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Category: Addiction News

  • FDA Approves Ketamine-Derived Spray for Depression

    FDA Approves Ketamine-Derived Spray for Depression

    The newly approved esketamine nasal spray will be administered under a doctor’s supervision at approved and certified treatment centers. 

    Clearing the way for the first major change to depression treatment in decades, the FDA approved a ketamine-derived nasal spray that can be used to rapidly treat depression on Tuesday (March 5). 

    “Thank goodness we now have something with a different mechanism of action than previous antidepressants,” Dr. Erik Turner, who teaches psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, told The New York Times. 

    In recent years ketamine has garnered a lot of attention from the medical community because it quickly and effectively relieves depression and suicidal ideation. Ketamine treatments have become popular, but until now the drug, which is approved as an anesthetic, has been used off label. This means treatments are unregulated and not covered by insurance. 

    The medication approved this week is esketamine, which contains a part of the ketamine molecule. It was developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and will be sold under the name Spravato.

    Since up to a quarter of depression patients don’t get relief from current antidepressants, people in the mental health community are happy to see a new option for treatment. However, Turner and others are cautious in their excitement. 

    “I’m skeptical of the hype, because in this world it’s like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown: Each time we get our hopes up, the football gets pulled away,” Turner said. 

    Under the FDA recommendations, esketamine will be used in conjunction with an established antidepressants. Patients will get treatment twice a week for four weeks, and then as needed.

    Although the nasal spray is non-invasive, it must be administered in a doctor’s office where patients can be observed for two hours. The use of esketamine could give patients fast relief from their symptoms, which is important since traditional antidepressants can take weeks to become effective. 

    Dr. Todd Gould, a psychiatrist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who has done ketamine research, said that the potential for fast-acting relief is appealing, even if ketamine doesn’t completely revolutionize depression treatment. 

    “These are exciting times, for sure,” he said. “We have drugs that work rapidly to treat a very severe illness.”

    Vanderbilt University professor Steven Hollon agreed. 

    “We’ve had nothing new in 30 years, so if this drug is an effective way to get a more rapid response in people who are treatment resistant, and we can use it safely, then it could be a godsend.”

    The FDA fast-tracked esketamine’s approval process. Although the drug has been used safely as an anesthetic for decades, medical professionals will be carefully monitoring its use in the mental health space, researcher James Stone told Newsweek last year. 

    “Although ketamine is potentially a huge breakthrough in the treatment of depression, we still don’t know about the long-term safety, or about how to keep people well from depression without requiring regular ketamine dosing. Further studies are needed to address these questions.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • UFC Launches Opioid Awareness Campaign

    UFC Launches Opioid Awareness Campaign

    In the video, UFC president Dana White highlights statistics about the toll taken by the opioid crisis and offers resources for those in need of help. 

    The mixed martial arts organization Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has joined in the fight against the national opioid crisis by launching its own public service campaign to heighten awareness about the impact of opioid dependency.

    The campaign, which kicked off in Las Vegas on March 2, 2019, featured UFC President Dana White, as well as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services’ (SAMHSA) National Helpline.

    The campaign fulfills the UFC’s 2018 commitment to create a public service campaign as part of its relationship with the Trump Administration’s Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse.

    In a press release, UFC stated that future announcements will feature UFC athletes and take advantage of the company’s sizable social media audience of 75 million followers and widely viewed live events to “spread the message of prevention, treatment, and recovery related to opioid addiction.”

    The video featuring White premiered before the UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith event on March 2.

    In October 2018, the UFC was among a group of lawmakers and representatives from more than 20 major stateside companies, including Amazon, Facebook and Blue Cross Blue Shield, to appear at a White House ceremony where President Trump signed into law the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, which was intended to provide help for opioid treatment and recovery initiatives.

    White, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of Trump’s bid for the White House, pledged his company’s assistance in helping to combat the epidemic. 

    “Opioid addiction does not discriminate,” said White at the 2018 ceremony. Millions of Americans are impacted by this tragic crisis. UFC is committed to helping President Trump in the fight to end opioid abuse.” At the time of the ceremony, UFC announced that it would roll out its public service campaign before the end of 2018.

