They follow the story of “Evan” a self-proclaimed cannabis addict who has been struggling to get sober. While legalization may not be the cause of his weed dependence, it certainly hasn’t helped his struggle. He recalls advertisements with lines such as, “Shop. It’s legal” and “Hello marijuana, goodbye hangover” being “in [his] face” during his hard-fought seven weeks of sobriety.

It was “seven weeks of sleepless nights, intermittent nausea, irritability, trouble focusing, and psychological turmoil” he said, with quitting not being so much of a ‘can’ as a ‘must’.

Evan isn’t alone with his struggle. Similar struggles or addictions are becoming more and more commonplace with the share of cannabis users who consume the drug daily or near-daily having jumped 50 percent in the last few years.

This jump coupled with “increasingly permissive cannabis legislation, attitudes, and lower risk perception” as the National Institute of Health put it, has public-health experts worried. People across the country have gone “from treating cannabis as if it were as dangerous as heroin to treating it as if it were as benign as kombucha”.

The article interviewed Keith Humphreys, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, who said that the most compelling evidence that marijuana can be damaging comes from the users themselves.

“In large national surveys, about one in 10 people who smoke it say they have a lot of problems. They say things like, ‘I have trouble quitting. I think a lot about quitting and I can’t do it. I smoked more than I intended to. I neglect responsibilities.”

“There are plenty of people who have problems with it, in terms of things like concentration, short-term memory, and motivation. People will say, ‘Oh, that’s just you fuddy-duddy doctors.’ Actually no. It’s millions of people who use the drug who say that it causes problems,” Keith Humphreys responded for the article.

On the flip side, Jolene Forman, an attorney at the Drug Policy Alliance, said that “the vast majority of people who use cannabis are not going to be problematic users.” She argued that the legalization of cannabis would help. Legalizing weed has opened up the doors to having a strictly regulated market for the drug.

Lots of different proposals and sides were discussed within the article on what exactly should be done concerning marijuana with its newfound legalization happening quickly across the country. But the article ended by addressing the issue it set out to cover in the first place, “perhaps the most important [issue] might be reintroducing some reasonable skepticism about cannabis, especially until scientists have a better sense of the health effects of high-potency products, used frequently.”

For example, take a look at e-cigarettes and the quick shift that has taken place over the last couple of weeks on the safety of using these devices. Over the past couple of years, vaping has gained huge popularity especially among teens with 37% of high school seniors reporting that they’ve used the e-cigarettes. However a recent bout of deaths across the country, coupled with individuals reporting serious lung problems, have health officials now questioning exactly how safe the devices are. Harvard Health Publishing posted an article earlier this week questioning the safety of the devices and stating, “It took many years to recognize the damage cigarettes can cause. We could be on a similar path with vaping.”

Is marijuana in that same category? Not enough research or time has really passed to know yet. But as The Atlantic put it, “Until then, listening to and believing the hundreds of thousands of users who argue marijuana is not always benign might be a good start.”

The post America’s Invisible Pot Addicts appeared first on Blueline.

1. Online ‘Fact’: Drinking a lot of water will help you pass a drug test.
Truth: This is partially true. Lots of water will dilute your urine, but it will also alter urine creatinine levels. Drug testers are on alert for this and will often give a dilute negative and consult the employer. Employers may call for a retest if they are unsatisfied with the result.

2. Online ‘Fact’: Drug test results are available immediately.
Truth: Many people picture drug testing being similar to a pregnancy test—where you urinate on a stick and are able to get results instantly. While there certainly are drug tests that do this, more often when you go in for a drug test, results will take a bit longer. Your urine sample will likely be sent a lab where more accurate results are available to you days to weeks later.

3. Online ‘Fact’: Drug tests detect diseases.
Truth: Some diseases can be detected through urine. However, employment drug tests are only used to detect the presence of select drugs.

4. Online ‘Fact’: Positive marijuana tests wont affect you where it’s legal.
Truth: This depends on your employer and specific state laws. (For example, those working in DOT regulated safety-sensitive positions are required to be drug free) Many states still allow employers the right to set their own drug policies. Because marijuana can alter mental status and ability to perform on the job, many employers may reconsider employment with positive marijuana test results.

5. Online ‘Fact’: Working out will help eliminate drugs from your body.
Truth: Some articles online claim that increased perspiration will help detox drugs from your body. This method isn’t likely to work as the amount of sweat that must be produced to make a difference is an extremely large amount that would take weeks to produce. Making this method not very effective, especially in random drug test cases.

6. Online ‘Fact’: Urine tests are not very accurate and shouldn’t be trusted.
Truth: In the past this may have been true, but today’s urine drug tests are nearly 100% accurate despite their low cost.

