Tag Archives: fentanyl

Addiction

Daily Marijuana Users in the US Outnumber Daily Drinkers

For the first time, more Americans are using marijuana daily or near daily than are drinking alcohol daily. This monumental shift, spanning more than three decades, reflects the consequences of legalized recreational and medical cannabis.  

The increase was foreshadowed by the alarming rise of daily teen pot use during the last decade.

In real terms, a much larger proportion of the US population drinks than uses cannabis.  But the proportion of alcohol users who have a problem with it seems to be considerably smaller than the proportion of marijuana users with a Cannabis Use Disorder.  Regular pot users are more likely wake-n-bake, while most daily drinkers don’t drink all day.  

Rise in Daily Teen Marijuana Use

By 2016, daily pot use among high school seniors reached 6 percent. It has continued hover around 6 to 6.5 percent since time. In contrast, daily drinking by teens remains around 2 percent or slightly less.

When NIDA and University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Study demonstrated the rise in daily teen pot use, we sounded the alarm.  Our warning in late 2016 was:

“Many of these young, habitual tokers, are potential addicts–if not yet addicted.  They may stick to marijuana which is extremely potent today–5x more potent than it was in 70s.  Or they may go onto other drugs, or slide into alcoholism as they turn the legal age to buy booze.”  At the same time opioid and heroin use were going down with teens.

The number of drug overdose deaths have more than doubled since that time, now counting around 108,000 a year. How could this happen after Harm Reduction became widespread? One part of the answer is fentanyl, currently the main driver of the overdose crisis. But — as we’ve shown previously — many teens graduate directly from marijuana use to fentanyl. Often they don’t know what’s in the pill. Although marijuana lobbyists deny the gateway effect, marijuana remains the gateway for those who use other drugs and die from drugs.

Our warnings were prescient.  Marijuana drives both the mental health crisis of today and the addiction crisis!

Concerning Numbers

According to a recent analysis of national survey data, conducted in 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people reported using marijuana on a daily or near-daily basis, compared to 14.7 million who reported similar levels of alcohol consumption.

This stark contrast marks a significant departure from 1992, when less than one million individuals reported daily marijuana use during a period of relative decline.

While alcohol remains more widely consumed overall, the emergence of daily marijuana use surpassing daily alcohol intake in 2022 is a watershed moment, as highlighted by Jonathan Caulkins, a leading cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

Caulkins noted, “A notable 40% of current cannabis users are engaging in daily or near-daily consumption, a pattern reminiscent of tobacco use rather than traditional alcohol consumption.”

From 1992 to 2022, the per capita rate of reporting daily or near-daily marijuana use surged dramatically, increasing fifteen-fold.  Although legalizers dress their arguments in political terms such as “freedom” and “regulation,” it’s entirely about using political donations to sway public opinion and create a new addiction industry.

Changing Attitudes

Caulkins acknowledged the possibility of heightened reporting as societal attitudes toward marijuana become more accepting, potentially inflating the observed increase.

In real terms there are far more users of alcohol in the USA than cannabis users (65-69% of adults used alcohol at least once in the past year vs. 15-20% who used cannabis) According to Naomi Schaefer Riley, an estimated 20% of men now use cannabis, and 14% of women use it.

We take caution with these figures because problematic alcohol users can hide the extent of their use, while current cannabis users push its popularity in order to legalize it nationally.  

Current cannabis users push the idea that it is safe and not addictive.  DENIAL is a frequent trait of those who abuse substances, but no one denies alcohol’s or cocaine’s addictiveness the way they deny the addictiveness of marijuana. 

Long-Term Consequences

Dr. David A. Gorelick, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, emphasized the hazards associated with daily marijuana use, including addiction and the development of severe mental illness.

“High-frequency use also increases the risk of developing cannabis-associated psychosis,” a loss of reality, Dr. Gorelick said.  Cannabis-induced psychosis can prefigure the development of schizophrenia, but the legalization of the drug has not 

What Can We Learn From This?

With an increasing number of individuals engaging in daily marijuana consumption, the potential for problematic use and adverse health outcomes is a growing concern.

This new information highlights the sobering and inescapable fact that expanded marijuana legalization leads to greater – and more frequent – use of an addictive mind-altering gateway drug that contributes to worsened mental health.   Mental health in our country has been getting worse since before the pandemic, and now we contend with the turbocharged pot of today. 

Daily use of ANY intoxicant is generally considered problematic – alcohol, illicit drugs, opioid painkillers, but cannabis has the most negative effects on the brains or our youth.

The new information shows just one more reason why this drug should not be rescheduled.  We urge our readers to oppose rescheduling marijuana, using SAM’s handing form.

 

Uncategorized

The Problem of “Laced” Weed

By Pam Zuber, guest columnist

In November, a Connecticut laboratory reported of marijuana laced with fentanyl and called it “a new public safety threat.”  In early February, a 16-year-old student overdosed on fentanyl-laced marijuana at Broomfield High School. He went to the hospital and required multiple doses of Narcan to be revived.

