AHS Views

More about what happens with drugs in college. Susan Smith (not her real name) grew up in a normal, loving, educated family. She was a girl scout, mom lead a troup. A great life. Then she went to college - she was going to be a social worker - which is where she started drinking, smoking marijuana, and using cocaine.  After a year and a half she got some addiction help but, although she stopped using cocaine, continue alcohol and marijuana. I would definitely say the addiction help she got was inadequate. If it had been thorough, she wouldn’t have continued with alcohol and marijuana.

Obviously, her college education didn’t quite turn out to be what she’d hoped. She now a cosmetologist, 48 years old, and is once again getting addiction help to stop using cocaine - she’s been on it again for the last six years.  Her habit cost her $200 - $300 a day.

This story has a relatively good ending, so far. She’s still alive, and she’s getting the addiction help services she needs. But, her life, I’m sure, was far different than she had planned. 

There are many people who don’t particularly worry about marijuana despite the fact that it has side effects that really change a person’s life - like being disassociated from reality - and despite the fact that it often leads to taking other drugs. However, the results of a new marijuana study released by the White House should serve as a wake-up call to make sure people using marijuana get the addiction help they need.

The study showed that the potency of marijuana is at its highest point in 30 years - much stronger than it was in the ’70s, and twice as strong as it was in 1983.

The director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy commented that one of the reasons baby-boomers may not worry about their kids using marijuana is that they expect it to be the same as it was in the ’70s. Not true. The report stated that young people who have used marijuana in the last year are twice as likely to be depressed as those who didn’t and that the risk of developing ‘mental problems’ is increased by 40%.

There’s also a higher risk of physical disease.

Good reasons to make sure anyone you know using marijuana gets the addiction help they need.

The director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse said she is worried that marijuana will become even stronger and cause addiction. That statement makes me wonder if she knows what addiction really is. While it’s true that, for the most part, quitting marijuana doesn’t cause extremely severe withdrawal symptoms like other drugs, that’s not all there is to addiction. Try to get someone who uses marijuana regularly to stop and you’ll see how difficult it actually is. There’s a reason why they want to feel that way - and those reasons are the ‘addiction’ elements that need to be handled so the person to stop.

Getting addiction help services for marijuana is more important now that ever. Taking marijuana use lightly could be a very big mistake.

Contrary to what many marijuana advocates will tell you, smoking marijuana sends a lot of people to drug rehab. In fact, about 300,000 people check into drug rehab for marijuana addiction every year.

On top of being addictive in itself, there’s no doubt that marijuana is a gateway drug: About 62% of adults 26 or older who use marijuana before they the age of 16 end up hooked on cocaine, and over 53% of get hooked on prescription drugs, according to White House Drug Policy report..
 
With statistics like that, it’s hard to believe that people still think marijuana is just light recreation. I just read an article about a teacher in the U.K. who gave her kids marijuana so they wouldn’t get into harder drugs. Bad move. The best thing to do with people who smoke marijuana is get them into a drug rehab program, before the problem escalates.

The dangers associated with marijuana have been debated for years. Some say it’s the least harmful of illegal drugs and in California it is even legally prescribed for people with a variety of conditions including anxiety, cancer and multiple sclerosis. But a recent study may cause medical marijuana users as well as those who abuse it to head straight for drug rehab. 

The study, conducted by the University of Bristol, Imperial College and Cambridge University and reported in Lancet (registration required, but it’s free, and they also have a podcast for the study, or read an article about it), or  showed that marijuana may increase the risk of psychosis by 40 percent. Researchers analyzed 35 studies that tracked tens of thousands of people for one to 27 years to examine the relationship between marijuana use and psychosis, depression, anxiety, delusions and a number of other conditions. In addition to the alarming data on the risk of psychosis for anyone using the drug, researchers found that, for heavy users, the risk of jumps to 200 percent.
 
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), marijuana is still considered a Schedule I drug because of its high potential for abuse. Also, per the DEA, it has no currently accepted medical use.

This study should end the debate. Let’s hope people take it to heart, get off the drug, and get into a successful drug rehab program.

A year ago David Fetterer’s life was plunging further and further into desperation as a result of his marijuana addiction. But instead of giving up and losing his wife and children, he cheeked into a drug rehab center and beat his addiction. Now he is one of five Pennsylvanians who are being honored for turning their lives around.
Fetterer said he owned up to the realization he had a problem and entered a drug rehab program in July last year. It was the first time he had attempted to quit his abuse. He said he hopes others who are in a similar situation will admit they have to make a change in their life and make the decision to enter a drug rehab program.

“David is on the road to being debt-free in a marriage with honesty and trust in a drug-free environment,” commissioners Dave Cyphert, Donna Hartle and Donna Oberlander said. “He is truly a success story.”

Source: www.thederrick.com

The illegal drug market has never been a trusted source for safe products of course, but recent reports of some contaminated marijuana in England have had many health officials and drug users worried in recent months.

Apparently, there have been reports of what is being called “grit weed”, which has tiny glass beads sprayed on it with glue to appear better and weigh more (increasing the price).

Pro-marijuana sites and users’ message boards are filled with posts of people confirming these reports, which have spread throughout the UK. “It seems to be being done on an industrial scale,” said Harry Shapiro of Drugscope, which is a major charity in the UK.

Drugscope also issued a warning about the substance, stating, “We want to make people aware of it from a public health point of view. If you are smoking this stuff and taking it into your lungs it’s not good news.”

Because the market is driven by basic supply and demand principles, money is the root of the underground trade industry. The concern for adverse health effects doesn’t even come into play when the sellers can get top dollar for a dangerous product.

In a similar vein, but a different drug in the U.S., heroin suppliers had mixed in amounts of the opiate Fentanyl, which is much stronger than morphine. The idea was to save money on the amount of heroin, while increasing potency and using other powder fillers instead. The result was a serious outbreak in overdose deaths from the Midwest to the East Coast.

If enough glass from the grit weed were ingested into the lungs of a marijuana user, the result could be very hazardous and even deadly over a period of time if use continued.

Article by Eric

Digg It | Reddit | Newsvine Seed

Add to your bookmarks in:
del.icio.us | Yahoo! | Google | Furl | ma.gnolia | Spurl

Do you think your beef and dairy products have chemicals in them? Well recent news has surfaced about the banning of cows being fed cannabis in Switzerland and neighboring Liechtenstein.

Some farmers claim the plant makes it cheap to feed the cows and that the THC (a crystalline compound that is the main active ingredient of cannabis) in it relaxes the cows and makes them produce more milk. However, the Agricultural Ministry for Switzerland banned such practices back in March of 2005 after traces of THC were found in dairy products that came from cows that were fed hemp.

The ministry has now warned farmers that if the practice is continued, they will be prosecuted.

It is unconfirmed whether or not any beef products have been found to have traces of THC, but if cows that are fed other chemicals are found contaminating the meat, then why wouldn’t the cannabis contaminate it too?

Article by Eric

Digg It | Reddit | Newsvine Seed

Add to your bookmarks in:
del.icio.us | Yahoo! | Google | Furl | ma.gnolia | Spurl

According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 3.1 million Americans reported daily use of marijuana.

In 2004, about 6,000 people a day used marijuana for the first time, equaling 2.1 million Americans. Of these, 63.8% were under age 18.

The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that, an estimated 97.5 million Americans ages 12 and older had had used marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, representing 40.1% of the U.S. population in that age group.

One study has indicated that an abuser’s risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana. The researchers suggest that this might occur from marijuana’s effects on blood pressure and heart rate and the reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate.

The statistics are incredible, the effects are unbelievable, and still, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in the United States.

Article by Eric