7. Online ‘Fact’: Urine tests are the only method used to test for drugs.
Truth: You can also test saliva, hair follicles, and blood for select drugs. Urine tests are just one of the most simple and efficient ways, so they’re the most commonly used.

8. Online ‘Fact’: You can fail a drug test from secondhand smoke.
Truth: In order to have enough drugs in your system to show up on a test you’d have to intentionally try to inhale secondhand smoke—staying in a confined space with smokers for hours. Occasional secondhand smoke will not affect a drug test result.

The post 8 Drug Screening Myths (Or Half-Truths) appeared first on Blueline.

Hound Labs Inc, the California company who is developing this pioneering product, announced their hopeful release and claims that this new breathalyzer will be “1 billion times more sensitive than today’s alcohol breathalyzers”.

The new product is said to be “hypersensitive” to THC – the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana – and is meant to help make roads safer and hold drivers more accountable.

Hound Labs has been testing the Hound® marijuana and alcohol breathalyzer for more than three years and has found that the new device is able to detect THC for 2-3 hours after use (previously deemed the peak impairment window by global researchers).

Currently, the only way to test drivers who appear to under the influence of marijuana is with field sobriety tests which are not always reliable. While blood or urine samples can also be taken to help determine sobriety, these test are only able to determine if a driver was high that day or week instead of at the time they were operating the vehicle.

The need for a device able to detect current or peak impairment in drivers who are potentially under the influence is becoming increasingly apparent. Recreational weed is now legal in 9 states with pending legislation in others. And a survey performed last year by the Colorado Department of Transportation found that almost 70 percent of cannabis users drove high at least once in the past year with 27 percent stating they drive high almost everyday.

It’s still not certain when or if this new breathalyzer will release and where. But Hound Labs said that they hope their breathalyzer will allow “law enforcement and employers to fairly address the safety concerns associated with marijuana impairment without unjustly accusing individuals who legally and responsibly use cannabis.”

The post New Marijuana Breathalyzer Aims To Catch High Drivers appeared first on Blueline.

Also confusingly enough, marijuana still remains prohibited by federal law. It is classified as a Schedule 1 drug meaning that it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”.

However, many states have legalized the drug for medical and recreational use within their own state laws. Here’s an up-to-date breakdown of which states have legalized marijuana:

Recreational and Medical Use:

Nine states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational use. Although some of these places have not yet set up a market for marijuana, leaving hopeful marijuana users in limbo. For example, in Washington D.C., you can currently smoke and possess marijuana, but you have no place to legally buy or sell it.

List of states:

-Alaska (2015)
-California (2016)
-Colorado (2012)
-Maine (2016)
-Massachusetts (2016)
-Nevada (2016)
-Oregon (2015)
-Vermont (2018)
-Washington (2012)
-Washington D.C. (2014)

Medical Use:

Forty-four states have legalized marijuana only for medical use, meaning you must have a license to purchase and smoke marijuana. One-third of these states only allow marijuana oils with a high level of CBD (the therapeutic element in weed) and low in THC (the psychoactive element); the herb itself is not allowed.

List of states:

-Alabama (2014 – CBD products only)
-Arizona (2011)
-Arkansas (2016)
-Connecticut (2012)
-Delaware (2011)
-Florida (2016)
-Georgia (2015 – CBD products only)
-Hawaii (2000)
-Illinois (2013)
-Indiana (2017 – CBD products only)
-Iowa (2014 – CBD products only)
-Kentucky (2014 – CBD products only)
-Louisiana (2016)
-Maryland (2008)
-Michigan (2008)
-Minnesota (2014)
-Mississippi (2014 – CBD products only)
-Missouri (2014 – CBD products only)
-Montana (2004)
-New Hampshire (2013)
-New Jersey (2010)
-New Mexico (2007)
-New York (2014)
-North Carolina (2014 – CBD products only)
-North Dakota (2016)
-Ohio (2016)
-Oklahoma (2014 – CBD products only)
-Pennsylvania (2014)
-Rhode Island (2006)
-South Carolina (2014 – CBD products only)
-Tennessee (2014 – CBD products only)
-Texas (2015 – CBD products only)
-Utah (2014 – CBD products only)
-Virginia (2015 – CBD products only)
-West Virginia (2017)
-Wisconsin (2014 – CBD products only)
-Wyoming (2014 – CBD products only)

Still Prohibited:

Only four states remain that don’t have any allowance for marijuana—medical or recreational. These are the only states that are completely aligned with federal marijuana policy. However, if these states do decide to legalize marijuana in the coming years, we would fall into a precarious situation where every state would be in direct conflict with the federal government’s stance on marijuana.

List of states:

-Idaho
-Kansas
-Nebraska
-South Dakota

The post Marijuana 2018: A State By State Guide To Legal Weed appeared first on Blueline.