2014 saw the beginning of legalized cannabis shops in Denver Colorado. What does this mean for us as Healthcare professionals, will we see a reduction in alcohol related diseases? Or will we see an increase in Cannabis related diseases?
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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 6th 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!