    In the video, White highlights statistics about the toll taken by the opioid crisis – drug overdoses are currently the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50, and two-thirds of drug overdose deaths are caused by opioids – which is followed by the National Helpline number and SAMHSA’s web address.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Black Balloon Day Pays Tribute To Lives Lost To Addiction

    Black Balloon Day Pays Tribute To Lives Lost To Addiction

    Families and loved ones across the country are taking part in the growing Black Balloon movement which memorializes lives lost to addiction.

    Diane Hurley, a Peabody, Boston resident, lost both her son-in-law, Greg, and her son, Sean, to overdoses. Hurley wanted to find a way to both memorialize the two men and remind people that drug addiction is a crisis.

    Hurley, her son, and her two daughters hung black balloons outside of their homes on the first anniversary of Greg’s death. Greg was a father of four and 38 years old at the time of his passing. “I thought of death,” Diane Hurley told The Daily Item. “And then I thought of black.”

    The simple gesture turned into Black Balloon Day, a national movement every March 6th. Hurley and her children spread the word online about displaying black balloons in 2016, and over 42,000 people responded and joined the memorial.

    Every year on the 6th, families around the country send photos of the black balloons they have anchored to float outside, alongside the hashtag #BlackBalloonDay.

    “I had this vision that you wouldn’t be able to escape the balloons, just like you can’t escape this epidemic,” she told The Salem News, explaining how addiction doesn’t discriminate and touches everyone.

    “In one way or another, I feel like everyone I talk to has dealt with this pain,” Hurley said. “I work in a nursing home and, including myself, there are seven or eight women who have all lost a child or a sibling to addiction.”

    And this year, Hurley tragically lost her son Sean to addiction, after being sober for five years. The recent death of a friend had unmoored him and although he was doing well, according to Hurley, he overdosed and died at age 30. He’d had a second child on the way.

    Hurley wrote her son’s obituary transparently, hoping to spread awareness. “When he used to tell me he had a disease, I would tell him not to say that and not to compare himself to people who actually have diseases, like cancer. I never really understood it.” 

    “I learned that it wasn’t a choice, it’s a disease,” said Hurley. “When people say: ‘They made this choice, it’s their problem,’ most of them do not understand that many people who suffer with addiction have some sort of underlying health issues.”

    Hurley and the Black Balloon movement are now a nonprofit organization and will be raising money to put Narcan in public bathrooms, one of the most common places for overdoses to occur.

    “We can’t be ashamed about addiction,” said Hurley. “We need to talk about it. It’s killing a whole generation of people and we have to do something.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dentists Need To Make Sweeping Changes To Opioid Prescribing

    Dentists Need To Make Sweeping Changes To Opioid Prescribing

    Dentists have decreased the amount of opioid prescriptions they write by nearly 500,000—but some believe it’s not enough.

    Three years ago, P. Angela Rake decided to make a major change at her oral surgery practice.  

    “After the loss of Prince, I just drew a line in the sand that I’m going to change my prescribing practices,” Rake said, according to The Chicago Tribune. In just two years, she reduced the amount of opioids she was prescribing by 70%. 

    It wasn’t just the death of the superstar that moved her. Rake had also seen her own brother get hooked on opioids that he was given during cancer treatment. Having seen firsthand the dangers of opioid addiction, she knew that she couldn’t continue to prescribe opioids to her patients in the usual manner. 

    Today, she only prescribes opioids when absolutely necessary. The patients who do need opioids get few pills and lower doses. Rake now says she feels like the opioid industry deceived her. 

    “When these drugs came into being routinely prescribed, the industry-funded message we were being told was that the risk of addiction was less than 1 percent. We were misled.”

    The truth is that the risk of addiction for young people given opioids after oral surgery is closer to 6%. Now, more dentists are becoming aware of the danger of these pills for the youngest patients, said Andrew Kolodny, co-director of opioid treatment research at Brandeis University.

    “Dentists and oral surgeons are the No. 1 prescribers of opioids to teenagers. What’s so disturbing is that it’s so unnecessary. These are kids who could have gotten Advil and Tylenol,” he said. “It’s almost a rite of passage in the United States having your wisdom teeth out. The aggressive prescribing of opioids to adolescents may be why we’re in an epidemic.”

    Dentists have decreased the amount of opioid prescriptions they write by nearly half a million, from 18.5 million in 2012 to 18.1 million in 2017. However, that’s a far cry from the 70% reduction that Rake made, and some within the industry say it is not enough. 

