A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Space Technologies states that psychedelics could be useful to treat astronauts who have spent long durations in space. Entitled “A long trip into the universe: Psychedelics and space travel,” researchers believe that due to the known physiological and psychological effects that astronauts experience while above our atmosphere, psychedelics could be beneficial.
According to Back of the Yards Algae Sciences Founder Dr. Leonard Lerer, and Chief Innovation Officer Jeet Varia, psychedelics could very well be useful to our astronauts now, as well as those of the future who may be sent on long-distance space travel missions.
“We propose a role for psychedelics (psychoactive fungal, plant, and animal molecules that cause alterations in perception, mood, behavior, and consciousness) and in particular psychedelic mushrooms to facilitate extended sojourns in space,” wrote Lerer. “Psychedelics research is in the midst of a renaissance and psychedelics are being explored not only for their therapeutic potential in psychiatry but also for their ability to promote neuroplasticity, modulate the immune system and reduce inflammation.”
The study is one of many to identify the burden and harms of long-term exposure to living in space. According to its authors, there will come a day when we must seek outside of our solar system for resources, and with the rise of both publicly and privately funded space initiatives, and when long-distance space travel becomes a reality, “the next frontier in space travel is ensuring the health and wellbeing of astronauts on long-duration space missions.”
Researchers state that maintaining wellness in space is difficult, and NASA notes at least 30 health risks to humans through its Human Research Program. “Space station astronauts have suffered transient, reactive psychological distress causing sometimes critical lapses in attention, sleep disorders, emotional lability, psychosomatic symptoms, irritability towards fellow crew members and mission control staff, a decline in vigor and motivation, and possibly increased risk of anxiety, depression and psychosis, psychosomatic symptoms, emotional problems, and post-mission personality changes.”
However, researchers of this study argue that psychedelics could be a useful treatment toward some of these symptoms. “Given the psychological pressures of long-duration space travel at an individual and group level, it is useful to consider the potential positive, adaptive effects of the psychedelic experience that include enriched states of consciousness, enhanced cognitive flexibility, heightened creativity, enhanced ability to attribute meaning and value, empathy, enhanced insightfulness, and self-awareness.”
They add that in some cases, astronauts who have returned from space report experiencing “transcendental experiences, religious insights, or a sense of unity with humankind to some extent attributed to viewing the Earth below and the cosmos beyond”—which is not unlike how some people might describe their psychedelic experiences. They even go so far as to suggest that using psychedelics could prepare space travelers to meet other forms of life, if they exist.
Researchers conclude that studies on psychedelics are in the early stages of development, but the benefits shouldn’t be overlooked. “While there is no empirical evidence to support the application of psychedelics in space exploration, we should be aware that our species has a longstanding history of using psychedelics to explore the fluid interface between our inner space (including our consciousness) and the universe or outer space,” the authors concluded.
In April, High Times wrote about former International Space Station astronaut Chris Hadfield, who joined the board of BioHarvest Sciences, a biotech firm involved in medical cannabis, and the company CEO, Ilan Sobel, in an interview with Futurism. “We see the potential ability for valuable minor cannabinoids to be grown at significantly higher quantities compared to its growth on Earth,” Sobel said.
For Hadfield, he says he joined BioHarvest Sciences because of the “the scalability of the biotech platform, and how it can solve a lot of the agricultural problems we face in feeding 10 billion people.” In reference to cannabinoids, those are just “one of the things we grow,” although it’s still a “long ways out.”
Cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corporation announced Tuesday that it is divesting its retail business throughout Canada, a major concession for the company as it continues its drive toward profitability.
The company said that it reached an agreement with OEG Retail Cannabis, “an existing Canopy Growth licensee partner that currently owns and operates the Company’s franchised Tokyo Smoke stores in Ontario,” all 23 of Canopy Growth’s Tokyo Smoke and Tweed retail shops throughout the country.
David Klein, the CEO of Canopy Growth, said the move was the “next critical step in advancing Canopy as a leading premium brand-focused [consumer packaged goods] cannabis company while furthering the Company’s strategy of investing in product innovation and distribution to drive revenue growth in the Canadian recreational market.”
