Whoa! Study Finds Energy Drinks to be a Gateway Drug?

Shocking new research suggests that energy drinks may be a gateway drug to harder substances, including cocaine and non-prescription stimulants.

Source: Express

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health studied 1,099 young adults between the ages of 21 and 25 over 5 years. They found that those who drank highly caffeinated drinks over time had a significantly higher risk of using cocaine, non-prescription stimulants, and of developing an alcohol use disorder by age 25. [1]

The study was published on August 14, 2017 in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

First study author Amelia Arria, associate professor of behavioral and community health, said in a statement:

“Because of the longitudinal design of this study, and the fact that we were able to take into account other factors that would be related to risk for substance use, this study provides evidence of a specific contribution of energy drink consumption to subsequent substance use.”

Arria and her colleagues state in the report that an estimated 1 in every 3 American teens and young adults consume energy drinks or energy shots, with 50% of college students reporting having used the beverages in the past month. [2]

Researchers were able to identify energy drinks as a potential gateway drug by controlling for demographics, other caffeine-intake, and other behaviors indicating buzz-seeking behavior. [1]

All of the participants were 18-year-old college students at the beginning of the study. The young adults were surveyed at intervals throughout the study to allow researchers to track changes in these lifestyle factors. [2]

Between the ages of 21 to 25, energy drink consumption fell dramatically, from 63% to 49%. Slightly more than half of the participants fell into the group with a “persistent trajectory,” indicating they continued to consume the same amount of energy drinks over the course of the study. [3]

Those who cut out their energy drink consumption as they got older were less likely to go on to struggle with substance abuse. [2]

The researchers write in the report:

“These findings suggest that ED consumption might be a novel catalyst for AUD (alcohol use disorder) and certain types of subsequent substance use – namely, NPS (non-prescription stimulants) and cocaine use.

Because other caffeine consumption was included in the model, it is intriguing that the relationship with substance use outcomes appears to be specific to ED consumption and not to other forms of caffeine.” [3]

Arria explained that a propensity for risk-taking behavior, susceptibility to peer-pressure, and changes to the brain make energy drink users like the products even more. [2]

She said:

“Energy drinks are not as regulated as some other beverages. One policy implication is to consider options for regulating the maximum amount of caffeine that can be put in an energy drink. Parents need to be aware of those risks when their child or adolescent or young adult wants to make a decision about what sort of beverage to consume. They need to be aware of the potential risk.”

It’s not caffeine alone that gives energy drinks such a potent punch. They also contain a number of natural stimulants that, when combined with caffeine, provide a boost. The combination has proven to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke by causing harmful spikes in adrenaline and blood pressure. Moreover, energy drinks are also loaded with sugar and their acidity has been shown to potentially damage teeth.

But aside from these drinks being unhealthy, do you really think they are ‘gateway drugs’ to harder substances, or are ‘heavy users’ of energy drinks simply more likely to indulge in other substances?

Sources:

[1] U.S. News & World Report

[2] USA Today

[3] FoodNavigator

Express

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

New Poll Reflects America’s Changing Attitudes Toward Marijuana

A recent survey by Yahoo News and The Marist Poll reveals, among other things, that people – regardless of whether they have children or not – are more concerned about kids smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol than they are about kids using marijuana. [1]

For the survey, 1,122 adults age 18 and older were polled from March 1 through March 7, 2017.

Overall, 52% of respondents said that they had tried marijuana at some point in their lives. Among women, 49% said that they’d used marijuana, while 55% of men said that they had done so.

A whopping 83% of those surveyed said that they approve of legalizing marijuana for medical treatment, and among men and women, there wasn’t much difference in opinion. Eighty-two percent and 83% said they were in favor of pot legalization for medical purposes, respectively.

Support for recreational marijuana was considerably more tempered. In total, 49% of respondents expressed support for legal recreational pot. That number is far lower compared with those who believe medical marijuana should be legal, but it’s still a good sign; In 2000, just over 30% of Americans supported legalizing recreational marijuana, according to Gallup polls.

