Cannabis Study House - NORML Weekly News in Audio 2006.5.11

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Weekly News in Audio

May 11, 2006

Cannabis Exposure Not Toxic To The Developing Brain, Study Says

Teens More Likely To Try Marijuana After Viewing Feds' Anti-Pot Ads, Study Says

State-Authorized Medi-Pot Patient May Be Fired For Failing Workplace Drug Test, Oregon Supreme Court Rules

Orangeburg, NY:
Cannabis Exposure Not Toxic To The Developing Brain, Study Says

Moderate-to-heavy adolescent cannabis use does not appear to be damaging to the developing brain, according to clinical trial data published this week in the Harm Reduction Journal.

Researchers at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and the New York University School of Medicine found "no ... evidence of cerebral atrophy or loss of white matter integrity" attributable to cannabis use in the brains of frequent adolescent marijuana users compared to non-using controls, after performing MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans and other advanced imaging technology.

Participants in the study self-reported having used marijuana at least two-to-three times per week for several years prior to age 18, but were not current users. Study volunteers were matched for sex, age, and social class with control subjects with no history of cannabis use. Investigators scanned participants' brains using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a sophisticated MRI technique that can detect the degradation of nerve fibers (e.g. white matter) that carry information between brain cells.

"It is concluded that frequent cannabis use is unlikely to be neurotoxic to the normal developing adolescent brain," researchers determined. Investigators further added that their findings, though preliminary, "have implications for refuting the hypothesis that cannabis alone can cause psychiatric disturbance such as schizophrenia by directly producing brain pathology."

Two prior MRI studies published in 2000 and 2005 also reported no difference in gray or white matter volumes in heavy adult cannabis users compared to non-users.

San Marcos, TX:
Teens More Likely To Try Marijuana After Viewing Feds' Anti-Pot Ads, Study Says

Teenagers exposed to anti-marijuana public service announcements (PSAs) produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) are more likely to hold positive attitudes about the drug and are more likely to express their intent to use cannabis after viewing the advertisements, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors.

Two hundred and twenty-six volunteers age 18- to 19-years old took part in the study. Participants viewed either a series of anti-marijuana PSAs accessed from the ONDCP website or a series of anti-tobacco advertisements. Investigators then surveyed viewers' attitudes toward the two substances by using a five-point scale (e.g., good-bad) and computerized implicit association tests (IATs). Researchers also measured respondents' intent to use either marijuana or tobacco via a 10-point scale (e.g., agree-disagree).

Investigators found that viewers expressed significantly fewer negative attitudes toward marijuana after viewing the ads. No such "boomerang effect" was noted among those who viewed anti-tobacco advertising.

"It appears that ... anti-marijuana public statement announcements used in national anti-drug campaigns in the US produce immediate effects [that are the] opposite [of those] intended by the creators of this campaign," authors concluded. "This reactance effect was triggered only by anti-marijuana ads [and] not by anti-tobacco ads. Therefore, it cannot be attributed to a general disposition [by adolescents] to respond with reactance (e.g. rebelliousness) to any anti-substance use persuasion."

Investigators added: "Students viewing anti-marijuana advertising [also] declared significantly higher intention to use this substance than students exposed to anti-tobacco ads, while controlling for pre-existing differences in attitudes to marijuana. ... [This] would suggest that exposure to anti-marijuana advertising might not only change young viewers attitudes to [become] more positive toward this substance, but also might directly increase [their] risk of using marijuana."

The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, initiated by Congress in 1998, has spent more than $2 billion in taxpayers' money and matching funds producing and airing anti-marijuana advertisements, including several alleging that the use of cannabis funds international terrorist activities.

Portland, OR:
State-Authorized Medi-Pot Patient May Be Fired For Failing Workplace Drug Test, Oregon Supreme Court Rules

A private employer may terminate an employee for failing a company drug test, even if that employee is authorized under state law to use cannabis medicinally, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled. The decision reverses a prior ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals that found that employers should make disability-related accommodations for workers who use cannabis for medical purposes.

A majority of the court ruled that the plaintiff did not meet the definition of a "disabled person" under state law because he could offset his symptoms (leg spasms) with prescription medications other than cannabis. "Because plaintiff can counteract his physical impairment through mitigating measures, his impairment does not, at this time, rise to the level of a substantial limitation on a major life activity," the court found.

In a concurring opinion, one of the judges also held that "federal law preempts state employment discrimination law to the extent that it requires employers to accommodate medical marijuana use."

A similar case (Ross v. Ragingwire Telecommunications) is now before the California Supreme Court.

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