Posted on July 22, 2021 View all news
Every Brain Matters Takes Action and we need your help!
Now on our site, you will find well-researched professional letters addressing the science behind the many harms of marijuana, to send to your legislators, doctors, business associates, city council, or anyone you think needs to read them. These are all peer-reviewed, free, and approved by a team of doctors and researchers.
These letters have been compiled for our EBM Advocacy team by medical and research professionals, and now are available for your use! They are part of an ongoing project to educate Congress led by EBM Advocacy members and cover a wide variety of topics:
May 2021
Dear :
I am writing to you today as I am very concerned for American families and communities regarding the widespread marketing and legalization of marijuana and the drug expansion culture.
I am contacting you with peer-reviewed science and data because we have been impacted negatively by the rampant marijuana proliferation in our communities. My goal is to provide policymakers with data and research to support your efforts in advancing legislation that promotes public health and safety for all Americans. I feel the attached articles could be helpful to you as you continue to pass informed legislation on marijuana and other drugs.
The marijuana lobby is aggressive in promoting an agenda that would increase access and availability of high potency, addictive products. Like Big Tobacco, they are not concerned with the science or societal impacts, only profits. You may have been told that marijuana is harmless and even safe. This could not be further from the truth. The science of marijuana harms is not debatable.
It is popular belief that marijuana is medicine; however, anecdotal claims and unscientific reports are not sufficient evidence to further legalize/promote marijuana use. All FDA-approved pharmaceuticals have undergone scientific rigors, some of which began over a century ago.
There have been FDA-approved marijuana-related products since 1985 (dronabinol = THC, Marinol®, generic versions) and 2018 (cannabidiol = CBD, Epidiolex®). These products have undergone the scientific rigors of medical research unlike the marijuana and current “retail CBD” products — which are not regulated by the FDA — that are sold in many states to an uninformed public.
The goal of this email, and future emails, is to provide you with peer-reviewed scientific evidence about the many hazards of marijuana. To date, there exist over 36,200 articles on marijuana research on the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine (.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=marijuana).
Attached please find in this month three related peer-reviewed scientific articles on the topic of second-hand marijuana smoke:
Wilson KM, et al. Detecting biomarkers of secondhand marijuana smoke in young children. 2017;81(4):589-592. Doi:10.1038/pr.2016.261 https://www.nature.com/articles/pr2016261.pdf
Wilson KM, et al. Marijuana and tobacco coexposure in hospitalized children. 2018;142(6):1-7. Pediatrics. e20180820
Here are three important facts from these articles for your consideration.
- One out of six or 16% of children under 2 years of age, hospitalized with bronchiolitis in Colorado between 2013-2015, were found to have marijuana products in their blood, indicating prior exposure to the drug.
- Approximately 50% of hospitalized Colorado children whose parents were in a smoke cessation program also showed biologic evidence of exposure to marijuana.
- In animals, only one minute of exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke substantially harms vascular function for at least 90 minutes, suggesting that secondhand marijuana smoke can harm the heart and blood vessels just as we know secondhand tobacco smoke contributes to heart attacks and peripheral vascular disease.
Thank you for reading my letter and the accompanying peer-reviewed scientific articles. If you can help us find any peer-reviewed, scientific articles that show that second-hand cannabis smoke exposure is not harmful– please send them to me. Simply reply to this email.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this very serious issue.
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