Tag Archives: Marijuana

Exercise Helps Prevent Marijuana Relapse, Study Finds

Consumption of cannabis/marijuana leads to the onset of drug addiction in a significant number of users, even when use only occurs on an occasional basis. As is true with other forms of addiction, people recovering from cannabis addiction run the risk of relapsing back into active substance intake after establishing an initial pattern of abstinence. […]

Denver Airport Officials Say No to Pot-Related Souvenirs

Despite Colorado’s legalization of marijuana, travelers passing through Denver International Airport will not be able to purchase pot-themed souvenirs and mementos inside facility terminals. This policy announcement comes on the heels of airport management’s decision to turn down a retail application from a vender who wanted to hawk clothing emblazoned with marijuana imagery. So from […]

Synthetic Marijuana Use Common Among Young Adults, Study Finds

Synthetic marijuana products are drugs that contain a combination of mind-altering substances called synthetic cannabinoids and some type of inactive plant material. Most of the well-known main ingredients in these drugs are banned under federal law; however, illicit drug manufacturers commonly use chemical tricks to technically avoid legal liability for their actions. In a study […]

Marijuana Now Legal in Two More States, District of Columbia

Slowly but surely, America’s long-standing prohibition of marijuana is going up in smoke. On Nov. 4, two more states – Oregon and Alaska – officially legalized the sale of pot for recreational use. Meanwhile, voters in Washington, D.C., voted to lift a sizeable portion of the criminal sanctions against the sale and distribution of marijuana, subject […]

Philadelphia Decriminalizes Marijuana

Decriminalizing pot is an action that many municipal governments have taken, but the term is confusing. Despite how it sounds, decriminalization is not the same as legalization. Attitudes toward marijuana are constantly shifting, as well as the laws that parallel them, and it becomes more and more important to understand what it all means. Decriminalization […]

Fewer People Believe Marijuana Is Risky, Survey Finds

Collectively, young adults are significantly more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol than people in younger or older age groups. One of the key factors in determining the likelihood of substance intake is the amount of self-perceived risk that an individual attaches to drug or alcohol consumption. As part of a yearly survey project called […]

Why Synthetic Marijuana Harms Brain More Than Pot

Synthetic marijuana is a chemical-plant material mixture that contains synthetic cannabinoids, manmade compounds designed to reach the brain through the same pathway as the main cannabis/marijuana ingredient THC. One of the potential consequences of using synthetic cannabinoids is the onset of psychosis symptoms highly similar to those found in people with the severe mental illness […]

New National Drug Control Strategy Puts Emphasis on Treatment

On July 9, 2014, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released its strategy for the upcoming year. Michael Botticelli, the current drug czar who assumed his position in March, released the official National Drug Control Strategy at an event in Roanoke, Va.

Weed in the Workplace: Confusion over Marijuana Policy

FBI is reportedly reconsidering its current policy against hiring marijuana users. Why the proposed switch? The realization that many successful computer hackers are also marijuana smokers has come to light. Excluding marijuana users could be costing the agency some of the most able hackers in an age of spiraling cyber-crime. The public talk about changing […]

Marijuana Smokers Less Likely to Attend College

In the U.S., marijuana use is fairly common among teenagers and young adults in the typical college age range of 18 to 25. Unfortunately, intake of the drug is associated with a number of significant problems, including memory and concentration deficits, altered brain development and the onset of cannabis use disorder (cannabis abuse and/or cannabis […]

Pro-Pot Tweets Reaching Hundreds of Thousands of Youths

Researchers Say Messages Set the Stage for Drug Use Twitter is one of the most popular social media applications in use in the U.S. and across much of the world. While most users of the application are private citizens, companies and organizations also use Twitter to promote their products and causes. In a study published […]

Extreme Psychotic Reaction to Spice Reveals Risks of Synthetic Marijuana

Psychosis is an extremely dysfunctional mental state most commonly associated with the presence of schizophrenia and certain other severe mental illnesses. Addiction specialists and researchers know that marijuana can produce a temporary psychosis-like state in active users and also potentially increases the odds that a person with latent psychotic tendencies will experience psychotic episodes. In […]

New Breathalyzer Detects Marijuana Use

Breathalyzers are devices originally developed to detect the concentration of alcohol in a person’s bloodstream. Law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. commonly use these devices as part of procedures designed to identify people driving while intoxicated. In a study published in December 2013 in the journal Clinical Chemistry and reported in May 2014 by study […]

Electronic Cigarettes Help Smokers Quit, Study Finds, But Critics Urge Caution

One out of five smokers was able to quit tobacco cigarettes by inhaling on electronic cigarettes, which still deliver nicotine but in smaller doses, a new study out of the United Kingdom has found. Those trying to quit smoking cold turkey or with non-prescription nicotine patches or gum were 60 percent more likely to report succeeding […]

Marijuana Addiction Debate Is ‘Dead’

Is marijuana addictive? As the movement to legalize pot gains traction in multiple states, so does the science suggesting that recreational use of marijuana, now legal in Colorado and Washington, may come at a cost. A growing number of researchers have concluded that the drug has addictive qualities. The National Institute on Drug Abuse puts a […]

4/20 Pot Holiday Gives New Meaning to Easter Grass

This year, Easter grass may not only be for lining your basket. Today, Christianity’s holiest day shares the calendar with 4/20, a sort of underground holiday for pot smokers. So while some dressed in their Sunday best, attended sunrise services and watched their children search the yard for colorful Easter eggs, others broke out their bongs, put on […]