The legalization of marijuana and increased use of illegal drugs by young people is prompting San Diego to add those substances to a 15-year-old law that allows police to cite anyone hosting a party where underage drinking occurs.

The San Diego City Council’s public safety committee on Wednesday unanimously approved amending the city’s “social host” ordinance to include marijuana and illegal drugs in addition to alcohol.

If the full council approves the change later this winter, San Diego would join Escondido, San Marcos, Chula Vista and Santee as local cities that have expanded their social host laws.

Click here for complete Union Tribune story.

The American Academy of Pediatrics called Monday for a major new effort to discourage children and teenagers from using e-cigarettes. According to AAP data, last year 20 percent of high school students, and five percent of middle school students, used e-cigarettes; that is a 75 percent jump overall since 2017.

"The increasing use of e-cigarettes among youth threatens five decades of public health gains," the AAP said.

MPI hosted a media event regarding the initial findings from the ABCD study. Marijuana is legal but that doesn’t make it safe for our teenagers who are in a period of rapid growth. Some researchers are concerned that using marijuana as a young adult can have harmful and long lasting effects on their health and well-being.

KUSI’s Dani Ruberti has more on this story.

A few years ago, the National Academy of Medicine convened a panel of sixteen leading medical experts to analyze the scientific literature on cannabis. The report they prepared, which came out in January of 2017, runs to four hundred and sixty-eight pages. It contains no bombshells or surprises, which perhaps explains why it went largely unnoticed. It simply stated, over and over again, that a drug North Americans have become enthusiastic about remains a mystery.

To view New York Times article, click here.

Retails sales of marijuana began in California back in January. While the marijuana industry celebrates the increase in access to marijuana, we are ignoring an emerging public health issue.

Marijuana products available today contain much higher amounts of the psychoactive chemical THC than 10 years ago. Between 1995 and 2014, the potency of federally-seized marijuana has more than doubled from approximately 4 percent to 12 percent, not including concentrates and edibles.

While the industry downplays the risks associated with marijuana, new data and research on even low-potency marijuana products are helping us to understand the impact of pot use on a child’s developing brain.

To view full Times of San Diego article, click here.