Marijuana (THC)
Herb is the healing of a nation, alcohol is the destruction - Bob Marley
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The benefits and harms of marijuana, explained by the most thorough research review yet
Marijuana has been with humans in some way or another for thousands of years. But after all this time, there is still a lot of public debate about what, exactly, pot’s risks and benefits are.
A recent review of the research from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine attempts to fill the gap in our knowledge. By combing through more than 10,000 studies published since 1999, the review, conducted by more than a dozen experts, provides the clearest look at the scientific evidence on marijuana yet.
The research finds both some strong benefits and major downsides to cannabis. It seems to be promising for chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, and cancer patients.…
Resources
Pot Shops Should Celebrate 4/20 ⎯ By Closing for the Day
April 20th is a sort of Black Friday for the cannabis industry, with pot users flocking to dispensaries to celebrate the closest thing they have to a national holiday. But in the midst of COVID-19, that’s exactly why dispensaries should just say no.
A Guide to All the (Technically) Legal Cannabinoids You Can Buy Right Now
A legal loophole has led to an explosion in hemp-derived ways to get high. Here’s what you can buy—and what researchers say you need to keep in mind.
Cannabis, Psychosis, and the Legal Implications: Chicken or Egg?
Additionally, although risk of cannabis use in triggering psychosis is recognized, the risk of use on ongoing psychotic disorders and in the exacerbation of other disorders (involving mood, concentration, and other symptoms) are not fully understood.
Now that cannabis is legal, let’s use it to tackle the opioid crisis
The legalization of cannabis for adult use in Canada is one of the biggest national public policy shifts that many of us will ever witness in our lifetimes. This historic change in drug policy was proposed by the Canadian government as a way to promote public health, as the country grapples with some of the highest cannabis consumption rates of the developed world, including among adolescents. Meanwhile, Canada is struggling to contain an entirely different substance-related problem: The opioid overdose epidemic.
THC! CBD! Terpenoids! Cannabis Science Is Getting Hairy
Some call it the entourage effect: THC achieves its full effects only when it rolls with a crew of other compounds.
Which Came First, The Cannabis Or The Schizophrenia?
Within the timeframe of the legalization of recreational cannabis, there's been a rise in cannabis “use disorder” and the diagnosis of schizophrenia. It's become a chicken or egg which-came-first problem. A new study suggests cannabis is the gateway, creating 15% of new cases of schizophrenia annually.
Proponents Should Not Overlook Legitimate Concerns About Cannabis (Mis)use
It's a new day for marijuana, with mounting evidence about the potential medicinal benefits and a general public that's moving past "reefer madness" sensationalism about potential harms. But intellectually honest discussion by legalization advocates means not throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
The Dirty Secret of California's Cannabis: It's Dirty
As cannabis use goes recreational in California, producers are facing a reckoning: They’ll either have to clean up their act, or get out of the legal market.
There's Still So Much We Need to Learn About Weed—and Fast
UC Berkeley opened the Cannabis Research Center to start tackling some of these social and environmental unknowns. With its proximity to the legendary growing regions of Northern California, the center can start to quantify this historically secretive industry, measuring its toll on the environment and looking at how existing rules affect the growers themselves. The goal is to create a body of data to inform future policies, making cannabis safer for all.
A User's Guide to Drug Apps
From validating your parking to validating your love life, it’s easy to say there’s an app for everything. But could scoring drugs (or a drug buddy) be as convenient as ordering take out? The blossoming weed industry argues that it should be. Here is a guide (and a Los Angeles-based user's commentary) to the apps that might make your life as a recreational drug user easier, more interesting, and definitely more tech savvy.
America Doesn’t Understand Gateway Drugs
More teens now try marijuana before alcohol or cigarettes. This complicates a long-held narrative about how people spiral into drug abuse.
Canada just legalized marijuana. That has big implications for US drug policy
It’s the second country in the world to legalize pot, following Uruguay.
Cannabis gets its high-inducing power from ancient viruses
A new genome map reveals that the genes for THC and CBD production probably came from viral DNA.
Cannabis Is No Ordinary Commodity
Pot is different from growing, distributing and selling potatoes, beef, salmon or cars, common commodities with of course complex forces at work. But cannabis takes complexity to a whole new level, comparable to tobacco and alcohol - which have been among the principal killers of Americans. Yet the US is ablaze with cannabis...
Everything You Need to Know About Marijuana Wax
Over the past year or so, a unique form of marijuana has become popular—it's called marijuana wax. Also known as "ear wax," or simply "wax," this marijuana concentrate is more powerful. Far more powerful. Because it allegedly leads to a quicker, stronger high, wax is said to be the strongest form of marijuana on the market.