    Romesh Nalliah, who teaches at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and has studied opioid prescribing among dentists, said that dentists are concerned about customer satisfaction, and sometimes that relies on doling out opioids. 

    “Dentists are also business owners. They don’t want patients to say, ‘Dr. Nalliah did my extraction, and now I’m in agony,’” Nalliah said. Despite that, he has now changed the way that he prescribes opioids, and urges others in the field to do the same. 

    He said, ”I don’t want to be responsible for someone becoming addicted to opioids. I personally think we can cut opioid prescribing in dentistry to less than half of what we do now.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Wearable Sensor Could Point To Anxiety, Depression In Kids

    Wearable Sensor Could Point To Anxiety, Depression In Kids

    New tech may help children better identify their own feelings.

    Whether or not a child suffers from an internalizing disorder like depression or anxiety may soon be identifiable through a wearable sensor, new research indicates.  

    According to PsyPost, a recent study put the sensors to the test. The study involved 63 children ages 3 to 8, both with and without internalizing disorders. The children wore a motion sensor which tracked their movement, and a machine learning algorithm then analyzed those movements. 

    Study author Ellen W. McGinnis, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vermont Medical Center, says children struggle to identify their own feelings, so the sensor may help do so. 

    “Young children who suffer from anxiety and depression often have a lot of difficulty understanding and communicating their suffering—and for parents, it’s really difficult to read inner emotions of someone who doesn’t even understand themselves,” she said.  

    “This is also a large problem, with up to 1 in 5 children experiencing an internalizing disorder during childhood, that can lead to increased risk for serious health problems like chronic anxiety and depression, substance abuse, and suicide, later in life if left untreated,” added study co-author Ryan S. McGinnis, an assistant professor at the University of Vermont. 

    During the study, children were taken into a “dimly lit” room. A research assistant then made statements meant to increase the children’s anticipation. The statements included things like, “I have something to show you,” and, “Let’s be quiet so it doesn’t wake up.”

    The back of the room housed a covered terrarium. With the children in the room, the research assistant then pulled out a fake snake, assuring the children the assistant was allowed to play with the reptile. 

    This exercise and the sensors led researchers to determine that the children in the study with disorders like anxiety and depression were more apt to turn away before the snake was taken out. The algorithm from the machine did pick up on some variations between children with internalizing disorders versus those without—in fact, it was 81% accurate. 

    “Feasible objective screening of child anxiety and depression in young children is possible using wearable technology and is proving to be very sensitive—meaning we can find those previously overlooked kids and connect them to the services they need,” Ellen McGinnis told PsyPost.

    “Hopefully people will start to see technologies like these being deployed during their children’s pediatric well visits in the coming years,” Ryan McGinnis added.

    Though the results are promising, as with most small studies, researchers say a larger sample is needed to prove their results further.

    “A big caveat is that, although our results are intriguing and promising, we need to replicate them in a much larger, more diverse sample,” Ellen McGinnis told PsyPost. “In so doing, we’d like to partner with pediatricians to ensure that the resulting technology can easily fit within the workflow of a standard pediatric well visit.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Creed's Scott Stapp Is Five Years Sober

    Creed's Scott Stapp Is Five Years Sober

    “Nothing is more important than my sobriety,” the Creed singer said.

    Rock star Scott Stapp, frontman for the band Creed, took to Instagram to show off a new, clean-cut hairstyle as he heads into his fifth year of sobriety. 

    Stapp shared a picture on Instagram of him with his 14-month-old son, but without his signature long hair.

    “Headed to Puerto Rico for a show this Saturday at Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in Bellas Artes. Going to miss my little guy. I think he’s digging the new cut,” Stapp wrote, according to People. 

    Recently, Stapp signed with Napalm Records, according to Blabbermouth, and said that his continued career success is possible because he always focuses first on his recovery.

    “Nothing is more important than my sobriety,” he said. 

    At a recent MusiCares event, Stapp thanked the organization for supporting musicians who are trying to get sober. 

    He said, “I still have a lot of music ahead me and without MusiCares that wouldn’t have been possible. They provided support and helped educate my wife and I on what we were going through, that it was a disease, and if I did my part, it could be treated and recovered from. Thanks to MusiCares and my family, I’m going on five years sober.”

    2014 was a dark year for the singer, and he talked about being broke, financially and emotionally. However, his family helped him get sober and realize that he was dealing with an underlying mental health issue. 

