Collateral damage killed more under 65 than Covid in Canada

Lockdowns killed more Canadians under 65 than COVID-19: Statscan | True North - Harrison Faulkner:

July 18, 2021 - "The consequences of government-enforced lockdowns killed more Canadians under the age of 65 than the COVID-19 virus itself, according to a report by Statistics Canada. In a report titled Provisional death counts and excess mortality, the government agency reviewed the number of deaths between January 2020 to April 2021 and concluded that 5,535 Canadians under the age of 65 died because of 'indirect consequences' due to the pandemic. Over the same time period, 1,380 Canadians in the same age group died because of COVID-19 itself.

"'Beyond deaths attributed to the disease itself, the pandemic could also have indirect consequences leading to an increase or decrease in the number of deaths due to various factors, including delayed medical procedures, increased substance use, or a decline in deaths attributable to other causes, such as influenza,' the report says.

"Statistics Canada acknowledged lockdowns had a significant impact on the number of deaths in Canada, particularly among younger people. 'Excess mortality is, in large part, related to other factors such as increases in the number [of] deaths attributed to causes associated with substance use and misuse, including unintentional (accidental) poisonings and diseases and conditions related to alcohol consumption,' read the report.

"As more Canadians were forced to stay at home and vital services and businesses were forced to close, an opioid crisis developed.... Statistics Canada confirmed that the increased usage of drugs had a significant impact on the mortality rate during the pandemic. 'There is evidence in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia that substance use has increased in 2020 compared with previous years, while availability and access to harm reduction programs, supervised consumption services, and in-person support services for substance use may have been disrupted during the pandemic,' the report says. 

"Earlier this month, Statistics Canada also reported that most of the people who died from COVID-19 in Canada were over the age of 85 and had dementia, Alzheimer’s, chronic heart disease or other pre-existing 'cardiovascular and respiratory conditions.' Nine in 10 deaths had a secondary cause listed on the death certificate.

"Canadians have been victims of some of the strictest public health orders in the world.... The True North Provincial Freedom Score found that Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Ontario were the most locked-down provinces in the country when taking into account business closures, school openings, in-person dining and nearly a dozen other variables."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2021/07/18/lockdowns-killed-more-canadians-under-65-than-covid-19-statscan/

More deaths from opioids than COVID-19 in B.C.

Making people suffer this long under lockdown is something we may someday regret | National Post - Chris Selley:

June 16, 202 - "Last week, the British Columbia coroner’s office reported that 170 people had died in that province from street-drug overdoses in May. It’s the most ever recorded in a single month, and the fourth consecutive month of increase — up from 68 in December. In the first five months of this year, 20-per-cent more people died in B.C. from overdoses than in all of 2019. At time of writing, the official death toll from COVID-19 in British Columbia was 168.

"Advocates for drug law reforms hope that might put things in some perspective. To fight COVID-19 our governments hurled us into a recession and wrote endless blank cheques. For a tiny fraction of that cost, they would say, we could prevent a huge percentage of overdose deaths: By allowing properly run safe-injection sites to open where they’re needed, and by allowing doctors to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade opioids.

"Both remain very controversial — the latter more so than the former. But it’s not an unreasonable hope. Many traditional law-and-order voters will draw a clear line between the two phenomena: COVID-19 sufferers are blameless and incurable, whereas addicts shouldn’t have touched the stuff in the first place, and having gotten themselves addicted should seek treatment. But law-and-order narratives can change rapidly: just ask many conservatives about policing. The opioid addiction epidemic cuts mercilessly across class lines, forcing comfortable and affluent families and their peer groups to confront both the devastating effects and the ignorant facileness of the 'go to treatment' approach: Unless someone is truly ready to kick the habit, and often even then, it simply won’t last.

"B.C.’s grisly overdose toll ought to put the COVID-19 lockdown in stark perspective as well. Experts accurately predicted way back in March that there would be a rise in overdoses, owing to several factors. Border closures were likely to interrupt supply chains and thus alter the composition of street opioids, making them more unpredictable and potentially far more dangerous. Even if safe-injection sites remained open — not all did; others curtailed their hours — the virus safety measures put in place were likely to put off some clients. And the stresses of the lockdown were likely to cause more people to use opioids. And alcohol. And everything else.

