Marijuana
As marijuana is legalized — now, for recreational use in 11 states and medical use in 33 states — researchers are looking at how it’ll affect our society as a whole. People are quick to denounce the dangers of the mind-altering drug, and though toking up won’t cause you to…
Pot, marijuana, reefer — whatever you call it, cannabis is the hot, new cure (some say) for everything from PTSD to cancer. It’s quickly being legalized in countries worldwide and, so far, in 33 US states. Yet there are still major gaps in our knowledge and evidence about its medicinal…
Observations and initial research show that marijuana use may affect patients’ responses to anesthesia on the operating table — and, depending on the patient’s history of using the drug, either help or hinder their symptoms afterward in the recovery room.
This week in the news: Weed and pregnancy, Vitamin D during pregnancy and fewer cavities in babies, and Vitamin D for treating diabetes.
Much research has linked cigarette smoking to both male and female infertility. But while the impact of nicotine on fertility has been researched for decades, you may be surprised to learn that marijuana, too, can impact male fertility — and its effect may be more severe than tobacco. According to…
What’s the relationship between weed and your waistline? Marijuana smokers, take note: A new study found that cannabis users weigh less than adults who don’t use the drug. While weed often gets the rep of bringing on a case of the munchies – think a smoking session followed by a…
The FDA has ordered that manufacturers of transvaginal mesh products, the most common item used in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair, stop selling them. The agency’s move comes amid growing concern about their safety. Just two companies, Boston Scientific and Coloplast, make transvaginal mesh for POP repair. In 2016, transvaginal…
Most drug clinical studies exclude lactating women, meaning the effect of a medication on a mom and her newborn are unclear. A look at 575 drug and biologics approved by the FDA found that only 15% of them included data on lactation and post-marketing studies examining the impact of the…
Moms to be who smoke marijuana may want to think twice about toking. Continuing to do so while pregnant may boost the risk that their child will develop psychosis later in life. Researchers looked at the records of 4,361 children, of which 201 were exposed to marijuana before birth. Results,…
A new study is shedding light on one of the growing impacts of marijuana legalization across the country: It is leading to more emergency room visits. Researchers in Colorado, where cannabis for recreational use was legalized in 2012, examined the records of nearly 10,000 patient ER visits at one hospital…
Daily marijuana users are more than three times as likely to develop psychosis compared with those who never use cannabis. An analysis compared 900 people with a first episode of psychosis with 1,200 people who never experienced psychosis. The case-control study indicated that using high-potency cannabis boosted the psychosis risk…
If you have cardiovascular disease or a heart condition, you might want to lay off eating marijuana edibles as they may cause a heart attack. That’s a warning from researchers, based on the case of a 70-year-old man with stable heart disease who ate a lollipop with THC, one of…
The vast majority of people who use medical marijuana do so to treat chronic pain. Researchers examined data on patients who were legally registered in their state to access medical marijuana. Their analysis found that 62.2% of those medical marijuana license holders reported using cannabis to ease chronic pain. And…
With the increased legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational use, there are more ways to experience the effects of marijuana than smoking it. Vaporizers for cannabis oil have become increasingly popular due to the decreased amounts of toxic particles in comparison to combustible smoking. A small study approved…
When I think of a typical marijuana user, I admit I tend to stereotype. I see a young person, at home or with friends, smoking a large joint and having a good time. I don’t picture a grandma toking. Yet new research indicates that older people, in fact, are using…
Adolescents who use marijuana may have an increased risk of experiencing psychotic symptoms (PS). Over an extended period of time, researchers looked at the association between marijuana use and PS in 3,720 children who were 13 years old at the start of the study. They voluntarily completed an annual online…
A study on teen pot use adds to the debate over marijuana. As more states legalize cannabis, there are unanswered questions about its risks and benefits. It probably comes as little surprise that many teens smoke marijuana. Some have experimented with pot, while others smoke it recreationally. What may be…
Recreational smokers of marijuana are 3 times more likely to suffer from hypertension than nonsmokers of pot. That is the conclusion of a study done by researchers who combined data of those who responded to questions on marijuana use during the 2005 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with…
States that passed laws legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes saw a bigger increase in illegal marijuana use as well a higher rate of cannabis dependence compared to states without such laws. Researchers examined data from 3 national health-related national surveys involving more than 118,000 adults. Between 1999…
Although medical marijuana is gaining more and more acceptance throughout the country, a growing number of doctors are expressing concerns about the likelihood that smoking weed harms lungs. While marijuana may possess some medical benefits, some medical experts say there are other ways to take cannabis that minimize the side effects….
Researchers have found that regularly smoking cannabis can increase the risk for vision problems. Although the study French researchers conducted was rather small – only 52 study participants and only 28 of them used cannabis regularly – they found that in regular users, the cells in a part of the…
We should have definitive proof by now that marijuana can calm the side effects of chemo drugs, help with Parkinson’s, epilepsy or glaucoma, but we don’t. We should have definitive proof by now that marijuana can calm the side effects of chemo drugs, help with Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy or glaucoma,…
The rise in the number of states allowing marijuana for medical use seems to be having an unexpected benefit: It has led to fewer drug prescriptions being filled, especially meds used to treat pain. W. David Bradford, PhD, of the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of…
Just a matter of days after more than 30 people in a Brooklyn neighborhood simultaneously overdosed on synthetic marijuana in a scene witnesses described as “zombie” like, a federal report has found that overdoses attributed to the street drug are rising across the country. Also known as K2 or Spice,…
Individuals with long-term exposure to marijuana may experience significant impairment of verbal memory by the time they reach middle age, according to a study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers found that for each additional 5 years of exposure to marijuana, there was a significant decline in performance on…
Marijuana use during pregnancy and breast-feeding poses potential harms. The American Medical Association pushed for regulations requiring such warnings be written on medical and recreational pot products and posted wherever they’re sold. The decision was made based on studies suggesting marijuana use may be linked with low birth weight, premature…
The prevalence of past-year marijuana use climbed to 9.5% of adults in 2012-2013 from 4.1% in 2001-2002, with increases particularly notable among women and individuals who were black, Hispanic, living in the South, middle-aged or older, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry. Via JAMA Psychiatry. Posted October…
For many years I stood in favor of legalizing pot. The primary reason for my opinion was that it is not healthy for a society to consider a common behavior criminal. You can’t put 20% of our kids in jail. I advocated on this blog to regulate pot (What We Don’t Know…
A new study out of Emory University found that lifetime marijuana use up to 20 joint-years is not associated with adverse changes in spirometric (exhalation strength) measures of lung health. They found that adults between the ages of 18 and 59 who smoke one marijuana cigarette per day had the…
Marijuana’s potency is different every time you use it. Wine and alcohol have a consistent effect. That’s why there’s no “breathalizer” or easy test for impairment. Learn more about why weed legalization will cause problems
We don’t have answers about the medical ramifications of marijuana. “I’m afraid I’m sounding like this is an evil drug that’s going to ruin our civilization and I don’t really think that,” Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in USA Today. “But there are aspects of this…