    “A couple of years ago when I really hit bottom, and realized that I was dealing with more than just addiction, and fighting bipolar [disorder], untreated,” Stapp, who is now 45, told People in 2016. “That was a huge turning point for me, and then coming to the place where I almost lost my family. That was really an eye-opener, and it put me in a position where I’d be willing to do anything for that not to happen. And that’s really where you’ve got to be to make changes in your life.”

    Once he was able to get sober, he was able to focus on his family and welcome their newest addition, Anthony, who smiled in Stapp’s recent Instagram post. 

    “I’m in recovery, I’m sober, and really experiencing life all over again for the first time,” he said. “It’s an exciting time and it’s good to feel, and to be able to share this with my family.”

    He said his family is what keeps him sober. 

    “It’s been the only thing in my life that has given me purpose to fight the demons, and to keep going on. Without their love, and without these kids here, there were times when I just didn’t know whether to go on anymore.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Black Market Marijuana Thrives In New Jersey

    Black Market Marijuana Thrives In New Jersey

    A New Jersey police chief says that with legal marijuana expected to be taxed at $42 an ounce, people will keep buying their weed illegally. 

    Lawmakers in New Jersey are moving ahead with legalizing recreational marijuana, but when legal businesses come to the state they will have to compete with a thriving black market where customers can buy high quality, low cost cannabis products. 

    When Mike Davis, a reporter for Asbury Park Press, attended a pop-up marijuana event near Trenton, New Jersey, he found an array of marijuana products from bud to edibles, for sale. Davis’ experience at the event illustrated how sophisticated illegal sellers have become. 

    The products at the pop-up event were professionally packaged and the merchants accepted mobile payment—essentially everything you’d expect to see in a legitimate marijuana retailer. 

    The buyers and sellers at the underground event were confident in the illegal market for cannabis. 

    David, who was DJing the event and selling marijuana, said he’s not concerned about legalization. “People want legalization until they get here and see what the black market has to offer. They see that what we have is cheaper than legalized weed, that it’s much better,” he said. “You can change their mind.”

    One woman selling marijuana brownies for $10 each said that she would love to make a living selling marijuana products, but she was wary of the cost of starting a legal business. 

    “I would love to quit my 9-to-5 and open a cannabis bakery full-time. That’s my dream,” she said. “But they make it so hard. You have to take out loans, and have certain qualifications to even think about it. Why are we adding greed to the equation? That’s when it becomes evil.” 

    Even if the state legalizes marijuana and legal businesses enter the space, she is confident that she will continue to have customers. “The state has no idea what they’re doing. They have no idea what the people want. The underground will always stay in business, whether they legalize, decriminalize or not.”

    John Zebrowski, police chief in Sayreville, New Jersey, agreed—although for different reason. He said that with legal marijuana expected to be taxed at $42 an ounce, people will keep buying their weed illegally. 

    “Clearly, there’s always going to be a demand—and some of that demand is going to be satisfied by the black market, where there’s a reduced price and higher potency,” said Zebrowski. “And it’ll be very hard for the state to compete with the black market when, obviously, part of what they’re trying to do here is create an income base through taxes.”

    Although he hadn’t heard of pop-up events like the one the reporter attended, he said that the black market is becoming more accessible. 

    “The black market has adapted and become more customer-friendly. They’ll always have different ways to survive.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ben Affleck Opens Up About Alcoholism

    Ben Affleck Opens Up About Alcoholism

    “Some people are sort of uncomfortable, but it doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism. Being an alcoholic is part of my life; it’s something I deal with,” Affleck said.

    Over the years, Ben Affleck has been increasingly transparent with the public about the place that drinking has had in his life, and in a recent interview with Today, he continued that honesty.

    “I had a problem and I really want to address it and I take some pride in that,” he told Hoda Kotb. “It’s about yourself, your life, your family… we encounter these kinds of hurdles and we have to deal with them.”

    Affleck continued, “I mean, some people are sort of uncomfortable, but it doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism. Being an alcoholic is part of my life; it’s something I deal with.”

    While alcoholism is something that Affleck lives with, he’s determined not to let it define him.

    “It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything but it is something that you have to work at,” he said.

    In 2012, Affleck interviewed with Barbara Walters and explained how alcoholism had defined his childhood.

