We saw this article about debunking cannabis myths and thought it would provide valuable information when you, as an employer, discuss cannabis in the workplace and in the personal lives of your employees. And hopefully you are randomly drug testing those in safety-sensitive positions. We have a blog post here to help you become aware of safety-sensitive positions.
We have provided a summary of the article below but encourage you to read the article in its entirety.
With the growing acceptance of marijuana for medical and recreational use, we wanted to unpack some of the commonly held beliefs about the drug. Tauheed Zaman, an addiction psychiatrist at the University of California San Francisco, helps separate fact from fiction.
- “Today’s marijuana is more potent than it was in previous generations”
It is absolutely a lot stronger. The amount of the main psychoactive in marijuana — a chemical called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — has skyrocketed because of advances in plant breeding and purification over the last few decades. People need to be aware of that.
Bottom line: Yes, marijuana is a lot stronger today in terms of its THC content.
- “Marijuana isn’t that dangerous”
People often compare marijuana to other substances like alcohol or other drugs to say that it’s safer. But something can be dangerous on its own separate from those comparators. And, we know that THC can be very risky for people with certain vulnerabilities.
For example, for people with a family history of addiction, consuming high potency marijuana products increases their risk of developing addiction. Or if someone has a family history of schizophrenia, marijuana can increase their risk of developing psychosis at some point.
Beyond those psychiatric risks, marijuana gets into the whole body and can affect a host of different organ systems like the lungs and possibly even the heart.
Bottom line: The safest use is no use. But the level of danger really depends on an individual’s health and family risk factors, as well as the potency of the products they use and how frequently they use them.
- “Marijuana is a gateway drug”
To be honest, I think the evidence is unclear. But there are a couple of pieces of data we can talk about. First, if we look at all the people who use other illicit substances, many of them started with marijuana. But does that mean if you use marijuana, no matter what you’re more likely to go on to use cocaine or meth? I don’t think that relationship is as clear. It’s really an association and not causation.
Second, we know that all of these substances set off the same reward pathway in the brain. So maybe marijuana primes that reward circuitry and make people more likely to use another substance to get that same reward. But causation is not clear.
Bottom line: The evidence is mixed, but the association is there.
- “Marijuana isn’t addictive”
This is unfortunately false. What we mean by addiction medically is the ongoing use of a substance despite negative consequences. People absolutely continue to use marijuana despite negative consequences. Beyond that, we have medical diagnoses related to cannabis addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. There are three important diagnoses related to marijuana: cannabis intoxication, cannabis withdrawal, and cannabis use disorder. Cannabis use disorder is basically addiction.
So, there are clear criteria for it. It absolutely exists in medical literature. Of all the people who use marijuana, only about 9% will meet the criteria for addiction at some point in their lives. But, if you look at people who start using marijuana as adolescents, that number goes up to 17%. And when you look at daily users, between 25 and 50% will develop an addiction.
Bottom line: While only a minority of people will develop an addiction, people can absolutely get addicted to marijuana, especially if they started using marijuana as an adolescent or if they use it frequently.
- “You can’t overdose on marijuana”
For the vast majority of people, it’s quite hard to overdose on marijuana by itself. But marijuana overdose can happen.
I’ve seen two types of marijuana overdoses in the ER, and I’ve seen both with increasing regularity during the pandemic. One is people who experience worsening their psychiatric condition, particularly psychosis. The THC in cannabis can make that worse. The other thing people can end up in the ER for is cannabis hyperemesis syndrome. People get into a cyclical vomiting syndrome where because they’ve been using marijuana regularly, it kind of sets off a reaction in their system where they throw up uncontrollably.
In addition, I’ve also had patients whose kids or pets have gotten into their edible products and ended up in the hospital with overdoses because it hits their system so much harder.
Bottom line: While casual marijuana users are really unlikely to overdose on marijuana alone, certain groups can be quite vulnerable.
- “Marijuana can cause psychosis”
Marijuana increases the risk of psychotic symptoms like paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations. Hospitalizations and ER visits for those symptoms are higher for people who use marijuana regularly and the risk is dose dependent.
Bottom line: Marijuana is associated with worsening of psychotic symptoms in vulnerable individuals.
- “Marijuana has medicinal or therapeutic value”
There are currently three FDA-approved uses for cannabis or cannabis-derived products: nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy, anorexia related to advance HIV/AIDS, and a couple of rare types of childhood epilepsy.
Nothing else is FDA approved.
Bottom line: Cannabis and cannabis-derived products are FDA approved for three conditions. At this time, there’s little evidence to recommend medical marijuana for other conditions but it’s an active area of research.
James P. Randisi, President of Randisi & Associates, Inc., has been helping employers protect their clients, workforce and reputation through implementation of employment screening and drug testing programs since 1999. This post does not constitute legal advice. Randisi & Associates, Inc. is not a law firm. Always contact competent employment legal counsel. To learn more about the rights of employees who test positive for marijuana, Mr. Randisi can be contacted by phone at 410.494.0232 or Email: info@randisiandassociates.com or the website at Randisiandassociates.com