Is Cannabis Good or Bad for Mental Health?
The evidence says it can go either way.
Is Legalizing Marijuana Too Risky?
Readers discuss an Op-Ed that argued that the health risks are being ignored as more states legalize pot.
It’s Time for a New Discussion of Marijuana’s Risks
You may reasonably decide the benefits outweigh the harms, but you should know about those potential harms.
Jury Nullification: When the Spirit of Justice Should Rise Above the Law
Just about every American knows that juries have the power to rule whether a defendant deserves to be convicted of a crime. What few Americans know is that a jury has legal power to disregard the facts of the case and exonerate a defendant who has broken a law the jury sees as unjust.
Legal Marijuana Is The Fastest-Growing Industry In The U.S.: Report
Legal marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the United States and if the trend toward legalization spreads to all 50 states, marijuana could become larger than the organic food industry.
Many heavy pot users suffer severe nausea—and they’ve all landed on the same weird solution
Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is a condition where heavy marijuana users (those who smoke 20 times a month or more) are frequently wracked with bouts of intense abdominal pain, along with severe nausea and vomiting. And the vast majority of people who experience these symptoms all mysteriously arrive at the same solution. CHS is still poorly understood, but researchers are making strides in identifying and characterizing its origins. A new study by Joseph Habboushe, an emergency medicine professor at New York University Langone/Bellevue Medical Center, suggests that perhaps one-third of the 8.3 million heavy users in the U.S. who present with nausea experience CHS. And there's one thing almost all of them have in common: Their incessant need for hot showers.
Marijuana for Moms
In states where weed is legal, new mild cannabis products are catching on with parents.
Marijuana is a relatively safe drug — with some risks
Overall, marijuana is a relatively safe drug — certainly less harmful than some of the drugs that are legal today, and potentially beneficial to some people’s health through its medical use. But it’s not harmless.
Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than You Think
As legalization spreads, more Americans are becoming heavy users of cannabis, despite its links to violence and mental illness.
Nobody really knows what smoking pot does to your lungs
Smoking is bad. Even smokers know this is so. Many people view marijuana as “a relatively safe drug,” they write, and there’s a lot of literature out there touting its health benefits and safety. But there are also concerns that there hasn’t been enough scientific research to really define the health problems that marijuana might present.
Presidential Mercy as a Means to More Just Jurisprudence
Recently President Obama commuted the sentences of hundreds of nonviolent drug offenders. But this is a drop in the bucket he should fill up before he leaves office.
Synthetic Cannabinoids: They're Not Marijuana
Sold under a variety of monikers, most commonly spice and K2, synthetic cannabinoids, while analogues of tetrahydrocannabinol, otherwise known as THC, are hardly natural substances. First used in Europe, its use has skyrocketed in the United States over the past 10 years, and it has been associated with increasingly severe side effects and even death.
The 11 Stupidest Arguments Against Legalizing Marijuana
When it comes to public opinion, it's becoming clear that anti-pot crusaders are losing the battle. Recreational marijuana is for sale in Colorado, it’s coming to Washington sometime soon and a number of states have considered legalization measures this legislative session. In all, 20 states have passed laws allowing the medical or recreational use of marijuana, and with a majority of Americans now in favor of legal weed for the first time in U.S. history, the momentum is on marijuana's side.
The Big Benefits Of Eating Marijuana Rather Than Smoking It
Many marijuana users are wondering if it’s better eating marijuana as pot edibles instead of smoking it. What’s behind the interest in marijuana edibles? Sure, smoking marijuana is the fastest way to deliver THC and other cannabinoids into your body and mind. But some people are tired of coughing, throats hurting, having to buy and use pipes, bongs, or vaporizers. The smell of smoked marijuana, or a big cloud of marijuana smoke, brings unwanted attention that can harm your privacy and freedom. It’s also because eating marijuana gives you a different kind of marijuana high.
The Reasonable Way to View Marijuana’s Risks
Cannabis has downsides, but speculation and fear should be replaced with the best evidence available.
The spread of marijuana legalization, explained
Marijuana legalization is a response to the failures of the war on drugs. The debate over marijuana legalization is just one of the many ways the political landscape is changing as the US comes to terms with drug and criminal justice policies that many experts and Americans consider to have failed at a great cost to the nation's liberty and finances.
We may finally know why marijuana helps people with chronic gut problems
And it could have implications for other inflammation, too.
