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The CDC really screwed up by not putting out a clear message about the THC carts sooner than they did. By combining the issue of e-cigarettes and youth nicotine addiction, with THC oil contamination and illnesses/deaths, I imagine there are a lot of people who don't know what to believe anymore.
Blackmarket carts keep getting vaped from what I have heard, and as long as this is still happening, people are going to keep getting sick or dying from bad product. If the two issues (youth addiction and bad THC oil) had been handled separately by the CDC we might still be seeing a vapocalypse, but it would have been much easier to warn THC oil users about the dangers of bad carts. The CDC could have saved more lives with a THC oil targeted announcement launched at the beginning of this disaster. I've lost a lot of faith in the government lately.
Let's hope we're approaching the end of this outbreak.
No details about the latest one in PA. THC vs. nicotine. Recent vs. old (&reported today).
The good thing is that this the first time I hear a health official putting the blame unambiguously on illegal THC. No mention of flavors ...etc. (all that rubbish)
Pennsylvania Health Officials Confirm Vaping-Related Death In State
No details about the latest one in PA. THC vs. nicotine. Recent vs. old (&reported today).
The good thing is that this the first time I hear a health official putting the blame unambiguously on illegal THC. No mention of flavors ...etc. (all that rubbish)
Pennsylvania Health Officials Confirm Vaping-Related Death In State
I agree with you totally. But there's an additional problem - the federal government still maintains that cannabis is inherently as dangerous as some really hard drugs (it's schedule I). IMO, until they correct that nonsense, there will be a lot of people out there who won't be listening to government warnings about these products either way, due to a lack of trust since they've been lied to for years about it. Problem is, this stuff is true, and serious. (it's kind of a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario, IMO)
That said, a friend down in TN tells me the guy he knows who was selling carts can't unload a single one because people are afraid. And this was a few weeks ago when this was all getting started. Hopefully the word is really getting out to the people who need to hear it now.
I lost my faith in government long ago. I'd love for them to regain my faith by doing the right things in a number of areas. I haven't lost all hope, but it's distant and fading.
Black markets are not known for product recalls. What has been made, will most likely be sold at some point of time if not confiscated during a bust.
As for faith in the government. Last time I had faith for the government was back in 1996 when the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien put a choke hold on a protester. Had absolute faith the WWF (now WWE) would sign him up under the heel name of Killer Chrétien. Never happened and have since lost faith.
As for faith in the government. Last time I had faith for the government was back in 1996 when the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien put a choke hold on a protester. Had absolute faith the WWF (now WWE) would sign him up under the heel name of Killer Chrétien. Never happened and have since lost faith.
The problem has been that cannabis has been a Schedule I drug almost forever. In the 60's, with all the drug experimentation at the time, cannabis was viewed as a gateway drug. Smoke it and next up hallucinogens (there were a lot of bad outcomes with that stuff at that time) and within a month you'll be a wild eyed ...... addict. By the late 60's early 70's you had a dramatic increase in opiate and ...... use. It was related, in at least part, to returning vets from Vietnam who developed use disorders while overseas, and bringing it back with them to the US. It became a public health crisis (legitimately, although not for the reasons being given at the time) and we declared the War on Drugs.
Big bucks went, and are still going, into that "war". Entire government agencies were built up and even foreign policies created all in support of that war. All for a war that could never be won, least of all with the tactics employed. Because cannabis was named as a gateway (like teen vaping to cigarettes) admission of error means unraveling all that time, effort, endless incarcerations, and lives lost. Getting a 50 year old established entrenched system flipped is no easy task, and no one wants to flip the system and get nailed by a public that still isn't all on board with revising our entire way of thinking about drugs and abuse. Actions on a state level are easier as they will typically occur in those where the population is most comfortable with the changes. Some conservative states will never take that step, and they won't look kindly on changes forced on them on a federal level.
The fact remains that for some substances, a medical model makes the most sense rather than a legal approach. opiates are a classic example of a use disorder best treated medically with harm reducing alternatives, which are not limited to the old standby methadone but by the newer and reasonably effective Suboxone, but there are roadblocks set up for the average physician to prescribe it (political nonsense against any single doctor having too many opiate addicts in treatment in the nice community they have their office, unlike the methadone clinic in the middle on nowhere people can ignore). We also have ridiculous guidelines, thanks to poorly worded recommendations from the CDC that resulted in limiting and stopping medical opiate use for chronic pain management (interesting how they pop up again). All that did was force legitimately ill patients to turn to the black market and ...... for relief. Throw in cheap and easy to get fentanyl, and now look where we are. The highest rate of overdoses and deaths ever seen.
