Legalized recreational marijuana a substitute for alcohol, but not tobacco
July 17, 2019
Science Daily/Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
The recent wave of recreational cannabis legalization across the U.S. could generate $22 billion in sales per year, but not everyone is happy about it. New research to be published in an upcoming edition of the INFORMS journal Marketing Science, titled, "Asymmetric Effects of Recreational Cannabis Legalization," shows the alcohol industry could be impacted when the substance is legalized.
"It appears the alcohol industry has valid reason to be concerned about legal marijuana and may need creative strategies to avoid market decline if it passes," said Pengyuan Wang, an assistant professor in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
The study shows online searches for alcohol saw a drop of nearly 11%, but tobacco products were searched online nearly 8% more often.
The U.S. alcohol and tobacco industries are worth a combined $300 billion. They are typically avid opponents of marijuana legalization legislation, but this research suggests, "tobacco companies may need to reexamine their presumption, and that anti-cannabis legalization is not to the best of their interest," said Wang.
The research by Wang and co-author Guiyang Xiong of Syracuse University looked at anonymous data from 28 million online searches and 120 million ad impressions from a leading U.S.-based web portal from January 2014 to April 2017.
The study also found the legalization of recreational marijuana increases online searches by adults by 17%. There is actually a decrease in searches done by those age 19 years and younger after the substance is legalized.
"Contrary to widely held public concern after recreational cannabis is legalized, teenagers appear to lose interest, rather than gain interest," added Wang. "Policymakers only concerned with an uptick in teen users, may want to rethink their stance."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190717122621.htm
Legal marijuana reduces chronic pain, but increases injuries and car accidents
Overall hospital stays remain steady after colorado legalized cannabis
May 15, 2019
Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco
The legalization of recreational marijuana is associated with an increase in its abuse, injury due to overdoses, and car accidents, but does not significantly change health care use overall, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco.
In a review of more than 28 million hospital records from the two years before and after cannabis was legalized in Colorado, UCSF researchers found that Colorado hospital admissions for cannabis abuse increased after legalization, in comparison to other states. But taking the totality of all hospital admissions and time spent in hospitals into account, there was not an appreciable increase after recreational cannabis was legalized.
The study, appearing online May 15, 2019, in BMJ Open, also found fewer diagnoses of chronic pain after legalization, consistent with a 2017 National Academy of Sciences report that concluded substantial evidence exists that cannabis can reduce chronic pain.
"We need to think carefully about the potential health effects of substantially enhancing the accessibility of cannabis, as has been done now in the majority of states," said senior author Gregory Marcus, MD, MAS, a UCSF Health cardiologist and associate chief of cardiology for research in the UCSF Division of Cardiology.
"This unique transition to legalization provides an extraordinary opportunity to investigate hospitalizations among millions of individuals in the presence of enhanced access," Marcus continued. "Our findings demonstrate several potential harmful effects that are relevant for physicians and policymakers, as well as for individuals considering cannabis use."
According to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 117 million Americans, or 44.2 percent of all Americans, have used cannabis in their lifetime, and more than 22 million Americans report having used it within the past 30 days. While its use is a federal crime as a controlled substance, 28 states and the District of Columbia now allow it for treating medical conditions. Nine of those states have legalized it for recreational use.
To understand the potential shifts in health care use resulting from widespread policy changes, Marcus and his colleagues reviewed the records of more than 28 million individuals in Colorado, New York and Oklahoma from the 2010-2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, which included 16 million hospitalizations. They compared the rates of health care utilization and diagnoses in Colorado two years before and two years after recreational marijuana was legalized in December 2012 to New York, as a geographically distant and urban state, and to Oklahoma, as a geographically close and mainly rural state.
The researchers found that after legalization, Colorado experienced a 10 percent increase in motor vehicle accidents, as well as a 5 percent increase in alcohol abuse and overdoses that resulted in injury or death. At the same time, the state saw a 5 percent decrease in hospital admissions for chronic pain, Marcus said.
"There has been a dearth of rigorous research regarding the actual health effects of cannabis consumption, particularly on the level of public health," said Marcus, holder of the Endowed Professorship of Atrial Fibrillation Research in the UCSF School of Medicine. "These data demonstrate the need to caution strongly against driving while under the influence of any mind-altering substance, such as cannabis, and may suggest that efforts to combat addiction and abuse of other recreational drugs become even more important once cannabis has been legalized."
The study findings may be beneficial in guiding future decisions regarding cannabis policy, the researchers said.
"While it's convenient and often most compelling to simplistically conclude a particular public policy is 'good' or 'bad,' an honest assessment of actual effects is much more complex," Marcus said. "Those effects are very likely variable, depending on each individual's idiosyncratic needs, propensities and circumstances. Using the revenues from recreational cannabis to support this sort of research likely would be a wise investment, both financially and for overall public health."