When asked if using marijuana was socially acceptable, regardless of whether they believe it should be legal, 56% answered yes. More men (58%) than women (53%) said they consider marijuana use socially acceptable.

The surveyors split that same question up among parents, parents with adult children, parents with children under 18, and parents who use marijuana, and this is what they found, respectively:

• Parents – 50%

• Parents with adult children – 49%

• Parents with children under 18 – 51%

• Parents who use marijuana – 75%

One of the most telling signs that pot is going more mainstream is this finding: Among people who said they follow a religion, 45% said consider marijuana use socially acceptable.

The split in opinion over marijuana legalization among political parties is, well, what you would expect to see in a poll. Overall, 54% of registered voters believe marijuana is socially acceptable. The survey found that 65% of Democrats, 38% of Republicans, and 61% of Independents don’t consider marijuana use taboo.

Source: Vox

In 2000, only 29% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans voiced support for marijuana legalization.

However, when it comes to pregnant mothers, Americans still view marijuana as something to be avoided. Only 21% of respondents overall said it is acceptable for a pregnant woman to use marijuana to reduce nausea or pain. Even among marijuana users, the percentage was relatively low: 40%. More men (23%) than women (19%) support marijuana use for nausea and pain in pregnant women. I would have expected these numbers to be lower.

When broken down into regions, the Western U.S. showed the most support for recreational marijuana, with 55% saying they favor legalization. The finding is unsurprising, since Colorado and Washington were the first U.S. states to regulate sales of recreational cannabis.

California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Another 61% of respondents in the Western U.S. said they consider marijuana use to be socially acceptable, the highest percentage of all regions.

When asked whether they consider marijuana use a health risk, 51% of people overall answered yes. But, for the most part, people who’ve tried marijuana or regular users see it as less of a threat than those who never tried pot.

• Among those who never smoked cannabis, 64% consider it a health risk.

• Among those who tried pot at some point in their lives, just 39% view pot as a health risk.

• A mere 24% of regular users see any potential health threat.

Source: Vox

Here’s where things get interesting, and you can truly see the shift in attitude about marijuana in the United States. When asked which they considered a bigger threat, regular marijuana use or regular tobacco use, 76% of respondents said tobacco is more dangerous than pot.

Among millennials, 87% consider tobacco to be riskier than pot. But marijuana continues to get a bad rep from some seniors; 47% of people age 69 and older see pot as the bigger threat. However, 73% of baby boomers (ages 51-69) point to tobacco as a bigger danger than cannabis.

Tobacco use was named as a bigger health risk than tobacco use by far in all regions of the U.S., as well as among parents of children of all ages, not to mention Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

When it comes to alcohol vs. marijuana, parents of all ages of children, both sexes, all four regions of the country, and all registered voters said regular alcohol use was more dangerous than regular marijuana use.

It appears that the nation’s opioid crisis has opened a lot of people’s eyes, as well, with all age groups but those 69 and over answering that a prescription opioid from a doctor is more of a health risk than a prescription for medical marijuana. The same was found in all regions of the country, among all levels of education, and regardless of income.

Even parents and those who practice a religion said they would trust the marijuana plant over a prescription painkiller when it comes to safely treating their ailments.

Source: Weed News

Will the Feds Crack Down on Marijuana with the New Presidency?

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is notoriously anti-legalization, has made comments hinting that the federal government may crack down on states where marijuana is legal. Here’s what respondents think of that:

• Overall, 30% of national adults believe the Trump administration should crack down harder on marijuana than the Obama administration.

• Overall, 38% of national adults think the Trump administration should be not as tough as the Obama administration.

• Overall, 27% of national adults say the current administration should be AS tough on marijuana as the Obama administration.

• Across all regions of the country, more people answered that the Trump administration should NOT be as tough on marijuana as the Obama administration.

Read: What Future Does Legal Marijuana Have Under a Trump Presidency?

Source: Buzzfeed

Finally, respondents were asked what their most significant concern was about marijuana; and, like a Cheech and Chong meme, the #1 concern among national adults is that it’s illegal. Only 14% expressed concern that pot use could lead to harder drugs, and only 7% worry about addiction.