“By realizing these agreements with organizations that possess proven cannabis retail expertise, we are providing continuity for consumers and team members,” Klein said in a statement.
The company’s announcement, which came after the closing bell on Tuesday, means that Canopy Growth is waving the white flag on its acquisition of Tokyo Smoke in 2018.
Although the price of the deal was not disclosed, analysts said that Canopy Growth was likely getting much less than what it paid.
Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett called the divestment of the retail stores an example of “wasted capital,” as quoted by MarketWatch.
“Given deal terms were not disclosed, we do not imagine the multiple was attractive, especially alongside the fact that retail in Canada overall is struggling, and also given the deal more appears to be driven by getting costs off the P&L,” Bennett said in a research note on Wednesday, as quoted by MarketWatch.
“When considering Canopy paid C$250mn for Tokyo Smoke back in July 2018, and this deal also includes all the Tweed stores, this is another example of the wasted capital that was very common under old leadership,” Bennett said.
Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, OEG Retail Cannabis “has agreed to acquire all of Canopy Growth’s corporate stores outside of Alberta as well as all Tokyo Smoke-related intellectual property,” the press release said.
Canopy Growth said that it has “also reached an agreement (the “FOUR20 Transaction”) with 420 Investments Ltd. (“FOUR20”) pursuant to which FOUR20 has agreed to acquire the ownership of five retail locations in Alberta.”
“Through the best-in-class retail leadership that OEGRC and FOUR20 have demonstrated, they will continue to serve Canadian consumers with the high-quality in-store experiences that are essential for success in a new industry,” Klein said.
Canopy Growth said that “operational savings realized through these transactions are expected to result in Canopy’s projected selling, general, and administrative cost savings being closer to the high end of the annualized target range expected as part of the cost reduction actions announced on April 26, 2022.”
The company’s overview of the Tokyo Smoke transaction included the following notes: “upon completion of the OEGRC Transaction, OEGRC will acquire ownership of 23 Tokyo Smoke and Tweed store locations across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador”; “as part of the OEGRC Transaction, the Tokyo Smoke brand will be transferred to OEGRC and any purchased stores currently branded as Tweed will be rebranded”; and “the master franchise agreement between the Company and OEGRC pursuant to which OEGRC licenses the Tokyo Smoke brand in Ontario will be terminated on the closing of the OEGRC Transaction.”
It makes for a continuation of a wobbly year for Canopy Growth. As Reuters reported this week, the company earlier this year “extended its time frame to achieve profitability as fewer-than-expected retail stores and cheaper black market rates crimp sales at legal recreational companies.”
In April, the company announced that it was laying off more than 200 employees in a bid toward cutting costs.
The deadline for the first adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses in New York arrived on Monday, and now hundreds of applicants await feedback from the state.
Since then, the agency has been flooded with applications from individuals hoping for the first crack at the Empire State’s legal marijuana market.
Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that roughly “500 applications had been submitted by Sunday,” adding that hundreds “of ineligible people have been turned away, but so have dozens more who did qualify and needed help navigating the state’s online portal.”
The state will award 150 licenses for the first round this fall, and those have been designated exclusively for applicants who have previously been convicted of a pot-related offense (or a family member of someone who has).
Billed as the “Seeding Opportunity Initiative,” the policy goes further than most of the so-called “social equity” provisions in other states’ marijuana laws.
“New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in announcing the policy back in March. “The regulations advanced by the Cannabis Control Board today will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for communities that have been left out and left behind. I’m proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.”
New York City has taken similar steps toward enhancing opportunities in the emerging cannabis industry for individuals adversely affected by erstwhile marijuana laws.
The city’s mayor, Eric Adams, announced last month “a first-of-its-kind initiative and suite of services to support the equitable growth of the cannabis industry in New York City.”
The initiative, known as Cannabis NYC, will provide “technical assistance for cannabis license applicants, as well as other business services to take entrepreneurs beyond licensing to a thriving operation,” while also supporting “cannabis entrepreneurs and their workers as the industry develops.”