The researchers could not explain why overall health care utilization remained essentially neutral, but said the harmful effects simply may have been diluted among the much larger number of total hospitalizations. They said it also may be that some beneficial effects, either at the individual or societal level, such as violent crime, counterbalanced the negatives.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190515110341.htm
All politics -- and cannabis marketing -- are local
Washington, Colorado provide insight for California
December 14, 2017
Science Daily/University of California - Davis
California's legal cannabis market, opening for business on Jan. 1, is expected to quickly grow to be the largest in the nation and worth more than $5 billion a year.
County voting on Proposition 64 that led the state here -- to legalizing sales for recreational use -- can offer insight into how medical marijuana dispensaries will now market themselves, according to research from the University of California, Davis.
"The way that communities vote and the values they have are going to have an impact on how this industry's going to evolve over time," said Greta Hsu, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management and lead author on the paper, soon to be published in the journal Organizational Science.
Hsu draws her conclusions from the experiences of Washington and Colorado. She and her co-authors from Yale and Emory universities examined county voting patterns in the 2012 referendums that legalized marijuana sales in the two states and how medical marijuana dispensaries responded.
In communities where the majority voted against such initiatives, medical marijuana dispensaries maintained a more traditional approach, accentuating the therapeutic benefits of marijuana as an alternative medicine.
However, where the majority voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana sales, medical marijuana dispensaries adopted marketing strategies that de-emphasized the medical orientation and sought to attract recreational customers.
Analysis of dispensary reviews, descriptions
The researchers analyzed information, reviews and descriptions of more than 1,000 medical cannabis businesses, using WeedMaps.com, a crowdsourcing website that is considered the "Yelp of cannabis" for dispensaries and other retailers. The researchers developed a coding system for the language in order to track trends across the two states.
"Some of these dispensaries, when you look at them, they emphasize medicine a lot, and they emphasize their ties to the local community," said Hsu. "Others just emphasize convenience and price."
Marketing recreational vs. medical marijuana
Some clusters of dispensaries were more conservative in their marketing, with statements like: "We aim to educate our patients about cannabis treatments and other alternative health approaches to supplement their medicine."
Despite legalization's substantial disruption to their industry, these businesses continued with their original identity focused on therapy and the patients, said Hsu. They tended to be in counties where the majority voted against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Dispensaries that embraced the new recreational market took more risk by advertising to a broader, emerging consumer class, which has been bolstered by a growing tourism industry.
Supporters for these cannabis businesses emphasized the benefits to the local economy, public health and social justice, casting marijuana as less harmful than alcohol. Dispensaries with this more recreational-oriented marketing tended to be in counties that voted in favor of legalizing recreational use.
Legalization and regulation in California
Communities hold a great deal of power in affecting how dispensaries decide to market themselves, according to Hsu.
In 2009, California was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana, and Proposition 64 legalized recreational marijuana in the state beginning on Jan. 1, 2018. The state has unveiled a new licensing process for the cultivation, manufacturing and sale of marijuana, which is divided into both medicinal and recreational (or adult use) branches.
However, the law gives local municipalities flexibility in deciding how easily dispensaries can operate within their boundaries. Some counties have chosen to ban all dispensaries. Others are carefully regulating sales and businesses through zoning and taxes.
While 57 percent statewide voted in favor of Proposition 64 in 2016, a majority of voters in 18 counties did not. This included Kern County, which recently announced a ban on all marijuana businesses, including existing medicinal dispensaries.
Other applications for research
Hsu said the research contributes to understanding about how local conditions or cultural changes drive dynamics in a broad range of markets including rise of organic agriculture and the growth of energy and wind power.
"Organizations in these changing markets have to think very carefully about how they want to position themselves and about the strategic choices they make," said Hsu.
The paper is titled "Co-opt or Co-exist? A Study of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries' Identity-based Responses to Recreation-use Legalization in Colorado and Washington." The co-authors are Balázs Kovács, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale, and Özgecan Koçak, associate professor of organization and management at Emory.
Hsu, who is an expert in organizational behavior and theory, is continuing related research. She is also studying how cannabis dispensaries in several states are adjusting to changing markets.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdg6js_BwT8&feature=youtu.be
Link to paper: https://gsm.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/cannabis_os_final.pdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171214153334.htm
How can marijuana policy protect the adolescent brain?
February 8, 2017
Science Daily/SAGE
As more states begin to legalize the use of marijuana, more young people may start to believe that it's safe to experiment with the drug. However, those under 25 are more vulnerable to the effects of drugs than are older adults. New legislation on legal marijuana use should include consideration of age limits and other guidelines for safe use, according to the authors of an article published in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, a Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS) journal published in partnership with SAGE Publishing.
"As states consider legislation for marijuana use, it is imperative to determine safe guidelines regarding its impact on the brain, particularly during critical periods of neurodevelopment," commented study authors Staci A. Gruber and Kelly A. Sagar of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "Although 'just say no' did not work as a successful prevention policy, 'just not yet' may be a more effective and informed message to promote, especially among our nation's youth."
