Laura Bullard
speaker
43 appearances
10 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard May 2025
Laura Bullard’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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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.
So one really good example of this is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.
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.
Doctors and hospitals across the country are seeing people come in with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, and it can be really, really bad.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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
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.
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