"In the coming months and years, we will get an idea of the other tolls the lockdown took on society in the name of saving lives from one specific cause of death. People will almost certainly be found to have died prematurely thanks to delayed or foregone hospital care. Almost from Day One, we had reports from all over the world about spikes in domestic violence. There’s a large, pre-existing body of research linking social isolation with everything from cognitive decline to weakened immune systems and heart disease. 'We’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks,' a California hospital doctor told ABC News in May. American doctors have reported a spike in anti-anxiety and sleep-aid prescriptions, some of which come with addiction concerns.

"Economic deprivation is also associated with all these negative outcomes, and government intervention certainly won’t save all Canadians from it — not in the short term, and not in the long term when the government of the day decides it’s time to repay our loans. In the long run, most kids will get over losing a few months of school, sports, music, summer camps and everyday social interaction. But that is no small chunk of time in a child’s development. Knowing now (in hindsight, admittedly) that COVID-19 generally treats kids with kid gloves, that needs to be included in the cost-benefit calculation....

"Many bien-pensant Canadians — disproportionately those with backyards, according to my non-peer-reviewed research — are clearly very proud of these extreme lockdown procedures. As the United States reopens and various jurisdictions there endure very significant second waves, their chests seem to swell even more dangerously. They should devote some of their bien-pensing to the collateral damage. In the final analysis, I fear it will not be at all pretty."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/chris-selley-making-people-suffer-this-long-under-lockdown-is-something-we-may-someday-regret

Economic shutdown can kill, too

Drugs, Suicide, and Crime: Empirical Estimates of the Human Toll of the Shutdown | American Institute of Economic Research - Audrey Redford & Thomas K. Duncan:

March 28, 2020 - "As the coronavirus pandemic continues across the world, leaders and policymakers have scrambled to respond to the growing health crisis. In the United States, multiple state governors have issued statements urging their citizens to follow social distancing guidelines. Other governors have taken more extreme measures, issuing orders to effectively lock down the entire state economy....

"There have been forecasted estimates of virus-related death totals for the US from as high as 10 million, to 2.2 million, to more conservative estimates.... The models used to estimate the potential death rates are not without criticism and repeated adjustment.... However, as important as it is to get the cost of not shutting down right, it is also important that policymakers properly weigh the cost of the economic shutdowns themselves....

"[T]he ability to operate in a functioning economy is important for the people within it. The economy is the people, and the people are the economy. The ability to continue to function in a market system does matter to individuals within the system, particularly when the inability of business to remain open and continue to employ them is in question.

"We have already started to see some of these human effects as the unemployment has quickly rocketed beyond even the early initial projections. A rise in unemployment is correlated with a number of negative socio-economic effects. For some, these effects can be quite deadly....

"A 2017 NBER paper finds a 3.6% increase in the opioid death rate per 100,000 people for a 1% rise in unemployment. There were 14.6 opioid deaths per 100,000 in the US in 2018. If we use the more conservative estimate of a 20% unemployment rate without a quick return to lower levels, ... there is potential for an additional 28,797 deaths from opioids annually.... Consider that [in] 2018 ... 46,802 deaths were considered an opioid crisis....

"Similarly, Mulia, et al, (2014) connects a rise in alcoholism to economic loss during the Great Recession. The CDC estimates that 2,200 people die in the US just from alcohol poisoning annually.... In 2017 alone, there were also 22,246 deaths resulting from alcoholic liver disease.  As the jobless rate increases and the economic losses continue to mount, these numbers are likely to rise.

"Blakely, et al, (2003) find that being unemployed may also increase the risk of suicide two to threefold. Milner, et al. (2014) similarly finds that unemployment is associated with a higher relative risk of suicide, with prior mental health issues being a key factor in that association. While a study by Kerr, et al, (2018) did not find that unemployment is directly linked to suicides, it did find a significant link between poverty, suicide, and alcoholism.

"Lin and Chen (2018) ... find that unemployment does have a direct impact on older portions of the population, the portion of the population many of the current shutdowns are most meant to protect. Whether it is the direct unemployment effect or the potential poverty produced from the economic shutdown that leads to greater suicides, an increase from the 48,344 suicides and 1,400,000 suicide attempts in the US in 2018 should give decision-makers pause....

