Marijuana Drug Rehab in Colorado

Amendment 64 means Marijuana is now available for legal public consumption in Colorado.

As of January 01, 2014, marijuana shops could sell up to a quarter of an ounce to anyone over the age of 21 for recreational use.There is currently a lot of concern about how this availability may increase teen marijuana use and abuse, but it may takes a few years before the comparative data can be analyzed on this law's effect on illicit drug use by teenagers. For now, the problem is having the retail wherewithal to handle the demand. The Law specifies that marijuana retailers must grow their own inventory, which adds to the problems of having such an increase in customers so quickly. One outlet in Denver that was seeing about 70 medical marijuana customers increased their clientele to nearly 400/day after the first of the year, 2014.

At the first of the year, 2014 there are about 40 retail outlets for selling marijuana to adults, it is projected that this will increase to 200 once cities like Aurora and Boulder start issuing marijuana retail business licenses. It was a concern that local police would have issues with these types of businesses, but that hasn't been the case. There have been public education about waiting until you are at home before you use your new purchase so that people are not smoking marijuana and driving, but, other than that, it is has a good relationship between the police and the marijuana businesses.

What do you think the consequences of Amendment 64 will mean to Colorado. What do you think are the positive and negative aspects of this new law? Please use the form below to register your ideas about how legalized marijuana will effect Colorado society.

Marijuana...Plant or Plague?

The lastest problem facting Colorado is the legal dispensing of medical marijuana. The Washington Times recently ran an article entitled "Drug skeptics fear Colorado going to pot" This article states that Colorado is looking at legislation that will better support the oversight of medical marijuana.

No one has studied whether the access to medical marijuana has caused a rise in first-time users and a younger population of users, but everyone working with the youth in Colorado feels that access is easier and that the cost of the drug on the streets is lower than it was before there was access to medical marijuana and the drug is more potent than it was when it was being smuggled in from Mexico.

Do you think that teenagers have a more permissive attitude towards marijuana since the passage of the Legalizaiton of Marijuana laws? Please answer in the space below. Your input is important in guiding our political lobbying efforts. THANKS!

Take the time to call or write to someone that has the FACTS.....and CARES! Have you been to alcohol and drug rehab and you are still suffering... Were you told that addiction is a lifelong disease? Colorado Drug Rehab will show you the TRUTH!

Colorado passed Amendment 64, which legalizes marijuana under certain circumstances and certainly goes into de-criminalization for possession. President Obama stated that he would NOT try to overturn the measures in Colorado and Washington for recreational possession, however, a task force in Colorado that is examining how to regulate marijuana and tax its sale is having difficulty making clear decisions. They have sent a request to U. S. Attorney General Holder asking that he intervene to slow down the process in Colorado so that "recreational" regulations can be developed that will, first of all, protect kids for having easier access to marijuana.

QUESTIONS:

1. Does the new law in Colorado make it easier for children to access marijuana and is that a problem for you?

2. Is this legalization a symptom of going into apathy about controlling the use of marijuana or are there benefits that will help with Prevention of marijuana abuse.

3. Do you think having marijuana legalized is a good thing or not and what is your reasoning for your decision? Do you think it enhances Colorado's image in the U.S. and the world, or sends a negative message about our state?

Give us your feedback in the form below:

 

Colorado Drug Rehab receives many calls from adolescents and their parents seeking information and drug rehab or residential drug treatment for marijuana abuse. There are more myths about marijuana than any of the other "recreational" drugs on the market. These myths are promoted by celebraties, like Bill Marr, that see it as their mission to tout the benefits of marijuana use. In truth, marijuana is a drug that has many of the same disabilitating properties as any other drug. Admittedly, a person can function more normally while under the influence of marijuana than some of the more addicting drugs, but the accumlation of the drug in the body and the negative consequences of chronic marijuana use are damaging physically and certainly they are demoralizing to the user. If you would like more information on marijuana use and/or drug rehab or residential drug treatment, call 1-888.781.7060 and Colorado Drug Rehab will be glad to assist.

