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Survey: A Plurality of Americans Prefer to Reside Where Cannabis Use is “Fully Legal”
New York, NY: A plurality of US adults desire to reside in a jurisdiction where “marijuana is fully legal.”
In a survey of new movers compiled by the real estate brokerage firm Redfin, 46 percent of respondents said that they would either “prefer” to live in a jurisdiction where cannabis was legal or that they would “only” live in a legalization state. Twenty-two percent of respondents did not want to reside in a legal state. Thirty-two percent of respondents had no opinion.
Studies have previously reported that cannabis legalization is correlated with increased property values. Data reported in July concluded, “[T]here is strong evidence that legalization drives higher property values – particularly in areas that allow recreational marijuana and welcome retail dispensaries. … These investments can improve quality of life in communities across the nation while attracting tourism and new residents who drive real estate demand.”
Separate data have shown that states experienced spikes in tourism following adult-use legalization.
Additional information is available in the NORML fact sheet, ‘Marijuana Regulation: Impact on Health, Safety, Economy.’
Study: Cannabis Use Inversely Associated with Obesity in HBV Patients
Marseille, France: Cannabis consumption is associated with lower rates of obesity among patients with hepatitis B, according to data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
A team of investigators affiliated with France’s National Institute of Health assessed the relationship between cannabis use and body weight in a cohort of 3,700 patients diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
After researchers adjusted for confounders, they reported that subjects who consumed cannabis possessed a 59 percent lower risk of central obesity (based on waist circumference) than did those with no history of use. The use of cannabis was also significantly associated with a lower risk of being overweight.
Authors concluded: “Cannabis use was associated with lower risks of overweight and obesity in patients with HBV chronic infection. Future studies should test whether these potential benefits of cannabis and cannabinoid use translate into reduced liver disease progression in this high-risk population.”
Previous studies involving nationally representative cohorts have similarly reported that cannabis use is linked with lower rates of obesity and with lower body mass index. Several other studies have also reported that marijuana is associated with the reduced prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Full text of the study, “Cannabis use is inversely associated with overweight and obesity in Hepatitis B virus-infected patients,” appears in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
Survey: ADHD Patients Report Improvements Following Cannabis Consumption
Pullman, WA: Patients with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) report that cannabis mitigates symptoms of the disorder and reduces some of the adverse side effects associated with their prescription medications, according to survey data published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.
A pair of investigators with Washington State University conducted an online survey involving 1,738 students with ADHD.
They reported: “Participants with ADHD who have used cannabis reported that cannabis has acute beneficial effects on many symptoms of ADHD (e.g., hyperactivity, impulsivity). Further, they perceived cannabis to improve most of their medication side effects (e.g., irritability, anxiety). Finally, cannabis use frequency was a significant moderator of the associations between symptom severity and executive dysfunction.”
Authors concluded, “[P]eople with ADHD may be using cannabis to self-medicate for many of their symptoms and medication side effects and that more frequent use may mitigate ADHD-related executive dysfunction.”
Prior studies have reported that both inhaled cannabis as well as the administration of cannabis extracts mitigate ADHD symptoms in human subjects. Israeli data published last year further reported that ADHD patients with legal access to medical cannabis products significantly reduce their use of prescription medications.
Full text of the study, “Self-reported effects of cannabis on ADHD symptoms, ADHD Medication side effects, and ADHD-related executive dysfunction,” appears in the Journal of Attention Disorders.
Virginia: Officials Seal Nearly 400,000 Marijuana Convictions
Richmond, VA: State officials have sealed nearly 400,000 marijuana-related criminal records in recent months, according to data provided by the state’s Cannabis Oversight Commission.
At the Commission’s most recent meeting, officials announced that regulators have moved to seal some 330,000 low-level marijuana possession convictions and another 64,000 misdemeanor distribution convictions. Regulators were tasked with reviewing and sealing past records when the state first decriminalized and then later legalized adult-use marijuana possession.
“These initial record sealings by Virginia State Police are a small step toward righting the wrongs of cannabis prohibition,” said NORML Development Director, JM Pedini, who also serves as Virginia NORML Executive Director. “There remains much work to be done to permanently remove these stains from Virginians’ records, and we’re committed to continuing our efforts in the 2022 General Assembly to help expedite that process.”
Earlier this year, Virginia lawmakers enacted House Bill 2113, to establish a process for the automatic expungement of past criminal records for certain marijuana convictions.
Virginia is among several states in recent months to take steps to either vacate or seal marijuana-specific criminal records. In Illinois, officials have moved to expunge an estimated 500,000 marijuana-related records. California officials have cleared nearly 200,000 records, and New Jersey courts have expunged over 362,000 records.
More than a dozen states have enacted legislation explicitly permitting or facilitating the process of having past marijuana convictions expunged, vacated, otherwise set aside, or sealed from public view.
