Author: Jerry Cox

CO Study: One in Six Children Hospitalized for Lung Inflammation Test Positive for Marijuana Exposure

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a study showing “one in six infants and toddlers admitted to a Colorado hospital with coughing, wheezing and other symptoms of bronchiolitis tested positive for marijuana exposure.”

The AAP writes,

The findings suggest that secondhand marijuana smoke, which contains carcinogenic and psychoactive chemicals, may be a rising child health concern as marijuana increasingly becomes legal for medical and recreational use in the United States, said lead researcher Karen M. Wilson, MD, MPH, FAAP, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and section head at [Children’s Hospital Colorado]. Most states with legal marijuana do not restrict its combustion around children, she said.

“Our study demonstrates that, as with secondhand tobacco smoke, children can be exposed to the chemicals in marijuana when it is smoked by someone nearby,” Dr. Wilson said. “Especially as marijuana becomes more available and acceptable, we need to learn more about how this may affect children’s health and development.” In the meantime, she said, “marijuana should never be smoked in the presence of children.”

Of course if it’s harmful to use marijuana around children, one has to question the wisdom in giving so-called “medical marijuana” to children at all.

You can read more about this study and its findings here.

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Media Reports Death and Injuries in Marijuana-Related Incidents

Earlier this week a Wisconsin woman was fatally shot while traveling down the interstate, according to various news sources.

The brother of the alleged shooter told police the shooter was “extremely paranoid” after smoking marijuana prior to the shooting.

The Wisconsin State Journal writes,

According to the complaint, Jeremy Hays told investigators that Zachary [the alleged shooter] smoked marijuana on April 27 and had been “acting extremely paranoid ever since.” Jeremy Hays said Zachary was driving increasingly erratically Sunday, “flipping people off” in traffic and driving with a loaded pistol on his lap that he would pick up and point at cars as they drove by his Blazer on the Interstate. . . . .

Zachary Hays was especially paranoid about vehicles with tinted windows on Sunday, Jeremy Hays told investigators, adding that he was “freaking out” when a BMW with tinted windows approached them from behind, the complaint states.

Zachary Hays slowed down to let the sedan catch up on his left, and then fired three times at it from the rolled-down driver’s side window as the BMW carrying the Czaczkowski family passed the Blazer, the complaint says.

Meanwhile, in Oregon it was reported this week police are investigating a fire they believe resulted from a butane hash oil extraction operation.

We have written before how some marijuana users attempt to extract hash oil–which contains marijuana concentrates–from marijuana at home using flammable chemicals like butane gas. The process is extremely dangerous and has resulted in explosions that have destroyed property, claimed lives, and caused injuries.

The Dalles Chronicle in Oregon writes,

A regional drug task force executed a search warrant April 29 on the property at 79263 Ayres Road and found what is believed to be a butane hash oil (BHO) lab, with evidence of some type of fire or explosion in the building, said Det. Sgt. Scott Williams of the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office.

The BHO lab is one of the first found by law officers in Wasco County “and definitely the largest in my 12 years,” Williams said. . . . .

“Making BHO is a highly dangerous process as the chemicals and gasses used to extract THC from marijuana can be volatile and explode easily,” Williams said in a press release.

Williams said BHO labs have become prevalent in Oregon, mainly in the metro area. “There’s been a lot of [lab explosions] in the Portland area, they’re blowing houses completely apart.” . . . .

BHO production has been around for a long time, but it is getting more prevalent with the legalization of marijuana.

Both of these stories highlight what we have been saying for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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