It will also collaborate with “industry stakeholders to create good jobs, successful small businesses, and sustainable economic opportunities, while also addressing the harms of cannabis prohibition.” Adams’ office said that the “first phase of Cannabis NYC will focus on ensuring that justice involved New Yorkers are able to apply for and secure retail licenses from the state.”
“Today, we light up our economy and launch Cannabis NYC — a first-of-its-kind initiative to support equitable growth of the cannabis industry in New York City,” Adams said in a press release last month. “The regulated adult-use cannabis industry is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our underserved communities that have, for too long, faced disproportionate rates of drug-related incarceration to get in on the industry on the ground floor. Cannabis NYC will plant the seeds for the economy of tomorrow by helping New Yorkers apply for licenses and understand how to open and successfully run a business, while simultaneously rolling equity into our economy by giving those who have been justice-involved and those with a cannabis conviction a chance to succeed. This is about creating good jobs, successful small businesses, and finally delivering equity to communities harmed by the ‘War on Drugs.’”
The first state-regulated recreational cannabis dispensaries in New York are not expected to open until late this year (as the earliest).
But countless small business owners there have not waited to get in on the “kush rush.” New York City in particular is teeming with illicit cannabis shops, prompting state regulators to crack down on some.
Al Capone wants its consumers more than satisfied with their blunts. With a beautiful leaf, the company ensures smokers can roll without issue but instead with flavor, practicality, and style. The brand is called Al Capone for a reason; it’s top of its food chain when it comes to 100% tobacco leaf wraps.
Al Capone wants smokers to roll the ideal blunt with all-natural wraps. For over 25 years, they have been making smokers’ and blunt rollers’ lives easier. Al Capone introduced their premium cigarillos to the U.S. market back in 1996. In over two decades since it got started, they became one of the fastest-growing brands in the U.S. natural tobacco leaf and hand-rolled market.
Six years ago, Al Capone recognized the increasing demand for all-natural tobacco leaf wraps, so they launched Al Capone Wraps. These products took their rightful place as the most premium tobacco leaf used for rolling. The Al Capone wraps match rollers’ needs. Al Capone Wraps are packed in individual pouches, so they are always fresh and ready to smoke.
There are no thick veins, plus the leaf is stretchy. They come pre-cut to the ideal size with a self-adhesive strip for easy closure. The wraps seal nice, tight, and right. They are available in three great flavors: Original, Cognac & Rum. Al Capone gives smokers time to enjoy and savor these flavors, as well. These blunts burn slowly, providing smokers a nice, relaxing time. They also burn evenly, so a flakey or unreliable blunt these silky textured products are not.
Al Capone takes great pride in its leaf, mostly because it is no ordinary leaf. The folks behind Al Capone strongly believe that it is the best leaf in the market. The company listened to consumers to make that happen. Al Capone wanted to know what was bothering blunt rollers, and what they found lacking about whatever brand they rolled and smoked. These tobacco leaf wraps provide the solutions to those issues.
For starters, there’s no inconsistency in the leaves. It’s always good quality and, again, comes in individual, sealed pouches, to preserve the freshness and flavors of it all. It’s stretchy, too, in case a smoker wants to roll a fatter blunt. Al Capone wants people rolling the perfect blunt, no matter the size, mood, or time of day.
If a smoker wants a little flavor, a little kick for whatever they’re smoking, Al Capone offers its three natural flavors. No ridiculous artificial flavors, either, that any smoker worth their salt rolls their eyes at. No bubble gum, passion fruit, or anything silly along those lines to dismiss. The three flavors are not overwhelming and only compliment the blunt with hints of cognac or rum. They never detract from the flavor and smell of the experience.
The flavors are subtle. Not only that but accurate. The flavors live up to their names. If a smoker fancies the smell of rum, they’ll get it from Al Capone. It enhances the experience as a nice cherry on the top of whatever is nice and snug in the leaf. It’s always a pleasant smell and taste. These wraps have a nice, light, and tasty touch.