"Ajimotokin, et al, (2015) estimate that a one percent change in unemployment will increase the property crime rate by 71.1 per 100,000 people and the violent crime rate by 31.9 per 100,000 people.... Kposowa and Johnson (2016) find that unemployed workers are over 50% more likely to become homicide victims than those who are employed. They also find people not in the labor force to be 1.3 times more likely to be victims than those who are employed....

"The future during such a pandemic is largely uncertain, and misinformation is rampant in the current panic. Policymakers face tough decisions as they navigate the issues of data collection, virus transmission, and economic ramifications of doing too little or too much. It is vitally important, literally life and death, that the proper costs and benefits are weighed with the decision on how much and how long to shut down economic activity through the pandemic."

Read more: https://www.aier.org/article/drugs-suicide-and-crime-empirical-estimates-of-the-human-toll-of-the-shut-down/

Liberal MP tables drug decriminalization bills

Liberal MP introduces bills to tackle opioid crisis through decriminalization, diversion | Halifax Chronicle Herald - Andrea Gunn:

March 9, 2020 - "According to federal government statistics, more than 14,000 Canadians have died from opioid overdose in the last four years. The situation is so dire, it has caused a stall in the increase in life expectancy for Canadians, according to Statistics Canada, and has even decreased the life expectancy in provinces that have been hit the hardest, such as Alberta and B.C.

"There is a growing body of evidence that one small change could save lives: the decriminalization of possession for personal use. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, the United Nations and the World Health Organization all support the treatment of drug use as a public health issue, not a criminal matter, and support the repeal of laws that criminalize drug use and possession of drugs for personal use.

"In a 2018 paper on the opioid crisis, Canadian Mental Health Association researchers looked to Portugal, which has decriminalized all substances for personal use, and found in the years following decriminalization improved health outcomes, including an increase in the number of people seeking treatment, a decrease in new cases of HIV and AIDS among drug users, and a reduction in the number of deaths associated with substance use.

"This growing body of evidence is why Toronto Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has recently tabled two private member’s bills that look to change drug policy in Canada with the aim of saving lives. One bill, C-235, called the Ending the Stigma of Substance Use Act proposes to delete the simple possession offence in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Possession for the purpose of trafficking would remain illegal....

"Conservatives ... Deputy Opposition Whip John Brassard and Markham-Unionville MP Bob Saroya issued a statement this week warning that the Liberals are looking to 'legalize hard drugs like heroin, crack cocaine and crystal meth'.... 'During the last election campaign, the Liberals denied their secret plan to legalize hard drugs.... But now, a member of Trudeau’s minority Liberal government has introduced legislation to do just that.'

"Erskine-Smith takes issue with what he says is misinformation in his opponents’ attack — for starters, legalization and decriminalization are two different things, he says. But ... Erskine-Smith said he wouldn't expect full support within his own caucus on the matter. 'I’ve seen the prime minister say decriminalization is not where the Canadian public is,' he said...

"[S]o, Erskine-Smith [also] introduced Bill C-236, a compromise that focuses on evidence-based diversion measures for simple possession. The bill would allow police to proceed with criminal charges for drug possession only in situations where it’s insufficient to issue a warning or to refer an individual to a health-care provider.... This means the discretion of police officers to lay criminal charges would be reduced in many situations, such as for first-time recreational users or addicts, where a warning or referral would be best suited, but it does not affect how police deal with trafficking and production. It also still gives the police and prosecutors discretion to proceed with criminal charges, if necessary, in certain circumstances...

"One of the reasons he believes it can get support is the fact that diversion is already a significant part of Canada’s justice system.... Erskine-Smith said codifying these practices in law would provide structure and consistency for the criminal justice system and ensure these measures are being used whenever possible, and not applied unfairly to certain demographics. Moreover, he said, evidence shows that criminal sanctions are a primary stigma and barrier to people seeking treatment, and anything to reduce that would be a step in the right direction."

Read more: https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/canada/liberal-mp-introduces-bills-to-tackle-opioid-crisis-through-decriminalization-diversion-421258/

Use opioids, not cannabis, Ontario government tells injured workers

Injured workers in Ontario advised to seek opioids instead of cannabis | Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly - A.J. Herrington, High Times:

July 14, 2018 - "Injured workers in Ontario, Canada who wish to treat their conditions with cannabis are being forced to use opiates instead. According to the CBC, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is refusing to cover cannabis for patients licensed to use medical marijuana.

"Some private insurers in Canada began offering coverage for medicinal marijuana in health plans last year. And earlier this year, Sun Life Financial became the first major Canadian insurance company to pay for medical cannabis.

