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Thread: Boogity-boogity Evil Weed propaganda

  1. #271
    I always tended to drive alittle slower after consuming... back in the day.




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  3. #272
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    This'n is a classic!

    Just a bit over 1 minute;

    because

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/ampht...historic-lows/



    Its going up and to the right!! ZOMG



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  5. #273
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    This'n is a classic!

    Just a bit over 1 minute;

    This guy is not good at lying with a straight face. No emotional connection with the viewer. Too much fear. No tears.

  6. #274
    This rebuttal was pretty good:

    I have seen through it all... the system is against us. ALL OF IT.

  7. #275
    Boogity-boom!
    http://gizmodo.com/congressman-uses-...xcu-1792656427

    Speaking with Brianna Keilar, here’s what the congressman had to say:
    [COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)]“The reality, Brianna, is that we have to measure all of the costs, ancillary and otherwise, and make the best decision that we can. But I can suggest to you that there are national security implications here for a porous border. Ya know, we sometimes used to make the point that if someone wanted to smuggle in a dangerous weapon, even a nuclear weapon, into America, how would they do it? And the suggestion was made, ‘Well, we’ll simply hide it in a bale of marijuana.’ So the implications of a porous border have national security dimensions that are very significant and that bear a lot of conversation when we talk about costs.”
    [/COLOR]
    Whom is this 'we' he speaks of? CIA/Deep state (again, again)?

  8. #276
    Seems as though dogs should fear pissed off stoners instead of a buzz........

    But whadda I know.



    Marijuana poisoning a serious risk for Colorado dogs

    http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news...dogs/99304356/

    Candace Braden woke up one morning in late January to find her dog had lost his personality.

    Four-year-old Finn, a normally energetic and friendly boxer/blue heeler mix, was stiff and unresponsive. His jaw was locked. His brown eyes, barely open, couldn’t register his owner’s panicked face.

    He was high. But Braden didn’t know that yet.

    “I was pretty much having a nervous breakdown,” Braden said. “It’s really scary to see your baby like that.”

    Braden’s situation is more common than you might expect. Finn was one of the hundreds of dogs treated for marijuana toxicity at Fort Collins animal hospitals in the last year. Veterinarians at Fort Collins Veterinary Emergency and Rehabilitation Hospital said they see between 5 and 10 cases each week, and they’ve noticed an uptick since recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado.

    Research backs them up: A 2012 study involving Colorado State University researchers found that marijuana toxicity cases in dogs increased as the number of medical marijuana licenses increased in Colorado.

    Marijuana is toxic for dogs and can be fatal in large doses. Some pet owners use marijuana to treat their dogs for pain or other ailments, and researchers continue to study the use of medical marijuana for pets. But “there’s never really a good dose range to treat a dog with pot,” said Dr. Robin Van Metre, an emergency veterinarian at the Fort Collins Veterinary Emergency and Rehabilitation Hospital.

    Dogs metabolize marijuana differently from humans, and the impacts of consumption play out differently on their smaller frames. The lethargy and fogginess that might make a pot brownie fun for a human can render a dog incapable of basic functions. In rare cases, which Van Metre has seen two or three times in about 15 years, a dog can undergo gradual paralysis and die.

    Most of the cases Van Metre sees at the animal hospital involve a dog that got into a marijuana edible by accident. Affected dogs are usually jumpy, trembling, fearful and incontinent, she said.

    That was the case for Braden’s dog, who was dribbling urine as Braden and her roommates carried him to the car. On the ride to the Fort Collins emergency animal hospital, he was twitchy and began to seize.

    Candace Braden's dog, Finn, ingested a marijuana edible at a party and ended up in emergency veterinary care. Finn recovered after about 48 hours but Braden hopes their story will raise awareness on the effect marijuana could have on pets. (Photo: Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan)
    As Finn underwent tests to determine what had poisoned him — the symptoms of marijuana toxicity are similar to those of a dog that’s ingested more dangerous substances like antifreeze or arsenic — Braden pieced together what had happened the night before.