They hold together strong, too. Be ambitious and make an XXL blunt with Al Capone and never fret whether the blunt will handle all the flower power it’s storing. Fill one of these products to the brim with whatever is desired, and it’ll keep the product safe and secure. Soft and smooth, that’s Al Capone.
Al Capone sees its products as hip, edgy, and forward-thinking blunts, which cater to adult smokers of all ages. The company proudly declares they stand for what’s real, not perfect. The Al Capone way: the freedom for people to incorporate their products however they want, whether with cognac or a good meal. Al Capone only guarantees they have a premium product, nothing else. Al Capone’s culture believes in the perfectly imperfect.
These products are widely available and affordable, as well. The leaf is available on the mass market. It is not a $20 or $30 wrap, either. It’s under $2 a wrap, a rare low-cost product with high quality. In the last year alone, the sales of these little beauties have skyrocketed and found a passionate, loyal following.
There’s no chance a smoker has ever bought a blunt and missed the sight of one of Al Capone’s products. For anyone living under a rock, though, Al Capone has an online store locator on their website, where they also let people know exactly what they’re smoking.
The All-Natural Tobacco Leaf Wraps are made with care. From the farming to the packing and to the affordable prices, that care is always tangible when holding and smoking from one of their products. When it comes to Leaf Wraps, Al Capone is as good as it gets.
California cannabis defense attorney, Allison Margolin, was no stranger to the plight of the California cannabis farmer, healer, or patient, when she decided to follow in her father Bruce Margolin’s footsteps, defending victims of the failed War on Drugs in California.
Her father jumped right into defending those caught up in the drug war right out of Harvard Law School in 1967, representing Timothy Leary in his cannabis trial in 1969. He was also the first attorney to have a jingle on the radio, “1-800-420-LAWS, Bruce Margolin is down for the cause.”
And while Margolin has been practicing in California since she herself graduated Harvard Law School in 2002, eventually earning the honorary title of “L.A.’s Dopest Attorney,” the extent of her experiences in the space, along with stories from her lineage hasn’t fully been told, until now.
In her first published effort, Just Dope (Penguin Random House), she bares everything. Not just about her own personal experiences with drugs—recreational and otherwise—but her story also includes a deep history of the failed War on Drugs; a refreshing perspective on the perception of what it means to be addicted; and a deep dive into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that goes far beyond a soldier’s trauma from war, with Margolin examining the malady on a cellular level, using her own family history and the Holocaust as direct examples.
Just Dope is a truly astonishing and enlightening work that educates the reader beyond what’s expected, based on decades worth of rhetoric, where cannabis is concerned. Her work shows us just how damn smart this woman is, and how fortunate we are to have her fighting for the plant and our rights to self-medicate—no matter the substance.
From the book’s Introduction, “Jury Selection,” Margolin pens, “Since becoming an attorney in December 2002, I have represented dealers and addicts, cartel bosses and alleged Russian crime lords. I’ve faced down corrupt prosecutors, crooked cops, and prejudiced, power-mad judges. All the while I kept this book in mind and told myself I was collecting material.”
She goes on to state that the book was percolating in her head for more than 30 years, with stories of her life, her family, and the legalization movement, surmising, “I knew I wanted to free people, to pursue justice, as my parents had done through their practice of law. But, I believed my tool for the revolution would be the written word.”
The War on Drugs, 1869
The failed War on Drugs is often stated as a war on people, specifically people of color, with documented racism inspiring its inception.
Margolin diggs deep, going beyond the politics of the 1960s, calling out the use of drugs as a criminal act regarding San Francisco’s Chinese population, after the completion of the Pacific Railroad in 1869—a full 100 years before the Summer of Love.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, she pens, was America’s first immigration legislation based on discrimination, targeting the opium they were known for.
As Margolin details, injectable morphine created from the opium poppy became popular about the same time, with America’s first opiate epidemic in full force—thanks to the help of the home-use hypodermic needle—making demonizing the Chinese part of a hypothetical solution that never came.