Many comparisons are made between the American Drug Laws and the more liberal drug laws of the Netherlands. This graph and data should be of interest to anyone looking at whether are strict and punitive laws on marijuana are helping the drug problem.

All of the data must be considered in context to two very different cultures and other laws that differ as well. Since it is illegal to possess a handgun in the Netherlands, one would expect the homicide rate to be lower without any consideration to the existing drug laws, but this comparison is worth contemplation. Public policy changes are important factors when addressing substance abuse at the societial level.

Marijuana Plant

Marijuana is a green or gray mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. There are over 200 slang terms for marijuana including "pot," "herb," "weed," "boom," "Mary Jane," "gangster," and "chronic." It is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint or a nail) or in a pipe or bong. In recent years, marijuana has appeared in blunts, which are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and refilled with marijuana, often in combination with another drug, such as crack. Some users also mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew tea.

Scientists have found that whether an individual has positive or negative sensations after smoking marijuana can be influenced by heredity. A recent study demonstrated that identical male twins were more likely than non-identical male twins to report similar responses to marijuana use, indicating a genetic basis for their sensations. Identical twins share all of their genes, and fraternal twins share about half.

The main active chemical in marijuana is THC. In 1988, it was discovered that the membranes of certain nerve cells contain protein receptors that bind THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana. The short term effects of marijuana use include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem-solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Environmental factors such as the availability of marijuana, expectations about how the drug would affect them, the influence of friends and social contacts, and other factors that differentiate identical twins' experiences also were found to have an important effect; however, it also was discovered that the twins' shared or family environment before age 18 had no detectable influence on their response to marijuana.

Interesting History of Marijuana in the US

To many people's surprise, marijuana’s history shows it as being cultivated and used my America’s early colonist.  Marijuana was introduced in 1629 to the Puritan colonies of New England.   By 1765 George Washington was cultivating marijuana at Mount Vernon, allegedly to help with the agony of an aching tooth. After that reference, marijuana was overshadowed by opiates and other more powerful drugs that were commonly dispensed in patent medicines, but is found as cannabis and hashish during the nineteenth century.

Just like all of the other drugs introduced into American culture, marijuana was seen as having potential profits for the pharmaceutical industry and was promoted by the patent medicine industry as a cure for depression, convulsions, hysteria, insanity, mental retardation and impotence.  During the 1800’s, well-known pharmaceutical companies like Parke-Davis and Squibb produced tincture of cannabis for the family pharmacist to dispense.  As a medicine, it was never very popular, mostly because of the problems in trying to find exact doses and potency, but as a recreational drug, marijuana had its devotees. By 1885, every major American city had its clandestine hashish clubs catering to the well-to-do clientele. .

By the beginning of the twentieth century, marijuana was being connected to racial groups and drug abuser.  Drug abuse and addiction wasn’t actually being seen in these early days, but special interest wanted to stigmatize marijuana to keep it from interfering with more profitable and more addictive drugs like opiates.

The establishment feared marijuana because of it foreign origins and promoted it to be classified as a narcotic and placed in a line of dangerous drugs with opium and coca products.  Propaganda about it being a serious drug of abuse and addiction and tales of it driving users to extreme criminal behaviors and caused the wreckage of perfect middle class families. During this period before the Second World War, marijuana literature made the terms drug abuse and addiction part of marijuana folklore.    

How Did Colorado Become a Leader in the Sale of Medical Marijuana?

It all started with Amendment 20 that was passed by the voters of the State in 2000. It allowed people with severe pain and cancer patients to use pot for medicinal purposes. This appeared to be a ruse. The pro marijuana supporters knew they couldn't legalize pot on a straight up or down vote. So they used the sick and the dying as political cover to initiate their efforts to legalize marijuana. In the past 10 years the legal or medical marijuana business has boomed in Colorado. Wherever you see a green cross on the marquee of a business, it is selling medical marijunan. One reported who observed one of these medical marijuana shops in Colorado Springs noted that over 90% of the customers were young and apparently healthy clients.