    She’d brought Finn to a house party where some of her friends had been eating marijuana cookies. One friend had tucked a cookie in their pocket, and Finn found it.

    Veterinarians gave Finn charcoal to induce vomiting and put him on an IV for hydration. Because his case was more severe, they also gave him intralipids through an IV. Fat molecules absorb marijuana in the bloodstream.

    Braden took a sleepy and quiet Finn home after more than 12 hours of care that cost more than $1,000.

    That’s a pretty typical bill for a more severe case of marijuana toxicity, Van Metre said. In less severe cases, a dog might only need charcoal, which costs about $200 to $300.

    If you think your dog ingested marijuana, Van Metre recommends taking him to the animal hospital as soon as possible. Don’t worry about getting in trouble.

    “There are some outs you can give people, like, ‘Is there a chance he got into something on a walk, or do your roommates keep it around the house?’” she said. “Certainly we’d never try to prosecute anyone over it.”

    If you keep marijuana — especially edibles — in your home, store them in a place you know your dog can’t reach. And keep an eye on your pets, Braden said.

    About six weeks removed from the ordeal, Finn is back to his happy-go-lucky self with no lasting effects. Not so for Braden.

    “I’m so overprotective,” she said, sitting on a bench at Lee Martinez Park as Finn sniffed at the grass beside her. “Every time I see him lying there and being quiet, I’m like, ‘What’s wrong? Is something happening?’”

    But she’s taking Finn’s close call as an opportunity to raise awareness about marijuana toxicity in dogs, which she’d never heard of before this happened.

    “Pot’s not going anywhere, so I think it’s good to have this conversation now,” she said. “Our dogs are our family in this community. It’s important to keep them safe.”

  9. #277
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    Seems as though dogs should fear pissed off stoners instead of a buzz........

    But whadda I know.
    Just read the story and ya beat me to it. We had a pit-bull dig up and eat the squeezin's from some budder we had made. Poor guy was down for 2 days. Had to hydrate with a straw. Didn't seem to affect him other than that. He's always been a mellow bone head so it's hard to tell.

  10. #278
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    ...
    There was actually a TV ad that ran in MA this past election warning people not to legalize weed, because dogs might eat it. One of the dumbest arguments against legalizing weed I've ever seen.





    That being said, I'd definitely make sure to keep it away from any pets, since some can have a pretty bad reaction to it.
    Last edited by jct74; 03-20-2017 at 04:11 PM.

  11. #279
    Quote Originally Posted by jct74 View Post
    There was actually a TV ad that ran in MA this past election warning people not to legalize weed, because dogs might eat it. One of the dumbest arguments against legalizing weed I've ever seen.


    That being said, I'd definitely make sure to keep it away from any pets, since some can have a pretty bad reaction to it.

    Even if we ignore the moral and ethical issues of giving weed to pets there's the financial issue..

    Why waste a good buzz on a critter that doesn't appreciate it?

    While we're on the subject of critters-n-weed.............Damn the deer who ate over 10# of seedlings back in '73!

  12. #280
    Chris Christie says 'crazy liberals' want to 'poison our kids' with marijuana

    New Jersey governor Chris Christie called supporters of marijuana legalization "crazy liberals" who want to "poison our kids" during a talk at a substance abuse conference on Monday, according to Politico.

    "They want that blood money? Let them do it," Christie said, referring to tax revenue generated by legal marijuana sales.

    "And they will. Let me tell you something — this will be like priority number one come January. I guarantee you, if we have a Democratic governor, it will be priority number one."

    Christie — who is the most unpopular governor in the US, according to a recent poll — will end his term as governor in January of next year.

    ...

    Nick Scutari, a New Jersey state senator, is currently introducing a bill to legalize marijuana. Scutari's bill has the support of both Steve Sweeney, the Senate president, and Vincent Prieto, the Assembly Speaker, according to the Star-Ledger.

    "People like Nick Scutari and Steve Sweeney and Phil Murphy [leading Democratic candidate for governor] want to bring this poison, legalized, into this state under the premise that, well, it doesn’t matter because people can buy it illegally anyway," Christie said on Monday.