Revealing the ongoing hypocrisy of the failed drug war, Margolin writes, “In 1875, six years after the completion of the railroad, San Francisco passed the nation’s first ordinance banning the keeping or visiting of opium dens. This ordinance was the first in the United States to regulate drug use. As similar scenarios played out in cities across the nation, it became the setting for America’s first drug war.”
The legislation was not born out of concern for those addicted, Margolin concluded, but out of anti-Chinese sentiment, referred to as the Yellow Peril, plain and simple. No matter that opium pods had been used in apothecaries as medicine for centuries. No matter that white workers were laying down partaking next to Chinese laborers in the opium dens the entire time.
Define Addict
In her chapter, “What About Addicts,” Margolin opens with an enlightening thought, “You don’t have to be supremely fucked up or have super-traumatic experiences in your past to be a drug addict.”
Addiction, she says, can come from “being in love, being in love with life, or being sick of being afraid.” She explains that addiction can come after the intimacy that comes from doing drugs and not caring too much about tomorrow, even if you haven’t been extremely wounded or abused.
With an eye-opening and well documented mere 10-15% of all who do drugs actually becoming addicted, safe to say, addiction isn’t always inevitable.
Assumed addicts can’t always be reduced to “irresponsible, selfish, immature, thrill-seeking individuals who are constantly in trouble—the type of person who acts first and thinks afterwards,” as denoted in a pamphlet distributed in 1951, by the U.S. Public Health Service.
Margolin goes on to detail a study done in 2013, on epigenetic inheritance, wherein “your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.”
Determining what causes the negative consequences are key, Margolin suggests.
“It’s an unusual individual who has never drank alcohol or tried a drug recreationally,” she noted on this point. “If you were to review your past 24 hours, you too might find that you’d used a few drugs, be they caffeine or cocaine.”
Interesting to note, the word drug is derived from the Dutch word drog, the wooden crates filled with beneficial plants loaded onto wooden ships for apothecaries, prior to pharmaceuticals being developed in the late 1930s in America.
Courtesy of Penguin Random House
L.A. Drugs & Introspection
Margolin had the best of both worlds growing up in Los Angeles. Her mother, who practices family law, has a home in Coldwater Canyon, a semi-rural region of Los Angels that helps one forget the city is just minutes away; with her father nearby in upscale Beverly Hills, one of the most expensive and celebrity-laden neighborhoods in the country.
Born in 1977, coming of age in the 1980s, Margolin did her fair share of clubbing in the city. Influenced by the drug culture—both by doing drugs recreationally herself and witnessing the demise of others on them.
She dedicated an entire chapter to the death of River Phoenix, titled, “No one needs to die at the Vapor Room,” referencing the young actor’s death at a club that still exists today just off Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.
With Phoenix’s story Margolin looks at childhood traumas, including sexual abuse, and the higher instances of abusing drugs and alcohol to quell the memories and the pain. His story is a paradox, as the hippie child hid his drug use, just as he hid the abuses of his childhood.
Margolin uses Phoenix’s example as retrospection for her own drug use (namely cocaine and alcohol), wherein at the end of the day after a high-powered day in court, she imagined Phoenix, like herself, using drugs to either come down or be lifted up by self-medicating.
And while overdoing it was never an issue for the attorney, the young actor went beyond a therapeutic dose just once.
“I think the importance of being fulfilled in one’s personal and professional lives isn’t discussed enough,” she pondered, adding, “I recognized much of myself in him; I was also the person who turned to vegetarianism out of sympathy for animal suffering. Although my upbringing had little in common with River’s time in [commune/cult] Children of God, I knew what it was like to grow up in a repressed, anti-drug household.”
Although Margolin’s father, Bruce, was a consummate cannabis partaker, he was, in her words, “… vehemently opposed to alcohol, and my mother just wasn’t into drinking or taking drugs. The first time I drank alcohol in high school, I got sick because I knew so little about drinking and because, like River, I had an all-or-nothing approach to life.”
The word addict, she concluded, was born from the Latin conjunctive verb, addicere, meaning, to assign to; with the verb addicere also the origin for the Latin noun, addicutus, meaning slave.
