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Despite Loosening Cannabis Laws, Children Say It’s Becoming Less Available, Finds Study

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brightbudsOne of the primary arguments used against legalizing cannabis is that it will become more easily accessible to children. A new study released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), however, paints a different picture.

According to the study conducted by researchers at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the CDC, the percentage of children aged 12 to 17 who say that cannabis is “fairly easy or very easy to obtain” fell significantly from 2002, to 2014 – a 13% drop in total.

Read moreDespite Loosening Cannabis Laws, Children Say It’s Becoming Less Available, Finds Study

CDC: State Laws Legalizing Marijuana Use Associated With Declining Teen Use

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By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

useThe passage of statewide laws regulating the consumption of cannabis by adults and/or qualified patients is not associated with increased rates of teen marijuana use, according to a statistical analysis of results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

CDC data reports that the percentage of high-schoolers ever reporting having used cannabis fell from an estimated 43 percent in 1995 to just under 39 percent in 2015. The percentage of teens currently using cannabis (defined as having used marijuana at least once in the past 30 days) also declined during this same period, from 25 percent in 1995 to just under 22 percent in 2015.

Read moreCDC: State Laws Legalizing Marijuana Use Associated With Declining Teen Use

CDC Calls for Physicians to Stop Drug Testing for THC

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By The Compassion Chronicles

centers_disease_controlThe National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published their “Guideline for Prescribing Opioids For Chronic Pain, United States 2016″ on March 18. In it was a statement of discouragement of urine testing for THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, and a warning against terminating treatment of patients for having positive results on urine drug tests.

Although the CDC’s Guidelines and Factsheet advises physicians involved in opioid therapies to continue using urine testing for “to identify prescribed substances and undisclosed use,” the document itself advises a cautious approach to urine testing from both a reliability and a financial standpoint.

Read moreCDC Calls for Physicians to Stop Drug Testing for THC

Senate Elizabeth Warren Asks CDC to Consider Cannabis for Dealing with Painkiller Epidemic

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Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asking them to consider and study the positive role cannabis could have in dealing with the nation’s painkiller epidemic.

In the letter addressed to CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden, Warren asks for more oversight of physicians that are so readily prescribing large amounts of opioid painkillers, and to get serious about allowing those with chronic pain to explorie alternative treatment options, such as cannabis.

Warren also asks the CDC to study the “effectiveness of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids for pain treatment in states where it is legal,” in addition to exploring “the impact of the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana on opioid overdose deaths.”

Read moreSenate Elizabeth Warren Asks CDC to Consider Cannabis for Dealing with Painkiller Epidemic