Sources

Yahoo News/Marist Poll

The Journal Times

Image Sources:

Vox

Weed News

Buzzfeed

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Drug War Idiocy: FDA Lists “Increased Merriment” & “Heightened Imagination” as Cannabis Side Effects

This past summer, after giving tantalizing clues to the public about the possibility of rescheduling cannabis, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) decided to cling to lunacy by keeping the plant as a Schedule 1 drug with “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

While making this decision – in complete denial of the proven medical benefits of cannabis and the fact that 25 states acknowledge this – the DEA gathered advice from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Early indications were that the FDA had softened its stance on cannabis, which led to some optimism, but this may have been a charade.

According to documents that Vice News obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the FDA apparently still holds some rather asinine views on cannabis that seem to be relics of the Reefer Madness days.

Vice summarizes:

“The FDA listed nine common effects of marijuana, including “increased merriment and appetite,” “heightened imagination,” “disorganized thinking,” “illusions, delusions, and hallucinations,” and “agitation, paranoia, confusion, drowsiness, and panic attacks, which are most common in experienced or high-dosed users.”

Firstly, aren’t merriment and imagination good things?

Increasing merriment with cannabis is a treatment for psychological ailments such as depression, and far safer than prescription pills such as SSRIs that have dangerous and deadly side effects.

Increasing appetite with cannabis is a widely recognized treatment for a number of conditions, such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

Heightening the imagination is of course a valuable practice for creative people such as artists and writers, many of whom use cannabis for that very purpose. An Australian museum recently defended one of its artists who called for cannabis to be carefully used to stimulate creativity in teenagers.

Secondly, responsible cannabis users are unlikely to experience the other “bad effects.” Maybe that first time you got high and did too much, you got agitated or paranoid, but these are altogether uncommon effects.

If we want to talk about side effects that actually do ruin lives and lead to injury or death, look no further than the vast number of prescription pills pushed by Big Pharma, beginning with opioids. Or alcohol-related deaths which amount to 88,000 every year, and the fact that alcohol fuels aggression.

The FDA also uses a dubious study of squirrel monkeys in its claim that cannabis is addictive.

“The FDA cited a study conducted in 2000 on squirrel monkeys that were trained to self-administer THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in weed. Researchers found that the monkeys liked to get high, and the FDA said such studies are “often useful in predicting rewarding effects in humans, and is indicative of abuse liability.”

Never mind the fact that the experiment was carried out on intelligent primates trapped in cages. Subjected to boredom and cruelty, is it any surprise they want to get high?

Interestingly, the FDA documents show that the agency actually knows cannabis is relatively safe, acknowledging that it is not known to cause cancer and there’s no link to mental illness.

They say that any addiction from cannabis is “mild” and “short-lived,” and any negative effects on the adult brain disappear after three months of abstinence.

But perhaps more importantly, the FDA admits that cannabis is not a gateway drug.

“Discussing the so-called “gateway effect” that supposedly leads pot smokers to try more dangerous drugs, the FDA stated that research does not support a “direct causal relationship between regular marijuana use and other illicit drug use.”

Those of us fighting the immoral War on Drugs already knew this to be true, as we have reported that the real gateway drug is alcohol. Even D.A.R.E. stopped calling cannabis a gateway drug.

All of this flies in the face of law enforcement and other drug war crusaders who depend on cannabis prohibition to line their pockets through civil asset forfeiture, or policing for profit. To keep extorted cash and assets pouring into their coffers, cops routinely label pot as a gateway drug that is dangerous to society, so they can prey on the populace that dares seek out cannabis for its medical benefits and increased merriment.

So remind us again, FDA, why were you on board with keeping cannabis a Schedule 1 drug?

Perhaps the reasons have nothing to do with the reasons outlined in the FOIA documents, and everything to do with the fact that the FDA’s corporate partner, the pharmaceutical industry, has recognized that cannabis legalization poses a direct threat to their profits.