While the problem of laced weed is nothing new, the lacing with fentanyl appears to be the latest rage. In fact, the Connecticut Department of Public Health reported of 39 cases of naloxone revival last year for patients claiming to have smoked marijuana.

The problem of laced weed is one more reason to encourage kids never to use drugs, including weed. It is not an excuse to legalize marijuana, a drug that also cannot be ruled as safe – even for adult consumption. Continue reading The Problem of “Laced” Weed →

California, Drug Policy, Uncategorized

So much homelessness is turning the tide of public opinion on drug policy

California Peace Coalition Forms

Concerned citizen groups rallied in Sacramento on August 16, 2021, They issued a press release as the California Peace Coalition, signaling a new alliance. A large and varied group of non-profits and individuals affected by the explosion of drugs united for this important cause.  They stand against drug dealers, bad policies and open drug markets, problems that fuel addiction, overdoses and California’s large homeless population.

Their objectives include ending the open drug markets. They wish to find workable solutions for the homelessness crisis and rehabilitation for addiction.  Many groups in the alliance were started by parents who lost children to addiction or drug poisoning deaths. Many of these families would prefer forced treatment for addiction over the policies that enable addiction.

Cities like San Francisco and Seattle make life easier for drug use, thus keeping people enslaved to their addictions.  Tom Wolf and many adults who survived and recovered from drug habits want to see a change.  That’s why they joined the coalition

Among the parents in the group are those whose children died of fentanyl, usually not knowing they were getting it.  Most of them object to letting drug dealers, who sell drugs and poison young people, off the hook.

A progressive changes his mind

On Substack a few weeks ago, Michael Shellenberger wrote his apology for progressive policies, “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I worked with a group of friends and colleagues to advocate drug decriminalization, harm reduction, and criminal justice reform…. I fought for the treatment of drug addiction as a public health problem not a criminal justice one. And we demanded that housing be given to the homeless without regard for their own struggles with drugs.”

“Our intentions were good.” he said, but concluded, “Everything we thought about the drugs was wrong.”   https://michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/why-everything-we-thought-about-drugs

At the end of the article, he explained:

“Progressive advocates and policymakers alike blame the drug war, mass incarceration, and drug prohibition for the addiction and overdose crisis, even though the crisis resulted from liberalized attitudes and drug laws, first toward pharmaceutical opioids, and then toward all drugs”

In an article of August 26, Shellenberger proclaimed, “Finally the Media Are Starting to Tell the Truth About California, Drugs, & Homelessness[J1] ”  https://michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/finally-the-media-are-starting-to

He concludes that bad policy drives homelessness more than anything else. We may read more about this topic in his book coming out on October 12.

Homelessness is largely a matter of drug addiction and mental illness.  Since drug abuse often precedes mental illness, many people would not need mental health care if they hadn’t used drugs. Although poverty and the high price of housing contribute to California’s problems, the excessive homelessness did not appear until after marijuana became legal.  Many people don’t see homelessness as we do, but an upcoming recall election in California signals widespread dissatisfaction in the state.

Shellenberger wrote a book about San Francisco.  Harper Collins will release it next month.  Will the rest of the country wake up?

Testimonies

A Stairway to Heaven Leaves a Hole in our Hearts

The Carlos Castellanos Story

By Pam Garozzo

I am a mother with a hole in her heart, one who mourns the loss of her beloved child every day.  My son, Carlos Castellanos, died at age 23 from a drug overdose, just three weeks after walking me down the aisle at my wedding and two days before Christmas.  He had been clean from an opioid addiction for ten months and was happy, healthy and loving life.  My son had a job and was expected to get a promotion the following month, loved his girlfriend dearly and was planning to resume taking college courses.  Carlos’ dream was to become an aerospace engineer and to work for a company that would enable him to be part of the Engineers Without Borders program so that he could help others.  He was sensitive, humble, kind, love and precious to all who knew him.

Smart and witty with a great sense of humor, Carlos was very musically gifted; he played drums and guitar since the age of seven.  But he was also a perfectionist and constantly doubted himself and his abilities.   Despite having much success academically and in his musical pursuits, my son never felt worthy of the honors and accolades he received.  He also craved the love of support of his “absentee” father and often expressed anxiety about what he could do to make his dad want to spend time with him. Those feelings of inadequacy are what caused him to start smoking marijuana at age 15.  Very quickly, though, he moved on to cocaine, heroin and other drugs.  At age 18, just months before his high school graduation, Carlos suffered a grand mal seizure.  He had attended a “pharm party” the night before (where teens mix prescription drugs into a bowl and take turns ingesting them), and then took crystal meth the next morning.  I remember getting that heart-stopping call from the friend who dropped off my son at the entrance to the hospital ER and hearing the doctor tell me to contact our family so they could say goodbye to Carlos.  By the grace of God, Carlos miraculously recovered from that trauma, but he did sustain some short-term memory loss.  He vowed to stay clean and thought that he could do it on his own, without any program or support.  Within weeks however, he was quickly drawn back into the drug world.

