Pot & Nicotine Tradiing Places As Dr. Evil?

Put this in your pipe: A study claims cannabis smokers go to the ER a lot more than others & a pundit says FDA’s anti-nicotine “myopia” foolishly ignores its health benefits? Talk about reversing conventional wisdom?

Let’s put the pot before the kettle. According to the BMJ Open Respiratory Research, folks smoking cannabis went to ER rooms or were hospitalized 22% more often than non-users. While widely believed to have assorted health benefits, the researchers noted pot-weed-dope’s parallel and counter-productive “mind-altering” THC component and inevitable respiratory effects associated with smoking ANY product. As it turned out, lung issues were cited as the leading cause of pot-related trips to the hospital. “Our research demonstrates that cannabis use in the general population is associated with heightened risk of clinically serious negative outcomes,” lead author Dr. Nicholas Vozoris told Fox News, and “health care pros & gov’t should” be discouraging “recreational cannabis consumption” pending more research. What else?

As for the much-maligned “nicotine”, the WSJ’s Holman Jenkins argues the FDA’s “legal parsing plus ideology has the agency reenacting the folly of Prohibition.” Why? While smoking has been shown to cause lung cancer, nicotine, although addictive, improves mood, lessens anxiety & is otherwise benign. “So guess which the FDA will seek to ban?” Mr. Jenkins asks. Unfortunately, he explains, the FDA’s planned regs ratcheting down nicotine in cigs as well as banning JUUL electronic cigs would be “a gift to organized crime” and/or tobacco companies as was Prohibition. That’s because, he says, addicted smokers will simply switch to Marlboros or Brand X to get their nicotine fix, even if it means they “have to suck harder” to get calm. Dunno. My head hurts thinking about all this science.

Davd Soul