Editorial News Item:

As most of the readers of this site know, Colorado is being looked at as a test case for the management of medical marijuana, or a step towards legalized marijuana sales and use. The Denver Post summed up the feelings of Colorado Drug Rehab in their article: TIME TO GET REAL, PRO-POT ACTIVISTS on May 07, 2010. In this article, the author, Vincent Carroll, objected to the one-sided argument presented by the pro-marijunan supporter and POT Nation in particular. From this article Mr. Carroll writes:

"Pot Nation can't even bring itself to admit that marijuana has any worrisome side effects related to addiction, health, safety or state of mind. The product is entirely benign, many claim, even beneficial. "Let's teach our kids that marijuana has huge benefits," declared professor Bob Melamede of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in one of many recent over-the-top expressions of this conviction.

Not that it's easy to quantify marijuana's dangers, given the thicket of apparently conflicting studies. If you read only the footnoted literature from NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, you would come away mostly reassured. At the opposite pole are documents from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which connect marijuana abuse to "respiratory illnesses, problems with learning and memory, increased heart rate, and impaired coordination," not to mention "increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and schizophrenia" and "addiction." ....Pot activists seem to believe they can rest their case if marijuana is less dangerous in some ways than alcohol. It so happens, however, that most of us who appreciate the legal status of booze have never denied that it ruins many lives. We simply don't believe in outlawing every activity that carries a social cost or personal risk. That's not what a free society should do.

Maybe it's time marijuana advocates adopted a similar degree of honesty regarding their own drug of choice."

Colorado Drug Rehab's experience with marijuana would support the White House's opinions and the evidence would support that description of marijuana us and its effects.

If a person is in severe pain and marijuana is the best of all drugs to help him confront his condition and better himself, than we are all in favor of its use, but if this marijuana bill and the marketing that will follow begins to make homo sapiens a little more susseptible to the idea that "man" needs a drug, for whatever reasons, like stress from work or to chill out, then Colorado Drug Rehab will stand by the belief that man has all he needs to handle life and adding any drug or other contaminant will only lead to man having less of his abilities.

A Re-examination of the Medical Marijuana Laws and What it Has Done to Colorado

In 2000, when the voters of Colorado passed the law that would allow licensed shops to sell medical marijuana to those that possessed prescriptions for the drug, no one would have expected where this industry would be in 2011. Two significant changes happened after the law was enacted.

First, the Obama Administration stated that they would no longer pursue prosecuting marijuana possession charges at the federal level. Secondly, the state medical board changed regulations regarding growers of marijuana and the number of patients they could serve.

Because of these two changes, Colorado has become a major hub for the sale, export and use of marijuana. In 2000, it was estimated that there were 5,000 people that were using medical marijuana. in the summer of 2010, that number had grown to 175,000. It is obvious that there will need to be some legal intervention at the legislative level that will re-examine how the sale and use of marijuana in Colorado has become something that the voters would have never sanctioned if they could have seen this outcome.

Is Medical Marijuana Helping The Addiction Problem?

Colorado is one of twelve states in the United States that has passed a law to allow for medical marijuana to be prescribed for people that can get a prescription from their physicians.  They then go to a licensed medical marijuana supply store and get their prescriptions filled.  The plan was to give marijuana to those that legitimately need this drug.

In 2000 when this law was passed, there were 5,000 people that registered to receive this medical marijuana.  In 2010, there were 175,000 people in Colorado that were getting medical marijuana.  So what happened?  Was it just the legalization of the medical marijuana that caught the public health officials by surprise? 

Actually, it was the legalization of marijuana in this form that lent to this tremendous increase, but there were other reasons as well.  The Obama Administration stated that they would no longer be arresting people or possession of marijuana that had procured it from legal state sources. There was also a proliferation of these clinics throughout the state and access became much easier.

Colorado is now faced with a real marijuana problem that it didn’t expect.  Some communities in Colorado are changing their laws so as not to allow these medical marijuana clinics in their area, but that is just causing their citizens to drive to other communities where it is still legal.

Another untoward consequence of this law is the legitimization of marijuana as a medicine rather than a drug.  Many parents of teenagers in Colorado are complaining that their kids now believe that marijuana is save for them to use since it will help with their headaches and other true medical problems. 

