First, there are are new studies looking at the effects of two of the major chemical agents in weed. Not surprisingly, THC induced psychotic symptoms in subjects. These were particularly pronounced in schizophrenic subjects. However, another chemical, cannabidiol (CBD), had antipsychotic properties without the side effects of commonly used antipsychotics. What's interesting is the attention that the CBD findings get in various news reports. Some report on these findings as a potential breakthrough, while others emphasize the harmful effects of THC and simply describe CBD as having a relaxing effect.
The Transform Drug Policy Foundation blog has a post on the potency hype promulgated by UK and US government agencies.
Finally, Join Together reports on a recent article about the challenges for parents who smoke pot when responding to their teens who are smoking pot. The article seems to highlight the youth oriented harm reduction approach of the Drug Policy Alliance.
1 comment:
thanks for the link. I found it strange how the coverage of this latest research on cannabis' mode of action seemed to be in the format: drugs in 'affects brain' shock. Some really important work going on but the reporting, as so common with drug stories, has been almost universally poor, invarably defaulting to a list of the scariest sound bites from the source material.
steve r
Transform
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