According to a new study by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, teens who use synthetic marijuana are more likely to engage in risky behavior, have unprotected sex, and abuse other, potentially more harmful drugs. The study interpreted data from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey to come to its conclusions.

Researchers found that “nearly one in 10 high school students had used synthetic marijuana at some point in their lifetime,” said Heather Clayton, the lead researcher of the CDC study, and a scientist with the center’s Division of Adolescent and School Health.

“The findings indicate that students who report using synthetic marijuana are possibly on a very concerning health trajectory, which is particularly serious given that synthetic marijuana use is relatively common among adolescents,” Clayton added.

Those who use synthetic pot–also known as “fake weed”–are more likely to carry a gun or engage in violent behavior than those who use traditional marijuana, the researchers said, and are more likely to have begun using marijuana at an early age. Synthetic marijuana use is also linked to having unprotected sex. So why do people turn to synthetic marijuana rather than the natural plant? It’s readily available, it’s cheap, and it’s hard for authorities to detect, due to manufacturers’ ever-changing formulas and marketing techniques.

Like traditional marijuana, the synthetic variety is classified as a Schedule I drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Though often packaged and marketed in a colorful, almost innocent fashion (K2 and Spice are common strain varieties), synthetic marijuana is tied to a variety of adverse effects. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, synthetic marijuana, which usually consists of dried leaves sprayed with a menagerie of chemicals, can lead to “rapid heart rate, vomiting, violent behavior, and suicidal thoughts.”

The CDC researchers said that their findings were not meant to establish a causal relationship between synthetic marijuana use and risky behavior in teens. For instance, people who are more likely to engage in risky or violent behaviors are also more likely to try synthetic marijuana. But “it’s still important for health professionals and school-based substance-prevention programs to focus on strategies that reduce the initiation of marijuana and synthetic marijuana use,” Clayton said.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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When his father was dying of cancer in 1999, Daniel Reingold brewed a remedy that would not cure his fatal disease, but might alleviate his pain: marijuana-infused tea. Reingold, now the president and CEO of RiverSpring Health, later brought his first-hand experience with the medical properties of marijuana to a nursing home his company operates in the Bronx. The Hebrew Home, in Riverdale, allows its residents to find late-in-life relief from a leaf that doesn’t grow in the facility’s garden: marijuana, in the form of cannabidiol (CBD) pills. 

As states continue to loosen the laws for marijuana use, the drug is reaching people who might have grown up in the age of “Reefer Madness.” Though marijuana use has shot up among all demographics over the past decade, use among adults ages 65 and up has increased exponentially. According to one recent study, between 2006 and 2013, marijuana use among people 65 and up has increased by 250 percent.

In some of the 28 states (and the District of Columbia) that have legalized marijuana for medical use, elderly residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities can use marijuana pills in lieu of drugs like morphine. But at many of them, because the drug is banned at the federal level, the staff will not directly administer or oversee use, instead following a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Residents can obtain cannabis products from a dispensary, and stow them away in their rooms. Some are worried that this is a health hazard, especially since the effects of marijuana on older people are far from understood.

“If residents are taking it, they are taking it undercover without the staff knowing so it’s not part of their care plan,” Dr. Cheryl Phillips, senior vice president for public policy and health services for a group that represents more than 2,000 nursing homes, told The New York Times. “I think that creates a safety problem.”

But for some residents at places like the Hebrew Home, popping a pill filled with cannabis oil is no different than using any other medication–aside from the stigma that comes with it. “It’s got a stigma,” Marcia Dunetz, 80, told the Times. “People don’t really believe you’re not really getting high if you take it.” Dunetz, a Parkinson’s patient, said since using marijuana she no longer wakes up with headaches, and feels less dizzy and nauseous.

Because marijuana is banned, in all capacities, at the federal level, staff at many assisted living facilities and nursing homes could theoretically be committing a crime if they were to administer marijuana to residents and patients. That possibility deters the staff and the owners wary of doing so. And at government-supported nursing homes, there is the possibility that Medicare and Medicaid could take a hit if the staff were giving their patients pot.

And then there is the great unknown of how marijuana affects older people. Should they consume less? Will it adversely affect their brains? “On the one hand, cannabis may be an effective substitute for prescription opioids and other misused medications; on the other hand, cannabis has emerged as an alternative for the undertreatment of pain at the end of life,” said a study published in January in the Oxford University Press.

Ruth Brunn, a 98-year-old with neuropathy living at the Hebrew Home, does not know what long-term affects taking cannabis oil pills will have on her (long-term has a different meaning for her, perhaps), but that doesn’t matter. “I don’t feel high or stoned,” she told the Times. “All I know is I feel better when I take this.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A new study found that children who are exposed to marijuana smoke are more likely to absorb THC which, the doctors conducting the study say, can lead to an increased risk of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. The doctors expect the negative effects of secondhand marijuana smoke on children are similar to those of secondhand tobacco smoke, though there is no concrete evidence yet to back that up.

The study surveyed 43 children, from one month to two years old, in Colorado who had been hospitalized for bronchiolitis. Researchers found that overall, 16 percent of the children had traces of THC in their urine. That figure rose dramatically, to 75 percent, for children who have a parent or caretaker who smokes pot.

A separate study found that pregnant women are smoking pot at a higher rate than at least in 2002. In 2014, the study found, 3.9 percent of the women surveyed said they had smoked marijuana in the last month, higher than in 2002, when 2.4 percent of women said the same. The study found that in 2014, nearly 12 percent of pregnant women had smoked marijuana over the last year.

“If the current trends continue, with rates of use among pregnant women increasing as fast as they are in nonpregnant women, the U.S. may face a growing epidemic of prenatal marijuana use with associated consequences for maternal and child health,” said Dr. Qiana Brown, a researcher at Columbia University and a lead author of the study.

Recently, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issued a warning that the newborns of women who smoke pot to treat their nausea have a high risk of anemia, might have lower birth weights, and are more likely to have developmental issues. “Although more research is needed, there is strong reason to believe marijuana could be harmful to fetal development,” said NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow in an email to Reuters. “Women who are pregnant should avoid using marijuana, even though it might seem like a ‘natural’ solution to their nausea.”

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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