Dr. Stephen Brown has become a believer in medical marijuana. Since registering as a certifying physician 15 months ago, Brown has seen about 700 patients, and he believes it has helped a majority of them. While certifying patients is required under state law for patients to buy medical marijuana, Brown takes pride in his physician's role. He spends time with each patient, takes a detailed medical history and follows up. Brown was a reconstructive surgeon who retired from surgery when it became too physically taxing. He had started his career in the Army, repairing cleft lips and palates in a Saigon field hospital during the Vietnam War. [continues 1199 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration has decided marijuana will remain on the list of most dangerous drugs, fully rebuffing growing support across the country for broad legalization, but said it will allow more research into its medical uses. The decision to expand research into marijuana's medical potential could pave the way for the drug to be moved to a lesser category. Heroin, peyote and marijuana, among others, are considered Schedule I drugs because they have no medical application; cocaine and opiates, for example, have medical uses and, while still illegal for recreational use, are designated Schedule II drugs. [continues 732 words]
Without a doubt, we Americans are in a bad way. The senseless deaths this week in Baton Rouge, La., Falcon Heights, Minn., and now Dallas are devastating beyond comprehension for the victims and their families. Each shooting is also an act in a shared national tragedy. The problems go down to the very roots. The question of whether as a country we are headed in the right or wrong direction can no longer be answered simply with reference to policy matters such as the economy, education or foreign relations. Instead we face the fundamental question of whether we, the people, as a single people, are holding together and can hold together. [continues 554 words]
MILFORD - Robert Fiore's childhood onset epilepsy is long under control, but he made it his mission to legalize medical marijuana for those under 18 in Connecticut after watching the CNN special report, "Weed," which featured the remarkable change cannabis oil made in a young girl with epilepsy suffering some 300 seizures a week. I thought, "Why not bring it to Connecticut?" Fiore said. The bill he helped introduce and pushed through his organization Connecticut Epilepsy Advocate, passed in the Senate, 23-11, in April and Gov. Dannell P. Malloy signed it into law May 17. Patients under 18 cannot use products that are smokable, can be inhaled or are vaporizable and only for certain severe conditions. [continues 757 words]
Bill Awaits Governor's Signature HARTFORD - The Senate gave final passage to a bill Friday that would give children under the age of 18 access to non-smokeable medical marijuana. The bill passed the Senate 2311 after more than three hours of debate. The legislation, which received overwhelming approval in the House, faced stiff opposition from at least one Senator who introduced three amendments. The bill would give minors with severe epilepsy and terminal illnesses access to marijuana after the approval of two doctors. [continues 677 words]
University of Connecticut student Jennifer Purdon is not shy talking about what she termed Tuesday as her "daily use of cannabis." Purdon, who described herself as a double-major, honor student with a 3.6 Grade Point Average, said, "I just prefer it (marijuana) over alcohol." Her testimony at a forum on recreational marijuana legalization brought a raucous round of applause from the largely supportive crowd that packed a hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The informational hearing was sponsored by New Haven Democratic Reps. Juan Candelaria and Toni Walker. [continues 935 words]
Should police be permitted to use a drug-sniffing dog to roam the hallways of an apartment or condominium complex to search for contraband without getting a warrant from a judge? That is the question confronted by the state supreme court this week in a case called State v. Dennis Kono. Hiding underneath that are several other considerations of importance: should the police's power to search a person's residence be any different depending on whether the residence is an apartment, condominium or free-standing house; and should the search for contraband outweigh any Fourth Amendment rights we have as citizens? [continues 1199 words]
NEW HAVEN - Dependence on marijuana may have a genetic basis, according to research at Yale University. The study of more than 14,000 persons also found that a risk for dependence on marijuana may mean a higher chance of inheriting major depression, according to a release. "We were surprised to find a genetic risk overlap between cannabis dependence and major depression," said Dr. Joel Gelernter, a psychiatrist and professor of genetics and neuroscience, who was senior author of the study. The research showed that both dependence on marijuana and depression could be inherited. [continues 80 words]
As two of our forward-thinking state legislators have noted, it's high time we considered legalizing marijuana in Connecticut. State Rep. Roland Lemar and state Rep. Juan Candelaria, both New Haven-based Democrats, are co-sponsoring a bill that would legalize marijuana for recreational use. Although a Quinnipiac University poll last year found that 63 percent of Connecticut voters support legalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes, the bill's chance of passage is not deemed likely this time around. This is still, after all, the "Land of Steady Habits." [continues 805 words]
The state legislature's Public Health Committee approved what might be considered one of the most controversial proposals put before them in decades: medical marijuana for children. The bill, which now moves to the House for a vote, would give minors with severe epilepsy and terminal illnesses access to non-smokable marijuana, but only with parental consent and the approval of two doctors. It would be prescribed in pill or liquid form. The other conditions included in the bill include cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, uncontrolled intractable seizure disorders, or irreversible spinal cord injury with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity. [continues 607 words]