    "Then why not legalize heroin? I mean, their argument fails just on that basis. Let’s legalize cocaine. Let’s legalize heroin. Let’s legalize angel dust. Let’s legalize all of it. What’s the difference? Let everybody choose," Christie added.

    ...
    http://www.businessinsider.com/chris...ization-2017-5
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.



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  14. #281
    Let’s legalize cocaine. Let’s legalize heroin. Let’s legalize angel dust. Let’s legalize all of it. What’s the difference? Let everybody choose.
    -- Chris Christie
    “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” --George Orwell

    Quote Originally Posted by AuH20 View Post
    In terms of a full spectrum candidate, Rand is leaps and bounds above Trump. I'm not disputing that.
    Who else in public life has called for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?--Donald Trump

  15. #282
    "Then why not legalize heroin? I mean, their argument fails just on that basis. Let’s legalize cocaine. Let’s legalize heroin. Let’s legalize angel dust. Let’s legalize all of it. What’s the difference? Let everybody choose," Christie added.
    You're getting the idea there lardass....

    Now get your atrophied brain around firing 3/4 of the kops, 3/4 of the kourts and 90% of the prison staff that us working stiffs pay for...

  16. #283
    Marijuana's legalization fuels black market in other states

    Marijuana smugglers are growing and shipping vast quantities of illicit cannabis across the USA.

    They’re mailing it, driving it and, in at least one case, flying it around in skydiving planes. They’re hiding it in truck beds and trunks and vacuum-sealing it to hide the smell as they pass police officers patrolling the interstates.

    Many are starting in states where growing marijuana is legal, such as Colorado, and sending the drug elsewhere.

    In June, Colorado prosecutors said they busted a 74-person operation producing 100 pounds of marijuana per month — enough to generate $200,000 monthly, tax free, for more than four years.

    olice seized two tons of cannabis from dozens of homes and warehouses in the Denver metro area. Tangled up in the scheme were fathers and sons and several former professional football players.

    “Those of us in law enforcement kept saying, '(Legalization) will not stop crime. You’re just making it easier for people who want to make money. What we’ve done is give them cover,' ” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said.

    ...

    Legalization "has provided an effective means to launder cannabis products and proceeds, where in essence, actors can exploit legal mechanisms to obscure products’ origin and conceal true profits, thereby blurring the boundaries of the legal market and complicating enforcement efforts,” the Oregon report concluded. “The illicit exportation of cannabis must be stemmed as it undermines the spirit of the law and the integrity of the legal market.”

    ...

    Instead, criminal organizations are setting up operations in Colorado and buying houses where they can grow marijuana, she said. Then, once the crops are harvested, they ship the drug elsewhere.

    Busting those organizations now that marijuana is legal takes a lot more work than it did before 2012 when anyone caught with any amount of cannabis was breaking the law.

    ...
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ket/507417001/
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.

  17. #284
    “Those of us in law enforcement kept saying, '(Legalization) will not stop crime. You’re just making it easier for people who want to make money. What we’ve done is give them cover,' ” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said.
    Well toots guess it's time for you to switch careers and do something productive....Like stock shelves at Wal-Mart..

  18. #285
    Chronic cannabis users are at risk of experiencing a horrifying new condition that is being reported at hospitals across the United States where marijuana is legal.

    'Scromiting,' doctors say, is becoming an all-too-familiar site at emergency rooms, with patients 'screaming and vomiting' as they turn up for help.

    The condition, called Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS), is not properly understood but medical experts believe the symptoms appear from individuals using or consuming heavy amounts of marijuana over a long period of time.

    'I've screamed out for death,' Chalfonte LeNee Queen, 48, told NPR after experiencing the terrifying illness.

    'I've cried out for my mom, who's been dead for 20 years, mentally not realizing she can't come to me.'

    Little research has been conducted on the topic, but one study found
    that for scromiting to occur, cannabis users would have to consume marijuana three to five times per day to develop CHS.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz50UGTbou8
    Follow us: @MAIlOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  19. #286
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    Well toots guess it's time for you to switch careers and do something productive....Like stock shelves at Wal-Mart..
    I suppose your suggesting they wean them selves from the public dole.
    “[T]he enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table.” (Heller, 554 U.S., at ___, 128 S.Ct., at 2822.)

