Facts & Risks
Educate Your Family on Dangers of Marijuana Use
Marijuana use comes with real risks that can impact a person’s health and life.
Whether marijuana is smoked, vaped, or eaten, there are adverse effects associated with use in any form.
Studies have found marijuana is an addictive, harmful, and mind altering drug. It over-activates parts of the brain and negatively affects brain development. Marijuana leads to physical health problems, mental health problems, and risk of addiction.
With the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana throughout the United States, marijuana potency has increased exponentially. Concentrates are not the traditional joint of the past. Concentrates are highly potent, THC-rich forms of marijuana that can be vaped, dabbed, and used in edibles.
Exposure to high levels of THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes impairment, increases the risks of physical dependence and addiction. Higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis.
Arizona Parents: Do you need tips on how to talk to your child about the new recreational marijuana laws? Download these talking tips today.
Surgeon General Advisory
– VADM Jerome Adams, the first Surgeon General Advisory on marijuana since 1982
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Almost 30% of teens have used marijuana - this is TOO many!
Latest Studies
Impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on cannabis use: a longitudinal discordant twin study | PubMed | 8/24/2022
Abstract
Aims: To estimate the effect of recreational legalization on cannabis use frequency and sources of variance across legal environments.
Design: Longitudinal discordant twin and gene-environment interaction models in twins recruited from birth records and assessed prospectively.
Setting: The United States, including states with different recreational cannabis policies before and after 2014, when recreational cannabis was first legalized.
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Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all time-high in 2021 | NIH | 8/22/2022
Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs in this age group since 1988, according to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) panel study. Rates of past-month nicotine vaping, which have been gradually increasing in young adults for the past four years, also continued their general upward trend in 2021, despite leveling off in 2020. Past-month marijuana vaping, which had significantly decreased in 2020, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021.
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Long-Term Cannabis Use and Cognitive Reserves and Hippocampal Volume in Midlife | AJP | 8/2022
Abstract
Objective:
Cannabis use is increasing among midlife and older adults. This study tested the hypotheses that long-term cannabis use is associated with cognitive deficits and smaller hippocampal volume in midlife, which is important because midlife cognitive deficits and smaller hippocampal volume are risk factors for dementia.
Methods:
Participants are members of a representative cohort of 1,037 individuals born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1972–1973 and followed to age 45, with 94% retention. Cannabis use and dependence were assessed at ages 18, 21, 26, 32, 38, and 45. IQ was assessed at ages 7, 9, 11, and 45. Specific neuropsychological functions and hippocampal volume were assessed at age 45.
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Cannabis use and risks of respiratory and all-cause morbidity and mortality: a population-based, data-linkage, cohort study | BMJ | 6/27/2022
Abstract
Introduction Although cannabis is frequently used worldwide, its impact on respiratory health is characterised by controversy.
Objective To evaluate the association between cannabis use and respiratory-related emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalisations.
Methods A retrospective, population-based, cohort study was carried out, linking health survey and health administrative data for residents of Ontario, Canada, aged 12–65 years, between January 2009 and December 2015. Individuals self-reporting cannabis use within the past year were matched to control individuals (people who reported never using cannabis, or used cannabis only once, and more than 12 months ago) in upwards of a 1:3 ratio on 31 different variables, using propensity score matching methods. Respiratory-related and all-cause ER visits or hospitalisations, and all-cause mortality, were evaluated up to 12 months following the index date.
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Vaping Cannabinoid Acetates Leads to Ketene Formation | ChemRXiv | 7/2/2022
Abstract
Delta-8 THC acetate is a relatively new psychoactive cannabis product that is available online and in vape shops across the US since it is currently unregulated. Because it contains a similar substructure to vitamin E acetate, which has been shown to form the poison gas ketene during vaping, we investigated potential ketene formation from delta-8 THC acetate, as well as other cannabinoids acetates, CBN acetate and CBD acetate, under vaping conditions. Ketene was consistently observed in vaped condensates from all three acetates as well as from a commercial delta-8 THC acetate product purchased online.
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Latest NEWS Commentary
Highly potent weed creating marijuana addicts worldwide, study says | CNN | 7/25/2022
(CNN) Higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC — the part of the marijuana plant that makes you high — are causing more people to become addicted in many parts of the world, a new review of studies found.
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EXCLUSIVE: How California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health nightmare: It’s a class B drug in the UK – but in the US state it’s led to spiraling addiction, psychotic illnesses, and hospitals facing a deluge of poisonings | Daily Mail | 7/2/2022
A row of luxury ‘healing’ creams is guarded by a locked glass cabinet, gilded in gold trim.
The packaging is stylishly minimal – clean and white with small black typeface – and beside the tubs sit decorative, artificial fruit and images of sprawling fields, with a small flyer to remind customers of the high-quality, organic nature of the products.
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North Carolina House Republicans Block Senate-Passed Medical Marijuana Bill | Marijuana Moment | 6/23/2022
A Senate-passed bill to legalize medical marijuana in North Carolina is effectively dead this session, with House Republican lawmakers reportedly deciding not to allow it to advance further following an internal caucus vote.
The legislation from Sen. Bill Rabon (R) cleared the Senate earlier this month in a strongly bipartisan vote. But questions were already being raised about its prospects in the House, where GOP leadership had been consistently signaling that they were reluctant to move the legislation this year.
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Doctors push for warning label on California pot, sound alarm about cannabis-induced psychosis | The Washington Times | 6/17/2022
Doctors in California are pushing to include warnings about health risks on cannabis packaging akin to requirements on cigarette makers.
They want sellers to outline risks to youth, drivers and pregnant women, especially if they are first-time users and consuming products with a high concentration of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.