"David Newberry, an attorney with the Injured Workers Community Legal Clinic in Toronto, said that the WSIB often denies workers’ claims for cannabis coverage. Instead, the insurer pays for far more dangerous drugs. '“You often end up with these absurd scenarios where the WSIB is happy to pay for opiates and antidepressants that are not effective, that the worker does not want to take,' Newberry said.

"Maurice Sagle, 60, is a former carpenter who was injured in a workplace accident that left him with a compressed spine, several crushed discs, and a ruptured leg muscle. The opiates that doctors prescribed caused side effects including depression that left him homebound ... he felt that he was becoming addicted....

"Sagle decided that a strain of cannabis high in CBD and low in THC might help his condition. He consulted with his doctor and obtained his license for medical marijuana. Cannabis relieved his chronic pain without making him high.... But when Sagle filed a claim to cover his medicine, the WSIB refused.

"'They said they don’t recognize this and they sent me a paper saying no, they wouldn’t cover it,' he said. The insurer would, however, continue to pay for thousands of dollars worth of opioids.... Sagle is currently appealing the WSIB decision, an expensive process that can take as long as two years.

"Christine Arnott of the Ontario WSIB said the insurer is concerned with opioid addiction and is working to address the situation. 'We are focused on limiting exposure to the harms associated with opioid use and lowering risk of addiction. So far we have reduced the number of WSIB drug claims for opioids by 47 percent. We treat requests for coverage of medical marijuana on a case-by-case basis,' Arnott said.... And, she noted, the WSIB is 'always looking at the evolving scientific evidence around the effectiveness of pain management and updat[ing] our approach accordingly.'"

Read more: https://www.straight.com/cannabis/1102796/injured-workers-ontario-advised-seek-opioids-instead-cannabis
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US opioid deaths rise as gov'ts cut prescriptions

The Lethal Success of Pain Pill Restrictions - Jacob Sullum, Reason Hit and Run:

May 9, 2016 - "In a speech on Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department is striving to 'bring down' both 'opioid prescriptions' and 'overdose deaths.' A study published the following day suggests those two goals may be at odds with each other, highlighting the potentially perverse consequences of trying to stop people from getting the drugs they want.

"Columbia University epidemiologist David Fink and his colleagues systematically reviewed research on the impact of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), which all 50 states have established.... Fink et al. say the evidence that PDMPs reduce deaths involving prescription opioids is 'largely insufficient,' adding that 'implementation of PDMPs may have unintended negative outcomes — namely, increased rates of heroin-related overdose'....

"The picture looks worse when you take into account deaths involving illegally produced drugs, which now account for a large majority of opioid-related fatalities.... To the extent that PDMPs succeed in making pain pills harder to obtain, they encourage nonmedical users to seek black-market substitutes. 'Changes to either the supply or cost of prescription opioids after a PDMP is instituted,' Fink et al. observe, 'might reasonably drive opioid-dependent persons to substitute their preferred prescription opioid with heroin or nonpharmaceutical fentanyl'....

"If the aim is preventing drug-related deaths, this shift is counterproductive, to say the least. Because their purity and potency are inconsistent and unpredictable, illegally produced opioids are much more dangerous than pain pills.

"A report published last month by the health care consulting firm IQVIA shows that the total volume of opioids prescribed in the United States fell by 29 percent between 2011 and 2017, from 240 billion to 171 billion morphine milligram equivalents. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths involving pain pills nevertheless rose by 24 percent from 2011 to 2016, while total deaths involving opioids rose by 85 percent.

"That trend includes a 252 percent increase in heroin-related deaths and an astonishing 628 percent increase in deaths involving the opioid category that consists mainly of fentanyl and its analogues. Final CDC figures for 2017 are not available yet, but the provisional numbers indicate there will be more increases....

"Since the current strategy is manifestly not working, drug warriors are, as usual, redoubling their efforts. The Drug Enforcement Administration, which sets annual quotas for opioid production, reduced the limit by 25 percent in 2017 and 20 percent this year."