Just before high school graduation, Carlos was arrested outside our home for carrying a quantity of marijuana that was just over the limit for a misdemeanor charge.  Since he was an adult, he received a felony conviction, which made him ineligible for a college scholarship at a prestigious university.  In Carlos’ mind, his dream to become an engineer died with the loss of that opportunity; he had been selected as one of a small group of freshman to enter the engineering program usually just open to college juniors.  So, Carlos went to his place of escape once again – drugs – this time, with a vengeance.

Hidden Dangers That I didn’t Know

My son was in and out of rehab facilities and intensive outpatient programs multiple times from age 16.  His most successful clean period was for 20 months, during which time he participated actively in AA/NA meetings and surrounded himself with those who were dedicated to addiction recovery.  He volunteered at a local rehab and facilitated recovery sessions for other young people who were fighting to stay clean like he was.  During this time, Carlos and I talked openly about his drug use.  It seems I had only known the tip of the iceberg.  I listened in horror as he told me about the types and quantities of drugs he had ingested and cried when he said that a dealer had held a gun to his chest when he didn’t have enough money to pay for the drugs he wanted to use.  He sold off almost everything that was dear to him during his periods of heavy use – his beloved guitars, computers, suitcases full of his clothes.  He lost friends who didn’t know how to deal with the significant changes in him.  He pulled away from family because he was ashamed about who he felt he had become.

When Carlos was clean and clear-headed, he would talk regretfully about the experiences that he had missed out on during his years of drug use.  For example, although he graduated from high school, he did not attend the actual ceremony and didn’t want a graduation party.  He also missed family events, such as birthday parties (he was often too high to attend or to care), an entire Christmas season spent in jail due to drug use, etc.  Carlos explained that these “voids” in his life made him very sad and depressed because he would never get that precious time back.  Although he didn’t acknowledge it for years while he was using, Carlos eventually started talking about what a major part marijuana had played in his teenage years and on the road to opioids and other mind and body-altering drugs.  He acknowledged that pot was indeed a gateway drug for him; after several months of initial use as a high school sophomore, he quickly moved to other drugs, searching for the “ultimate high.”

After relapsing again in winter 2015, my son got and stayed clean for the last 10 months of his life.  He seemed to be on a path to what he hoped to achieve and was working on his self-esteem and self-worth.   We will never know what caused him to use on December 23, 2016.  I will forever have the image of the police detective and officer who rang our doorbell that night, to inform us that Carlos had found dead in my car, from a drug overdose.  (We later learned that his drug of choice that afternoon was laced with fentanyl.)  No parent should ever have to endure the agony and heartbreak of losing a child.  Such a devastating loss crushes your soul and leaves you frozen in your tracks.  You don’t know whether you can go on without your precious loved one and it becomes an effort to do the most mundane of everyday tasks.  You spend hours and days casting your memory back to the day he was born, the day he learned how to play “Stairway to Heaven” on the guitar, the last time he hugged you and you pray that you will be able to remember his voice.

The Gaping Hole in Those of us Left Behind

What about those of us whom Carlos left behind?  My husband Mike (his stepfather) and I, Carlos’ sisters and brothers, friends and co-workers?  How are we learning to cope when a piece of our lives is missing? The photo albums that we will create as a family going forward will not be filled with pictures of our beautiful son and brother as our wedding album is now.  We will never again hear his laughter, see him drumming, singing and playing the guitar or just goofing around with his cat, Simon.  My husband, Mike and I will miss having Carlos outlive us – nothing any parent should ever have to endure.  His friends have told me that they will miss his quirky sense of humor and his willingness to go out of their way to help him; in one instance, buying a Christmas tree for a family in need.  His siblings won’t be able to make new memories with a younger brother whom they adored.

How do we go on?  How do we survive without the son, brother, friend who we lost to this terrible disease?  For my husband and me, we have chosen to do what Carlos would have done had he lived.  We tell his journey – one of an amazing human who thought about others before he thought about himself.  Who dreamed of a future without drugs, a future with hope and life and success and love.  We share the story of who Carlos was and we preserve his memories by fighting against the disease of drug abuse when he cannot.  We want everyone to know that drug addiction is most definitely a primary, chronic disease that alters who you are.  It’s a disease that is often progressive and fatal.  No one chooses to be addicted to drugs.  Carlos recounted that he often asked people “Do you think I choose this life (of addiction), with all of its pain and loss?  I want to be healthy and happy just like anyone else and to help others.”

We share Carlos’ story and urge other parents to educate themselves about the signs and symptoms of addiction.  We encourage them to get help for their loved one and for themselves.  We fight to get laws enacted to help those who struggle with this disease so that they have full access to treatment and care.  Most of all, we rest in God’s embrace, knowing that Carlos is our angel and that we will be reunited with him one day when we climb the stairway to heaven.

Pam made a video on Mother’s Day and she asks others to take action: