Marijuana – Page 184 – Family Council

Marijuana Causing Overdoses, “Exploding Houses”

Jan 22, 2015Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

We have said for quite some time that legalizing marijuana carries unintended consequences. A few of those consequences have made the news lately.

In Oregon, this week, news outlets reported a woman overdosed after she ate three gummy candies laced with marijuana.

According to police reports, the candy was purchased in Washington State and brought across state lines.

Police told reporters, “She ate three [pieces of candy], and she was having the kind of reaction we commonly see for people who overdose on heroin.”

Elsewhere, according to news sources, marijuana is causing people literally to blow up their homes.

The New York Times reported last weekend that people in Colorado are using flammable chemicals to extract marijuana concentrate, “sometimes accidentally blowing up their homes and lighting themselves on fire in the process.”

The article’s author writes,

“Over the past year, a hash-oil explosion in a motel in Grand Junction sent two people to a hospital. In Colorado Springs, an explosion in a third-floor apartment shook the neighborhood and sprayed glass across a parking lot. And in an accident in Denver, neighbors reported a ‘ball of fire’ that left three people hospitalized.

“The explosions occur as people pump butane fuel through a tube packed with raw marijuana plants to draw out the psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, producing a golden, highly potent concentrate that people sometimes call honey oil, earwax or shatter. The process can fill a room with volatile butane vapors that can be ignited by an errant spark or flame.”

Officials say there were 32 marijuana-related explosions in Colorado in 2014. Colorado is currently weighing the legality of extracting marijuana oils at home.

All of this simply goes to show, once, again, the unintended consequences of legalizing marijuana.

Photo Credit: “Cannabis Plant” by Cannabis Training University – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A Recap of Marijuana Facts

Dec 15, 2014JerryMarijuanaMarijuana

We’ve written a great deal, recently, about the growing body of evidence highlighting the dangers of marijuana. Below is a recap of some of our blog posts on the subject:

Marijuana increasingly linked to hospitalization, death: Between marijuana-related car accidents and negative reactions to the compounds found in marijuana, medical research and reports by local media nationwide show a rise in the number of emergency room visits and deaths resulting from marijuana.
Busting the Myth Marijuana Doesn’t Kill: Kevin Sabet breaks down the myth that marijuana doesn’t kill in this one-minute video.
Marijuana is not “natural medicine:” Through different cultivation techniques, countless varieties of marijuana have been cultivated for “medical” and recreational use. Considering how much growers have meddled with the marijuana plant the past few decades, it’s hard to argue marijuana is “natural.”
Researchers find marijuana smoke is as dangerous as tobacco smoke: Preliminary findings on the dangers of secondhand marijuana smoke reveal it is as dangerous as secondhand tobacco smoke. Of course, if secondhand marijuana smoke is dangerous, how safe can firsthand smoke possibly be?
Marijuana industry donating to candidates: Marijuana is big business in several states, now, and members of the marijuana industry have actively worked to support or oppose candidates for public office.
Study Finds Cannabis Impairs Fetal Brain Development: Cannabis use during pregnancy endangers fetal development–demonstrating, once again, that marijuana use is far from harmless.
Facts show marijuana does not qualify as “medicine:” In this blog post we demonstrate that marijuana fails to qualify as “medicine.”
Marijuana-use linked to schizophrenia: Multiple scientific studies and reviews conducted over the past decade–particularly in the past couple of years–are showing a clear connection between marijuana-use during adolescence and the development of schizophrenia in adulthood.
Busting The Myth Marijuana is Harmless: Our most-read blog post of all time on the dangers of marijuana-use.

Marijuana Increasingly Linked to Hospitalization and Death

Dec 12, 2014JerryMarijuanaMarijuana

As some states have moved to legalize marijuana in varying degrees, researchers are learning more and more about the drug and its negative effects–specifically, that it is increasingly tied to emergency room visits and death.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse writes,

“The amount of THC in marijuana samples confiscated by police has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. In 2012, THC concentrations in marijuana averaged close to 15 percent, compared to around 4 percent in the 1980s. For a new user, this may mean exposure to higher concentrations of THC, with a greater chance of an adverse or unpredictable reaction. Increases in potency may account for the rise in emergency department visits involving marijuana use.”

Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana

These findings by the NIDA about marijuana-related emergency room visits track with a study published by the University of Colorado School of Medicine last May which found that, “the proportion of marijuana-positive drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes in Colorado has increased dramatically since the commercialization of medical marijuana in the middle of 2009.”

Research published by the JAMA Pediatrics medical journal last summer found, “Driving and riding after marijuana use is common among underage, marijuana-using college students. This is concerning given recent legislation that may increase marijuana availability.”

(more…)