With two minutes left in the half-hour March 5, 2018 presentation – obtained by Public Disclosure – by the Keller Rohrback LLP attorneys on the Purdue Pharma litigation relative to the opioid case before the Lakewood City Council, Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson asked if marijuana was a gateway drug to the opioid problem.
The answer matters since Lakewood may soon decide to allow marijuana retail sales.
The attorneys responded that most often opioid users started without previous marijuana involvement and that they (the attorneys) had seen no studies that back up marijuana as a gateway drug.
However, according to Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), “A 2017 study of over 30,000 American adults demonstrated that marijuana users were more than twice as likely to move on to abuse prescription opioids.”
Lakewood will likely participate with Washington state and the city of Seattle which in late 2017 “joined more than two dozen other government entities across the country suing to hold opioid makers accountable for an addiction crisis that has claimed thousands of lives,” according to a KOMO story.
But what of Lakewood’s pending decision with regards marijuana?
“The link between marijuana and other drugs is one,” wrote the editors of SAM, that “we can’t ignore.”
Will Lakewood?
The gateway is not marijuana, but poor medical practice of thousands of doctors who are quick to prescribe anyone opioids for what should temporary pain relief. More control needs to start by holding these doctors responsible. I had a friend who went to the doctor with pain in his knee and the first thing he asked him was if he wanted oxycodone. That right there shows how this problem started.
Communities with available cannabis have less opioids than ones that don’t.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2676999
Yes Steve. Keep it up! Now I’m waiting for Joe or David to come back and call you out as a pot head again because personal attacks always make the best sound debate. I posted the same study in response to David over posting this story a couple of times on FB.
What is quite interesting in Lena’s comment on Facebook is what she leaves out here on The Suburban Times and that is immediately following what Lena had to say in that venue was this observation by Lea Mester: “Ok update, last night a doctor was on TV explain the new finding from the AMA in the Medical Journal….. Opioid addiction/overdose is down 14/17% in towns across America that have medical marijuana prescribed by doctors for Pain Management. HOWEVER, in another article in the same magazine, recreation use pot is still shown to be a gateway….so the users are very different….”
Lena,
You will need to wait quite a while as I have no plans to call Steve anything. In fact, I have not even been a part of this conversation other than you bringing me into it. So Steve is Steve as far as I am concerned.
Now as to pot heads and dopers; those are universal terms for individuals who’s judgement allows and compels them to acquire, smoke, and share what was once illegal substances and remains an illegal substance under Federal Law.
I suppose we could create a new synonym for pot head, doper, weedster, and roach smoker. Would you consider Cannabis Consumers or Federal Law Breaker to be more to your liking?
What do you call dope smokers?
Joseph Boyle
Also funny that you cite KOMO, the Sinclair mouthpiece. Might as well just let Jeff Sessions himself write the article.
To Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson….you are asking attorneys what they think about marijuana? You better ask about 25 outstanding Doctors with 5 star ratings think about pot. Attorneys would be one of the last people I would get a reference from. Mr. Anderson, why don’t you ask people who lived the pot scene back in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s and let them tell you some stories on how it is a gateway drug. People who have had experience back in the day could tell you stories that would make your hair stand on your head.
Mr Anderson, you have a lot to learn from this and I suggest you go down to the pot stores in Tacoma, or Seattle, incognito and watch what goes on before you make a decision and definitely talk to some physicians and get their take.
Just because you read it on the internet doesn’t mean it is true. On the evening of March 5 I was on an airplane returning from San Francisco and missed the city council meeting. BTW, being an attorney myself, I would be one of the last to ask an attorney for advice on science.
My apologies to Mayor Don Anderson. I went back to the written copy of the minutes for the City Council the evening of March 5 (linked below) and indeed Mayor Anderson was the lone excused absence from the City Council.
In the audio recording, obtained by Public Disclosure, someone – not Mayor Anderson – in the ensuing discussion did ask the question that evening with two minutes left in the half-hour presentation by the Keller Rohrback LLP attorneys on the Purdue Pharma litigation relative to the opioid case if marijuana was a gateway drug to the opioid problem.
The answer, per the Keller Rohrback LLP attorneys, is as supplied in this article.
Evidently there are those – not Mayor Anderson – who do not have the same qualms as the Mayor at asking a rather pertinent question of attorneys relative to drug abuse.
Especially as it relates to the decision looming before the Council with regards marijuana.
There is evidence – denied by attorneys and would-be cannabis retailers – that marijuana is linked to harder drugs.
Will the council ignore that evidence and approve marijuana retail?
The Clover Park School District Board has already voted unanimously ‘no’; the Planning Commission likewise voted no in a 4-2 decision.
The Council, meanwhile, is scheduled to review matters concerning marijuana at its Study Session April 23; followed by a public hearing May 7; followed by yet another Study Session May 14, if needed; and a vote May 21.
https://www.cityoflakewood.us/documents/city_council/city_council_agenda_packets/2018_03_19_Council_Agenda.pdf
Are many American doctors educated about cannabis? No. They and the entire US pharmaceutical industry have a vested interest in keeping it illegal. I’d take any their opinions with a huge grain of salt.