<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Yes, we have become considerably wiser since 1938 and the baseless days of . . .</div><div><br></div><div><b>"Reefer Madness"</b></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/Videos/ReeferMadness.htm">http://www.moscowcares.com/Videos/ReeferMadness.htm</a></div><div><br></div><div>Courtesy of today's (September 1, 2016) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------</div><div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 48px; margin: 5px 0px 20px; font-family: 'Chronicle Display A', 'Chronicle Display B', serif; line-height: 1; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-feature-settings: 'liga' 1, 'dlig' 1; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Survey: More U.S. adults use marijuana, don’t think it’s risky</h1><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">NEW YORK – Marijuana use is becoming more accepted among U.S. adults as states loosen pot laws, new national survey data shows. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More are using marijuana, using it more often and far fewer think it’s risky, the government survey found. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That’s understandable, experts say, as dozens of states now allow medical marijuana and four states have recently legalized pot for recreational use. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More than a half million U.S. adults participated in the survey over a dozen years, and the responses show a shift in attitude. Only a third of adults in 2014 said they thought weekly marijuana use was dangerous, down from half of adults in 2002. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That runs counter to scientific research about pot, said Dr. Wilson Compton, lead author of the study published online Wednesday by the journal Lancet Psychiatry. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“If anything, science has shown an increasing risk that we weren’t as aware of years ago,” said Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Other research has increasingly linked marijuana use to mental impairment, and early, heavy use by people with certain genes to increased risk of developing psychosis, he noted. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some highlights of the report, which compared 2002 to 2014: </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– About 1 in 8 adults said they used marijuana in the past year, up from 1 in 10. The number of marijuana users grew to about 32 million. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Daily use doubled, to 3.5 percent or about 8.4 million U.S. adults </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– Changes in marijuana use and perception began to really climb in 2006-2007. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">– No increase was seen in reported marijuana use disorders, like impaired memory, difficulty thinking and withdrawal symptoms like cravings, sleeplessness and depression. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That’s surprising since law enforcement officials say marijuana is more potent than in the past, wrote Australian researcher Wayne Hall in an editorial in the journal. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More use should mean more reports of marijuana-related disorders. Another U.S. survey did find such an increase in recent years, Hall noted. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I agree that this is a puzzle,” and needs to be researched further, Compton said. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marijuana use remains illegal under federal law. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws, and starting in 2014, Colorado and Washington began allowing recreational sales. Alaska and Oregon now also allow sales without a doctor’s note. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Hall said it’s likely those changes will increase the use of marijuana and perhaps reports of disorders. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The study didn’t report on kids, only those 18 and older. But research drawn from another large survey has shown marijuana use among high school students has been falling. Over two decades, it dropped from 25 percent to about 22 percent. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Why are fewer kids using pot at a time more and more adults are? </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There could be a lag. Youths have said in surveys that it seemed to be getting harder in the last decade to get marijuana. But that may change as more states legalize the drug, more adults use it, and if teens get into less trouble if caught with the drug, experts said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;">An employee arranges glass display containers of marijuana on shelves at a retail and medical cannabis dispensary in Boulder, Colo. According to survey data published online Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, in the scientific journal, The Lancet Psychiatry, marijuana use is becoming more accepted among adults as states have loosened pot laws.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 17.6px;"><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/Photos/SR_090116_Cannabis_Dispensary.jpg">http://www.moscowcares.com/Photos/SR_090116_Cannabis_Dispensary.jpg</a></p></div><div>--------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></div></body></html>