MPI NEWS
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In 2016, with the passage of Proposition 64 (which legalized the recreational use of marijuana in California for individuals 21 years of age and older), a marijuana addendum was added to Substance Abuse Monitoring (SAM) questionnaires. These additional questions related to how marijuana was used, marijuana use and driving, and the perceived benefits of use, among other topics. This CJ Flash highlights results from 2019, as well as comparisons to 2017 and 2018 when noteworthy, the first full year the new questionnaire was administered to the arrestees (adults and juveniles) booked into a local detention facility and interviewed as part of SAM.
An article was released yesterday by CDC's Office on Smoking and Health is releasing the following tobacco-related article in the CDC journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR):
Key findings include:
- Pod-mods, a type of e-cigarette with prefilled or refillable pod cartridges, were the most commonly confiscated devices from high school youth in California (64%) and North Carolina (74%).
- More than 1,000 e-cigarette products were confiscated at 25 public high schools in California and North Carolina during the 2018–2019 academic year.
- E-cigarette, or vaping, products typically contain nicotine, which is highly addictive, can harm adolescent brain development, and prime the brain for addiction.
- School-level efforts to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use among youth could include adopting and enforcing tobacco-free policies; measures that provide access to resources and treatment for students rather than punishment; implementing evidence-based curricula not sponsored by tobacco companies; and educating school staff and parents about the changing product marketplace and health risks of youth e-cigarette use.
The MPI recently recorded a webinar with the Partners in Prevention, Missouri's higher education substance misuse coalition. The webinar is part of a recently developed training series in partnership with the PTTC. Our presentation discusses data from the most recent MPI Impact Report, COVID-19 impacts, and future prevention recommendations.
There are five webinars on a variety of topics related to substance use prevention and they are all free, you just need to register to access the series. Registration information can be accessed here: https://www.mopiptraining.org/
Cannabis is a plant that has been used for its intoxicating effects for at least a century in the United States and for longer in other cultures. It also has a long history of use around the world for purported medical benefits. More than 100 different cannabinoids have been identified in cannabis. The primary intoxicating cannabinoid in cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) has received increasing public attention in recent years; preliminary findings suggest that CBD may be a useful treatment for several medical conditions and it is not reported to be associated with intoxication or addiction, unlike THC. 1 In this document, the term “cannabis” is used to describe the plant-based products. When the document refers specifically to individual cannabinoids, they are identified as such.
As of Feb 18, 2020, a total of 2807 cases of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) and 68 attributed deaths have been reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Diagnostic criteria for EVALI consists of a mixture of non-specific systemic symptoms (eg, fever, chills, and vomiting) and respiratory symptoms (eg, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, pnoea, and hypoxia), along with detection of lung opacities on imaging. Diagnosis also depends on identifying a history of vaping and careful exclusion of alternative conditions.
A urine drug screen positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, although non-specific for the disease, might be helpful in this aspect by identifying marijuana-containing electronic cigarettes and vape use.