Medscape: Young Men at Highest Schizophrenia Risk From Cannabis Abuse

[MWolf]

This article in interesting, but not conclusive. However, it does mean that people, especially young men, from families with a history of schizophrenia should avoid use of cannabinoids.

However, regarding some of the way that people react to talk of cannabis, all I can say is:

“Reefer Madness” lives!!!

@anon87843660

They also use kids under 18 to sell the more potent stuff, which is usually a well-known active combined with fentanyl or xylazine.

This is a common myth.

(Fentanyl Facts and Fiction: A Safety Guide for First Responders - JEMS: EMS, Emergency Medical Services - Training, Paramedic, EMT News)

A quote from this article:

Fentanyl-laced cannabis products are a malevolent myth that has appeared multiple times in law enforcement press releases and subsequent media reports.12 These rumors began as early as 2017 when a county coroner in Ohio erroneously stated that he had seen evidence of marijuana laced with fentanyl. It was later determined that his remarks were unsubstantiated and were based on third-hand hearsay. To-date, there are no scientifically verified reports fentanyl contamination of cannabis products.13 Writer and drug researcher Claire Zagorski notes that in addition to the paucity of evidence associated with the rumors, fentanyl is destroyed and rendered inert when it is burned. Meaning that even if it made its way onto cannabis flower, it would not have any effect on the individuals who inhaled it when smoking.14 Additionally, fentanyl is not well absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract, which is why there are no oral preparations of the medication which minimizes the risk of its impact if it were to end up in edible products. Finally, it is worth noting that it is possible that fentanyl could be vaporized (heated to its boiling point as opposed to burning). However, it requires much higher temperatures than are found in vaping devices that are used to consume tobacco and cannabis products.

According to producers, the maximum temperature of most commercially produced vape devices is approximately 428 degrees Fahrenheit, and it would require temperatures close to 900 degrees Fahrenheit to vaporize fentanyl.15 The maximum temperature of the devices is limited because the higher temperatures would destroy and render inert the tobacco and cannabis products that they are intended for. There are a multitude of postmortem toxicology reports that note the presence of both cannabinoids and opioids in the bodies of overdose victims. This is believed to be coincidental and the result of the ingestion of different substances at different times. It may also be related to the extended half-life of cannabis in human body compared to the relatively rapid excretion of opioids.16 While the risk of fentanyl contamination in illicit pills and powder cannot be overstated, the risk of being exposed to it when ingesting cannabis products is essentially non-existent.

There are also many people who suffer from opioid overdose who claim that they only smoked pot. That doesn’t mean that they had fentanyl laced marijuana, but rather that they are lying, because that’s what addicts, especially opioid addicts, do.

There are many cases in which fake prescription pills that were laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl is a problem. Fentanyl is a HUGE problem. Fake prescription drugs laced with fentanyl being sold on the black market are an enormous problem.

Something to consider. Although Black and White people use cannabis at similar rates, arrests for possession of cannabis are more than twice as high for Black people as for White people. In some states is can be 7 or 8 times as high:

https://www.aclu.org/report/tale-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-era-marijuana-reform

ACLU Graphics & Visualizations

Is Cannabis “safe”?

It’s a psychoactive drug, so probably not.

Is it any more dangerous than, say, alcohol?

No.