XPost: alt.support.marijuana, ca.politics, or.politics   
   XPost: seattle.politics   
   From: a425couple@hotmail.com   
      
   Opioid commission's anti-marijuana argument stirs anger   
      
   (Well yeah!!  It stirs anger because it is self contradictory   
   and ignores many accepted findings to get back to knee jerks!!   
   - The opioid commission's fixation on marijuana was bizarre and   
   troubling, experts say, lending credence to outdated views of   
   marijuana as a gateway drug - ((like caffeine & nicotine!)) )   
      
   Wayne Drash-Profile-Image   
   By Wayne Drash, CNN   
   Updated 3:23 AM ET, Mon November 13, 2017   
   Your brain on weed   
   Now Playing Your brain on weed   
   Source: CNN   
      
   Gov. Chris Christie's letter to Trump warns that marijuana use can lead   
   to opioid abuse   
   Author of study cited in letter admits that some criticism of his   
   research is valid   
   Experts say opioid commission's fixation on marijuana is bizarre   
      
   (CNN)New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, head of the presidential commission   
   on opioids, warned of the dangers of marijuana in a letter to President   
   Donald Trump earlier this month about the panel's findings, saying the   
   current push for marijuana legalization could further fuel the opioid   
   epidemic.   
      
   "There is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and   
   abuse potential for marijuana. This mirrors the lack of data in the   
   1990s and early 2000s when opioid prescribing multiplied across health   
   care settings and led to the current epidemic of abuse, misuse and   
   addiction," Christie wrote in the letter, which was released with the   
   commission's final report.   
   "The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the   
   uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst   
   of an overdose epidemic."   
   Group takes another crack at 'your brain on drugs' ad   
   Group takes another crack at 'your brain on drugs' ad   
   Ben Carson, the former Republican presidential hopeful and now Cabinet   
   secretary, added to the argument during the final commission meeting,   
   speaking nostalgically of the Reagan-era "This is your brain on drugs"   
   ad campaign and its infamous fried egg imagery.   
   "It frequently starts with something as seemingly innocent as   
   marijuana," said Carson, the secretary of the Department of Housing and   
   Urban Development, who was among several officials to speak at the meeting.   
      
   But some experts say the commission's fixation on marijuana was bizarre   
   and troubling, lending credence to outdated views of marijuana as a   
   gateway drug. And these experts want to nip such thinking in the bud.   
   They emphasized that they support efforts to curb the nation's opioid   
   epidemic, but not the demonization of marijuana in the process.   
   "I was surprised to see negative language about marijuana in the opioid   
   report," said Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, a professor of medicine at the   
   Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Research that examines pain and   
   marijuana shows that marijuana use significantly reduces pain. In   
   addition, the majority of studies examining marijuana and opioids show   
   that marijuana use is associated with less opioid use and less   
   opioid-related deaths."   
      
   Are recreational marijuana and opioid addiction linked?   
   She took particular issue with one line in Christie's letter in which   
   the outgoing governor said research conducted by the National Institute   
   on Drug Abuse "found that marijuana use led to a 2½ times greater chance   
   that the marijuana user would become an opioid user and abuser."   
   "In general, the body of research does not back up this claim,"   
   Cunningham said.   
   Cunningham's research found states where medical marijuana is legal had   
   25% fewer opioid overdose deaths than those without medical marijuana   
   laws. She's also starting a study that she hopes will involve 250 people   
   who are using opioids for chronic pain and are starting medical   
   marijuana. The first-of-its-kind study will follow the patients for 1½   
   years to examine the effects of medical marijuana and opioid use.   
   "People are dying every day from opioid overdoses. We must act now,"   
   Cunningham said. "We must offer a broad range of non-opioid strategies   
   to address pain, and we must study these strategies."   
   Cannabis remains a Schedule I substance, the classification by the Drug   
   Enforcement Administration for drugs believed to have a high potential   
   for abuse along with some potential to create severe dependence. With   
   federal restrictions placed on marijuana, scientists have to overcome   
   various legal and procedural hurdles to research it.   
      
   New potential for marijuana: Treating drug addiction   
   Cunningham said those federal restrictions need to be changed "so that   
   researchers can adequately study marijuana, and then research can guide   
   policies."   
   CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who has covered   
   America's medical marijuana revolution in three documentaries, said "it   
   is fair to say that the majority of people who use marijuana do not go   
   on to use other substances."   
   "While marijuana often precedes 'harder' drugs in people who do, so does   
   alcohol and even more commonly, nicotine. In that sense, nicotine is a   
   much more common gateway drug," Gupta said. "It may not be that   
   marijuana is a gateway drug but rather people who are vulnerable to drug   
   use often start with more readily available substances, such as   
   marijuana, nicotine or alcohol."   
   The study Christie cited was published in September in the American   
   Journal of Psychiatry. It was based on interviews with more than 43,000   
   Americans from 2001 to 2002 and with more than 34,000 respondents from   
   2004 to 2005.   
   "Cannabis use appears to increase rather than decrease the risk of   
   developing non-medical prescription opioid use and opioid use disorder,"   
   said the study, led by Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of psychiatry at   
   Columbia University.   
   FDA cracks down on claims that cannabis can cure cancer   
   FDA cracks down on claims that cannabis can cure cancer   
   Within his report, Olfson noted multiple limitations of the study,   
   including the fact that the data were collected over a decade ago and   
   that "the social context of cannabis use may have changed during this   
   period." Critics have said the report oversimplifies a complex issue.   
   Olfson told CNN last week he didn't know that Christie was going to   
   reference the study, and he acknowledged that some of criticism is valid.   
   "I agree that the relationship between marijuana and opioid use is   
   complex and that more recent data might have yielded different results   
   in light of changing marijuana use patterns," Olfson wrote in an email.   
   "Nevertheless, Governor Christie is correct in that adults who used   
   marijuana were at significantly higher risk of developing opioid use   
   disorder. At the same time, it is important to note that a great   
   majority of marijuana users did not develop problematic opioid use."   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)