Read more: http://reason.com/archives/2018/05/09/the-lethal-success-of-pain-pill-restrict

Prohibition the real cause of the 'opioid crisis'

Stop Calling It an Opioid Crisis - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world - Jeffrey A. Singer, Cato Institute:

January 18, 2018 - "For nearly a decade, policymakers have bought into the misguided narrative that the opioid overdose crisis is a result of careless doctors and greedy pharmaceutical companies getting patients hooked on prescription opioids and condemning them to the nightmarish world of drug addiction. As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration has ordered decreases in prescription opioid production. There was a 25 percent reduction in 2017 and a 20 percent reduction is ordered for 2018.

"States have set up monitoring programs that put doctors and patients under surveillance leading to a dramatic reduction in the prescription of opioids since 2010. In fact, high-dose prescribing fell 41 percent since 2010.... This focus on the supply and prescription of opioids makes many patients needlessly suffer in pain. Some, in desperation, turn to the illicit market to get relief, where they find heroin and heroin-laced fentanyl often cheaper and easier to get. Some others resort to suicide.

"Policymakers mistakenly focus on doctors treating their patients in pain. By intruding on the patient-doctor relationship, they impede physician judgment and increase patient suffering. But another unintended consequence is that, by reducing the amount of prescription opioids that can be diverted to the illicit market, they have driven nonmedical users to heroin and fentanyl, which are cheaper and easier to obtain on the street than prescription opioids, and much more dangerous....

"The overdose rate is not a product of doctors and patients abusing prescription opioids. It is a product of nonmedical users accessing the illicit market.

"The problem will not get better — it will probably only get worse — as long as we continue to call this an 'opioid crisis.' The title is too nonspecific. This is a crisis caused by drug prohibition, an unintended consequence of nonmedical drug users accessing the black market in drugs.

"Policymakers should stop harassing doctors and their patients and shift their focus to reforming overall drug policy. A good place to start would be to implement harm reduction measures, such as safe syringe programs, making Medication Assisted Treatments like methadone and suboxone more readily available, and making the opioid antidote naloxone available over-the-counter, so it can be easier for opioid users to obtain. Even better would be a sober reassessment of America’s longest war, the 'War on Drugs.'"

Read more: https://fee.org/articles/stop-calling-it-an-opioid-crisis/
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BC drug minister open to decriminalizing heroin

PM says no to decriminalizing drugs, B.C. addictions minister open to idea | Toronto Star - Camille Bains, Canadian Press:

September 7, 2017 - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has closed the door on decriminalizing illicit drugs to combat a national overdose crisis but British Columbia’s addictions minister says unprecedented deaths are a 'wake-up call' to reconsider that stance.

"Trudeau said decriminalization is not the approach Canada will take to deal with deadly overdoses often involving the opioid fentanyl.

"'We are making headway on this and indeed the crisis continues and indeed spreads across the country but we are not looking at legalizing any other drugs than marijuana for the time being,' Trudeau told a news conference Thursday at the end of a caucus meeting in Kelowna, B.C....

"Judy Darcy, British Columbia’s minister of mental health and addictions, said criminalizing people for having limited amounts of drugs for their own use instead of providing treatment puts them at risk of fatally overdosing.

"'I think we need to have this conversation in this country,' she said of decriminalizing small amounts of drugs such as heroin. 'Sometimes governments need to be pushed.'

"Darcy said decriminalization would go a long way in destigmatizing substance use because shame often bars people from getting treatment or even using supervised consumption sites.... 'If this overdose crisis is not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is,' she said. 'Not treating addiction the way we would any other chronic condition clearly is not working'....

"The BC Coroners Service said 876 people died in the province between January and July, up from 483 fatalities during the same months last year.

"Darcy, who spoke about the epidemic Thursday at a drug-conference headlined by an addictions expert from Portugal, said that country’s experience of decriminalizing limited amounts of some drugs in 2001, along with providing more treatment and programs that address stigma, should serve as a lesson for Canada."

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/09/07/pm-says-no-to-decriminalizing-drugs-bc-addictions-minister-open-to-idea.html
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Bradshaw wants BC voters to have more options (video)

Kamloops-South Thompson candidate profile: Jessica Bradshaw (Libertarian) - Kamloops This Week - Cam Fortems:

April 24, 2017 -"Jessica Bradshaw was looking for something a little different on the ballot for the May 9 provincial election.... 'I want people to have another option,' said the Libertarian candidate in Kamloops-South Thompson. 'I [was] looking for one and couldn’t find it. So I became one'....