    “[My father] was an alcoholic… I did know that as a child. He drank a lot. My father was a—what did they call him—a real alcoholic. He, you know, drank all day, drank every day, and to his credit, he got sober ultimately. He’s been sober for several decades, which I think is pretty impressive.”

    Affleck stopped drinking at age 24, after he and Matt Damon won the Oscar for their movie Good Will Hunting.

    Then in 2001, after a highly-publicized break-up with Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlie Sheen drove Affleck to Malibu Promises. “I went to rehab for being 29 and partying too much and not having a lot of boundaries and to clear my head and try to get some idea of who I wanted to be,” Affleck later told The Hollywood Reporter.

    From 2004 until 2018, Affleck was married to Jennifer Garner. Married life with three kids was quiet until Garner and Affleck split, and since then Affleck has had a series of semi-public incidents with alcohol, the last culminating in having alcohol delivered to his house.

    Shortly after, toward the end of 2018, the actor was photographed in the back of a car with Garner driving him to rehab.

    On Today, Affleck called Garner a “great mom” and said he was lucky to co-parent with her.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jodie Sweetin, John Stamos, Mackenzie Phillips and Others Gather for Experience, Strength and Hope Awards

    Jodie Sweetin, John Stamos, Mackenzie Phillips and Others Gather for Experience, Strength and Hope Awards

    Sober celebrities gathered in Los Angeles to express gratitude for their recovery and celebrate this year’s Experience, Strength, and Hope Award-winner, Jodie Sweetin.

    On February 28, 2019, the 10th Annual Experience, Strength and Hope Awards honored actress Jodie Sweetin for her successful journey into recovery. Detailed with painful conviction in her book, unSweetined: A Memoir, Sweetin’s story exemplifies the ESH Awards’ mission to recognize an individual’s honest journey from addiction to recovery, and their dedication and enthusiasm for carrying the “message” to help others with addiction. Hosted by Leonard Buschel, founder of Writers in Treatment and the Reel Recovery Film Festival, the event marked a milestone for the recovery community in Southern California and beyond.

    For ten years, Leonard Buschel’s organization has hosted the high profile get-together in Los Angeles honoring people who spread the word of recovery. Commenting on the success of his efforts, Leonard said, “For the past ten years, it’s been very gratifying honoring these remarkable individuals who’ve taken the time and have had the fortitude to bare their souls writing such compelling memoirs. We mark this 10th anniversary honoring Jodie Sweetin, who went from adored child star to struggling addict, then rising phoenix-like to become an author, devoted mother, and full-time TV and film actress.”


    Leonard Buschel

    The experience of being honored at the ESH Awards resonates with the honorees as well. When asked what it meant to her, Jodie Sweetin smiled and said, “It’s incredible that such an inspirational event has now been happening for an entire decade. It’s powerful not just as a symbol of success outside of the sober community, but also as a celebration of recovery from within. Together, we are stronger, and we have a voice that has an impact and can save lives.”

    Having covered this event as a journalist for The Fix and other news organizations since its inception, I have been impressed by its consistency and overall quality year after year. Before the actual awards presentation, there is a catered reception organized by Ahbra K. Schiff, the Director of Operations and Outreach for Writers in Treatment and the Reel Recovery Film Festival. The reception includes red carpet photographs, networking, food, and lots of nonalcoholic drinks. Every year, there’s a buzzing energy in the room before the show.

    During the reception, I asked Mackenzie Phillips what she thought of the ESH Awards’ decade-long history.

    “It means that we are a vital and important people; we are members of society today. This event is a testament to our staying power, our longevity, and our insistence on surviving and thriving. As it says in the Big Book, we are not a glum lot,” she said.

    The miracle of recovery also is expressed through family. Ben Buschel, Leonard’s son, embraced the path of sobriety several years after his father. As Leonard remarked, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. With close to 20 years of sobriety under his belt, Ben said about the event, “After witnessing this celebration of recovery in Los Angeles time and time again, I have come to appreciate that the best parties and the most fun are to be had long after we thought the party was over.”

    Leonard Buschel is well-known for calling the ESH Awards his love letter to Alcoholics Anonymous, and attendees of the show share his appreciation of the program. During the catered reception, Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Davison expressed how “The Experience, Strength and Hope Awards has expanded the 12-step principle of ‘keep coming back.’ It shows that what works for us in recovery also works for us in all the other areas of our lives.”

