Featured in a Medscape article, the study found the risk for psychosis exists even for those with no history of a disorder. In fact, the study findings suggest the risk is even higher in Spice as compared with its natural counterpart.

Carlos Alverio, MD, with the Boston University School of Medicine was the lead author on this study. He stressed his findings at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) 22nd Annual Meeting & Symposium, highlighting that synthetic substances are more potent than cannabis in its natural state.

In its synthetic form, cannabis is generally labeled as herbal incense, but will cause psychoactive effects that resemble the outcome of cannabis use. Such use led to hundreds of emergency room visits in 2010.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has responded to this increasing abuse by banning five chemicals commonly found in synthetic cannabis products, including K2 and Spice. The DEA reported these herbal products – which can be smoked – were becoming increasingly popular among young adults and teens as they contained chemicals that were legal.

The FDA has not approved any of the chemicals for human consumption, according to the DEA, which renders the manufacturing process completely without oversight. Young individuals were consuming products they assumed were safe simple because they were available through retail outlets.

Young people using the synthetic products reported episodes of hallucinations, hearing voices, extreme paranoia, disorganization, anxiety and confusion.

Study Finds Synthetic Cannabis More Potent than Natural Counterpart is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Before being administered marijuana, the participants were introduced to a math exercise that would be used to distract them while driving. Then the researchers gave each participant a marijuana cigarette, with part of the group receiving a placebo. The participants were encouraged to finish the cigarette but were free to stop at any time that discomfort was experienced.

Following the cigarette, participants were given a driving assessment using a driving simulator. The subjects drove for about 15 miles, with the first minute serving as an uneventful introduction.

Following the first minute, however, several distractions and obstacles were introduced. The drivers were instructed to complete a math task, and were evaluated for how they responded to the appearance of an emergency vehicle. They were also evaluated for their hesitation in response to a yellow light and avoiding a dog.

The drivers were measured for accuracy and speed with each task that was introduced to the driving simulation segment of the study. The results were included for only those participants who consumed the entire marijuana cigarette before performing the driving task.

The drivers were all assessed for heart rate, self-reported "highness" and levels of sleepiness at baseline, after the cigarette was completed and after the driving exercise was complete.

The results showed that across the participants who smoked marijuana there was a significantly elevated heart rate and feeling of euphoria when compared to placebo. Women, however, rated their feelings of "highness" higher than men for both the marijuana cigarette and the placebo.

The analysis showed that the driving simulation tasks were performed at similar levels for both marijuana and the placebo groups, and there was no difference based on genders.

The researchers conclude that several limitations must be taken into account with the results. For instance, the study included only the first 15 miles driven after completing the consumption of a marijuana cigarette.

Over time, driving may be affected differently by the presence of marijuana. In addition, the use of driving simulators is not directly transferable to actual driving.

Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

According to the CMA, drugs are a societal evil which will never be eliminated. Therefore, substances like marijuana should be taken out of the hands of profiteers and instead regulated by government in the same fashion as tobacco and alcohol. In their opinion, marijuana sales should be permitted but regulated for those over the age of 21 and taxes from those sales should be applied to treatment centers for teenagers and to further research into marijuana’s potential medical health benefits. The group went only so far as to say that doctors have been made into gatekeepers of a substance that is 100 percent non-medical.

Though it is the largest physician group within the state of California, the CMA is not the only medical group to speak out on legalization. The American Society for Addiction Medicine has met the CMA policy with pushback of its own saying that marijuana should not be legalized either for recreational use or medical use before more is known about all its associated risks and benefits. The addiction doctors say that they will oppose all efforts to make the drug more readily available because what is known about marijuana is that it is a mood-altering substance with negative mental, behavioral and emotional consequences. According to the group, greater than one-half of all drug abusers in the U.S. trace their misuse to a start with marijuana. Smoking a drug, they say, is not a medicinal treatment.

