Cannabis and Healthcare 2014

[madwife2002]

The eyes of the world are watching the new experimental POT shops, which have recently opened in Colorado, selling legalized Cannabis for everyday consumption, for everyday people. Who would have thought that this would happen in our lifetime! The lines went round blocks and shops feared they would run out quickly.

It is estimated that 37 shops opened their doors 1st January 2014, and by January 6^th 2014 speculation is mounting that shops will soon run out of supply.

It is estimated that over 1 million dollars was spent in the first 24 hours on legalized Pot.

Do we think that people want cannabis to be legalized, do people think we should be allowed to buy 'pot' from shops, yep I think we can safely say if this past week has shown anything, that everyday people want to buy pot.

Although it has to be pointed out that in all photos, videos and media shows there appeared to be a huge population of men shopping and buying pot than women! I did not actually see a woman in the shops, I am sure there were some?

I can see it now, 'Honey can you pop out to the pot shop for me'

Alcohol companies are fearful for a drop in profits, and I think they should be! For the addictive personality swapping one addiction for another may well be the way forward.

As healthcare professionals we should consider how this might actually benefit our patients, the cost to lives, reduction in violent crimes, reduction in ER visits and all the other health care benefits we are lead to believe happens if you smoke cannabis.

There are many research projects out there, attempting to prove that cannabis is safe, that cannabis has many health properties.

According to one source there has never been an overdose of cannabis because you have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC (short for Tetrahydrocannabinolin),which is present in a joint to be at the risk of dying.

Police worry that using cannabis increases the chances of moving onto harder drugs, but there are no scientific studies to date that support this claim. Police also worry that using cannabis will increase violent crimes, behavior and suicidal tendencies, again at this time there is no scientific study to confirm this belief.

In 2010, overdoses were responsible for 38,329 deaths. Sixty percent of those were related to prescription drugs. In the same year, a total 25,692 died of alcohol induced issues , including accidental poisoning and disease from dependent use.

Benefits to our patients include but are not limited to...

• Antiemetic for general patients
• Increased Appetite for the chronic sick and elderly patients
• Decreasing neuropathic pain, especially with MS patients
• Reduction of pressure within the eyes of glaucoma patients
• Some studies have shown reduction in tumors in cancer patients (although studies are not conclusive but we can expect a lot more studies in the future)
• Reduction of nausea in chemotherapy patients and increase of appetite

Side Effects

Short-term (one to two hours) effects on the cardiovascular system can include increased heart rate, dilation of blood vessels, and fluctuations in blood pressure

Short-term memory loss

Increase in psychosis (newer studies are disputing this)

Schizophrenia (newer studies are disputing this)

Drop of about 8% IQ in patients under 18, although starting after 18 does not appear to cause an IQ drop

Driving is impaired and studies in the UK say if you drive within 3 hours of smoking cannabis you are twice as likely of having an accident.

An interesting side note, shares in one cannabis growing company increased their share prices by 53% overnight!

[kaydensmom01]

Are there restrictions for use in Colorado, such as where you can smoke it at? When someone drinks alcohol people around them are not getting contact buzzes as they are with marijuana users . I would hope that people are not smoking it in their homes around children. I think legalizing it does cause this problem to get larger if there are not restrictions on where you can smoke it, I'm not familiar with the law.

[TheGooch]

Are there restrictions for use in Colorado, such as where you can smoke it at? When someone drinks alcohol people around them are not getting contact buzzes as they are with marijuana users . I would hope that people are not smoking it in their homes around children. I think legalizing it does cause this problem to get larger if there are not restrictions on where you can smoke it, I'm not familiar with the law.

You can only smoke it in your home. My apartment complex that I live in has sent out notices that you can not smoke medicinal or recreational marijuana in the apartments. However, they did a segment on the news about this last week and some legal experts say the apartments have no legal standing and can NOT evict those who do it because it is legal by state law to smoke it in your home.

Which sucks because people have decided to light up and the smell is disgusting. I guess, like people who smoke, they are allowed to do it regardless of how offensive it might be to those who don't.

Oh and the neighbors that are smoking it do have a 5 year old.

[Kabin]

Employers fire employees at their own peril since the majority voting population may choose to do business elsewhere.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

Employers fire employees at their own peril since the majority voting population may choose to do business elsewhere.

Washington State legalized it also. The only reason I voted against it was because the unemployment possibilities will be limited for those who cannot pass even a pre-interview drug test. Companies still have the right to expect employees to be drug free even if the drug is legal to use.

[TheGooch]

Employers fire employees at their own peril since the majority voting population may choose to do business elsewhere.

I highly doubt that a lot of people will do business elsewhere because some company fired an employee for testing positive for pot. Boycotts do little-I seem to remember a certain chicken place that people were urged to boycott because of their stance on gay marriage. They're still in business and doing quite well. If people won't boycott a business over something like that I seriously doubt the right to smoke pot and be free from being fired for doing so is high on their list of things to protest.