    When you think about the nature of recovery, there are very few lightning strikes or earthquakes or flashes of enlightenment. Instead, the process of getting and staying sober is the day-to-day maintenance of a person’s spiritual, mental, and physical condition. In recovery, we learn to take care of ourselves. By turning the ESH Awards into an institution that reflects the best of these efforts, Leonard Buschel pays respect to the hard part of the journey.

    Mackenzie Phillips, a former winner of the Experience, Strength and Hope Award, intimately understands the hard part of the journey. As she mentioned onstage, it took 11 attempts at treatment before she was able to achieve sustained sobriety. She also memorialized the winner of the first annual ESH Award, Christopher Kennedy Lawford. In 2018, Lawford, 63, died after suffering a heart attack at a yoga studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. The internationally-respected author, actor, and activist had been sober for over 30 years.

    Phillips remarked how happy Peter Kennedy Lawford would have been to see all the people in recovery gathered together on this day to honor what matters in our lives. Smiling through tears, she said: “We freely have been given this life, and we are blessed to be able to celebrate together. We come here so we can express our gratitude for the amazing gift of recovery.”

    In her acceptance speech, Jodie Sweetin expanded on this idea. Beyond thriving and expressing gratitude, we also learn how to love and be loved in recovery. Looking directly at her parents from the podium on stage, she said: “When we are using, we don’t get the luxury of being with the people who love us because we are unable to love ourselves. Loving and being loved by your family, your friends, and your community is one of the greatest gifts of recovery.”

    Many other celebrities took part in this year’s event. Ed Begley, Jr. hosted, John Stamos presented the award to Sweetin, and there were special appearances by actors Joanna Cassidy and Tony Denison. At the end of the night, after spoken word and musical performances, comedian Mark Schiff closed the show. By the end of the 10th Annual Experience, Strength and Hope Awards, everyone was ready to go home and climb into bed, relaxed, happy, and with fond memories of the evening.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Church Hosts Summit About Marijuana’s Impact On Black Community

    Church Hosts Summit About Marijuana’s Impact On Black Community

    Industry leaders discussed topics ranging from marijuana’s impact on business, to criminal justice, to healthcare at the summit.

    As the senior pastor at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, Anthony Trufant is used to preaching about subjects that affect his community. Last week, he discussed the importance of black people and other minorities becoming involved with the soon-to-be legal marijuana industry in New York. 

    Trufant was speaking to more than 1,000 people who attended the Business of Cannabis summit held at the church, according to NBC News. 

    “It is a matter of economic justice,” said Trufant. “There are opportunities for investment, for employment and for microbusiness. Last but not least, it is a matter of political justice.”

    The church organized the cannabis summit to bring together industry leaders to talk about how legal recreational marijuana will affect the black community in areas ranging from business, to criminal justice, to healthcare. 

    Trufant spoke about the need for people to have their criminal records expunged of marijuana-related offenses. In New York City, blacks are eight times more likely than whites to face low-level marijuana charges.

    The state’s Attorney General Letitia James, the first African-American woman to hold the position, acknowledged this when she said, “This war on drugs has far too long been a war on people of color and a war on poor Americans and that’s mostly impacted my brothers, sons, fathers, and my friends.”

    In addition, Trufant and industry experts spoke of the importance of minorities being able to access marijuana for medical reasons. 

    “We recognize that in a time when there are soaring health care prices, that cannabis is really a matter of protection for people who are suffering from cancer and other ailments,” he said. 

    Registered nurse Kebra Smith-Bolden said that people who have grown up in high-stress areas often turn to marijuana to self-medicate for medical conditions that have not been diagnosed. 

    “People who grew up in the ‘hood, people who saw violence in their lives, they are literally checking off every box [for PTSD symptoms]. People who assume that people are just getting high; they are actually trying to medicate themselves. But they need to learn how to do it properly.”

    In addition to benefitting from easier access to marijuana, organizers and presenters at the summit want minorities to be able to enter the cannabis industry and benefit monetarily from legalized cannabis. 

    “I hope that today some minds were shifted,” said Gia Morón, executive vice president of Women Grow, an organization that helps women enter the cannabis industry. “I hope today, some questions were answered and I also hope that we have invited more people to join us in this industry, because I would love to be less the minority and I’d love to become the majority.”

    View the original article at thefix.com