Marijuana Issues

It’s becoming more legal but also scarier, marijuana can include a super cool Saturday night or a harsh reality of getting bummed out. Marijuana is not linked to death or horrific symptoms.

It’s rather considered safe with medicinal value but the biggest problem consist of not knowing where anyone draws the line. Here is a list of growing concerns:

• What amount or level is acceptable to operate a car, to be at work, perform surgery…etc?
• What about medical rights versus private companies that still incorporate marijuana into their drug screenings and deemed illegal?
• How much marijuana can you put in edibles, is there a percentage like alcohol?
• Can you safely mix marijuana with other medications or drugs and possible side effects?

What amount or levels are considered toxic or severe?  The Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) attempts to address when a cannabis disorder is severe but as you can see, the symptoms are somewhat subjective:

Moreover, how do you prevent someone from developing marijuana addiction and what’s the treatment? These are just a few questions out of many that have yet to be answered because unfortunately, no one is in charge or accountable for the regulation. There’s no “standard of care” with marijuana use and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is supposed to regulate substances and the legalities but currently, they continue to classify marijuana as a scheduled I, which is not going to change any time soon:

Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are: heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote

–DEA

…And that’s the Marijuana PROBLEM/SOLUTION since it’s still a schedule I drug:

• Companies can drug screen and NOT hire or fire you: so people will remain unemployed and get high.
• It’s too much red tape and politics to change the laws, but laws never stop people from getting high.
• Research is limited or discouraged: so people get high or learn the hard way and get psychosis and panic attacks.

Overall, the powers that be will continue to fight and keep marijuana as a Schedule I drug, but people will still get high. These entities consist of the alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries, and our prison system. There are so many forces against legalizing marijuana, which is part of the reason why it has been ILLEGAL for so long and continues to be so in many different situations…

What’s also unfortunate is how many of these lawmakers, companies, and politicians have used marijuana and prospered while locking people up for the same offenses. They are living testimonies that marijuana is not a gateway drug and so horrible but, yet they refuse to reform it…and this leads to the solution; continue to vote for legalizing marijuana so something can finally change.

State laws are changing everything, and the more states legalize marijuana, the more it could be decriminalized or at least no longer a Scheduled I drug. Personally, I don’t use it and I’m not trying to promote it but the only way we can obtain accurate risks, benefits, or consequences is by making it FEDERALLY LEGAL. Furthermore, because the state laws are legalizing it more, healthcare providers are grabbling with what to do with these influxes of people getting super high or having anxiety/psych episodes. Medicinal marijuana is also becoming more favorable since it’s used to treat several conditions such as:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Appetite loss
• Cancer
• Crohn’s disease
• Eating disorders such as anorexia
• Epilepsy
• Glaucoma
• Mental health conditions like schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscle spasms
• Nausea
• Pain
• Wasting syndrome (cachexia)

-Web MD

How to Deal

Currently, a marijuana addiction is not taken seriously and it’s going to get worse with no real solution in sight. “The current use of cannabis for mental health conditions departs from the traditional paradigm of prescribed medications for clinical practice in 2 specific areas. First, doctors cannot base their treatment plans on high-quality clinical trials. Second, doctors cannot reliably restrict access to cannabis as it is easily accessed through either legal or illegal avenues. As a result, many practitioners can find encounters with patients identifying as therapeutic cannabis users to be awkward and anxiety producing.”

-Psychiatric Times

6 Observations for Clinicians to be Aware of

1. Therapeutic cannabis use should be restricted to adults. Substantial evidence associates cannabis use with the development of schizophrenia or other psychoses: risk is highest among the most frequent users and those who begin use at a young age. Moreover, initiating cannabis use at an earlier age increases the risk of cannabis use disorder and overdose.
2. Cannabis use increases the risk of vehicular accidents.
3. Cannabis use impairs learning, memory, and attention. Frequent users of cannabis may experience these deficits for a considerable part of daily life. Tolerance may attenuate these deficits, which appear to resolve the following abstinence.
4. Maternal cannabis use during pregnancy is associated with a lower birth weight of an infant.
5. Smoking cannabis worsens respiratory symptoms and increases chronic bronchitis episodes
6. Providers must be vigilant in assessing for worsening mental health attributable to cannabis use. Recreational cannabis users have a small increased risk of depression, suicide, and social anxiety. Furthermore, cannabis use can increase symptoms of mania and hypomania in recreational cannabis users who have bipolar disorder.

–Psychiatric Times

Marijuana Statistics

To understand the gravity of the situation, statistical information is very helpful even if it’s underreported:

• According to the United Nations, 158.8 million people around the world use marijuana—more than 3.8% of the planet’s population.
• Over 94 million people in the US have admitted using it at least once.
• According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2.1 million people in the US abused marijuana for the first time that year.
• US marijuana users spent approximately $10.5 billion on the drug in the year 2000.
• In 2005, 242,200 emergency room visits in the United States involved marijuana.
• Next to alcohol, marijuana is the second most frequently found substance in the bodies of drivers involved in fatal automobile accidents.

-Drug-Free World

In conclusion, research and funding for marijuana are increasing but without formal regulations of its use and consumption, this will become more of a problem for providers and society. The efficacy and safety of therapeutic cannabis use in all mental health conditions remain equivocal and few medical indications are supported by clinical trial data (Psychiatric Times). In the meantime, the symptoms should continue to be reported or treated if necessary. The complete legalization of marijuana may continue to be a long and grueling process but it’s definitely better than not being aware or doing nothing. Thanks for reading.