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Up In Smoke: Myths & Facts About Cannabis, University Of Maine Counseling Center, University Of Maine Student Wellness Resource Center

General University of Maine Publications

Please join the Counseling Center, Student Wellness Resource Center, and our expert panelists for a lively discussion about cannabis - myths, facts, & how cannabis impacts your brain & mental health. This salon will be moderated by Angela Fileccia, LCSW, Director of the Counseling Center, and Kevin Hudson, MA, Student Wellness Educator.

Panelists: Robert Glover, PhD, Political Science & Honors; John Hudak, Director, Maine Office of Cannabis Policy; Krutika Rathod, Doctoral Student, Clinical Psychology; Peter Sparks, PhD, Department of Psychology.

Examining The Relationship Between Undergraduate Female Students Marijuana Use And Gpas, Darrel E. Hicks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Marijuana use has been linked to poor undergraduate student academic performance, yet cannabis continues to be the substance most often used by college students. The purpose of the current research was to add to the limited body of literature about the relationship between female undergraduate marijuana use and lower GPAs. The study explored how marijuana use impacted the GPAs of undergraduate African American females. The research question addressed whether a significant relationship exists between marijuana use and lower GPAs for this population. Complex adaptive systems theory was the lens used to better understand the phenomenon during a time of rapid …

The Experiences Of Nyc's Social Equity Cannabis Initiative, Jimmie J. Mckinney Ii

Capstones

This capstone is a photo essay documenting the experiences of a few recreational cannabis dispensary applicants. These stores will be some of the first legal dispensaries in NYS and owned by those once arrested for cannabis-- and their families. Photography, text, and videography are incorporated in the project.

Here is a link to my capstone website: https://readymag.com/u2050520461/4094571/

Review Of Cannabis Use Among Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People, Julia Butt, Mandy Wilson, Jocelyn Jones, Simon Lenton

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

The health effects of cannabis use may not always be seen as a high priority for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. However, the impact of cannabis use on physical and mental health can have significant consequences. It is known that the use of high potency cannabis has increased over the last two decades, with a corresponding increased risk to health. In particular, young people are at increased risk of experiencing harms to mental health. Physical harms to health include effects on the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, an increased risk of cancer, and in-utero effects from maternal use. The review …

Dismantling Power And Patriarchy: Reconceptualizing Entrepreneurship Through Feminist Research Methods, Heatherjean Macneil

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Initial research has shown how male and heroic idealism of the entrepreneur (Ahl, 2006), the gendering of entrepreneurial ecosystems (Özkazanç-Pan & Muntean, 2021), and societal racism (Wingfield, 2008), contribute to othering conditions for entrepreneurs who are not white and male (Ahl, 2006). Not only does this othering effect create interlocking and compounded barriers, (Collins and Blige, 2016), but a diverse perspective of how-to entrepreneur is lost amidst dominant discourse and homogenous norms. To disrupt this patriarchal mold, this dissertation investigates: How does social identity shape early-stage entrepreneurship? It applies feminist theory and qualitative research methods to explore the lived experiences …

Twenty-First Century Global Drug Trades And Consumption, James T. Bradford

Faculty Works

Twenty years after the UN General Assembly Special Session called on the international community to commit to a “drug-free world,” the world is anything but drug-free. Drug use has become an even more global problem. This chapter maps trends in the global consumption and production of illicit drugs since the 1990s. First, it explores the centrality of heroin, particularly in Afghanistan, which produces 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium, and traces heroin’s evolution in the United States, as diversified by pharmaceutical opioids and fentanyl. Second, it tracks the globalization of cocaine use, its new markets in Africa and Europe …

Toward Socially Equitable Conditions: Change In Complex Regulatory Systems, Katherine A. Hoffman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this qualitative participatory action research was to explore how complexity is engaged and experienced in complex regulatory systems, and to understand how cannabis might be regulated in ways that lead to socially equitable conditions. This was accomplished by studying the lived experiences of governmental leaders charged with the responsibility of establishing regulatory frameworks for legalized cannabis where none previously existed. Using the learning history methodology, the study deeply explores the ways that complex systems coexist by capturing the lived experiences of research participants and enhance theoretical understanding of complex regulatory systems. Data collection occurred through reflective interviews, …