Minnesota: Supreme Court Denies Workers’ Compensation for Costs of Medical Marijuana
St. Paul, MN: Justices on the state’s Supreme Court have determined that employees cannot be financially reimbursed for their use of medical cannabis to recover from a workplace injury.
The ruling reverses an order from the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals which had determined that medical cannabis related costs were eligible for reimbursement. The Court’s decision also strikes down a 2015 administrative rule enacted by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry that excluded medical marijuana from the list of “illegal substances” ineligible for workers’ compensation.
The Court’s majority held that employees were ineligible for reimbursement because cannabis remains classified as a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law and that it would be inappropriate to require employers to “finance” an employee’s acquisition of an illicit substance.
Supreme Courts in several other states have also ruled on this issue. This year, courts in three states upheld employees’ ability to be financially reimbursed for their use of medical cannabis.
Currently, five states – Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York – explicitly allow for employees to have their medical cannabis expenses reimbursed. By contrast, seven states expressly prohibit workers’ compensation insurance from reimbursing medical marijuana-related costs: Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Florida, North Dakota, Ohio, and Washington.
In all other jurisdictions, the law is either silent on the issue or states that insurers are “not required” to reimburse employees who are injured on the job for the costs related to their use of medical cannabis.
The case is Musta v. Mendota Heights Dental Center et al.
Case Report: THC/CBD Administration Associated with Lung Tumor Regression
Watford, United Kingdom: The daily consumption of cannabinoid extracts is associated with tumor regression in an elderly patient with lung cancer, according to a case study published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
British investigators reported on the case of a woman in her 80s diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her lungs. She refused conventional anti-cancer treatments but reported ingesting cannabinoid extracts (21 percent CBD and 20 percent THC) two-to-three times a day for a period of 2.5 years. CT scans showed a 76 percent reduction in the size of her tumor over this time period.
Authors concluded, “The potential for cannabinoids to be used as an alternative to augment or replace conventional primary cancer treatments definitely justifies further research.”
Various cannabinoids have been shown to possess potent anti-cancer activity in preclinical models, though these effects have rarely been replicated in controlled human trials. A series of case studies published in 2019 linked the use of CBD with improved life expectancy in brain cancer patients, while other case reports have similarly reported reductions in tumor growth following the self-administration of cannabinoids.
Full text of the study, “Lung cancer patient who had declined conventional cancer treatment: Could the self-administration of ‘CBD oil’ be contributing to observed tumor regression,” appears in BMJ Case Reports.
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Harris Poll: Two-Thirds of US Adults Favor Legalizing Marijuana
Marijuana Poll; Chicago, IL: Two-thirds of US adults favor a repeal of federal marijuana prohibition, according to nationwide polling data compiled by Harris Research.
Sixty-six percent of respondents in a nationally representative sample endorse legalizing cannabis for adults, with support being strongest among millennials (79 percent) and members of Generation X (76 percent). By contrast, just under 50 percent of Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) backed adult-use legalization.
The results are consistent with those of other recent national polls, including those by Gallup, Morning Consult, and Quinnipiac University, showing that a supermajority of Americans believe that marijuana ought to be legalized for adults.
When asked whether cannabis should be legal for medical purposes, 84 percent of respondents answered affirmatively – a percentage that is also consistent with prior polling.
Survey: Users of CBG-Dominant Cannabis Report Efficacy for Pain, Other Conditions
Pullman, WA: Those who consume cannabis and/or cannabis preparations high in the cannabinoid cannabigerol (CBG) say that they are effective therapeutics and that they possess few adverse side-effects, according to data published in the journal Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
CBG acid is the parent compound precursor to the more popularized cannabinoids THC and CBD. It is typically only found in minute quantities in harvested cannabis plants. However, in recent years, specially cultivated varieties of the plant possessing higher concentrations of CBG have been reported, particularly in the pacific northwest region of the United States.
A team of researchers affiliated with Washington State University and the University of California at Los Angeles surveyed subjects who self-identified as consumers of CBG-dominant cannabis products.
A majority of survey participants said they used CBG-dominant preparations of cannabis exclusively for medical purposes. Respondents most frequently did so to mitigate symptoms of anxiety, chronic pain, depression, and insomnia.
Most respondents described their symptoms as either “much improved” or “very much improved” following their use of CBG-dominant cannabis, and three-quarters rated it as “superior” to their conventional medications.
Authors concluded: “This is the first patient survey of CBG use to document self-reported efficacy of CBG-predominant cannabis, particularly for anxiety, chronic pain, depression, and insomnia. Most respondents claimed greater efficacy of CBG over conventional pharmacotherapy … and reported a very benign adverse event profile and negligible withdrawal. … This study demonstrates that CBG-predominant cannabis and related products are available and being used by cannabis consumers and demonstrates the urgent need for randomized controlled trials of CBG-predominant cannabis-based medicines to be studied rigorously to assess safety and efficacy as a function of dose, mode of administration, and specific therapeutic indications.”