The police chiefs of California also lent their voice to the cry against legalization. A spokesman for the chiefs pointed out that given the obvious negative affect marijuana has on the human brain and the significant number of traffic accidents associated with the drug’s use, to advocate decriminalization is an “unbelievably irresponsible position.”

A former advisor to the nation’s drug czar further pointed out that funding research and treatment through legalization was an unlikely proposition. He cited the small number of programs dedicated to anti-drunk driving as proof that legalization and taxation of a substance doesn’t necessarily lead to research and treatment program funding.

The federal government’s present policy toward marijuana is to classify the drug in the same manner as heroin. Marijuana holds zero medical value and continues to be illegal to prescribe. Policy should be driven by facts rather than by a cultural exhaustion from holding the line on responsible behavior.

Addiction Medicine Group Discusses Repercussions of Legalizing Marijuana is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Emergency room physicians in Dallas were surprised when three 16-year-old boys were admitted with chest pains and later determined to have had heart attacks. At first pediatric cardiologists such as Dr. Colin Kane believed the boys may have been victims of a virus. However, all three teenagers told their doctors that they had been smoking K2, synthetic marijuana often marketed as incense and sold in packages of herbs.

K2 has street names like Spice, Spice Gold, Spice Diamond, Yucatán Fire, Solar Flare, Genie, PEP Spice, and Fire N Ice. Dr. John Huffman, a chemist at Clemson University, first developed the drug in the mid-1990s, while he was conducting research on the active ingredients in marijuana for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dr. Kane said that he was not 100% certain that K2 caused the heart attacks in the teenagers, and he did not know if they all smoked the same brand of K2. However, he believes that the drug might have caused spasms in their coronary arteries, which temporarily cut off the supply of blood to their hearts.

The state of Texas has banned the sale of K2 after these incidents occurred. There have also been an increasing number of reports from hospitals and poison centers in other states that concerned teenagers becoming ill with symptoms such as heart palpitations, anxiety, racing heart beat, agitation, and high blood pressure after smoking K2.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used its emergency authority to make possessing or selling K2 or similar chemicals illegal. Before the agency took that action in March 2011, these chemicals were not regulated.

Dr. Huffman said that the chemicals he developed were never meant for human consumption.

“Their effects in humans have not been studied and they could have toxic effects,” he said. “They absolutely should not be used as recreational drugs.”

The Kane study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in the journal Pediatrics.

Man-Made Marijuana May Cause Heart Attacks is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Researchers at the University of Bristol administered a drug similar to the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana to hundreds of rats, and then used state-of-the-art technology to measure electrical activity in the neurons of their brains. The drug changed the coordination of brain waves across the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. These brain structures are involved in memory and decision-making, as well as schizophrenia. The rats under the influence of the drug were unable to navigate around a maze the way normal rats can.

Dr. Matthew Jones, from the University’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology, said that the drug caused disrupted coordination, and compared it to two sections of an orchestra playing out of sync. Previous research has shown that heavy marijuana use can cause problems in concentration and memory.

“Marijuana abuse is common among sufferers of schizophrenia and recent studies have shown that the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana can induce some symptoms of schizophrenia in healthy volunteers,” Dr. Jones said. “These findings are therefore important for our understanding of psychiatric diseases, which may arise as a consequence of ‘disorchestrated brains’ and could be treated by ‘retuning’ brain activity.”

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

No one really understands the link between schizophrenia and marijuana. A 2007 review of the scientific literature found that those who smoke marijuana have twice the risk for schizophrenia, and those who have schizophrenia are twice as likely to smoke the drug.

Dr. Serge Sevy, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, found that 75% of the 100 people in his study with schizophrenia had used marijuana for at least two years before they were diagnosed with this mental illness. This could mean that marijuana causes schizophrenia, but there is a problem with that theory. Although marijuana use has increased in the United States since the 1940s, the rate of schizophrenia has remained the same.