You can also assume that if there are now these thousands of people with prescribed marijuana, it is being diverted to others that are using it like anyone that would buy it on the illicit drug market. 

In a world where we are trying to better the ethics of their children and we are confronting problems in education and productivity, it is hardly beneficial to make a drug that is so disabling so readily available to our children.  It is worth speculating that if the citizens of Colorado were to have another change to reevaluate their decisions on having medical marijuana in their state, would they, today, be so readily willing to allow this law to pass.  Or is it that marijuana should be unrestricted and sold in the same manner as alcohol? 

There is a public health issue in Colorado that needs to be addressed.  The rest of the nation that is continually passing laws similar to theirs needs to reexamine whether or not this is the greatest good for the greatest number of our citizens.  Time will tell, but in the mean time, we have a pressing problem in Colorado that has to be addressed. 

PLEASE USE OUR FORM AND LET US HEAR YOUR IDEAS REGARDING MARIJUANA BEING LEGAL AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING YOU AND THOSE CLOSE TO YOU.

Health Hazards

Effects on the Lungs

Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke.

Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be due to the marijuana users' inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke in the lungs and because marijuana smoke is unfiltered.

 

Effects of Marijuana on the Brain

Researchers have found that THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is processed by the hippocampus. The hippocampus is a component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations. Investigations have shown that neurons in the information processing system of the hippocampus and the activity of the nerve fibers in this region are suppressed by THC. In addition, researchers have discovered that learned behaviors, which depend on the hippocampus, also deteriorate via this mechanism.

Recent research findings also indicate that long-term use of marijuana produces changes in the brain similar to those seen after long-term use of other major drugs of abuse.

Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure

Recent findings indicate that smoking marijuana while shooting up cocaine has the potential to cause severe increases in heart rate and blood pressure. In one study, experienced marijuana and cocaine users were given marijuana alone, cocaine alone, and then a combination of both. Each drug alone produced cardiovascular effects; when they were combined, the effects were greater and lasted longer. The heart rate of the subjects in the study increased 29 beats per minute with marijuana alone and 32 beats per minute with cocaine alone. When the drugs were given together, the heart rate increased by 49 beats per minute, and the increased rate persisted for a longer time. The drugs were given with the subjects sitting quietly. In normal circumstances, an individual may smoke marijuana and inject cocaine and then do something physically stressful that may significantly increase the risk of overloading the cardiovascular system.

What are the effects on someone who has smoked marijuana for years?

This is a questions that comes up routinely on the help line. We find that many long-term marijuana users begin to experience untoward emotional and physical complications. Usually it starts with complaints about memory loss, both short and long term as well as a feeling of lethargy that is becoming debilitating .

There is evidence that long-term marijuana use is not unlike long-term use of any drug in that it accumulates in the fat tissue of the body and when you reach a "body burden" of toxins that causes nerve impulse problems, there will be a feeling of "unrealness" followed by anxiety and sleeplessness. It is recommended that someone that is having these or other discomforts consult with our counselors at 888.781.7060 and we will evaluate your individual situation and recommend a program or professional that can help you back to a normal.

Efforts to Legalize Marijuana are Raising Tensions

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration is claiming that proposals to legalize marijuana in Colorado are causing an increase in organized crime, but the agency says it doesn't have any hard data to back up such statements.
Now proponents who worked to push pot legalization measures in Denver and throughout the state are crying foul over what they say are baseless claims.

A fiery e-mail sent by a federal agent from his government address does not violate employee policy, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official.
In July, Colorado Confidential reported on an angry letter originating from a Department of Justice e-mail address. The message, riddled with spelling errors, was sent to Independence Institute analyst Jessica Peck Corry in response to a Denver Post editorial she wrote supporting medical marijuana.

Since then it has been discovered that the note came from a DEA agent, and the agency's Denver field director says that matter comes down to freedom of speech.

