| Cannabis prescribing - flaws in the system |
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A separate paper outlining the rise of medicinal cannabis prescriptions, led by Dr Christine Hallinan from the University of Melbourne’s department of general practice, found that:
- of the 277,338 medicinal cannabis prescription approvals between January 2017 and August 2022, 50% were for patients aged between 18 and 24!
- evidence was lacking that medicinal cannabis was an effective treatment for many of the conditions claimed by its manufacturers.
- Increased prescribing had not been accompanied by strong monitoring of efficacy, side-effects and which conditions specific age groups were using the products for.
- The number of patients who are actually filling their scripts cannot be determined
- For every product on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and for many products on the [Special Access Scheme], there is register of patients to show how many people are actually taking the drug, and you can also link this to other drugs they’re on, hospital admissions and deaths data. We can’t do this for medicinal cannabis because there is no patient database.”
- The launch of ‘cannabis clinics’ is one reason for the sharp rise in prescriptions
Source: Boom in unapproved medicinal cannabis products worries Australian experts | Health | The Guardian |
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The impact of the rise in Cannabis Clinics |
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Experts and medical practitioners are concerned that some clinics have a strong online presence and offer same-day appointments to a prescribing GP. Some claim medicinal cannabis can be useful in treating a wide range of conditions, including migraine, insomnia, stress and pelvic pain, without always highlighting adverse events or the limited evidence.
The RACGP said it was very concerned about the emergence of online prescription services for medicinal cannabis.
“There are numerous risks to these types of services offering prescriptions via telehealth or online,” RACGP President Karen Price said. “A key concern is that these services are fundamentally responding to a business opportunityrather than delivering healthcare. They won’t have the patient’s medical history and these services can lead to fragmented and poor-quality care.”
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Is Medicinal Cannabis a Silver Bullet? |
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Many of the major dispensaries operating in Australia are owned by medicinal cannabis manufacturers and suppliers. Of concern is that The Therapeutic Goods Administration has recently issued infringement notices totalling $972,360 to three medicinal cannabis companies for the alleged unlawful advertising of medicinal cannabis products on their websites and social media platforms.
The companies allegedly promoted the use of prescription-only, unapproved medicinal cannabis products, and published references to the treatment of serious diseases such as cancer and epilepsy.
Dr Mark Morgan, a professor of general practice and chair of the RACGP’s quality care expert committee, said the influence of the industry may have led to levels of prescribing not justified by the evidence of efficacy.
“The industry has been guiding a lot of the education, facilitating a lot of the prescribing, and leading the marketing of these products,” Morgan said.
“There’s been marketing to clinicians and pharmacies about medicinal cannabis which is dressed up as ‘education’. But it is not independent, and therefore we have to question whether or not some of the prescribing is following the evidence or going beyond it.”
Source: Boom in unapproved medicinal cannabis products worries Australian experts | Health | The Guardian |
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Cannabis and Birth Defects – (including medicinal and recreational marijuana use) |
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A study published in the medical journal Clinical Pediatrics has strongly demonstrated a link between marijuana use in early pregnancy and serious birth defects in Colorado. The State of Colorado decriminalized possession and use of cannabis (marijuana) for medical purposes in 2001 and approved the sale of cannabis for recreational (non-medical) use in 2014, essentially legalizing cannabis use and possession by adults. The above-mentioned study used a state-maintained database (Colorado Responds to Children with Special Needs) that records every birth complicated by a major birth defect in the state. The authors studied the number of major birth defects reported in the years beginning in 2000 and ending in 2014. The Results
In summary, the study found that: - During the study period, the use of tobacco, alcohol, cocaine and opiate pain relievers by expectant mothers in Colorado decreased but cannabis use by expectant mothers increased.
- Although the birth rate in Colorado increased by 3.3% during the study period, the number of major birth defects increased by 22% during the same period.
- The most frequently-reported birth defects were:
Atrial Septal Defect (ASD): A defect (“hole”) in the muscular wall separating the two upper chambers of the heart. ASDs usually require surgical closure to prevent serious heart and lung problems from developing later in childhood or early adolescence. Spina bifida: A defect caused by the spine incompletely covering the lower portion of the spinal cord. Except in the mildest cases, children with spina bifida will require a lifetime of special medical care. Microcephaly: Literally, “small head”, a condition where the infant’s head is smaller than normal. This condition is frequently associated with intellectual disability and seizure disorders. Down Syndrome: Also known as Trisomy 21, this disorder can involve the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems and invariably causes some degree of intellectual disability. Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD): A defect in the muscular wall separating the lower chambers of the heart. Most VSDs will eventually require surgical closure to prevent irreversible heart and lung damage. Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA): An abnormal connection between the infant’s aorta and pulmonary artery that can lead to lung damage and heart failure if left untreated. Conclusion
After allowing for other variables such as maternal age and co-existing diseases (e.g. diabetes or other substance abuse), the authors concluded that maternal marijuana use was responsible for the observed increase in the number of birth defects in Colorado and that ease of availability of marijuana under the state’s medical cannabis and recreational use laws was a significant factor affecting maternal marijuana use. Although the above study was based on data from Colorado, there is reason to suspect that the number of mothers giving birth to children with serious birth defects in states that have decriminalized cannabis products for medical or recreational use has also increased. In fact, the same authors had previously published a study that identified the same pattern of birth defects nationwide in Canada, which legalized medical and recreational cannabis use in 2018. Source: Birth Defects in Colorado Linked to Medical, Recreational Marijuana (thedoanlawfirm.com) |
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Cannabis and Intergenerational Health Issues |
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Australian researchers, Reece & Hulse, are set to launch extensive studies into the impacts of cannabis use on babies in utero and subsequent birth defects mental health issues and intergenerational health impacts. |
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Here is a short summary of findings:
Scientists have known since 1969 that cannabis is harmful to unborn babies and particularly to their developing brains. Since then, many birth defects have been confirmed in human studies in Hawaii, Colorado, Canada, Australia, USA and Europe.