Examining research on recreational marijuana's impact on the brain, Gruber and Sagar recommend that laws legalizing marijuana outline restrictions on:
· Age: Some parts of the brain, such as those dealing with planning and problem-solving, continue to develop until the mid-20s. In addition, those who start using marijuana during adolescence are more likely to have problems with memory and to use marijuana at high levels in the future. Policymakers should take into account the risks that marijuana poses to adolescents when considering age restrictions and advertisements for these products should not target youth.
· Frequency and magnitude of use: Those who use marijuana frequently and/or in high doses are more likely to have worse problems with cognition and memory than those who don't. To prevent users from abusing marijuana, policymakers should determine safe guidelines for use.
· Potency: Some varieties of marijuana plants and related products, including concentrates such as oils and wax, have high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's ability to get users high. Other varieties and products contain greater concentrations of non-psychoactive cannabinoids including cannabidiol (CBD), which does not get users high and is well known for its role in treating conditions such as pediatric epilepsy, anxiety, and pain. Instead of treating all types of marijuana as the same, policymakers should consider limits on THC potency for young consumers as well as minimums for potentially beneficial cannabinoids, such as CBD, for medical use.
While recreational marijuana use during vulnerable periods of neurodevelopment has been linked to adverse effects, marijuana and its constituents also appear to hold great therapeutic potential. Currently, "policy has outpaced science, and eased restrictions allowing citizens to use marijuana, in some cases without the benefit of appropriate research," continued Gruber and Sagar. "Additional investigation is warranted and necessary to help guide informed policy decisions. Consumers have a right and a clear need to understand what their chosen marijuana products contain and what to expect."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170208094219.htm
New technique could more accurately measure cannabinoid dosage in marijuana munchies
March 15, 2016
Science Daily/American Chemical Society
As more states decriminalize recreational use of marijuana and expand its medical applications, concern is growing about inconsistent and inaccurate dosage information listed on many products, including brownies and other edibles. But now scientists report that they have developed a technique that can more precisely measure cannabis compounds in gummy bears, chocolates and other foods made with marijuana. They say this new method could help ensure product safety in the rapidly expanding cannabis retail market.
The researchers present their work today at the 251st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
"Producers of cannabis edibles complain that if they send off their product to three different labs for analysis, they get three different results," says Melissa Wilcox, who is at Grace Discovery Sciences. "The point of our work is to create a solid method that will accurately and reliably measure the cannabis content in these products."
More than 30 states and the District of Columbia have either decriminalized cannabis or have allowed legal medical access to it. One recent study has shown that where marijuana edible products are legally available, labeling is at best inconsistent and at worst misleading. In fact, researchers who recently analyzed cannabis products legally purchased in three U.S. cities found that only 17 percent of the tested edibles containing marijuana had labels that accurately listed the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that causes the substance's "high." More than half had detectable levels of another marijuana compound called cannabidiol, or CBD. This substance, which can be used as a pain-reliever and an anti-inflammatory without mind-altering effects, wasn't listed on most of these labels.
These discrepancies are important. Edible marijuana can be more potent and can have longer lasting effects than if it is smoked because of how it is metabolized in the body, says Jahan Marcu, Ph.D., who is at Americans for Safe Access and is vice-chair of the newly formed ACS Cannabis Subdivision. It also takes longer for a person eating a marijuana-containing snack to feel its effects.
"It's a lot easier for an individual to control their dose when smoking," Wilcox says. "The effects of edibles can take a while to happen. You eat them, and then wait to see how you feel in an hour or two. If you ingested too much, you could be in for an unexpectedly bad experience."
Most marijuana edibles are currently analyzed using a device called a high performance liquid chromatograph, or HPLC. But there's a problem using this technique.
"These machines were never designed for you to inject a cookie into them," Marcu says. "The sugars, starches and fats will wreak havoc on HPLC equipment. They can really muck up the works and lead to inaccurate results."
To overcome this problem, Wilcox, Marcu and colleagues placed food samples infused with cannabis into a cryo-mill with dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Then they added abrasive diatomaceous earth -- a silica-based compound sometimes used to keep snails out of gardens -- and ground the mixture to create a homogenous sample. They separated out the various chemical components using a technique called flash chromatography. This allowed them to inject liquid containing only the cannabinoids into an HPLC for analysis. The researchers concluded this process could yield far more accurate and reliable measurements of THC and/or CBD levels in an edible product than was previously possible.
The team is still evaluating their preliminary results and determining whether this technique will work with all cannabis-infused food and drinks. But so far, it appears to accurately measure cannabis content in gummy bears, brownies, cookies and certain topical lotions. According to Marcu, the next step is to install this equipment into commercial labs and train technicians to use it on a larger scale.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160315085618.htm