Marijuana Causes “Chaos” in Brain Similar to Schizophrenia is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The article in Medical News Today reviewed a study by Dr. Matt Jones from Bristol’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology, showing the harmful effects cannabis can have on cognition and memory that might be the consequence of these unorchestrated brain systems. The researchers used state-of-the-art technology to measure the electrical activity in rats’ neurons after they were given drugs that mimicked marijuana. They discovered that even though effects were subtle, brainwaves were completely disrupted in two cortexes.

Researchers compared this brain activity to that of a philharmonic orchestra in that each musical section was grouped together with rhythms dictated by a conductor much like brain structures tune in to one another to process information and guide behaviors. When testing the rats, it was as if two sections of the “orchestra,” the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, were not in synch with one another. Since these two cortexes are essential for decision-making and memory capabilities, the implication leads toward the path of schizophrenia.

The results showed that the rats were unable to make the correct decisions to navigate around their maze. The findings proved important to understanding the disease, indicating that it might be treated with brain activity that re-tunes the organ.

The results of the study were a significant step toward understanding how rhythmic brain activities underlie the thought processes with disease and health.

Cannabis Causes Disturbances in Concentration and Memory is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

As a result of the risks thought to be associated with marijuana use, there has been extensive research to try and discover the causes of initiation of use. In a recent study from Rutgers University, researchers tried to identify the reasons behind marijuana use among student athletes.

Why Athletes Use Marijuana

Jennifer F. Buckman, Ph.D., of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey, and colleagues found that college athletes are less likely than their peers to smoke marijuana. Moreover, when they do, they have different reasons for using it. Previous studies have shown that athletes use marijuana less than their non-athletic peers, but this study is the first to compare the reasons for use.

The study published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs shows that there are still many athletes using marijuana. Buckman and colleagues wanted to examine the reasons behind athletes’ use of marijuana because the effects of the drug could impact athletic performance.

The researchers recruited 392 college athletes and 504 non-athletes to participate in a survey about marijuana use. About one-third of the male athletes surveyed indicated that they had used marijuana in the past year, while about half of non-athletes used marijuana. Among females, 25 percent of athletes and 48 percent of non-athletes used marijuana.

The risk factors for marijuana use were constant across athletes and non-athletes, with users generally being white, a cigarette smoker, and having an exaggerated perception of how many of their peers use marijuana. However, there were some differences among athletes and non-athletes as well:

• Athletes were more likely to use marijuana because they enjoyed its effects.
• Athletes were less likely to use marijuana as a way to deal with stress, indicating that athletes tend to use marijuana recreationally, rather than as a response to problems.

There was one group of athletes that did use marijuana as a way of dealing with stress. Male athletes who continued to use the drug during their competitive season reported more problems with anxiety than those athletes that did not use marijuana during the season.

The study was developed as a step in the direction of understanding the motivation for marijuana use among athletes in order to develop educational and preventive materials to help reduce drug use among this group.

Marijuana Use Among Athletes is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The memo further stated that law enforcement will take action regardless of state laws or ordinances against those who claim they are protected by certain federal laws to help distribute the drug. This debate has sparked a lot of dismay by those in support of the medical use of the marijuana, according to a recent article in Medical News Today.

In Cole’s memo he pointed out how dangerous a drug marijuana is and also emphasized that those who knowingly aid in the distribution or selling of it will suffer the consequences of law enforcement.

In the United States, marijuana is the most common drug to be illegally abused and its adverse affects on memory loss and the ability to learn can last up to days and even weeks, after its acute effects wear off. Long term abuse of the drug causes problems with addiction and can be mind altering as well. While some side effects, like a heftier appetite may seem harmless, the likelihood of having accidents is another risk.