    How long before "going liberal" replaces "going postal"?

  20. #287
    Quote Originally Posted by mrsat_98 View Post
    I suppose your suggesting they wean them selves from the public dole.
    Absolutely!

    It'd be fun to watch................With no sound.

  21. #288
    Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS)
    So, what does everyone think? a real issue with "too much" cannabis use over time and basically overloading (or frying) the endocannabinoid system. Or more likely a toxic overload syndrome from some of the chemicals used in grows that are not "organic" or clean. Or something else?

    I did a quick search and found: https://www.leafly.com/news/health/w...mesis-syndrome
    I have seen through it all... the system is against us. ALL OF IT.



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  23. #289
    Quote Originally Posted by Thor View Post
    So, what does everyone think? a real issue with "too much" cannabis use over time and basically overloading (or frying) the endocannabinoid system. Or more likely a toxic overload syndrome from some of the chemicals used in grows that are not "organic" or clean. Or something else?

    I did a quick search and found: https://www.leafly.com/news/health/w...mesis-syndrome
    I've consumed a lot of cannabis and seen people consume a lot of cannabis. Never heard of something like this. I call bull $#@!.

  24. #290
    Never heard of something like this. I call bull $#@!.
    Likewise.

    Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

  25. #291
    Funny how 50 years of popular use never uncovered this issue

  26. #292
    Quote Originally Posted by Dark_Horse_Rider View Post
    Funny how 50 years of popular use never uncovered this issue
    Lol, ya, all of a sudden weed is legal and people just start getting it??? There have been stoners for decades... weed has been plentiful for decades..

    The other issue is that they claim it is caused by CBDs.. but CBDs aren't neccessarily any less plentiful in strains that have lower THC content like they tended to have 30-40+ years ago, in fact a good way to procure high CBD products is from non-THC hemp. That means back when people had to smoke more plant material to get the same high, they were likely ingesting MORE CBDs, and as the THC levels increased now people tend to get less CBDs, unless they are smoking a high CBD strain.

    But that is almost irrelevant, because people have been smoking the chronic since the beginning, but it has been much more readily available since the 90s and 2000s.. but that is again 27 years for this to be happening..

    More than likely this is from some chemical or something being used during the growing process.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
    "dumpster diving isn't professional." - angelatc
    "You don't need a medical degree to spot obvious bullshit, that's actually a separate skill." -Scott Adams
    "When you are divided, and angry, and controlled, you target those 'different' from you, not those responsible [controllers]" -Q

    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

    "Paul said "the wave of the future" is a coalition of anti-authoritarian progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress opposed to domestic surveillance, opposed to starting new wars and in favor of ending the so-called War on Drugs."

  27. #293
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    More than likely this is from some chemical or something being used during the growing process.
    That is what I was thinking too....
    I have seen through it all... the system is against us. ALL OF IT.

  28. #294
    Quote Originally Posted by mrsat_98 View Post
    I suppose your suggesting they wean them selves from the public dole.
    Quote Originally Posted by tod evans View Post
    Absolutely!

    It'd be fun to watch................With no sound.
    LOL
    “[T]he enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table.” (Heller, 554 U.S., at ___, 128 S.Ct., at 2822.)

    How long before "going liberal" replaces "going postal"?

  29. #295
    Drudge again;

    Britain flooded with super-strength cannabis which could be driving mental health problems


    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...riving-mental/

    Nearly all cannabis on Britain's streets is now super-strength skunk that could be fuelling the rise in mental health problems, scientists have warned.

    Researchers at King’s College London tested almost 1,000 police seizures from Kent, Derbyshire, Merseyside, Sussex and the capital in 2016 and found 94 per cent were of a dangerously high potency.

    In 2005 just 51 per cent of cannabis sold on the street was sinsemilla, also known as skunk.

    Dr Marta Di Forti, Medical Research Council Clinician Scientist at King’s College warned that the powerful drug placed Britain’s 2.1 million cannabis users at risk of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, psychosis, delusions and hallucinations.

