Laura Bullard
Appearances
Today, Explained
A comedian tries to fix aviation
This morning, horrific new doorbell video showing the moment a plane clipped power lines and slammed into a San Diego neighborhood. erupting into a fireball. The investigation now intensifying. Officials saying all six people on board the Cessna 550 were killed.
Today, Explained
The kids aren't reading all right
Let's talk about those college admission test scores. They are dropping lower than they've ever been. More than four.
Today, Explained
The autocrat's prison
And what we're hearing, of course, Martha, is that people are terrified by what has happened with some of these Venezuelan gangs.
Today, Explained
Little Marco’s big portfolio
You've been in touch with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia. Has a formal request from this administration been made?
Today, Explained
Little Marco’s big portfolio
So they have these little like one hour long mini lessons. And I started there and I felt like going through that experience was such a nice, well-structured journey into a topic. These bite-sized videos of four or five minutes kind of allowed me to pause and stop and reflect.
Today, Explained
Little Marco’s big portfolio
And then they have little quizzes and breaks where you can kind of make sure that you're tracking, which I enjoy taking because I'm a nerd.
Today, Explained
Teslump
Support for the show comes from yonder. There's a certain time and place for you to be checking your phone and the classroom probably isn't one of them. Shouldn't school classrooms have, at the very least, the level of focus a stand-up comedian would demand of students? Their audience, Yonder, says they are committed to fostering phone-free schools. Learn more at overyonder.com.
Today, Explained
Our trillion-dollar credit card bill
So let's say you're carrying a $1,000 balance on your credit card. Two years ago, if you were making minimum payments, it would have cost you $729 in interest to pay it off. At today's rates, you are paying almost $1,200 in interest.
Today, Explained
Our trillion-dollar credit card bill
The average household is now carrying about $6,500 in credit card debt. That is the highest in almost four decades.
Today, Explained
The Gulf of America?
Trump had sued the network and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the anchor incorrectly stated on air that Trump had been found liable for rape.
Today, Explained
From TikTok to 小红书
A cancer medication that they get is about $20 in China, and they are paying $22,000 a month in the US.
Today, Explained
The making of a beauty king
This special series from The Verge is presented by Adobe Express.
Today, Explained
The making of a beauty king
In August of 2020, just before Glossier laid off all its retail staff due to the pandemic, the group behind Out of the Gloss published an open letter to Glossier detailing the many grievances that they had with the company and what change they would expect from the company.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
So researchers found in 2022, for the first time, more Americans were using marijuana every day or nearly every day than consuming alcohol at the same rate.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Yeah, it's a huge phenomenon. And if you think about it, the numbers are something like 17.7 million Americans say that they're getting a little high or smoking a little weed daily or near daily. That's not nothing. That's like 5% of the American public.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
This is all based on survey data. It's self-reported use. So are these people taking a little hit of a vape pen before they go to bed to deal with insomnia?
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Are they people who are basically getting a little high before they go to class, before they go to their jobs? Getting late before work, guys. Cheers.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
I gotta smoke before school. We don't know how many times a day those people are using. We also don't know the potency of what they're using. So there's a huge range and variation. What we do know is that the market right now for marijuana and the number of sales are really going towards customers who are using very heavily. So we're talking multiple times a day.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
What we don't know exactly is what that means for personal or for public health. So essentially, Americans are conducting this real-time experiment on their own bodies.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Yeah. So contrary to popular belief, it can be habit forming for some people. It can increase risk of dependence on other substances. And a recent analysis by Columbia University researchers found that as many as 18 million people in the U.S. might have some form of cannabis use disorder. In other words, addiction. So it's simply not true that it's completely harmless for everyone.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
So one really good example of this is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
It's a really fancy term for people who have used a lot of marijuana, heavy amounts over a long period of time, who begin throwing up really violently and are sort of unable to stop these cycles of nausea and vomiting.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Doctors and hospitals across the country are seeing people come in with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, and it can be really, really bad.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
There have been all sorts of horror stories of people who have burned themselves because one of the few things that makes people with this syndrome feel better is heat, so they'll take hot baths repeatedly. And yeah, people have actually burned themselves trying to get relief from the nausea they feel because they've been smoking so much weed.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
No. So high levels of consumption is being associated with higher risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease. But the real issue here, and I think the real concern that a number of researchers have, is what regular marijuana use is doing to teens.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
There is particular concern about what regular heavy marijuana use does to adolescent and teen brains. So there have been studies that have shown an increased likelihood of depression and suicidal ideation associated with heavy marijuana use. In a few cases, it has been associated with the development of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders among young people.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Studies have also shown disruptions in the anatomy of a developing brain. And teens often have, and honestly, adult consumers too, often have really no idea what they're consuming and how safe it is. A big issue is a lot of people don't know dosing.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
A lot of it is because every state is sort of running their own experiment with marijuana legalization. So different states have different laws. They have different requirements for what sort of health or safety inspections things have to go through.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
And then the other thing is just the market is evolving so fast and customers are sort of rushing in to buy new products and they don't necessarily themselves know what's in the product. And it's confusing for the consumers. It's confusing for the researchers, too. The regulations basically have not caught up to where the market is evolving.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
One of the big reasons is that the federal government has basically allowed the states to liberalize their marijuana laws, so decriminalizing or legalizing in different cases. Today, marijuana is legal for medical use in 38 states and recreational use in roughly half of all states, plus the District of Columbia. But it's still kept marijuana as illegal on a federal level as a Schedule I drug.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
So the government doesn't recognize it for medical use. And that's made getting safety approvals and government funding necessary to study the drug really difficult. So essentially, researchers say it's like they've been handcuffed all these years, right? And the handcuffs are just sort of coming off.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Meanwhile, all these states have legalized marijuana, and they're trying to figure out now, how do we establish a public health response to make sure people are aware of what they're taking as consumers, aware of what they're putting in their bodies, similar to what we have around, say, cigarettes or alcohol?
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Oh, no, absolutely not. Certain states have better labels. I think, testing and safety standards than others. But no, I mean, essentially it's on you to sort of be an expert both about like reading labels and figuring out what it is exactly you're taking and then also figure out what amount works for your body. I mean, and it seems like there is really wide variations.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
The problem is that, you know, people don't always know their own limits. They don't always know what they're taking and there can be real health consequences as a result.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Yeah, so the products out there are a lot stronger than the sort of dime bags that were floating around, you know, in the early 2000s. Over the last 25 years, the government has been testing the percentage of THC in marijuana seized by the Drug Enforcement Agency. And they have seen that the percentage of THC has more than tripled in those samples from 5 to 16%.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
Definitely. There are some people who argue that legalization was a mistake as they point to these health consequences that I've been noting. They say that it hasn't really had the sort of positive impact on racial disparity in the criminal justice system that they expected it to.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
And they point out that, yeah, essentially this is creating a new public health problem that researchers just really have not had the time or ability to get a handle on before so many people started consuming marijuana. It is unfortunate that it's on the consumers to kind of figure out what is going into their bodies and whether or not it's good for them.
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
But that is the reality of where we're at right now. It is a brave new world with regard to marijuana legalization in this country. It is probably harmless for a huge number and helpful even for a huge number of people out there. But it doesn't mean that it's perfectly safe and harmless for everyone. And I think people are going to have to
Today, Explained
Canadian bakin’
While the government sort of figures out a public health response to this, they're going to have to really think about themselves and make sure that they feel healthy with what they use.