"She is joining a long list of Libertarian candidates across B.C. The party is running a candidate in nearly half of B.C.’s 87 ridings. It pledges to repeal the carbon tax, bring in school vouchers to let parents take children to private or public school and allow private medical care — stripping away many of the rules and regulations of living in B.C. The party would allow private competition to agencies including BC Hydro, ICBC and WorksafeBC.

"''It’s not like I don’t like rules,' she said. 'It’s just regulations and rules government sets out have done more damage than benefit. It’s overregulation that causes issues with people.'

"The party also advocates for decriminalization of drug use. 'I think the illegality of it forces a lot of addicts to the point where they’re getting fentanyl. If it were decriminalized or legalized it would bring up the safety factor. It puts them at less risk'.....

"Bradshaw said she is largely a one-woman campaign at this point.... 'I’m going it alone. Other people have campaign teams and I’m just doing it myself.'"

Read more: https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/kamloops-south-thompson-candidate-profile-jessica-bradshaw-libertarian/
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Legal cannabis cuts opioid abuse, study suggests

Legalized Marijuana Could Help Curb the Opioid Epidemic, Study Finds - NBC News - Reuters:

March 27, 2017 - "In states that legalized medical marijuana, U.S. hospitals failed to see a predicted influx of pot smokers, but in an unexpected twist, they treated far fewer opioid users, a new study shows.

"Hospitalization rates for opioid painkiller dependence and abuse dropped on average 23 percent in states after marijuana was permitted for medicinal purposes, the analysis found. Hospitalization rates for opioid overdoses dropped 13 percent on average.

"At the same time, fears that legalization of medical marijuana would lead to an uptick in cannabis-related hospitalizations proved unfounded, according to the report in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

"'Instead, medical marijuana laws may have reduced hospitalizations related to opioid pain relievers,' said study author Yuyan Shi, a public health professor at the University of California, San Diego....

"[T]he opioid epidemic - sparked by a quadrupling since 1999 in sales of prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin - kills 91 Americans a day.

"Shi analyzed hospitalization records from 1997 through 2014 for 27 states, nine of which implemented medical marijuana policies. Her study was the fifth to show declines in opioid use or deaths in states that allow medical cannabis.

"In a 2014 study, Dr. Marcus Bachhuber found deaths from opioid overdoses fell by 25 percent in states that legalized medical marijuana....

"Nonetheless, a 1970 federal law puts cannabis in the same category as heroin, Schedule 1 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, and finds it has no medicinal value. Consequently, doctors can only recommend, not prescribe, marijuana, and physicians who work for the federal government cannot even discuss the weed.

"Federal prohibition also has led to severe limitations on marijuana research.

"Bachhuber lamented the dearth of research on the best ways to use marijuana as medicine.

"We have information that it works based on the National Academies' report," he said. "But we don't know who it works best for, at what dosage, for how long.""

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/legalized-marijuana-could-help-curb-opioid-epidemic-study-finds-n739301
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DEA's attempted kratom ban indefinitely delayed

What the Reversed Kratom Ban Teaches Us About Drug Advocacy in America - Brenden Gallagher, Merry Jane:

November 11, 2016 - "You may not be familiar with the drug kratom, but many Americans are. Kratom is known to relieve pain and anxiety, and has often been used to ease the challenges of getting off of more harmful drugs, namely opioids. The DEA was slated to ban kratom until late September, when an outpouring of public activism by kratom users led to an indefinite delay on such a ban.

"Earlier this year, the DEA announced its intent to place kratom on the list of Schedule I drugs. This is the most restrictive category of banned substances that includes drugs like heroin and LSD. The DEA describes a Schedule I like so: 'Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence.' Kratom users have used the drug to help them kick their OxyContin habit. Despite being a far more addictive substance, OxyContin is a Schedule II drug. Advocates for kratom compare the drug’s addictive power to coffee. No deaths have been linked to the drug....

"Fifty-one lawmakers came together from across the aisle to oppose a kratom ban. One aspect of a proposed ban that stuck in the craw of politicians is that a Schedule I ban prohibits both use of a drug and federally funded research into its potential benefits. Prior scientific research had found that kratom blocks pain receptors and could be an effective tool in combating symptoms of withdrawal. Lawmakers across the country are realizing that in districts that struggle with opioid addiction (and there are many), a victory for kratom could be interpreted as a victory for the beleaguered working class. Backbreaking jobs with gaps in insurance often lead to painkilling abuse, which leads to addiction.