    ‘The increase of high-potency cannabis on the streets poses a significant hazard to users’ mental health, and reduces their ability to choose more benign types,’ she said.

    “It is of concern that 94 per cent of seized cannabis is now of skunk type as this potentially could increase the number of people using it and consequently the number of people experiencing harm.

    “Regular users of high-potency cannabis carry the highest risk for psychotic disorders, compared to those who have never used cannabis.”

    The researchers also found that in normal cannabis resin, the average concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the main psychoactive component - had risen by 50 per cent since 2005, from four per cent to six per cent.

    In contrast, the ratio of antipsychotic cannabidiol (CBD), which helps mitigate the drug’s psychoactive effects, had fallen dramatically.

    Skunk has around 14 per cent THC and is more dangerous because it contains very small amount of CBD.

    In 2015 Kings College showed that in South London, 24 per cent of new cases of psychosis could be attributed to skunk use. Researchers now fear that the countrywide problem could be partly responsible for the growing number of mental health issues in Britain.

    Latest figures shows there were 7,545 hospital admissions in 2016/2017 for drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders, 12 per cent higher than in 2006/2007.

    There were also 14,053 admissions for poisoning by illegal drugs last year, a 40 per cent increase compared to a decade earlier.

    Ian Hamilton, Lecturer in Mental Health, University of York, said: “If these seized samples are representative then it suggests that apart from the dominance of skunk in the UK market, it also seems that resin has increased in strength, as this analysis shows that some resin samples were nearly three times stronger than those seized back in 2005.

    “So even if people are trying to source lower potency cannabis they are unable to.

    “If the cannabis market is saturated with higher potency cannabis this increases the risk of younger and more naive users developing problems as they are less likely to adjust the amount of cannabis they ingest than more experienced users.”

    Prof Valerie Curran, Professor of Psychopharmacology, UCL, said: “These findings have implications for the rising numbers of young people who are becoming addicted to cannabis.

    “Evidence from our own previous research at UCL suggests that high potency varieties are more likely to lead to addiction, so if the market is dominated by these varieties then this inevitably puts more people at risk of addiction.”

    The research was published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis.

  30. #296
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno
    Lol, ya, all of a sudden weed is legal and people just start getting it???
    I doubt the amount of people using it recreationaly has actually gone up very much. I do think many people have been using it to help with medical issues for many years and, have been considered recreational users.

    I remember when the "war on drugs" began and Nixon made it schedule 1. I think it is wrong for a president to be able to attack their political opponents in this way. I think it shows how much power is lost when the president opposes a group or vis versa. I believe most people want to be law abiding.
    Making plants in the hemp family illegal has caused great harm to both humanity and other life on this planet. I am sure Monsanto is @#$%ing with the strains of plants in this family(and selling it both in legal and illegal markets) no telling what they are dong to it.

    I don't like modern day reefer I have tried some cbds and do actually like it better than modern street reefer. But I think it is just FUBAR. FU system you just F up everything. I don't think modern day reefer is stronger or even better than it used to be when it was just a weed growing. Hemp used to grow everywhere that is something that I don't think people today and born before the 60's can understand. Our ecosystem has been harmfully changed because of how the system has worked to destroy life saving and strengthening plants.

    Don't smoke no reefer that you don't see growing in a ditch somewhere because this is the only reefer that has actually "evolved" properly. F legal weed. Don't go into any establishment that sells the crap and boys and girls I am warning you from the bottom of my heart. Don't trust any hemp related plant that does not have fertile seeds and is "regulated". I repeat FU legal hemp related $h!+!!!!



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  32. #297
    This past weekend, I had some cannabis extract oil through a vape. It was 75% THC. I want more. He get's it in the mail. Smart too, sealed cartridge and no smell. My dealer only has flower, so for now I'll have to wait for more.

  33. #298
    "Granny" Storm Crow posted this on another forum. I though it was worth sharing.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310649


    A Study of One Colorado County Finds Legal Marijuana has More Benefits Than Problems

    Social demographics. Researchers reported little change in this area post-legalization, finding no quantitative evidence that the county has been impacted by people moving in from elsewhere.