Of course the CDC backpedaled and stated they were only guidelines that were not regulations, and doctors were supposed to use their own judgement, but tell that to physicians watching other docs being raided by the DEA who did interpret them as regulations, even if unfounded. Why take the chance? Refer them to a pain management center where they have a greater chance of getting caught up in even more opiate prescriptions, as insurance companies hate paying for expensive alternative pain management techniques. Net result? Worse outcomes, more people in pain, more turning to illicit sources, more overdoses, incarcerations, and broken families.
Until we just throw our hands up and admit the whole approach is a failure, and put the money into substance abuse treatment, and differentiate an addict from a criminal, we'll just continue on the same broken ride. I'm not supporting legalize everything, allow dealers to peddle whatever they want to, but if you really want to get rid of drug trafficking, dealing, and avoidable deaths, start treating it like the medical disorder it is, and pay for the damn care. It'll still be cheaper than what we currently spend on these blunt, broken enforcement programs.
Great write-up. You may find this interesting - I sure did:
Poll: 55% of Americans Favor Decriminalizing Drugs
This war has been a complete and total failure. And it has bred contempt for law enforcement, which is a really bad thing (I am very supportive of law enforcement, myself). I don't have high hopes for an end to the current approach for drugs at large, but I would love to see the kind of change you're suggesting.
I agree on all your points. It's a deep seated problem that undermines our criminal justice system, and doesn't address the problem. Even if you're sentenced to prison, most (if any) have any sort of treatment program beyond maybe a 12 step group. There are no MAT programs in prisons.It's abstinence based, which means drugs smuggled in and sold to prisoners.
I would point out that if you take those poll numbers and map them over the electoral map, the numbers may be right, but their distribution doesn't match what you need to get elected under the electoral college. And that's always what's at play. You don't win with a majority of the votes, or a majority of favorable voters, you win with electoral college votes.
...but NOT UNTIL MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE ARTICLE !
ALMOST TO THE END.
This truth needs to be headlined !
People are dying.
Plus, the government isn't really prone to doing things that a majority of us favor. Still an interesting trend for public opinion, but yeah, doesn't give me much hope for a systemic change.
The CDC did Exactly what they wanted to do.
And it Achieved Exactly what the CDC wanted it to Achieve.
Re- or de-scheduling it, or even outright legalizing it on the federal level does not force a state to do the same. None of these actions on the federal level would prevent a state from keeping it illegal with whatever penalties it desires within its borders if it wanted to.
Now 23 ...
Bronx Teenager’s Death Is the Youngest Vaping Fatality in U.S.
The state has previously reported that at least one vape product containing vitamin E acetate has been linked to nearly every patient that submitted a product for testing.
Gov. Cuomo Reports Teenage Boy Is First New Yorker To Die From Vaping-Related Illness
CBS2 has learned officials will investigate whether the 17-year-old was sickened by Vitamin E acetate while vaping an illegal cartridge with THC, the key ingredient that causes a marijuana high.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that has been a common denominator in many cases.
Bronx Teenager’s Death Is the Youngest Vaping Fatality in U.S.
A 17-year-old Bronx boy whose death was disclosed by New York State officials on Tuesday is the first teenager in the United States to die of a vaping-related illness, according to federal and state data.
The death brought the total number of vaping-related deaths in the United States to 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state agencies.
New York identifies first vaping-related death as Bronx teenThe death brought the total number of vaping-related deaths in the United States to 23, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state agencies.
The state has previously reported that at least one vape product containing vitamin E acetate has been linked to nearly every patient that submitted a product for testing.
CBS2 has learned officials will investigate whether the 17-year-old was sickened by Vitamin E acetate while vaping an illegal cartridge with THC, the key ingredient that causes a marijuana high.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that has been a common denominator in many cases.
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Very true and that includes in our own forum. Right now, plenty of our own headlines are furthering the same lie that the mass media is pushing.
Very true and that includes in our own forum. Right now, plenty of our own headlines are furthering the same lie that the mass media is pushing.
Yes, it seems we have some wannabe journalists on board
I think it can become an Obsession with some.
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Now 26 ...
- Vaping-related lung injuries now in all states but one, new CDC numbers show - CNN
- Vaping death toll rises to 26 - as patient becomes first to die of e-cig lung disease at home
- Vaping-Related Lung Illnesses Jump to 1,299, With 26 Deaths, CDC Says
- Texas reports first vape-related death as US fatalities climb to 26
- 26 vaping-related deaths reported across US, nearly 1,300 cases
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