Welcome to Senior Cannabis Digest. This week we look at an increase in the use of medical marijuana, a warning from the Navy about using CBD, motor vehicle collisions involving mature cannabis consumers and more. Enjoy.
Stat of the Week
This week’s magic number is 2.5 percent. According to a study conducted by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, that’s the percentage of Americans who used medical cannabis in the period 2019 to 2020. While that may not seem like a significant percentage, it does represent an increase that more than doubled the 1.2 percent recorded in the period 2013 to 2014.
TG Branfalt, who covered the story for Ganjapreneur, notes that the researchers observed that “living in a state that legalized medical cannabis remained significantly associated with medical cannabis use.”
The research team also made the point that, “The study documents a continued nationwide increase in use of cannabis for diverse medical purposes between 2013 and 2020, two decades after the first state passed legalizing legislation.” Medical cannabis is now legal in 39 states and Washington D.C.
Branfalt also noted that the study does not reflect the percentage of patients that are enrolled in low-THC or CBD-only programs administered by some conservative states.
We would add that the percentage also does not include the number of individuals who use both legal recreational cannabis and cannabis purchased on the black market to self medicate.
To learn more, you can read the article by TG Branfalt in the March 13, 2023 issue of Ganjapreneur.com.
www.ganjapreneur.com/study-americans-medical-cannabis-use-doubled-from-2013-2020/?
To read an abstract of the study, which appeared in the March 12, 2023 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, simply click on the link that follows.
www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(23)00132-0/fulltext#%20
Cannabis and the Navy
Mature consumers who are members of the Naval Reserve and use CBD products as part of a wellness routine should take note. The Naval Reserve recently tweeted that, “Navy policy prohibits the consumption and use of CBD along with all other hemp derived products.”
The tweet starts by stating that the Navy has “zero tolerance” for illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse and goes on to warn Reserve members that those who use cannabis run the risk of losing their career.
While it acknowledges that “the accessibility of CBD and THC is increasing across the U.S. and the world,” it reiterates that “the use of CBD oil and other products containing CBD or THC remains prohibited to Sailors.”
The warning reinforces a policy statement the Navy made in September of 2020 that banned the use of CBD and products that contained CBD, such as lotions and shampoos.
The tweet, which appeared on March 6, 2023, also states that “THC positives account for nearly 80 percent of all the drugs detected across the Navy over the last five years.”
To read the tweet, simply click on the link that follows.
twitter.com/navy_reserve/status/1632814871036190721/photo/1
Mature Consumers and Driver Safety
The results of a new study may offer reassuring news for mature consumers who drive. The study, conducted by a research team at the University of Toronto, found that THC exposure by itself was not significantly associated with an increased risk among adults over the age of 50 for being responsible for motor vehicle collisions.
To be clear, the study’s authors were in no way encouraging mature consumers to feel free to “light up” and slide behind the wheel.
However, after reviewing over 7,000 studies, what they did find was that “the pooled risk of motor vehicle collision (MVC)” was not significantly different between older drivers who tested positive for THC and older drivers who tested negative for THC.
It should be noted that the study only looked at exposure and did not address the question of impairment while driving. In fact, the research team suggested that future studies should address cannabis-associated impairment, particularly issues related to individuals’ reactions to various levels of THC.
The team also suggested future studies could “stratify participants into subgroups” based on characteristics such as age, frequency of cannabis use (e.g., occasional, chronic), and route of administration (e.g., inhalation, ingestion) in order to get a more detailed and useful picture of how cannabis use impacts the driving of older individuals.
All of which suggested that this study should be viewed as a beginning and the basis for future research.
To read the results of the study, which appeared in Volume 13, Issue 3 of the journal Brain Sciences, simply click on the link that follows.
www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/3/421
Veterans and Medical Marijuana
A bill passed by the Arizona Senate would reduce the cost of obtaining a medical marijuana card for all consumers and make medical marijuana more accessible for veterans.
That’s the word from Cameron Arcand, reporting for the publication Center Square. According to Arcand, Senate Bill 1466 would drop the cost of a medicinal marijuana card from $150 for both the initial and renewal every two years down to $50 and would make the card free for veterans.
The bill, which passed with bipartisan approval, also proposed that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which commonly affects veterans, and Autism Spectrum Disorder be included among the medical conditions that allow an individual to qualify for a medicinal marijuana card. Medicinal marijuana became legal in Arizona in 2010.
Said Ann Torrez, executive director of the Arizona Dispensaries Association, “We felt it was really important to provide the veterans in the state access to medical marijuana as they see needed. And, in addition to that, with the change in medical conditions to include post-traumatic stress disorder, we just thought that this now is the right time to make sure that the access becomes even more available.”
The legislation must now pass in Arizona’s House of Representatives before it can be considered by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
To learn more, you can read the article by Cameron Arcand that appeared in the March 3, 2023 issue of The Center Square.com.
www.thecentersquare.com/arizona/article_7c5e692c-ba09-11ed-b29b-674282525c40.html
Legalization and the U.N.
When it comes to questions about how best to pursue the legalization of cannabis in the U.S., we are once again reminded “there can be many a slip between the cup and the lip.” More specifically, support for maintaining the prohibition against legalizing cannabis was just voiced by a surprising entity—the United Nations.
Citing a decades-old treaty, the United Nations’ drug control body—the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)—is now suggesting that the U.S. is out of compliance with the treaty—called the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs—because the federal government is passively allowing states within the country to legalize marijuana.
According to Kyle Jaeger, reporting for Marijuana Moment, the INCB made the point in a recent report that allowing full adult-use legalization is “in contradiction to the obligations set out in the drug control conventions.”
In his article, Jaeger notes that the practical impact of this position is unclear, as other UN member nations, such as Canada and Uruguay, have outright federally legalized marijuana for adult use in what seems to be a clear contravention of the treaty, without any discernible consequences from the international body.
Only time will tell if this is more than just a tempest in a diplomatic teapot. However, we do find it interesting that an organization that can’t or won’t do anything of significance about Albanian drug cartels moving cocaine in Europe or fentanyl and meth being illegally imported into the U.S. from Mexico has decided to wrap itself in high dudgeon over cannabis legalization at the state level inside the U.S.
More news as more news develops.
To learn much more, we urge you to read the article by Kyle Jaeger that appears in the March 14, 2023 issue of Marijuana Moment.net. As we have said before, we’re fans of his work and the publication.
Senior Cannabis Digest is compiled and edited by Joe Kohut and John Kohut. You can reach them at joe.kohut@gmail.com and at 347-528-8753.