[lovenotwar14]

One is illegal and the other is not.

Regardless of what state laws say, federal laws still exist.

Other than that? I wish more.people would actually study the reason why it was deemed "illegal" in the first place. Has nothing to do with the affects of it.

[whealer]

I support recreational use so that the ad campaign, attempting to justify the use of, can stop trying to make it seem as though it has an awesome, magical, medicinal use.

I get that, most definitely. There are so many herbs that have medicinal properties. You just can't smoke many (or most) of them and get high from it.

[ANnot4me]

The alcohol industry has so much money and in the US that money is God. Money makes Presidents and money makes judges.... Money means respect and money = power. A nurse in the ED would likely prefer a waiting room full of pot-heads over a waiting room full of drunks.

[kaydensmom01]

What is the difference between marijuana and alcohol?

To me, this is the difference:

You can only smoke it in your home. My apartment complex that I live in has sent out notices that you can not smoke medicinal or recreational marijuana in the apartments. However, they did a segment on the news about this last week and some legal experts say the apartments have no legal standing and can NOT evict those who do it because it is legal by state law to smoke it in your home.

Which sucks because people have decided to light up and the smell is disgusting. I guess, like people who smoke, they are allowed to do it regardless of how offensive it might be to those who don't.

Oh and the neighbors that are smoking it do have a 5 year old.

If someone wants to drink alcohol beside me, who cares? But if someone wants to smoke marijuana by me, my son, or children in the home that do not have a choice then I certainly do care and find it completely different than alcohol use because of contact buzz which actually does occur. The fact that the person smoking marijuana is not only exposing themselves to it like an alcohol user is, is what makes marijuana users different than alcohol users. If there were restrictions on where you could, such as in desgnated bars, then I would be all for it.

[Bbo.W]

The alcohol industry has so much money and in the US that money is God. Money makes Presidents and money makes judges.... Money means respect and money = power. A nurse in the ED would likely prefer a waiting room full of pot-heads over a waiting room full of drunks.[/ QUOTE] Hopefully that ER stocks lots of snacks :-)

[TU RN, DNP, CRNA]

It should be illegal for employers in those states (CO, WA) to terminate/refuse to hire employees/prospective hires on the basis of a THC positive drug test. Same goes for licensure and the SBON. The substance is legal, what rationale could they possibly use to override the law? Our company/facility/institution doesn't condone the use of marijuana, therefore we can selectively hire/fire people on that basis? Authority shouldn't legally be theirs to make that call.

I'm sure a hospital doesn't condone the use of tobacco, but employees aren't tested for and subsequently fired for use of that cocktail of harmful "substances." Shoot, people at my hospital take frequent breaks to satisfy their nicotine addiction at the expense of productivity and patient care - but that vice is a nonissue. Your patient codes in the 10-15 minutes while you were appeasing your urge and the response time/resuscitative efforts of the temporarily short-staffed unit leads to an avoidable patient casualty. Also while there are no effects of acute impairment secondary to tobacco use, the negative effects on one's health are substantial and well-documented. So what makes tobacco (well, nicotine) addiction acceptable for hospital workers from an HR perspective?

Alcohol consumption does cause acute impairment. It also has numerous well-documented negative health effects, especially with long term use. Obviously it is legal, but due to its judgment-altering effects, is strictly prohibited from use on-the-job. That makes sense; the same as it would make sense to prohibit marijuana from use on-the-job. Can an employer terminate an employee for getting drunk at a wedding occasionally... or on the weekend... or every weekend... or every day after work for that matter? Now this is hypothetical, but if somebody's work, demeanor, and judgment aren't affected (functional alcoholics) how would they ever know? It's not like EtOH is tested for on a regular basis. Do employers even test for it (with suspicion or not)? Not where I work.

So again I ask, what rationale could they possibly have for action based on a THC positive drug test if the substance is legal? The ethics of doing so are tantamount to taking action based on tobacco or alcohol use.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I'm sure a hospital doesn't condone the use of tobacco, but employees aren't tested for and subsequently fired for use of that cocktail of harmful "substances."

Well, some employers do pre-employment nicotine screening and don't hire those who test positive. I don't know of any that consequently later will fire an employee who comes up positive but they can and do refuse to hire them for nicotine. I know nurses who want to go work for these hospitals and they have to figure out how long after they quit smoking they can go in for a test; remember, they can't use patches, they will still test positive.

Baylor Online Newsroom : Baylor Health Care System to Implement Nicotine-free Hiring Policy in 2012

New Year's Resolution: Quit Smoking ... to Get a Job? | Be Well Philly

Keep in mind that I'm pretty libertarian when it comes to marijuana use but let's not forget that the federal government is not on board right now with these initiatives in CO & WA. I believe the federal government just quit arresting medical marijuana users (who were in full compliance with State law) in the last few years.

If and when the Federal government aligns with many State's positions and a reliable marijuana intoxication (versus simple use) test is found and approved. . .maybe then employers will have to liberalize their policies.