    Homeless population. Researchers found no connection between an increased number of homeless people and marijuana. They noted that utility costs have risen, and that one utility had cut off power to 7,000 homes. This has had a bigger impact on homelessness than marijuana.

    Student use. The report found that legalized marijuana had not increased use of cannabis by high school students in the county.

    Crime. There has been an increase in crime, but it is property crime and drug arrests related to heroin, not pot. The report also found an increased number of pot seizures in the county but speculate that this relates to a large number of illegal marijuana grow houses.

    Use by pregnant women. The report found a 3.1 percent increase in reports of THC present in pregnant women after legalization went into effect.

    Economics. The county has experienced increased real estate prices, but the report could not directly correlate that with legalized marijuana. Researchers also predicted that those just now getting into the cannabis business may have a greater chance for failure, and the area already is seeing some consolidation of marijuana operations.

    Taxes. As the price of legal marijuana continues to drop, the report projects the country will see less marijuana sales tax revenue.
    The report received enthusiastic response from local politicians. Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace told the Denver Post, “The good news for the citizens of Colorado is this has been a net positive for our community.”

  34. #299
    Drudge again;


    Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

    https://www.stltoday.com/news/nation...7a01b4882.html


    SAN RAFAEL, Calif. • For as long as most residents can remember, smoking marijuana has been a part of life here. The fact that California legalized the practice in January went practically unnoticed in this quiet town a half-hour's drive north of San Francisco, where some say the normalization of America's marijuana culture got its start.

    For Quintin Pohl and other teenagers before him, smoking pot was a rite of passage. It was a diversion from the loneliness he felt at home when his parents were splitting up and a salve for middle-school angst. It was his entire social life in seventh and eighth grades, he said, when social life is everything.

    Even though nearly all his friends were using marijuana and seeming to enjoy it, Pohl said, at some point his marijuana use took a turn he never saw coming: He became addicted.

    Many people are unaware of marijuana addiction. But in the public health and medical communities, it is a well-defined disorder that includes physical withdrawal symptoms, cravings and psychological dependence. Many say it is on the rise, perhaps because of the increasing potency of genetically engineered plants and the use of concentrated products, or because more users are partaking multiple times a day.

    "There should be no controversy about the existence of marijuana addiction," said David Smith, a physician who has been treating addiction since he opened a free clinic in San Francisco's drug-drenched Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the 1960s. "We see it every day. The controversy should be why it appears to be affecting more people."

    Although estimates of the number of people who use marijuana vary, the federal government and the marijuana industry tend to agree that total marijuana use has remained relatively constant over the past decade. Increased use in the past three years has been slight, despite increased commercial availability in states that have legalized it.

    The percentage of people who become addicted to marijuana - estimated at about 9 percent of all users, and about 17 percent of those who start in adolescence - also has been stable. Some studies report that even higher proportions of marijuana users develop a dependence, which means they experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using the drug.

    Yet here in Northern California, some addiction treatment practitioners say they're seeing a surge in demand for help, particularly among adolescents.

    Marijuana's estimated rate of addiction is lower than that of cocaine and alcohol (15 percent) and heroin (24 percent). Unlike with opioids and stimulants, marijuana dependence tends to develop slowly: Months or years may pass before symptoms begin to affect a dependent user's life.

    There are no known reports of anyone dying of a marijuana overdose or of the drug's common withdrawal symptoms: chills, sweats, cravings, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, anxiety and irritability.

    According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 2.7 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for marijuana dependence, second only to alcohol dependence.

    Smith, a visiting physician at Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, a treatment center for boys where Pohl eventually got help, speculates that the potency of today's pot is causing a higher prevalence of problematic marijuana use.

    "Back in the day when kids were sitting around smoking a joint, the THC levels found in marijuana averaged from 2 to 4 percent," Smith said. "That's what most parents think is going on today. And that's why society thinks marijuana is harmless."

    But selective breeding has resulted in an average potency of 20 percent THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. Some strains exceed 30 percent.