Black Drugs: Narcotic Temperance And Moral Productivity In Egypt, 1882-1920, Ziv Benjamin Barancik

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Narcotics are often relegated to the histories of crime or of medicine when in fact they can be tremendously relevant to all manner of histories given their unique potential to muddle and delineate all manner of identities. This thesis briefly explores the history of two narcotics—cannabis and opium—in the Muslim world as a whole but focuses most of its attention on Egypt in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and on what the activities and rhetorics of three unique social groups advocating for temperance and their own visions of a ‘modern’ Egypt during this time show us …

Cannabis And Its Historical Role In America’S Intentional Segregation Of Race, William E. Kelley

Student Publications

One of the more dramatic shifts in attitudes towards a particular trend or culture we have seen during the turn of the century is none other than attitudes towards marijuana. The Cannabis plant, commonly known as marijuana, has been illegal in the United States for a while now. In the past ten years, we have seen an influx of states and countries relaxing their attitudes towards marijuana, and it's potential benefits. While this shift in attitude towards a relatively harmless drug is a step in the right direction, many are unaware of the sinister and racist history behind outlawing the …

Known Unknowns And Unknown Knowns: What We Know About The Cannabis And The Hashish Trade In Afghanistan, James T. Bradford, David Mansfield

Faculty Works

In the past four decades, much of the contemporary narrative of Afghanistan has been defined by opium. However, underneath the veil of the opium economy, the cannabis trade remains an enduring component of Afghanistan’s political economy and culture. Much of this stems from the long history of cannabis cultivation and hashish production in the region. During the 1960s, the growing demand from Western nations for Afghan hashish helped forge key global trafficking networks, as well as significant changes to the cultivation of cannabis and production of hashish. Since then, production and trade evolved, with cultivation of cannabis more widespread. Ultimately, …

Transition Into Adulthood: Cannabis Use And Mental Health, Katie Mcintyre

All ETDs from UAB

The US is currently experiencing sweeping changes in the legal status of cannabis, the most common illicit drug used in America. Due to its classification as a Schedule I substance we know very little about how cannabis use impacts mental health since illicit drugs are not legally allowed to be researched in a laboratory setting. The current research on cannabis use (CU) and mental health (MH) is expansive and conflicting. One side of the debate suggests CU in adolescence has a direct effect on MH, the other side suggests CU could be an indirect coping mechanism of poor MH. One …

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Weed And Mexico, Eddy Martinez

Capstones

An American biotech firm named Phylos Bioscience is interested in entering the Mexican marijuana market once it legalizes. Before it can do that, it must deal with the Mexican government and a conservative society.

https://eddymartinezcunyedu.atavist.com/figuring-out-the-mysteries-of-weed-and-mexico

A Challenge To Socio-Ecological Resilience: Community Based Resource Management Organizations’ Perceptions And Responses To Cannabis Cultivation In Northern California, Yvonne Everett

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

Local nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest have stepped up to fill a leadership void in forest management since the Timber Wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Community based resource management groups (CBRM) have focused on stewardship of ecosystem services, and leading efforts to employ local workers to restore forest ecosystems and watershed functions. In Northern California, even as CBRM capacity has grown since the Timber Wars, a new transformative challenge threatens community and landscape adaptive capacity. Cannabis cultivation, which can have significant environmental and social impacts, has become a pervasive economic driver. I used interviews to explore CBRM leaders’ …

The Resurgence Of American Nativism In The Early-Twentieth Century And Its Effects On Industrial Hemp Production In The United States, Roman King

Master's Theses

Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act on August 2, 1937, which officially made it illegal to handle any form of Cannabis sativa L. without adhering to mandatory taxes and registration forms. The American cultivation of industrial hemp (fibrous, non-psychoactive C. sativa L.), became non-existent by 1958 due to the strict penalties associated with the 1937 Tax Act. Industrial hemp served as a staple of American life from the arrival of the first English colonists in North America up until the textile conquest of King Cotton in the early-nineteenth century. Despite the rise of cotton and the importation of cheap foreign …

Verbal Learning And Memory In Adolescent Cannabis Users, Alcohol Users And Non-Users, Nadia Solowij, Katy A. Jones, Megan E. Rozman, Sasha M. Davis, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick C. L Heaven, Dan I. Lubman, Murat Yucel

joseph Ciarrochi

Rationale Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. Objectives and methods In a cross-sectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16–20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory—the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test—between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol …

Reflection Impulsivity In Adolescent Cannabis Users: A Comparison With Alcohol-Using And Non-Substance-Using Adolescents, Nadia Solowij, Katy A. Jones, Megan E. Rozman, Sasha M. Davis, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick C. L Heaven, Nicole Pesa, Dan I. Lubman, Murat Yucel

joseph Ciarrochi

Rationale Reflection impulsivity-a failure to gather and evaluate information before making a decision-is a critical component of risk-taking and substance use behaviours, which are highly prevalent during adolescence. Objectives and methods The Information Sampling Test was used to assess reflection impulsivity in 175 adolescents (mean age 18.3, range 16.5-20; 55% female)-48 cannabis users (2.3 years use, 10.8 days/month), 65 alcohol users, and 62 non-substance-using controls-recruited from a longitudinal cohort and from the general community and matched for education and IQ. Cannabis and alcohol users were matched on levels of alcohol consumption. Results Cannabis users sampled to the lowest degree of …

Federal Prohibition Of Medical Marijuana In Pain Management: Undue, Unimportant, And Irrational, Michael L. Timm Jr.

Michael L. Timm Jr.

This paper provides a review of the historical right of the people of the United States to seek, and use, alternative medicinal treatment options in the realm of managing both the pain and symptoms associated with a variety of illnesses. The focus then turns to the right involved: a patient’s ability to employ medical marijuana instead of a commonly prescribed narcotic or mass-market non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic (NSAIA) drug to manage pain and increase quality of life under the advice and consent of a treating physician. No one article has argued that there is a fundamental, important, or at least recognizable …

Reflection Impulsivity In Adolescent Cannabis Users: A Comparison With Alcohol-Using And Non-Substance-Using Adolescents, Nadia Solowij, Katy A. Jones, Megan E. Rozman, Sasha M. Davis, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick C. L Heaven, Nicole Pesa, Dan I. Lubman, Murat Yucel

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Rationale Reflection impulsivity-a failure to gather and evaluate information before making a decision-is a critical component of risk-taking and substance use behaviours, which are highly prevalent during adolescence. Objectives and methods The Information Sampling Test was used to assess reflection impulsivity in 175 adolescents (mean age 18.3, range 16.5-20; 55% female)-48 cannabis users (2.3 years use, 10.8 days/month), 65 alcohol users, and 62 non-substance-using controls-recruited from a longitudinal cohort and from the general community and matched for education and IQ. Cannabis and alcohol users were matched on levels of alcohol consumption. Results Cannabis users sampled to the lowest degree of …

Functional Connectivity In Brain Networks Underlying Cognitive Control In Chronic Cannabis Users, Ian H. Harding, Nadia Solowij, Ben J. Harrison, Michael Takagi, Valentina Lorenzetti, Dan I. Lubman, Marc L. Seal, Christos Pantelis, Murat Yucel

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The long-term effect of regular cannabis use on brain function underlying cognitive control remains equivocal. Cognitive control abilities are thought to have a major role in everyday functioning, and their dysfunction has been implicated in the maintenance of maladaptive drug-taking patterns. In this study, the Multi-Source Interference Task was employed alongside functional magnetic resonance imaging and psychophysiological interaction methods to investigate functional interactions between brain regions underlying cognitive control. Current cannabis users with a history of greater than 10 years of daily or near-daily cannabis smoking (n=21) were compared with age, gender, and IQ-matched non-using controls (n=21). No differences in …

The Impact Of Cannabis Use On Cognitive Functioning In Patients With Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis Of Existing Findings And New Data In A First-Episode Sample, Murat Yücel, Emre Bora, Daniel I. Lubman, Nadia Solowij, Warrick J. Brewer, Sue M. Cotton, Phillipe Conus, Michael J. Takagi, Alex Fornito, Stephen J. Wood, Patrick D. Mcgorry, Christos Pantelis

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cannabis use is highly prevalent among people with schizophrenia, and coupled with impaired cognition, is thought to heighten the risk of illness onset. However, while heavy cannabis use has been associated with cognitive deficits in long-term users, studies among patients with schizophrenia have been contradictory. This article consists of 2 studies. In Study I, a meta-analysis of 10 studies comprising 572 patients with established schizophrenia (with and without comorbid cannabis use) was conducted. Patients with a history of cannabis use were found to have superior neuropsychological functioning. This finding was largely driven by studies that included patients with a lifetime …

Cannabis-Induced Psychosis-Like Experiences Are Associated With High Schizotypy, Emma Barkus, John Stirling, Richard Hopkins, Shon Lewis

Emma Barkus

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have suggested that cannabis use is a risk factor for developing schizophrenia. We tested the hypothesis that cannabis use increases the likelihood of psychosis-like experiences in non-clinical participants who scored highly on a measure of schizotypy. METHOD: The psychological effects of cannabis were assessed in 137 healthy individuals (76% female, mean age 22 years) using a newly developed questionnaire concerned with subjective experiences of the drug: the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire. The questionnaire has three subscales: Pleasurable Experiences, Psychosis-Like Experiences and After-Effects. Respondents also completed the brief Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. RESULTS: Cannabis use was reported by 72% of …

Cannabis-Induced Psychotic-Like Experiences Are Predicted By High Schizotypy. Confirmation Of Preliminary Results In A Large Cohort., John Stirling, Emma Barkus, L Nabosi, S Irshad, G Roemer, B Schreudergoidheijt, Shon Lewis

Emma Barkus

Background: Cannabis use has been identified as a possible risk factor for developing schizophrenia. In a previous paper we reported preliminary evidence that cannabis use increases the likelihood of psychosis-like experiences in non-clinical respondents who scored highly on a measure of schizotypy. We now present findings from pooled data from 3 new follow-up studies comprising a sample of 477 respondents, of whom 332 reported using cannabis at least once. Sampling and Methods: As in our previous study, the psychological effects of cannabis were assessed with the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire, from which 3 subscales can be derived; encompassing pleasurable experiences, psychosis-like …

Schizotypy And Psychosis-Like Experiences From Recreational Cannabis In A Non-Clinical Sample, Emma Barkus, Shon Lewis

Emma Barkus

Background. The relationship between cannabis use and psychosis is still a matter for debate. Accounting for the individual differences in subjective experiences to recreational cannabis use in the general population may hold some clues to the aetiological relationship between cannabis and psychotic symptoms. We hypothesized that schizotypy would account for the individual differences in subjective experiences after cannabis use but not in patterns of use. Method. In a sample of 532 young people who had used cannabis at least once, we examined the relationship between the Cannabis Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ) and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Additionally, we examined the …

Personality And Cannabis Use, Emma Barkus

Emma Barkus

Cannabis is one of the most widely used illegal substances in the world. Its use has been reported to be over-represented in many psychiatric conditions and has frequently been found to predate the onset of psychiatric symptoms. However, cannabis may also have detrimental effects on the general population. Factors that predict the onset of use are receiving increased attention to aid in identifying groups of young people who may be more prone to consume cannabis. Personality traits may be one such factor as they are readily identifiable and offer information that can be used for improved targeting of educational material …

Cerebellar White-Matter Changes In Cannabis Users With And Without Schizophrenia, N Solowij, M Yucel, C Respondek, S Whittle, E Lindsay, C Pantelis, D I. Lubman

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background. The cerebellum is rich in cannabinoid receptors and implicated in the neuropathology of schizophrenia. Long-term cannabis use is associated with functional and structural brain changes similar to those evident in schizophrenia, yet its impact on cerebellar structure has not been determined. We examined cerebellar grey and white matter in cannabis users with and without schizophrenia. Method. Seventeen patients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls were recruited ; 48% of the healthy group and 47% of the patients were long-term heavy cannabis users (mean 19.7 and 17.9 years near daily use respectively). Cerebellar measures were extracted from structural 3-T magnetic …

Verbal Learning And Memory In Adolescent Cannabis Users, Alcohol Users And Non-Users, Nadia Solowij, Katy A. Jones, Megan E. Rozman, Sasha M. Davis, Joseph Ciarrochi, Patrick C. L Heaven, Dan I. Lubman, Murat Yucel

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Rationale Long-term heavy cannabis use can result in memory impairment. Adolescent users may be especially vulnerable to the adverse neurocognitive effects of cannabis. Objectives and methods In a cross-sectional and prospective neuropsychological study of 181 adolescents aged 16–20 (mean 18.3 years), we compared performance indices from one of the most widely used measures of learning and memory—the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test—between cannabis users (n=52; mean 2.4 years of use, 14 days/month, median abstinence 20.3 h), alcohol users (n=67) and non-user controls (n=62) matched for age, education and premorbid intellectual ability (assessed prospectively), and alcohol consumption for cannabis and alcohol …

Cannabis And Cognition: Short- And Long-Term Effects, Nadia Solowij, Nicole Pesa

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Twenty years ago cannabis was generally perceived to be a benign drug with few significant adverse effects. As outlined elsewhere in this book, evidence has since mounted in the scientific literature for a range of harms associated with the use of cannabis, including the development of dependence and health-related harms (see also Hall and Solowij, 1998; Hall and Degenhardt, 2009). As the overall theme of this book indicates, an association between cannabis use and the development of psychotic symptoms or overt psychosis has grown to be recognized as a significant potential harm, and investigating the mechanisms by which cannabis may …

Cognitive Abnormalities And Cannabis Use, Nadia Solowij, Nicole Pesa

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

OBJECTIVE: Evidence that cannabis use impairs cognitive function in humans has been accumulating in recent decades. The purpose of this overview is to update knowledge in this area with new findings from the most recent literature. METHOD: Literature searches were conducted using the Web of Science database up to February 2010. The terms searched were: "cannabi*" or "marijuana", and "cogniti*" or "memory" or "attention" or "executive function", and human studies were reviewed preferentially over the animal literature. DISCUSSION: Cannabis use impairs memory, attention, inhibitory control, executive functions and decision making, both during the period of acute intoxication and beyond, persisting …

Harms To Body And Soul: An Ideological Balancing Act For Preventing And Reducing Cannabis Use, Nadia Solowij

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In their piece for debate, Macleod & Hickman [1] present some credible arguments around the ways in which ideology may shape evidence and policy and describe the inevitable use of select aspects of scientific evidence to advance an agenda and drive funding directions. While the strength of evidence regarding causality in the association between cannabis and schizophrenia may not be incontrovertible, some of their arguments are indeed driven by their own ideology and advancement of their proposition that the main harmassociated with cannabis use pertains to its intimate relation to tobacco use, and that this, and the development of dependence, …

Personality And Cannabis Use, Emma Barkus

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cannabis is one of the most widely used illegal substances in the world. Its use has been reported to be over-represented in many psychiatric conditions and has frequently been found to predate the onset of psychiatric symptoms. However, cannabis may also have detrimental effects on the general population. Factors that predict the onset of use are receiving increased attention to aid in identifying groups of young people who may be more prone to consume cannabis. Personality traits may be one such factor as they are readily identifiable and offer information that can be used for improved targeting of educational material …