Tuesday, May 30, 2017

You Wouldn't Argue With Scientists, Would You?

The federal Liberals’ cannabis legislation should not be passed in its current form, argues a strongly worded editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
“The purported purpose of the act is to protect public health and safety, yet some of the act’s provisions appear starkly at odds with this objective, particularly for Canada’s youth,” the editorial argues. “The government appears to be hastening to deliver on a campaign promise without being careful enough about the health impacts of policy.”
Young adults’ brains are developing until the age of 25. Some studies (but not others) seem to show that marijuana use harms the developing brain.
And this 4/17/17 report should make you all warm and fuzzy inside (perhaps the unborn child will end up fuzzy):
Adolescent girls are more than twice as likely to smoke marijuana if they’re pregnant, a U.S. study suggests.
While previous research has tied teen drug and alcohol use to higher odds of multiple sex partners and pregnancy, the current study offers fresh insight into marijuana use among young women.
About 14 per cent of pregnant girls ages 12 to 17 smoke marijuana, compared to roughly 6 per cent of their non-pregnant peers, the study found. By contrast, older pregnant women were at least half as likely to smoke pot as their peers.
Among all pregnant women ages 12 to 44 in the study, about 6 per cent reported marijuana use during the first trimester, while 3 per cent said they smoked pot in the second trimester and about 2 per cent use the drug in the third and final trimester.
“These findings should be considered in a broader context in which young people increasingly view marijuana not just as a benign, but even as a beneficial drug,” said lead study author Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Maryland.
Doctors advise women to completely avoid marijuana during pregnancy because it may have negative effects on fetal neurodevelopment, especially during the first trimester.
Gee, do you suppose being stoned might be a part of the reason for the pregnant 12-year-olds?

5 comments:

  1. "Adolescent girls are more than twice as likely to smoke marijuana if they’re pregnant, a U.S. study suggests."

    There they go again, confusing cause and effect.

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  2. What's the matter Clayton? Coward? Hypocrite? Just looking to have your huge confirmation bias stroked? All characteristics of most Cali transplants. Post the Forbes Erlichman link.

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  3. 3DShooter: Not sure what you mean. Never smoked pot. Never been or caused a pregnant teen. I know many people think pot should be legal, like many Cali transplants.

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  4. I think you mean this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2016/03/23/nixons-drug-war-an-excuse-to-lock-up-blacks-and-protesters-continues/#9b48c6442c88. I am disappointed that Nixon's White House thought this was either legal or sensible. But Ehrlichman was never strong on legality, anyway. War on Drugs was a bad idea, all around. Focus on discouraging drug abuse and providing addiction treatment makes more sense.

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  5. From that same article:

    "Perhaps, just perhaps, an embittered Ehrlichman had decided to attack Nixon and what he stood for, since the disgraced President had managed to negotiate an immunity deal, even as his political henchmen landed behind bars."

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