Just the idea of making marijuana legal sets off emotions on both sides of the issue. Most people can agree that the government should have the power to limit citizens from partaking in activities that are not detrimental to to others and society at large. "Not harmful" is where the argument begins. Activities in life should have more latitude than either being criminal or not, there should be more freedom in the gray areas of decision making if we really want to have a thinking and democratic and open society. The lives and productivity lost from incarceration for non-threatening marijuana possession have infringed on an open society and things need to be re-evaluated. Perhaps decriminalization is a better approach. It is very difficult to say that marijuana is not a harmful substance or that since it is less harmful then alcohol, it too should be legalized. There are many who would like to see more sanctions on alcohol. But these new items demonstrate how volatile this subject is in our society and it appears as though it will continue to be a wedge issue in the future as well.

January 15, 2011... The Denver Post had an article stating that a new bill is before the Colorado House to redo Colorado's medical-marijuana laws so that it easier for felons to own dispensaries and exempt older marijuana shops from buffer rules around schools. This law would basically make it easier to sell marijuana in Colorado... we will see where this takes our wonderful state.

See how Colorado is viewed in other states because of its legalized marijuana and other legal issues at our page: The Consequences of Legalized Marijuana

What have we learned as of February, 2015...

We have been following the legalization of marijuana in Colorado sine these articles above were published, some as long as eight years ago. So what have we learned.... NOT MUCH... if you are depending on the news media to provide us with the answers.

There is very little data on the web about the outcomes of having legalized marijuana in Colorado. However, there is plenty of data onhow much money can be made and how it is helping businessmen and the government in terms of revenues. Forbes Magazine writes about the amount of $ being made by the industry, and do the Denver papers.

 

On January 02, 2015, the Coloradoan wrote and article about the five things that we have learned about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado... Let's look at what they told us:

1. The first lesson was that the state officials dragged their heals and didn't get the rules issued on how the State was going toregulate and tax the industry. This led to frustrations about getting into the sales of the drug.

 

2. Their second comment was to not get too excited since Washington and Colorado have not collected the taxes that they hadhopped to get from the sale of marijuana. Washington has a 44% tax and Colorado has a 29% tax, but they found that many users will go to their black market dealers to save on the expense of these taxes.

 

3. The third comments was the the states weren't ready for how people use marijuana today. They are smoking it so much as they are eating and neither state had good guidelines for the novice consumer that was looking for edible marijuana.

 

4. One of the more obvious things that you would have thought that both Colorado and Washington would have addressed is how youth and younger kids are going to have more access to pot after it is legalized. This has led to problems with kids having psychotic episodes caused by the ingestion of too much marijuana and kids bring pot to their elementary schools at a higher rate than before.

 

5. The fifth recommendation is that law enforcement needs to have a better plan on how to judge if someone deserves an arrest or DUI than to just say that it smells like marijuana in one's car. I am surprised that this is a problem since the police have been arresting individuals for driving under the influence for years and why would it be different today?

 

All in all, this article shows and support our contention that few people are interested in the public health and addiction concerns around having legalized marijuana in one's state. If you don't regulate the black market sales and you allow for a thriving illegal sales of drugs, then you might has well legalize all drugs and use the money to develop treatment programs and prevention projects to better educate the public on the dangers of using marijuana and other drugs. I GUESS THAT IS STILL GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE OUR MISSION and responsibility. Let us know what you think by responding in the form above.

Today, February 29, 2015.. we finally got what we needed from the Attorney General of Colorado:

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, seen at an election night gathering on Nov. 4, 2014, took office last month. The lawyer charged with defending Colorado's marijuana legalization laws denounced them Monday.

“It’s not worth it,” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told dozens of fellow state attorneys general at a conference in the nation's capital, ​referring to $76 million in taxes and fees collected from pot sales last year.

The recently inaugurated Republican rebuked legalization advocates’ long-standing argument that regulating sales will eliminate the black market for marijuana and associated criminal activity.

“Don’t buy that argument,” she told her peers. “The criminals are still selling on the black market. ... We have plenty of cartel activity in Colorado [and] plenty of illegal activity that has not decreased at all.” Read the rest at this page.

 

 

 

 

If this were the only outcome, we really wouldn't worry about Pot.