Fence Builder eNews Update - JULY 2020 #PreventDontPromote

Beware the Side Effects of Medical Marijuana

Marijuana can have serious interactions with more than 20 different drugs, and moderate interactions with almost 300, according to RxList.com.
It can also trigger anxiety and paranoia, as reported by study published in the Journal of Cannabis Research. Scientists at the University of Washington discovered that more than half of 1,500 students surveyed had experienced anxiety and/or paranoia while using cannabis. Coughing fits, chest/lung discomfort, and body humming affected a subset of students 30% to 40% of the time.
But short-term repercussions aren't the only newly discovered side effects. Lab-based research shows that THC (marijuana's psychoactive ingredient) keeps fertilized eggs from maturing by interfering with gene expression.
And yes, smoking pot does increase the risk of serious infection with COVID-19.
For complete article Read Newsmax: Beware the Side Effects of Medical Marijuana | Newsmax.com

Using cannabis during pregnancy could be bad news for your baby: new research
We saw bigger differences in these neonatal outcomes for women who used cannabis more than once a week than for those who used it less often.
We also found severe complications following birth, such as breathing problems and the need for admission to a specialist neonatal unit, were twice as likely for babies of mothers who continued to use cannabis at 15 weeks compared to babies of mothers who didn’t report using cannabis. This is cause for concern as these outcomes are strongly linked to future child health and development. For complete article The Conversation June 2020

Two Sources of Cannabis Addiction
Brain changes from using THC too frequently cause withdrawal and craving. Cannabis causes two distinct changes in brain chemistry, physiology, and function that combine to create dependence. Its main psychoactive ingredient, THC, reduces the normal number of natural cannabinoid receptors, a process called downregulation. THC also alters reward circuitry, bending motivation toward continued cannabis use.
For complete article go to Research – Psychology Today

Cannabis Exposure During Critical Windows of Development: Epigenetic and Molecular Pathways Implicated in Neuropsychiatric Disease
Developmental cannabis exposure alters epigenetic processes with functional gene consequences. These include potentially heritable alterations in genes and molecular pathways critical for brain development and associated with

autism spectrum disorder (ASD),
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
schizophrenia,
addiction,
and other psychiatric diseases.

Springer Academic https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40572-020-00275-4.pdf

Associations between Recent and Cumulative Cannabis Use and Internalizing Problems in Boys from Adolescence to Young Adulthood (March 2020)
Results showed that:

increases in recent cannabis use and cumulative prior years of weekly cannabis use were each associated with increases in depression symptoms and anxiety/depression problems.
After controlling for time-varying covariates, increases in cumulative prior years of weekly cannabis use, but not recent cannabis use, remained associated with increases in depression symptoms and anxiety/depression problems. Specifically, each additional year of prior weekly cannabis use was associated with a small increase in depression symptoms and anxiety/depression problems.
As boys engaged in weekly cannabis use for more years, they showed increases in internalizing problems, suggesting the importance of preventing chronic weekly cannabis use.

For complete research go to https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10802-020-00641-8

Association Between the Use of Cannabis and Physical Violence in Youths: A Meta-Analytical Investigation
Conclusions: These results demonstrate a moderate association between cannabis use and physical violence, which remained significant regardless of study design and adjustment for confounding factors (i.e., socioeconomic factors, other substance use). Cannabis use in this population is a risk factor for violence.
(for complete research go to American Journal of Psychiatry – Published May 2020)

Cannabis use during adolescence and the occurrence of depression, suicidality and anxiety disorder across adulthood: Findings from a longitudinal cohort study over 30 years
Highlights https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.126
∙ Population-based longitudinal cohort study over 30 years spanning age 19/20 to 49/50
∙ Cannabis use in adolescence predicted the occurrence of depression and suicidality in adulthood
∙ Association between adolescent cannabis use and adult depression/suicidality hold when adjusted for various covariates, including time-varying pattern of substance abuse in adulthood
∙ Younger age at first cannabis use and more frequent use in adolescence related to an particularly increased risk of adult depression
For complete study got to Science Direct 2020

Is Marijuana Addictive and to What Extent?

Smoking cannabis causes bronchitis and changes to lung function
18 May 2020
marijuana-plant-full-widith-image

Cannabis is harmful to the lungs, but in a different way to tobacco, causing significant respiratory symptoms such as bronchitis with evidence to suggest it can result in destructive lung disease – sometimes referred to as ‘bong lung’ – in heavy cannabis users….“We believe policies around the liberalisation of cannabis should consider the potential impacts on the lungs.
For complete article https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/otago736880.html

Anxiety – Cannabis is NOT your friend
The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe (EU-GEI): a multicentre case-control study
Findings: Daily cannabis use was associated with increased odds of psychotic disorder compared with never users, increasing to nearly five-times increased odds for daily use of high-potency types of cannabis. The PAFs calculated indicated that if high-potency cannabis were no longer available, 12·2% of cases of first-episode psychosis could be prevented (Lancet Journal)

Rapper Quits Waster Weed!
Rapper Stormzy, whose real name is Michael Omari, says he has stopped smoking marijuana, after realising the drug was harming his mental health. And because of who he is, his message is likely to reach a lot of people who urgently need to hear it. He said: “I have suffered with mental health problems for the past few years… When I used to feel depressed, I would lock myself away and smoke weed and I would just get worse and worse and worse.”
www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8395131/Peter-Hitchens-Did-YouTube-use-Shadow-Banners-censor-views.html

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