G ot pot? Colorado and Washington do. In the wake of last November’s election, the two states face an enormous and once-unthinkable challenge. They must transform the marijuana black market into an above-ground, regulated and taxed commercial enterprise. Ballot measures approved by voters in Colorado and Washington create the most permissive pot laws in the nation. They not only explicitly allo...

Legalization of marijuana use will increase the number of people who will become long-term users. A prior medical record review study in Australia, in 2004, identified 19 chronic marijuana users who entered the emergency department with recurrent vomiting associated with abdominal pain. Routine treatment of the nausea and vomiting, associated with the chronic marijuana abuse, with antiemetics i...

Some studies have suggested that long-term, regular use of marijuana starting in adolescence might impair brain development and lower intelligence quotient (1,2). Since 2012, purchase of recreational or retail marijuana has become legal for persons aged ≥21 years in the District of Columbia, Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, raising concern abou...

The objective of this study was to systematically examine predominant themes within mainstream media reporting about marijuana use in Canada. To ascertain the themes present in major Canadian newspaper reports, a sample (N = 1999) of articles published between 1997 and 2007 was analyzed. Drawing from Manning's theory of the symbolic framing of drug use within media, it is argued that a discours...

With a new administration in the White House but control of U.S. Senate unlikely to change, odds federal legalization marijuana next few years are remote. When it eventually happens, however, could come two basic forms: rescheduling and descheduling. Rescheduling would change from Schedule 1 narcotic—completely illegal under Controlled Substances Act—to 2 or 3, making legally available through ...