Will Smoking Pot Make Me Vomit Forever?
Cyclic vomiting syndrome is on the rise among adults, and marijuana use may be partially to blame.
Can you overdose on weed?
You probably can’t blaze yourself to death, but your body could be miserable if you proceed without caution.
Highly Potent Weed Has Swept The Market, Raising Concerns About Health Risks
As more states legalize marijuana, more people in the U.S. are buying and using weed — and the kind of weed they can buy has become much stronger. That concerns scientists who study marijuana and its effects on the body, as well as emergency room doctors who say they're starting to see more patients who come into the ER with weed-associated issues.
No, smoking weed will not protect you against COVID-19
Let's be blunt: Don't consume cannabis to prevent COVID.
Science seeks to unlock marijuana's secrets
As the once-vilified drug becomes more accepted, researchers around the world are trying to understand how it works and how it might fight disease.
Was Marijuana Really Less Potent in the 1960s?
How incomplete government data encourages a pervasive pot myth.
White Rhino. Dr. Gonzo. Cannabis names reveal more than you think
As marijuana restrictions ease, consumers are navigating a list of names that may seem nonsensical—but can hold clues to what you're buying.
The benefits and harms of marijuana, explained by the most thorough research review yet
A new report looks at more than 10,000 studies on marijuana. It has good and bad news for pot users.
High Times
HIGH TIMES is the world's No. 1 resource for cannabis information and culture.
Leafly
The world's largest cannabis strain resource. Discover over 1,000 strains, their effects, flavor profiles, and where to find them!
Marijuana Legalization
All sides re one of the most controversial issues of the century.
Marijuana Policy Project
MPP and MPP Foundation envision a country with public policies that (1) allow for the responsible medical and non-medical use of marijuana, and (2) minimize the harms associated with marijuana consumption and the laws that manage its use.
Marijuana.com
Marijuana.com is the leading cannabis-related message forum and news site for in-depth, comprehensive cannabis strain and product education, marijuana media, growshop information and pricing. Marijuana.com has been in operation since 1995 and is owned and operated by Weedmaps.com, the most widely used medical and recreational marijuana dispensary locator in the industry.
MassRoots
Connect with the cannabis community.
The Cannabist
The Cannabist is The Denver Post's home for ideas, people, art, food and news, centered around the culture of cannabis.
WeedMaps
We're a community where medical marijuana patients find and connect with dispensaries.
Cannabis Consumers Campaign
The goal of the Cannabis Consumers Campaign is to create public policy changes by: 1) dispelling the myths and negative stereotypes that perpetuate marijuana prohibition and all its harsh consequences and 2) providing a more positive and accurate image of adults who consume cannabis.
Cannabis News
Informing the public about cannabis.
Cannabis.net
Although the cannabis plant is now ubiquitous, unlike other wide-spread types of hallucinogen (such as Psilocybe 'magic mushrooms' or 'Datura'), it is not native to more than one continent. Cannabis is a plant native to Central Asia that has spread all over the world and is probably the most widely used recreational and usually illegal drug in the world, being smoked from the inner cities of America and Europe to the outlying atolls of Micronesia.
CannabisFacts.ca
Essential information for an informed debate about cannabis policy.
Green Aid
Founded on an activist impulse, GREEN AID seeks to be bold and daring in its efforts "to legislate on behalf of the will of the people." With its focus on the legal and judicial realm, Green Aid will serve as an important vehicle for new points of public dialogue regarding marijuana, not to mention new platforms forms of civic engagement.
Know Cannabis
This website can help you assess your cannabis use, its impact on your life and how to make changes if you want to.
Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse
MAMA's goals are to provide current, scientific drug education to all ages, to offer social and recreational alternatives to drug use, to promote better communication between policy makers, educators, law enforcement, service providers, seniors, parents and youth and to question techniques of advertising all drugs and advertising's effects on the entire population.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that the responsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.
NDA for Teens
Recognizing that teens want to be treated as equals, NIDA scientists were careful not to preach about the dangers of drug use. Rather, the site delivers science-based facts about how drugs affect the brain and body so that kids will be armed with better information to make healthy decisions.
Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
Materials related to hemp (marijuana), cannabis sativa.
UK Cannabis Internet Activist
UKCIA is a pragmatic cannabis law reform campaign for a drugs policy based on proper control and regulation of the commercial supply, coupled with effective harm reduction measures.
WHO
Cannabis is by far the most widely cultivated, trafficked and abused illicit drug. Half of all drug seizures worldwide are cannabis seizures.
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