How New York and California Botched Marijuana Legalization – WSJ
Drugs
Happy 4-20! 🚬
The air was full of sweet perfume as I stepped outside this afternoon, you could smell it on the buses.
Honestly I don’t have a strong preference one way or another when it comes to marijuana. Some people like to smoke or or eat it but I have very little interest in partaking in cannabis, especially not the over priced, highly taxed stuff sold in dispenseraries. Especially as I’ve grown older and more interested in personal health.
Cannabis might be more fun than drinking beer, as Phil Ochs once said. But it’s just as unhealthy, although it’s debatable how harmful the intoxication is compared to alcohol. But it makes you fat by stimulating your hunger and involves inhaling a toxic byproducts of combustion. It ruins your memory but does make you much more relaxed, easy going and open to new experience.
The war on cannabis never made much sense, much like the war on drugs. Addicts need treatment not jail time. A lot of people are passionate about their cannabis and the marijuana smoking lifestyle and I think it’s a gateway drug towards learning more about agriculture. And an interesting, if not somewhat oversold crop. But whatever…
Shots – Health News : NPR
One of the hottest tickets at this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego was a session on psychedelic drugs.
About 1,000 brain scientists squeezed into an auditorium at the San Diego Convention Center for the symposium, called Psychedelics and Neural Plasticity.
They'd come to hear talks on how drugs like psilocybin and MDMA can alter individual brain cells, can help rewire the brain, and may offer a new way to treat disorders ranging from depression to chronic pain.
‘This Is Poison’ – The New York Times
NPR
Drug experts, however, say that there is no new fentanyl threat to kids this Halloween. Sponsor Message
Best said that in the decades he's spent researching this topic, he's never once found "any evidence that any child has ever been killed, or seriously hurt, by a treat found in the course of trick-or-treating."
Brandon del Pozo, an assistant professor of medicine and health services at Brown University, also points to a general sense of fear and paranoia connected to the pandemic, crime rates and the overdose epidemic.
"There's just enough about fentanyl that is true in this case that makes it a gripping narrative," del Pozo said. "It is extremely potent. There are a lot of counterfeit pills that are causing fatal overdoses and the cartels have, in fact, added color to those pills. And tobacco and alcohol companies have used color to promote their products to a younger audience."
Dr. Ryan Marino, medical toxicologist, emergency physician and addiction medicine specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, also points to the upcoming midterm elections. In close races, Republicans attack Democrats over fentanyl and the overdose crisis Elections In close races, Republicans attack Democrats over fentanyl and the overdose crisis
"It also seems to have become heavily politicized because this is a very tense election year with very intense partisan politics," he said. "It also seems as if people are using fentanyl for political purposes."
NPR
Voters in five states, including four that are among the most conservative in the country, are deciding on whether to legalize recreational marijuana this election. If passed in each state, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota would join 19 other states and the District of Columbia where cannabis has already been legalized for personal use.