"The kratom reversal came from Congressional activism born from grassroots movements.... Citizen agitation led to coverage from outlets like the Huffington Post and podcasts like Street Fight Radio (hosts Brett Payne and Brian Quimby first brought kratom to my attention). Journalistic research concluded that the Kratom ban was brought about in response to hundred of poison center calls about kratom, even though these calls rarely resulted in medical treatment, and never in serious aid. This signal boost put the issue on the Capitol doorstep. A White House petition created at the end of August garnered 145,000 signatures....

"As we move forward, remember that your advocacy is not limited to the possibilities you are presented by your government. Though the kratom stay may prove only temporary, the tactics its advocates used are permanent. In kratom we can find a valuable lesson: If you want real, effective drug policies in this country, the struggle starts with you."

Read more: https://www.merryjane.com/culture/what-reversed-kratom-ban-teaches-us-about-drug-advocacy-in-america
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Opioid makers spend big to stop legal cannabis

Why Big Pharma is Spending so Much Money to Defeat Marijuana Initiatives - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Eric Boehm:

October 28, 2016 - "Legal marijuana will poison children and cause more Arizonans to die in car crashes, according to scary television and online ads running across the state in advance of Election Day. 'Edibles that look like candy, marketed to kids,' warns one ad, with a voiceover meant to sound like a concerned mother....

"The ads were created by Arizonans For Responsible Drug Policy, a group that's encouraging voters to reject Arizona's Proposition 205, which would allow people aged 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their own homes. Arizona is one of [five] states — along with California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada — that could vote to legalize recreational weed on November 8.

"Despite the voices and faces in the ads, though, Arizonans For Responsible Drug Policy and similar groups urging 'no' votes on marijuana legalization in other states are not funded by concerned parents and public officials. In large part, these groups are funded by pharmaceutical companies trying to protect their share of the market for painkilling drugs — and in Arizona, the biggest donor to the 'No On 205' campaign is a company that's been investigated for its role in overdose deaths.

"That company, Arizona-based Insys Therapeutics Inc., is best known for manufacturing a pain relief spray that contains fentanyl, an opioid that's been under heightened scrutiny for its role in several overdose deaths, including the high-profile death of Prince in April..... Insys Therapeutics in August made a $500,000 contribution to Arizonans For Responsible Drug Policy, the largest donation the group has received from a single source.

"It's not just happening in Arizona. According to a report from The Nation, Purdue Pharma and Abbott Laboratories, makers of the painkiller[s] OxyContin and Vicodin, respectively, are among the largest contributors to the Anti-Drug Coalition of America. Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which advocates on behalf of drug companies, spent nearly $19m on lobbying in 2015, according to a report from The Guardian, which called PhaRMA 'one of marijuana's biggest opponents.' Federal lobbying data aggregated by Maplight shows that PhaRMA has spent more than $150 million on lobbying since 2008 — a total that only includes federal lobbying efforts, not similar work done in state capitals, where PhaRMA is also active....

"[I]t's worth asking why they would be so keen to spend millions of dollars fighting marijuana legalization.

"One big part of the answer is that states with legal marijuana — medical or recreational — have lower rates of drug prescriptions."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/28/why-big-pharma-is-spending-so-much-money
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Fatal ODs fell 25% where medical marijuana legal

Overdoses Fell with Medical Marijuana Legalization - NYTimes.com - Colleen Barry:

April 26, 2016 - "While opioid pain relievers offer critical benefits to certain patients, such as those with cancer-related pain, the rise of opioid prescriptions has had devastating public health consequences. The C.D.C. [Center for Disease control] recently urged physicians to be very cautious in prescribing these drugs.

"Meanwhile, access to medical marijuana has expanded rapidly — 24 states and D.C. have legalized its broad medical use — and chronic or severe pain is the most common condition reported among those using it. On it's face, this might seem to mirror the rise in prescription opioid use.

"But using state-level death certificate data from 1999 to 2010, my colleagues and I found that the annual rate of opioid overdose deaths decreased substantially — by 25 percent on average — following the passage of medical marijuana laws, compared to states that still had bans.

"Could medical marijuana be a safer alternative to opioids for chronic pain management? If so, it would potentially reduce harms from opioid medicines.