Cannabinoids are known to disrupt the chemical gradients of substances called “morphogens” which guide and direct the weaving together of babies’ bodies in utero. Heart and brain systems are particularly affected along with seven other body systems. Babies exposed in utero to cannabis display a spectrum of disorders from autism / ADHD-like features to smaller heads, microcephaly and severe microcephaly – like Zika virus - and no brain at all, called anencephaly. It has been shown that cannabis is driving the exponential growth of the US autism epidemic.
Cannabis is also linked with most major mental health disorders in adolescents and young adults including addiction to cannabis and other drugs, depression, anxiety, psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and suicidal thoughts and acts.
Whilst the DNA inside all our cells is the same, a brain cell is obviously very different to a heart or skin cell, so the way genes are used inside each cell is clearly very different. Just as a computer has hardware and software so genes have a complex control system called the “epigenome” from Latin “upon the genes”. Genes have a promoter at the front, gene body in the middle, and an enhancer at the back. One carbon group (called methyl groups) are added to gene promoters to suppress their activity which is called DNA methylation. DNA promoter methylation increases with aging causing declining function.
It also plays a key and pivotal role in many cancers and in gene expression during the baby’s development. Moreover epigenetic signals are inherited for several generations beyond those originally exposed. Cannabis and many cannabinoids powerfully disrupt epigenetic signalling and have been linked with many cancers, over 30% acceleration of cellular aging and more frequent physical and mental illness and death which are typical hallmarks of human aging. 59% of human chromosomal length is directly impacted by cannabis.
Many cannabinoids are involved in brain and gene toxicity including THC, cannabidiol CBD, and others as the genotoxic and neurotoxic component is in the cannabinoid nucleus itself – the delta 8, 9, 10 11 labels do not change things. Not only do laboratory studies show an exponential relationship between cannabis exposure and genotoxic outcomes, but this exponentiation has been observed in humans now in cancer, birth defects and aging.
Connected to this of further concern is that large cannabis farms inevitably contaminate the water table, rivers and whole ecosystems with toxic cannabinoids. Hemp fed to pigs, chickens and cows contaminates meat, eggs and milk food products.
We can conclude clearly from this that cannabis causes death by many pathways including birth defects, cancer, inheritable cancer, addiction, psychosis, stroke, cardiac arrest, heart attack, suicide and more.
Not since 1957 has a known genotoxin been marketed for profit. That was Thalidomide. Now its cannabis. |
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Cannabis in the UK – calls for Class A
(same as cocaine) |
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Police commissioner calls for cannabis to be raised to Class A drug on a par with heroin and cocaine
- Dorset's Police and Crime Commissioner called for cannabis to be reclassified
- David Sidwick says cannabis ought to be a Class A drug on a par with heroin
- He told the Tory party conference: ‘We need tough sanctions for possession'
- 'We aren’t talking about “a bit of weed” this does same harm as crack and heroin'
Forces in the South West are using recent increases in officer numbers to step up enforcement, rejecting demands by some politicians to see addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice matter.
Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research in Glasgow, told the fringe meeting that drugs pose a greater risk to society than religious extremism.
He said it was a ‘serious dereliction of their responsibilities’ for police chiefs to treat drug use as a health problem, adding: ‘It’s like trying to win a war by providing more hospitals.’ The meeting also heard from Janie Hamilton, whose son James died of cancer after cannabis-induced psychosis drove him to refuse cancer treatment. ‘Let no one say that cannabis is harmless,’ she told delegates. |
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Carlton Hall – PREVENTION INFLUENCER
– United States |
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FOCUS ON:
Drug & Alcohol Education Supporting Youth - DAESY
Showcasing the DAESY Drug Prevention Education Program |
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ROTARY’S NEW ACTION GROUP – ADDICTION PREVENTION
You can be part of the solution |
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What is Rotary Action Group – Addiction Prevention (RAG-AP)?
- Rotary clubs, in partnership with local communities are, taking action to prevent and reduce drug addiction
- RAG-AP helps to form links with Rotary clubs and community groups such as schools, sporting clubs and agencies to provide resources to keep communities healthier and safer.
What’s on offer in Australia?
(a) ‘Save Your Brain’ - an online, drug prevention teaching and learning resource, with aga-appropriate modules. Includes an introductory session for school staff with ongoing mentoring opportunities for teachers/school counsellors. www.saveyourbrain.com.au
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(b) Invited Speakers - Presentations to school assemblies and/or year level groups – often from people who have a story to tell about their personal challenges of overcoming addiction. Their books can be placed in school libraries free of charge. |
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(c) Parent / Community forums - an interactive forum based on key issues of local community concern: - 'Vaping, what you need to know'
- Talking to your kids about drugs
- The developing Teen Brain and impacts of alcohol and drugs
- How to get help, if your kids are experimenting with drugs.
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Want to know more about RAG-AP |
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ONE VOICE, ONE MESSAGE - OVOM – AUSTRALIA
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OVOM – AUSTRALIA
You can be part of the solution |
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Sign the OVOM petition and make a change We want to end drug use and addiction, associated crime, grief and feelings of powerlessness. They destroy lives and our planet. Sign here: OVOM - ONE VOICE ONE MESSAGE |
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DRUG PREVENTION EDUCATION |
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Books available on the website: |
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION |
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