FDA has complete jurisdiction over the production, distribution, and sale of all drugs and medical devices in the United States. ATF has jurisdiction over alcohol and tobacco products nationwide.Creating a special exception for marijuana is dangerous and totally illogical.
Read MoreStay in the know with the latest on our fight against the legalization of marijuana
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Big Marijuana moves to exploit the Opioid Epidemic
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse analyzed data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and found respondents who reported past-year marijuana use in their initial interview had 2.2 times higher odds than nonusers for having a prescription opioid use disorder and 2.6 times greater odds of abusing prescription opioids.i
Read MoreBlack market marijuana busts nearly quadruple under recreational legalization→
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Four years after legal recreational marijuana went on sale in Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper says the black market for marijuana in the state is shrinking and predicted that it "will be largely gone" in a few years.
But new statistics show that arrests for the production of black market pot increased by 380 percent in the 2014-16 time frame, and Colorado law enforcement agencies say they are battling a boom in illegal marijuana cultivation by sometimes violent groups of criminals who rake in millions of dollars by exporting what they grow.
Read MoreEvidence that medical marijuana outlets sell to users without medical need
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A study of four medical marijuana outlets in California suggests that many of their customers don’t fit the profile expected for businesses focused on sick patients.Researchers found that some of the dispensaries attracted many customers outside of their immediate area and appeared to target specific ethnic, gender and/or age groups.
Read MoreStates don’t get to ignore federal laws on marijuana→
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Proponents first extolled the “medical” benefits of marijuana. They convinced voters to bypass the Food and Drug Administration, substituting popular vote for research, clinical trials and science. They downplayed the harmful health effects and never mentioned that FDA-approved medical marijuana for cancer patients is already legally available in nabilone pills. Ads showing seniors toking to relieve the effects of chemotherapy tugged at heartstrings. Yet in Arizona, fewer than 3 percent of marijuana cardholders have cancer. Statistics suggest “medical” marijuana is a ruse for recreational pot: Cardholders are predominantly male, one-fourth are under 30 and 83 percent use it to relieve self-defined “chronic pain.”
Read MoreIllegal Pot Shops Are Opening Faster Than San Diego County Can Shut Them Down→
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San Diego County has banned pot dispensaries in its unincorporated areas, but the Sheriff's Department can't enforce the ban, because the locations that are shut down just re-open. Spring Valley has become the Wild West for illegal pot shops.
Read MoreWhat voters really mean when they say they support marijuana legalization→
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Given more options from which to choose, respondents’ support for legalization dropped by a third, from 60 percent to 40 percent. Apparently, some of the poll respondents who had previously expressed support for legalization assumed they were being asked about the legality of medical marijuana or of personal marijuana possession. The “60 percent support” was thus actually a mix of people who supported legalization and those who opposed it but wanted marijuana to be accessible to severely ill people, opposed criminal penalties for personal consumption, or both.
Read MoreColorado politicians ignore major pot problems
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If Hickenlooper and Gardner cared to lead on this issue, they would tell the world about the rate of pot-involved traffic fatalities that began soaring in their state in direct correlation with the emergence of legal recreational pot and Big Marijuana. They would talk about Colorado's status as a national leader in the growth of homelessness, which all major homeless shelter operators attribute to commercialized, recreational pot.
Read MoreWho is really in Prison for Marijuana?
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Many of those in prison for marijuana entered a guilty plea to a marijuana charge to avoid a more serious charge. In the US, just 1.6 percent of the state inmate population were held for offenses involving only marijuana, and less than one percent of all state prisoners (0.7 percent) were incarcerated with marijuana possession as the only charge.
Read MoreMexican drug cartels may use legal marijuana to take over Northern California pot trade.→
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Part of the legalization argument is that regulating and taxing marijuana could give California enforcement agencies the funds they need to eradicate illegal farms. But Gabriel thinks it will take years before enforcement can put a dent in the illegal grows that he estimates pop up by the hundreds every year. He points to Humboldt County, about five hours northwest of Calaveras, where authorities are combing through 2,300 applications for growers who want to start selling in California’s recreational market. But there are also an estimated 12,700 illegal farms in the county.
Read MoreThe dirty tricks of Big Marijuana→
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Although supporters of recreational pot had the gall to argue that legalisation would lead to decreased use by teenagers, regular use of marijuana among children between 12 and 17 has been above the national average and is rising faster than the national average.
Nor did legalization reduce black market marijuana activity in Colorado. Last year the state’s Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman, told the media: “The criminals are still selling on the black market. ... We have plenty of cartel activity in Colorado (and) plenty of illegal activity that has not decreased at all.”
Homelessness has surged by 50 percent from the time recreational pot was legalized. Surveys at Denver shelters estimate that about 20 to 30 percent of newcomers have moved to Colorado so that they can have easy access to the drug.
Read MoreAs legalization of pot ramps up in California what should citizens be considering?
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The “medipot” industry has been lawless. Those willing to break the law are not likely to obey new, weak and unenforced regulations. Local law enforcement throughout the state, including our own Chief Zimmerman pled for banning commercial pot drug dealing operations. Most jurisdictions in the state have listened. Sadly several cities, including San Diego City, have not.
Read MoreFive years later, Colorado sees toll of pot legalization→
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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.
Read MoreBlowing Smoke: The Real Facts About Marijuana
/The pot industry has many lies and half truths that are recycled again and again. It is time to take them on point by point.
Read MoreSmoking cannabis DOES make people more violent→
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Cannabis users are more likely to commit violent crime, pioneering research has shown. It warned those who smoke the drug regularly run an increased risk of using violence against others. The project is the first to demonstrate that cannabis is not only linked with violent crime but is the cause.
Read MoreSmoking cannabis DOES make people more violent: Project confirms for the first time that using the drug is the cause of crimes→
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Cannabis users more likely to commit violent crimes, research has shown
Study found there was a ‘more constant relationship’ between cannabis and violence than between alcohol or cocaine use and violence
More than 20 US states have legalised cannabis for medical purposes
Get Out Your Checkbook: What Legalized Marijuana is Going to Cost→
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With such overwhelming support, one could assume that legalization has clear benefits for everyone. That assumption is not only costly, it could prove to be dead wrong.
Read MoreHow marijuana promoters bypass the law — and the public good
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When I graduated from pharmacy school, I voluntarily pledged to use my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to ensure optimal drug therapy outcomes for the patients I serve, and to consider the welfare of humanity with the full realization of the responsibility entrusted by the public.
To me this means that we, as pharmacists, must step up and speak the truth when it comes to claims about “medical” marijuana.
Read MoreCity Council Supports Big Marijuana, Ignores Communities, Mayor, and Police Chief
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6 councilmembers ignored the police chief’s and mayors concerns. They ignored the facts and figures from Colorado showing the true cost of that state’s marijuana industry. They ignored the recommendation of their own city staff. Six councilmembers ignored their own constituents, the regular people from underserved communities who took the time off from their jobs and from their families to speak out at City Hall.
Read MoreBig profits, extra pot fuel illegal butane hash oil labs→
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The midday explosion that convulsed a quiet North Portland neighborhood last month showered the street with glass and debris and hurled a 150-pound door into nearby Peninsula Park.
It blasted a 91-year-old home to pieces, scattering glass and scraps of the roof. The two men inside died. The sheer force of the blast suggested someone, maybe a contractor, nicked a natural gas line.
Read More