The Opioid Comission Debunked

Why you can’t fool the world anymore regarding cannabis

What Trump's Opioid Commission Gets Wrong about Weed from CannabisNet on Vimeo.

The Presidential Commission on Opioids recently sent a letter to President Trump (it still is weird saying that) urging them to ‘not allow cannabis to be legalized’ without ‘proper research’. Head of the Presidential Commission on Opioids is Mr. Beef himself, Chris Christie.

In the letter he wrote;

“There is a lack of sophisticated outcome data on dose, potency, and abuse potential for marijuana. This mirrors the lack of data in the 1990s and early 2000s when opioid prescribing multiplied across health care settings and led to the current epidemic of abuse, misuse and addiction…The Commission urges that the same mistake is not made with the uninformed rush to put another drug legally on the market in the midst of an overdose epidemic.”

To add insult to injury, Ben Carson who is now the Cabinet Secretary and referenced the “this is your brain on drugs” ethos of the Reagan era. An idea that has been debunked time and time again…but he’s a neurosurgeon, so I guess we should take his word on it? [I’m being sarcastic for anyone who doesn’t get sarcasm]

Carson did the entire “gateway theory” spiel trying to back up the statement by the opioid commission. Unfortunately, you can’t fool the world on reefer anymore.

The Backlash

As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of backlash on the statements coming from all sides of the isles. For starters, there were several outright lies within the letter. For instance, Christie referenced a NIDA stat that said “cannabis users had a 2 ½ higher probability of becoming an opioid user and abuser” however there is no scientific evidence to support such a claim.

On the contrary, in states that have legalized medical cannabis, there have been a reduction of 25% in opioid related deaths. So not only is the statement by the commission erroneous, data suggests that it’s actually completely the opposite.

Even Sanjay Gupta chimed in on the conversation saying, “it is fair to say that the majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other substances.”

While cannabis use might be prevalent in the consumption habits of opioid addicts, there is no causation due to cannabis use. In fact, every single addict on this planet consumed alcohol at one point. Does that mean that alcohol leads to heroin? Most people would say no….and they would be correct.

Even the author of the study that Christie quoted spoke about the issue;

“I agree that the relationship between marijuana and opioid use is complex and that more recent data might have yielded different results in light of changing marijuana use patterns,” Olfson wrote in an email. “Nevertheless, Governor Christie is correct in that adults who used marijuana were at significantly higher risk of developing opioid use disorder. At the same time, it is important to note that a great majority of marijuana users did not develop problematic opioid use” – Dr. Mark Olfson [Source]

The Silver Lining

I for one am glad to see that the world no longer tolerates bullshit statements from the government when it comes to cannabis. Medical Cannabis has been legal since 1997 in the US (California to be precise) and since then we have collected a lot of data.

Now with many states having medical cannabis systems in place and a few others with full-blown legalization on the books, there is no longer room for misinformation about the “dangers of marijuana use” as was touted by the prohibitionist camp for decades.

People are too informed about the issue to be duped into the backwards thinking of yesteryear.

My Beef with Mr. Beef

I have long been analyzing news and watching politicians create opinions they seemingly pull right out of their asses. I have no idea why Chris Christie is the head of the Presidential Commission on Opioids in the US.

I would understand Ben Carson, having some sort of medical background. However, Christie? He has absolutely no health experience, he’s a lawyer for god sake’s! Why are we listening to lawyers when it comes to things of health?

It’s not like you’re going to see a mechanic when you have back pain? You’re not going to go to a lawyer for helping you cope with your cholesterol (especially if he’s Christie). If you don’t trust ‘non-professionals’ to deal with your health issues, why are we allowing attorneys to run public health systems?

There is something fundamentally wrong with society when we have non-experts giving their expert opinions in areas that have nothing to do with them. It’s precisely because of this that we still live in this backwards system in relation to drug use.

We must understand, people like Christie are merely the champions of prohibition that has been set up in such a way they can maintain the status quo while disseminating misinformation towards the public. It’s time we not only call out their bullshit…but remove them permanently from positions of power.

Trump's Opioid Commission Debunked