WASHINGTON - Sallie Taylor was sitting in her apartment in Northeast Washington one evening in January 2015 watching "Bible Talk" when her clock fell off the wall and broke. She turned and looked up. Nine District of Columbia police officers smashed through her door, pointed a shotgun at her face and ordered her to the floor. "They came in like Rambo," said Taylor, a soft-spoken 63-year-old grandmother who was dressed in a white nightgown and said she has never had even a speeding ticket. [continues 990 words]
Awareness Forum Addresses Growing Opioid Epidemic GOSHEN - "Northwest Connecticut has been reeling from an unfortunate epidemic," began Brian Ohler, director of the United Coalition of Northwest Connecticut to an audience of 25 at the Goshen Center School, "one that is plagued by rampant drug-related overdose deaths." Ohler moderated an Opioid Awareness Forum at 50 North St. Saturday. Various area drug counselors and health workers discussed the subject of the burgeoning heroin epidemic and treatment options and possible solutions in Litchfield County. Audience members included health care workers, concerned local politicians, and bereaved mothers. [continues 1321 words]
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In January 1964, the Beatles first broke onto the Billboard chart with "I Want to Hold Your Hand;" by June, Ringo Starr had collapsed from tonsillitis and pharyngitis. In January, the surgeon general announced that scientists had found conclusive evidence linking smoking to cancer and thus launched our highly successful 50-year public-health fight against tobacco. In August, the North Vietnamese fired on a U.S. naval ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, which led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the public phase of the Vietnam War. Alongside an accelerating deployment of conventional troops would come their widespread use of marijuana and heroin. [continues 765 words]
A new tool in the war against drugs may turn out to be one of the most effective because it saves lives in the nick of time. It's called naloxone hydrochloride - commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan - a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. No longer is it just illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine that are being abused, but also opioids that include prescription medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and morphine. [continues 444 words]
Culture Change Seen As Authorities Target Big Hauls, Weapons NEW HAVEN - A West Haven man charged with conspiring in a marijuana trafficking scheme in New Haven will stand trial in federal court in December. Jesse Wrubel was charged by a federal grand jury in February 2014 for being involved in a marijuana trafficking scheme involving 60 pounds of marijuana and three stolen firearms. His co-defendant, Matthew Voloshin, has elected to plead guilty and awaits sentencing. The two have been detained since Feb. 7, 2014. [continues 935 words]
Marijuana is now legal in several states out west, and the world has yet to end. That's part of why two Connecticut lawmakers, Reps. Edwin Vargas, D-Hartford, and Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, want to bring legalization east. Is that a good idea? What will happen if we fully legalize marijuana? Conventional wisdom on that breaks down into two camps: One side says that crime will go up, use will go up, and that all of this will pose a serious public health risk. The other says that legalization will save the government money, help keep people out of jail, and otherwise not make life too different. [continues 684 words]
(AP) - Marijuana-related calls to poison control centers in Washington and Colorado have spiked since the states began allowing legal sales last year, with an increase in calls concerning young children. But it's not clear how much of the increase might be related to more people using marijuana, as opposed to people feeling more comfortable to report their problems now that the drug is legal for adults over 21. New year-end data being presented to Colorado's Legislature next week show that the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center received 151 calls for marijuana exposure last year, the first year of retail recreational pot sales. That was up from 88 calls in 2013 and 61 in 2012, the year voters legalized pot. Calls to the Washington Poison Center for marijuana exposures jumped by more than half, from 158 in 2013 to 246 last year. Public health experts say they are especially concerned about children accidentally eating marijuana edibles. [end]
Tourette's disorder, which is actually a group of related syndromes, does not have a treatment that helps all patients, and medical marijuana would be a hopeful addition to the arsenal, according to a specialist at the Yale Child Study Center. Tourette's was turned down unanimously by the Department of Consumer Protection's four-member Board of Physicians at this week's meeting, however, largely because of a lack of studies, according to Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris. Three new medical conditions may be added to the list of those treatable with medical marijuana: sickle cell disease, post-laminectomy syndrome with chronic radiculopathy (a specific type of back pain) and severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. [continues 448 words]
CHICAGO - America is two nations when it comes to marijuana: in one it's legal, in the other it's not. The result is that people like B. J. Patel are going to jail. The 34-year-old Arizona man may face a decade in prison and deportation following an arrest in 2012. On a trip in a rented U-Haul to move his uncle from California to Ohio, he brought along some marijuana, which is legal for medicinal use in his home state. [continues 1627 words]
TORRINGTON The city's police department and a local substance abuse agency are holding a ribbon cutting Thursday morning for the launching of a prescription drug drop box program. The pill drop off box was installed inside the Torrington Police Department's lobby in April but was not immediately ready for use. The box was installed with the help of the McCall Foundation, a local, private nonprofit behavioral healthcare agency that provides substance abuse treatment. The release said the foundation received a grant from the state's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to help establish the pill drop off program. [continues 371 words]
