibbo will also be monitoring if people within the healthy sample group have unusual experiences, or psychotic-like symptoms, after smoking cannabis.

Dr. Philip Tibbo is a professor of psychiatry at
Dalhousie University in Halifax. (Submitted by Philip Tibbo)

"What I usually say clinically is if you're going to be smoking, you're doing it because it's supposed to be a pleasurable experience," he said.

"But if you're smoking pot and you're getting a bit more paranoid, or you're feeling a little bit more sketchy, well then perhaps there's some vulnerability there to have negative outcomes, and is that because of the effects of cannabis on your brain white matter?"

The research got underway last May. Subjects are being tested at the outset, after six months and after one year.

He said he hopes the study will eventually arm adolescents and young adults with more information to make informed decisions about cannabis use.

The study costs around $500,000 and is being funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Research Nova Scotia.



Wednesday, January 15, 2020

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.



Thursday, September 19, 2019

Thousands of Young People Hospitalized Due to Cannabis and Other Substance Use

Last year, more than 23,500 youths were hospitalized in Canada
for harm from substance use - 40% for cannabis use
CBC News 

Cannabis accounted for nearly 40 per cent of hospital stays among youth for harm from substance use,
according to a new Canadian report. (Jason Redmond/Reuters)

About 65 young people in Canada per day land in hospital because of harm caused by cannabis, alcohol, opioids and other substances, according to a new report.

Clinicians and a former user say the findings from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) highlight the desperate need for more community supports to help those with mental health concerns.

The institute released the report, titled "Hospital stays for harm caused by substance use among youth age 10 to 24," on Thursday. The figures present a snapshot of the hospital stays in those age groups in 2017-2018, before the legalization of cannabis.

Last year, more than 23,500 youth were hospitalized for harm from substance use, the report says. In comparison, about 8,000 were hospitalized for illnesses related to the appendix. 

The findings highlight the need to focus attention on youth who experience harm caused by substance use and have mental health conditions occurring at the same time, as well as those who live in lower-income or rural and remote areas, the report's authors said.

Cannabis accounted for nearly 40 per cent of those hospital stays among youth, followed by alcohol-related hospitalizations at about 26 per cent.

OK, so can we stop saying pot is less harmful than alcohol? The frightening outbreak of lung disease among otherwise healthy youth in the US related to vaping, is also being related to the addition of THC drops to the mix. 7 people have died and several hundred made very ill.

Missed opportunities

Dr. Joanna Henderson, a psychologist and senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, says the report shows perspectives on substance abuse need to expand, especially when nearly 70 per cent of the hospitalizations for harm caused by substance use involve mental health conditions, as well.

And the questions is, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

That's nearly double the proportion among those aged 25 and older.

I have been reporting for years that pot is related to a great spike in the occurrence of schizophrenia in teenagers. There are numerous reports from all over the world. 



"We need adequate services in the hospital but we also need to be thinking about how are we intervening sooner," said Henderson, who was not involved in the research.

"We are missing opportunities like schools, local malls … where young people are."

Young people need places in communities that are one-stop shops to connect them with employment, education, housing and health services, including mental health and substance use, she said.

'You're not alone'

Lucas Wade, 31, first started smoking cannabis at 17 "out of peer pressure," he said.  At age 20, he was toking daily for pleasure along with boozing. 

"I was admitted to hospital after my roommate found me after trying to suicide because I couldn't stop smoking pot, no matter what," Wade said. "I couldn't keep living that way."

Wade ended up homeless when a landlord evicted him for smoking indoors after signing a contract saying he wouldn't.

Wade studied social work and now works as a support counselor in Toronto, where he sees many youth with underlining mental health issues using substances as a coping mechanism.

The first step is to talk to someone close to you, such as a best friend, parent or sibling, Wade said.

(CIHI)

Remember, these numbers are from before cannabis was legalized. Next year's numbers will be considerably worse.

"If you're the youth, find a safe space or people where you can share and talk about this stuff because it is so hard. When you're in the throes of it, you feel so alone. You're not alone."

Previous research suggests young people with pre-existing mental health concerns can be at higher risk for problematic substance use and it occurs in the other direction as well, Henderson said.

Don't skip over that last line.  It occurs in the other direction as well means substance abuse can cause mental illness, as the many articles linked above indicate.

It's important not only to collect consistent data across Canada regularly to find any changes but to speak to young people about their experience with how services are delivered, she added.

About 17 per cent of the youth were hospitalized more than once in the same fiscal year, according to CIHI. That's another red flag for the need for better community supports, clinicians say.

Hospitalization rates varied by province and territory. The hospital stays are "the tip of the iceberg when it comes to estimating harm caused by substance use," CIHI said, and doesn't include fatal overdoses in the community.

Where to get help:
Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text) | crisisservicescanada.ca (chat).

In Quebec (French): Association québécoise de prévention du suicide: 1-866-APPELLE (1-866-277-3553).

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), www.kidshelpphone.ca (live chat counselling).

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.