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I am doing a policy assignment of 3000 words, due on Monday night on the policy reccomendations of the Irish Citizen's Assembly of Drugs Policy 2023. I would be grateful if anyone has conducted research on Citizen's Assemblies anywhere? Have the worked? Are they right for policymaking etc?
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Of course Yes, depending on the structure (how they are organized) and purpose, citizen assembly can play unparalleled role in policy [re]formulation as such.
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(Please direct me to previous questions on ResearchGate that deal with this issue. I cannot find any. Apologies if I have overlooked them).
The new laws in two USA States that legalized marijuana use (Colorado and Washington) have instigated new debate in Australia about legalizing the use of the drug here. Meanwhile Associated Press reports (7 April) that the Netherlands has recently taken a harder line towards marijuana including banning tourists (except in Amsterdam) from visiting coffee shops where marijuana is sold.
Supporters for the legalization of marijuana believe that it will eliminate the illegal trade and associated crime, yield a valuable tax-source and reduce policing costs
Opponents argue that there is clear and growing evidence between marijuana use and psychosis, and its potential to act as a gateway drug leading to use of more dangerous drugs. They also say legalization could hasten the use by teenagers and cite mounting evidence showing that the earlier one starts using marijuana, the more devastating the effects especially on brain development.
Too much of the debate in the past has been on emotional grounds.
We would appreciate hearing from people who can cite good quality scientific data; or case studies from people working in the field with good quality anecdotal ‘evidence’, particularly in relation to the link with mental health.
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A recent edition of The Lancet Psychiatry presents more evidence of the link between cannabis use and mental illness.
The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe ..
Between May 1, 2010, and April 1, 2015, we obtained data from 901 patients with first-episode psychosis across 11 sites and 1237 population controls from those same sites. Daily cannabis use was associated with increased odds of psychotic disorder compared with never users (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3·2, 95% CI 2·2–4·1), increasing to nearly five-times increased odds for daily use of high-potency types of cannabis (4·8, 2·5–6·3). The PAFs calculated indicated that if high-potency cannabis were no longer available, 12·2% (95% CI 3·0–16·1) of cases of first-episode psychosis could be prevented across the 11 sites, rising to 30·3% (15·2–40·0) in London and 50·3% (27·4–66·0) in Amsterdam. The adjusted incident rates for psychotic disorder were positively correlated with the prevalence in controls across the 11 sites of use of high-potency cannabis (r = 0·7; p=0·0286) and daily use (r = 0·8; p=0·0109)
The Lancet Psychiatry ... Marta Di Forti et al. Open Access Published: March 19,
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Along with the advent of practicality in recreational drug policy, certain social stigmas, such as those against LSD and other serotonergic hallucinogens, is beginning to be questioned by accredited researchers. Along with psilocybin and (to a lesser extent) LSD, DMT/DMT coupled with an MAOI is beginning to make its way into statistically rigorous experiments with respect to therapeutic potential.
The only experiment I am aware of that evaluates these agents side-by-side, found DMT to be superior. My hypothesis is that this is related to its nature as an endogenous neurotransmitter, "tricking" the brain into acting more pliable to its effects. The argument that it never reaching such great activity by natural means) as when one sources it exogenously, seems plausible. And yet is the idea (admittedly not a well-proven one) that mass amounts of DMT are released right before one passes, and right before other such significant paradigm shifts in consciousness.
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Hi Benjamin, I notice you are located in NY, where I am. I am a PhD in waiting at Adelphi University in the Social Work department and am very interested in the therapeutic effects of psychedelics. If you ever need help on a project or wish to start one together please feel free to contact me at cristinsauter@gmail.com
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Many thanks!
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Here are a couple of resources:
Richard J. Bonnie; Charles H. Whitebread II. Marijuana Conviction: A History of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States. 1999. Lindesmith Ctr. New York, NY
Pisanti S, Bifulco M. Modern History of Medical Cannabis: From Widespread Use to Prohibitionism and Back.Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2017 Jan 14. pii: S0165-6147(16)30184-5.
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The correlation between ADHD and substance use is well known. A few studies and anecdotal evidence suggests that some persons are using cannabis to help manage adhd, e.g. hyperactive and impulsive behaviors. The outcome of a search on pubmed, cannabis-med und google scholar was quiete poor. Can anybody provide consolidated knowledge about this topic?
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By the way, in Germany ADHD is in the TOP 5 diagnoses refer to permissions to buy medical marijuana
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I am interested in criminological empirical studies on illicit drug markets. In particular, the studies conducted on specific cities or regions. I have a preference for qualitative research in these markets.
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Although not qualitative, several empirical drug market analyses have been published since 2000, especially heroin and marijuana markets. Two papers focus on the information problem of general drug markets (a terrific explanation by Reuter and Caulkins - https://www.unodc.org/pdf/bulletin/bulletin_2004_01_01_1.pdf#page=151; and a more formalized theoretical paper by Gelanos, Persico and myself published in the Review of Economic Studies in 2012). There are numerous empirical papers evaluating the heroin drought on Australian heroin and cocaine markets during the early 2000s - see work by Paul Dietz or Louisa Degenhardt as good examples of papers in this area. These offer lots of useful insights. And more and more is coming out on marijuana markets in light of liberalization policies in the US and elsewhere. I've done some work here looking at how specific policy dimensions influencing supply impact access, prices and potency of (all available on my ResearchGate page). Evaluations are going on related to the Drug Market Intervention (DMI) referred to by David above - evaluating the impact of similar interventions in other cities as well.