Steph Sherer, with the biggest advocacy group in support of medicinal marijuana, says President Obama has used tactics to intimidate elected lawmakers thus forcing patients to the illegal drug market. Sherer believes states and local authorities should have the right to adopt their own regulations regarding the use of medical marijuana. However, officials in ten states recently received hostile letters which criminally threaten the prosecution if they carry out laws to regulate producing and distributing marijuana for medicinal use. Sherer believes the government recognizes the need for cancer patients and others with unbearable diseases to need the marijuana but is denying a way for them to legally get it.

Federal Government against Medicinal Use of Marijuana is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

According to some reports, Kronic is 100 times stronger than regular cannabis and gives the same sensations of bliss and relaxation yet can’t be detected on any drug test. And why should it, when it is legal? Quite as legal as an energy drink. Until only recently a child as young as 10 years old could buy Kronic in Australia with impunity.

Just because users test clean on a drug test doesn’t mean that Kronic is devoid of risk however. Healthcare professionals warn that Kronic doesn’t only imitate cannabis in its pleasurable effects but in negative ones as well. The heart palpitations, delusions, hallucinations and even psychosis that can accompany marijuana use may also result from smoking Kronic. There is also research suggesting that withdrawal from its use could produce symptoms similar to that of heroin or cannabis withdrawal. The bottom line, health experts say, is that so long as all the ingredients of Kronic remain unknown, so does any certain knowledge of how it may affect users.

Kronic was initially created for the purpose of testing lab rats. Like other less potent cannabis synthetics, such as K2 and Spice, it has found its way into the public marketplace. Being synthetic, Kronic does not even smell like marijuana. In fact, it is offered for sale in flavors. Which leads one to wonder to whom the product is being marketed? Some say that Kronic is the current craze on college campuses while others maintain that the very fact that it is legal makes it less appealing to the young crowd. Others say that Kronic appeals to an older demographic, one who perhaps experimented with marijuana in the past. There has been news of rampant use of Kronic by miners as well as reports of use in the prison population. People who are interested in feeling “high” but who are sensible enough to want to avoid losing their job or having a police record are the target market.

Whenever a legal substance touts its similarity to an illegal substance, health officials say ‘buyer beware’. And until more is known about its ingredients and their documented effects, the Medical Association in Western Australia has convinced authorities to ban its sale and use. New regulations in that area now make it a crime to either sell or supply synthetic cannabis punishable by 25 years in jail or a $100,000 fine. Other parts of Australia are considering following suit.

Kronic: The New Drug is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Marijuana can also significantly affect mood, along with short- and long-term memory. These side effects and their long-term consequences have been debated and researched and some call into question whether marijuana poses any serious harm. However, a recent study may grab the attention of those who typically ignore the warnings about marijuana.

Recently, Rany Shamloul conducted a review of the information available regarding the connection between marijuana use and sexual health. The results indicated that there may be a strong association between cannabis and impaired male sexual performance.

Dr. Shamloul is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Queen’s University. The research conducted by Dr. Shamloul will appear in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Dr. Shamloul points out that while the drug is the most popular illicit drug, used all over the world; its use is concentrated largely among young people. The young people using marijuana may be unaware of the risks that they are heightening relating to sexual health and performance while using marijuana.

Highlighted in Dr. Shamloul’s work are several studies that have shown a connection between cannabis use and sexual dysfunction in animal models and in vitro studies. The results of these recent investigations may end the debate about whether sexual health is impacted by marijuana use.

Previous research has established that cannabis does affect certain areas of the brain, receptors that affect sexual functions. Now it is believed that the same types of receptors are present in the penis, where cannabis may cause a problem. The researchers believe that the when cannabis is present in the receptors in the penis, a man may have difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection.

The findings are significant in this area of study because it is the first investigation to provide a conclusion about marijuana’s effects on sexual health and performance. Previous research has shown mixed results regarding cannabis use and sexual health.

Some studies in the past have found that erectile function was actually improved by cannabis use, but the current findings will significantly change the understanding of cannabis use and sexual health.
 

Cannabis may Cause Sexual Dysfunction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment