KFinn, MD

Board Certified: Pain Management, certified: Cannabis Science, No medical advice. Editor, Cannabis in Medicine,

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

Increased health care utilization = increased health care costs

That’s just one state

[Kevin Sabet @KevinSabet]

The industry loves to call marijuana a “harmless plant.”

Data on more than 1.3 million Arizona hospital patients says otherwise. People who came in with a marijuana-related diagnosis ended up back in the ER or hospital more often over the next year, and not just for marijuana:

1.23 times as often for any reason
1.76 times as often with a substance use diagnosis
2.74 times as often with a mental health diagnosis

The study’s authors: a cannabis diagnosis “appears to signal risk.”
https://t.co/5PFkonGQWH

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

What a tangled web we weave
Follow the money

“The accusations, first reported by Politico, from Calley Means, who quit his post as an aide to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month, follow earlier whispers about Wiles, whose son-in-law runs a struggling hemp company.”

https://t.co/v4rpxXym3i

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

This is part of the problem
I fully support the use of cannabis based medication’s if proven to be effective and meets the rigor of scientific study

Somebody making false medical claims with a product that has absolutely zero scientific foundation.

Sending any athlete back to a contact sport, particularly her child, because of the use of this snake oil, is child endangerment

Second impact syndrome can be fatal

https://t.co/vQ7OAgybRh

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@cannababies New information that cannabis use during pregnancy TRIPLES your risk of post-partum psychosis

https://t.co/mADMOzBc29

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

But it’s “natural, safe, herbal, and medicinal”
There will be harm, just like the other legal drugs we already have.

We need guardrails on these products.

https://t.co/4nM8mi1XH5

https://t.co/4nM8mi1XH5

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

I'd agree with that sentiment. Industry targeting the very population they claimed they wanted to help.

[Kevin Sabet @KevinSabet]

They sold legalization in Massachusetts as justice for communities hurt by the war on drugs.

Ten years later, just 7.2% of cannabis workers are Black, per the state's own data. Only about 10% of marijuana businesses are in the social equity program. One equity owner told GBH, "It's like they set us up for failure."

Social justice was the sales pitch. It was never the business plan.

https://t.co/5WoPg4Y0ru

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

Cannabis is Great Britain

"cannabis use is also associated with a range of adverse health effects that include, but are not limited to, mental illness and respiratory and cardiovascular harms"

https://t.co/qYent4h7xg

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

Because regulation failed after 30 years

[Los Angeles Times @latimes]

California legalized cannabis with a promise of safer, cleaner weed. But Times testing found pesticides in a quarter of 49 products purchased at dispensaries. Why are potentially harmful chemicals still getting through?

https://t.co/2IcfvdVC9R

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

At least Oregon is admitting the fact that legalizing doesn’t equal safe

Que the pivot to alcohol (which we’ve known to be disastrous)

https://t.co/zRG10GmrTa

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

The face of "medical, safe, herbal, natural, and regulated"
#marijuanafail

[Kevin Sabet @KevinSabet]

New in the American Journal of Psychiatry: of 16- to 18-year-olds who ended up in the ER or hospital for a substance-related reason, 84% had at least one visit involving marijuana.

That's the highest of any age group. Among adults 55 to 64, it was 19%.

This is what "safe, regulated" looks like for our kids.

https://t.co/RESDlHPKi1

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

Some report marijuana helps with sleep but the science does not support that claim. Science, not stories, should guide policy

“both cumulative use and recent use of cannabis were associated with poorer objective sleep quality, including lower percentage, greater fragmentation, and longer wake after sleep onset; recent use was also associated with longer sleep duration. No associations were observed with subjective sleep quality”

[The Drug Report @The_Drug_Report]

NEW STUDY: Long-term and recent marijuana use are both linked to worse sleep, according to a 35-year study from Northwestern University researchers.

Published in JAMA Network Open, the study followed 1,266 participants and used wrist actigraphs to measure sleep objectively over 7 days. Each "cannabis-year," or 365 days of use, increased the odds of being awake for 30 or more minutes after falling asleep by 21%.

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@madras_bertha Just see how much was spent on marijuana compared to other drugs, despite its schedule and not a single FDA indication.

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@GoodDrugPolicy We already have plant based medications which have met the rigor of scientific study (aspirin (willow tree), digitalis (foxglove), taxol (yew tree)). Other botanicals should meet the same muster

Stop building the plane while flying it

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@learnaboutsam @AMA late to the party but better late than never

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

"@KevinSabet posting a non-peer reviewed, preliminary abstract" which is actually consistent with a large body of peer reviewed evidence.

I'd gather nearly 120 million subjects is pretty robust.

"After adjusting for confounders such as smoking and alcohol abuse, we found a stronger association between cannabis abuse and stroke in young adults"

https://t.co/IlpeLQM6OY

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

Worth another look

With all this banter on cannabis and psychedelics, we should support appropriate and standardized drug development.

Kids ingesting cannabis way more than any other substance

"The recreational drug ingestion rate per 100,000 US
children < 6 years old increased 3,307% from 1.05 in 2000 to 35.91 in 2024, with a rapid increase beginning in 2013, especially involving edible marijuana and psilocybin products."

"Cannabinoids accounted for 84.7% of ingestions, followed by stimulants (8.4%), psychedelics (3.5%),
opioids (2.8%), and dissociative agents (0.6%)"

https://t.co/EGK7UfVrTI

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

The heart is the second target organ after the brain

[Kevin Sabet @KevinSabet]

New research for the American Heart Association: adults who used cannabis had up to 40% higher odds of having had a stroke.

And adult use jumped from 1 in 10 to 1 in 6 in just four years.

An AHA expert's takeaway: doctors "should be addressing cannabis use with their patients as they would tobacco use."

We've been saying it for years. Same playbook, same harm.
https://t.co/Kn8OV0MvMF

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@madras_bertha Important question: what happened to Section 10 on the Epidiolex package insert?
Intentional?
Willful neglect?
Accidental?

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

@PoppotGroup Addictive substances play well in the sandbox and addiction for profit is addiction for profit

[KFinn, MD @CoDoc442]

No surprises here

“callers most likely to freak out during a trip weren’t on psychedelics. They were smoking run-of-the-mill marijuana.”

https://t.co/lTrZ7r0VVZ