Full text of the study, “Survey of patients employing cannabigerol-predominant cannabis preparations: Perceived medical effects, adverse events, and withdrawal symptoms,” appears in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
Study: Legal Cannabis Markets Experienced Far Fewer Cases of Vaping Illness
New Haven, CT: States with legal adult-use cannabis markets were far less likely to experience incidences of the vaping-related lung illness EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury), which was responsible for several thousand hospitalizations in 2019. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eventually acknowledged that vitamin E acetate – a diluting agent sometimes present in counterfeit, unregulated vape pen products – was responsible for the outbreak.
New data published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence reported that cases of EVALI were more than 40 percent lower in legal cannabis states and that they were over 60 percent lower in jurisdictions that permitted home cultivation. Home grow laws were also associated with fewer incidences of consumers engaging in the use of marijuana vape pens.
Authors concluded: “Given that EVALI cases stemmed primarily from informally-sourced vaporizable marijuana concentrates, these results are consistent with crowd-out, whereby introduction of one market (legal marijuana) displaces utilization of another (informally-sourced marijuana products). Simply put, if the public can obtain products legally from reputable sources, there is less demand for illicit market products. Thus, RM [recreational marijuana] legalization could have dampened market penetration of tainted marijuana concentrates by reducing consumption of informally-sourced marijuana products more generally.”
The findings are consistent with those of several other studies also concluding that EVALI cases were largely concentrated in states where consumers did not have legal access to cannabis products.
Full text of the study, “State marijuana policies and vaping associated lung injuries in the US,” appears in Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
Analysis: THC Levels Not Indicative of Driving Impairment
New Haven, CT: The presence of THC concentrations in either blood or saliva is an unreliable predictor of impaired driving performance, according to a literature review published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Researchers affiliated with Yale University assessed multiple papers specific to the issue of marijuana and driving performance. Consistent with prior reviews, authors reported that the presence of THC in bodily fluids is not a consistent predictor of impairment and that state-imposed per se limits for THC are not evidence-based.
Authors reported, “While legislators may wish for data showing straightforward relationships between blood THC levels and driving impairment that parallel those of alcohol, the widely different pharmacokinetic properties of the two substances … make this goal unrealistic.”
They added: “[S]tudies suggest that efforts to establish per se limits for cannabis-impaired drivers based on blood THC values are still premature at this time. Considerably more evidence is needed before we can have an equivalent ‘BAC for THC.’ The particular pharmacokinetics of cannabis and its variable impairing effects on driving ability currently seem to argue that defining a standardized per se limit for THC will be a very difficult goal to achieve.”
Researchers concluded: “Until there is more evidence-based consensus of opinion on meaningful thresholds for per se laws, we would recommend against reliance on such legislation. This is particularly the case given the significant inconsistencies in threshold values currently determined by different states in the US, and the rather weak scientific basis for such decisions. Any such laws cannot claim to be strongly based on current scientific evidence, which suggest collectively that standard based on detectable blood THC levels are not useful.”
Their findings are consistent with those of numerous other studies and expert review panels concluding that the presence of THC is an unreliable indicator of either recent cannabis exposure or impairment of performance. A 2019 report issued by the Congressional Research Service similarly determined: “Research studies have been unable to consistently correlate levels of marijuana consumption, or THC in a person’s body, and levels of impairment. Thus, some researchers, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, have observed that using a measure of THC as evidence of a driver’s impairment is not supported by scientific evidence to date.”
NORML has long opposed the imposition of THC per se thresholds for cannabinoids in traffic safety legislation, opining: “The sole presence of THC and/or its metabolites in blood, particularly at low levels, is an inconsistent and largely inappropriate indicator of psychomotor impairment in cannabis consuming subjects. … Lawmakers would be advised to consider alternative legislative approaches to address concerns over DUI cannabis behavior that do not rely solely on the presence of THC or its metabolites in blood or urine as determinants of guilt in a court of law. Otherwise, the imposition of traffic safety laws may inadvertently become a criminal mechanism for law enforcement and prosecutors to punish those who have engaged in legally protected behavior and who have not posed any actionable traffic safety threat.”
In recent months, lawmakers in two states – Indiana and Nevada – have rolled back their THC per se laws.
The study’s authors acknowledged that acute cannabis-induced intoxication can influence driving behavior, but also recognized that “the relative risk of such impaired driving is significantly lower than other legislated drug use while driving, such as that resulting from alcohol.”
Full text of the study, “Cannabis and Driving,” appears in Frontiers in Psychiatry.
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