    Marijuana concentrates and extracts, much more commonly used in the past five years, have THC levels that range from 40 percent to more than 80 percent, according to marijuana industry promotional information and Drug Enforcement Administration reports.

    Susan Weiss, who directs research on the health effects of marijuana at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told a group of addiction doctors at the annual meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine in April that the federal government is trying to get the message out that marijuana can be addictive.

    "But believe it or not," she told the group, "we're having a hard time convincing people that addiction exists."

    The National Cannabis Industry Association's chief spokesman, Morgan Fox, said he's not surprised the federal government is having a hard time convincing the public that marijuana can be addictive.

    "It's their own fault," he said of the government. "When people find out they've been lied to by the federal government about the relative harms of marijuana for decades, they are much less likely to believe anything they have to say going forward, even if that information is accurate."

    Fox said his organization has no disagreement with the finding that about 9 percent of people who use marijuana become addicted, and his organization urges its members to make that clear in their marketing information. But he disagrees that more-potent forms of marijuana may be causing an increase in addiction. "It just means people need to consume less to achieve the desired effect," he said.

    So far, no scientific studies have shown that stronger pot increases the likelihood of addiction, and large swaths of the general public continue to question the existence of marijuana addiction. But for Quintin Pohl, addiction was real.

    Pohl said his marijuana addiction took years to develop. His mother, Kimberly Thomas, said that once she realized her son was using marijuana frequently, "it was like a roller coaster chugging uphill, chugging, chugging, chugging. You know something is happening," she said, "and then just within a couple of days, you reach the peak and zoom downhill. It was awful, awful."

    Scott Sowle, executive director of the Muir Wood rehabilitation center, said he gets the same call from parents nearly every day.

    "They call and say, 'My 16-year-old son was doing really well in school. He was interested in sports and involved in extracurricular activities. But suddenly, he's just not the same kid anymore.' "

    Pohl recalled that he drank a little, off and on, but that marijuana was his constant obsession. After middle school, he got involved in rowing for a couple of years and took a break from his group of marijuana friends. But after he decided competitive rowing wasn't for him, Pohl said he started smoking pot again, this time with new friends who smoked all the time.

    And then the roller coaster plunged.

    His grades plummeted. He stopped going home most of the time and was couch surfing for a while. Finally, he said, his mom called the police on him for stealing her car. "At that point, I was heartless, emotionless," he said. "I was just kind of a blob taking up space. I was baked 24/7."

    Pohl's mother said she saw that he was in trouble and demanded that he stay at home every moment he wasn't in school. (Pohl's father was living in San Francisco.)

    "She told me to come back home. So I did," Pohl said. "At the time, I wasn't sure why she did that. I was still in that whole miserable phase, smoking at least an ounce of weed a week - two ounces on a good week." (One ounce is enough to smoke four to eight joints every day for a week, depending on their size.)

    Then early one morning before school, Pohl recalled, two private investigators his mother had hired appeared and took him to Muir Wood.

    Pohl said he went through a week of pure misery at the rehab center: angry, in denial and suffering. "I couldn't sleep for a week. I was cold, and then I was sweating. I hated everything," he said. "And then the sun hit my face one morning, and it felt great. Things tasted good, smelled better, everything was just enhanced."

    During his six weeks there, Pohl took intensive classes with about 10 other boys and talked to his therapist frequently. His mother spent eight hours a week there, attending parent classes, sharing meals with her son and working with him and his therapist to address the underlying issues that had led him to self-medicate with marijuana.

    Pohl says he hasn't smoked marijuana since he left Muir Wood last July. For the rest of the summer and after school in the fall, he attended classes at a Muir Wood outpatient clinic in San Rafael.

    Wearing black pants, a black sweatshirt and a pink skull cap on a cool but sunny day in late May, Pohl smiles broadly when he talks about his future. After his June graduation, he says, he plans to start working full time at the grocery store where he's had a part-time job for the last year.

    He's thinks he can start smoking marijuana again some day - socially, when he's an adult.

  35. #300
    ... goes to show one can over-do about anything.

    Don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

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