"Our study opened the door to that possibility, but it did not establish the causal mechanisms by which marijuana might influence overdose deaths and was conducted before the massive surge in heroin use and related overdose deaths....

"Similarly, we don't know whether the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes will have an impact — positive or negative — on nonmedical use of opioids and heroin. Again, evidence is lacking and will likely depend on how recreational marijuana is regulated."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/26/is-marijuana-a-gateway-drug/overdoses-fell-with-medical-marijuana-legalization
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Free State Project reaches goal of 20,000 pledging to move to New Hampshire

Free State Project reaches milestone - News - seacoastonline.com - Portsmouth, NH - Brian Early:

February 3, 2016 - "The Free State Project, the political migration organization that seeks liberty-minded people to relocate to New Hampshire, reached its goal Tuesday of gathering 20,000 signers who pledge to move to the state within five years of reaching the 20,000 milestone.

"Free State Project President Carla Gericke announced the 20,000th signer at a press conference at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Manchester Wednesday morning, as many Free Staters traveled to the city to celebrate the event, which is to 'trigger the move.'

"The pledge that 20,000 people have signed states, 'I hereby state my solemn intent to move to New Hampshire within five years of the Free State Project reaching 20,000 participants. Once there, I will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals' rights to life, liberty and property.'

"Gericke said in an impromptu speech Tuesday evening at an FSP moving party, “We believe in peace, we believe in prosperity, we believe in making everyone’s lives better, we just don’t agree with the way it’s being done.' Moving parties are among the various support networks FSP participants have created to assist others with moving into the state. It serves as a sort of welcome wagon to new participants into a new community....

"About 10 percent of the FSP pledges have already moved into the state, according to the FSP website, and many have already made changes in the state, including a federal first-amendment case involving Gericke.

"In 2010, Gericke was arrested for illegal wiretapping after she tried to film a traffic stop in Weare that involved her friends. While the charges were dropped prior to trial, Gericke sued the town, the police and the officers involved in her arrest in U.S. District Court. In 2014, the court affirmed the public’s right to record police performing public duties.

"Last year, Free Stater Rep. Amanda Bouldin, D-Manchester, filed the bill that became law, which made it easier to obtain Narcan, the opiate antidote. Bouldin is also credited for starting the private charity Shire Sharing. Gericke said the charity started with feeding 52 families and has grown to feed 1,000 families last Thanksgiving. Other participants have worked to pass the medical cannabis law and jury nullification law that affirms the rights of juries to judge the application of the law in relationship to the facts in controversy....

"While there are those who have moved from other states to New Hampshire, there are also about 2,600 residents known as Friends of the FSP. One of those is Dover native Kelly Halldorson, who now lives in Rye.

"'I didn’t sign the pledge, because I already lived here,' she said. 'I’m thrilled to have more people come that are liberty oriented. The idea that so many more will be coming is wonderful.' Halldorson home-schooled her children and cited the work of Free State legislators who have helped to either roll back or fight legislation that would further restrict home-schoolers."

Read more: http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20160203/NEWS/160209706
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Bill to legalize medical marijuana introduced in Congress

Va. Rep. Griffith introduces federal ‘Legitimate Use of Medicinal Marijuana Act’ - Tom Jackman, Washington Post blog:

April 30, 2014 - "Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith (R) this week introduced a bill in Congress that would remove the federal obstacle to prescribing and possessing medical marijuana in states where that is legal, such as Virginia. He said he knows this will be a long hard fight, 'but you’ve got to start somewhere.'

"Griffith’s bill is titled the 'Legitimate Use of Medicinal Marijuana Act,' and is only four pages. It moves marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, in a grouping with not only cocaine and methamphetamine but Ritalin and Adderall, drugs prescribed legally for children. Removing marijuana from Schedule I takes it out of the 'no currently accepted medical use' category and allows research to be conducted more easily, and would allow doctors to prescribe it in states where medical marijuana is legal to possess, such as Virginia....

"'Isn’t it cruel,' Griffith said, 'to not allow real doctors, real drug companies and real pharmacists to use marijuana for legitimate medical reasons for real patients? We use all sorts of opioids under the same scenario that this bill would allow us to use marijuana.' He said the Virginia law 'is the right way to go, but the DEA [won't] let anyone use it legally. This eliminates that and allows you to move forward.'"

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/04/30/va-rep-griffith-introduces-federal-legitimate-use-of-medicinal-marijuana-act/
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