Saving People From Themselves
The thinking behind addiction depriving an individual the ability to make free choices, is an assumption Margolin begs to differ with, stating, “It is as though the drug were controlling the person’s actions, so the government must prohibit people from using substances that can wrest so much control from them as to deprive the users of their ability to make choices about their lives.”
In other words, the government, as a legislative body, has taken it upon itself to save its citizens from themselves, in order to maintain freedom of choice. But is it a greater good governing?
“Modern addiction theory and science support the idea that drugs are not necessarily any more enslaving than any other thing to which you can become addicted,” she explained.
For all the money thrown at the drug war for decades now, with tens of thousands of non-violent offenders sitting in prison, Margolin writes, “So far, no one has won the War on Drugs. I make the case that the War on Drugs has failed because it fundamentally fails to understand addiction itself. Rethinking our approach requires that we understand the experience of drug reward: what gives one the appetite for the drug and perpetuates the cycle of use.”
Courtesy of Allison Margolin, Esq.
A Lineage of Trauma
In looking at the damage done from the failed War on Drugs, Margolin takes a look at her own family’s heritage of trauma from her grandmother’s experience of surviving the Holocaust in Poland.
While she writes that the Vietnam War was a catalyst in realizing and studying Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the cellular effects of trauma passed down through the generations is very real, as noted from Rachel Yehuda’s book published in 2015, How Trauma and Resilience Cross Generations. And this includes those involved in the decades-long drug war.
“Given these findings on intergenerational trauma, nobody should be surprised that some of the leading thinkers on addiction are the descendants of Holocaust survivors,” she said, noting journalist Maia Szalavitz, a former cocaine and heroin addict, daughter of a Holocost survivor, and author of Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction.
Stress causes a decrease in an infant’s dopamine receptors, she writes, with dopamine the neurotransmitter responsible for the brain’s pleasure and reward systems—whether you are enjoying delicious food or doing drugs recreationally.
One story she sites comes from Dr. Gabor Mate, an addiction specialist and descendant of Holocaust survivors. His personal story of addiction has nothing to do with drugs, but in chronically and compulsively buying multiple copies of the same Beethoven overture.
Neglected during the war and without his father, who was imprisoned in a camp, alone in his crib, his depressed mother’s classical music was his only comfort. Hence his constant compulsive acquisition for the music as comfort.
“The body remembers trauma that happened two generations ago,” she writes. “Which means you are affected on a cellular level by the stress that your parents and grandparents endured. This stress is not limited to large-scale tragedies like the Holocaust; it can be as macro as institutionalized slavery and as a micro as domestic violence within one’s family.”
The Power Within
When she was five or six years old, her father explained manifesting physical realities—something he’d learned from his friend and spiritual teacher, Ram Dass.
“The teachers tell us we contain the complete power of the universe within us,” he said. “In fact, we are so powerful that it can be frightening. But it doesn’t need to be.”
Margolin didn’t quite understand and said he sensed her confusion.
“The point is that because we have a universe within us, out thoughts have power,” he explained. “Whatever we think we can achieve. By recognizing your own power, you are manifesting anything you can imagine.”
“I sincerely believe in the power of manifestation,” she writes. “I have had miraculous outcomes throughout my career, and the fact I have cool children is also a miracle of manifestation… I used to imagine them and now they are here and better than anything I ever expected.”
Manifesting an end to the failed War on Drugs is something many are manifesting, both legislatively and spiritually. Within Margolin’s first published effort, Just Dope, she enlightens and educates, digging deeper than most in the lineage within her own family, and within the many layers of the history of politicking with plants we can still learn from.
In the 1980s there was a commercial produced by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, wherein an egg is cracked open in a hot skillet, with the narrator stating, “This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?” Margolin remembers the ad well, and today no one can say her brain was or is fried. These are just a few of the truths from the betrayal from the failed War on Drugs.
“Ever since I was young I’d feared that using drugs would affect my intelligence,” she surmised. “When I was about 10 years old, I remember watching that commercial for the first time and not understanding how my brain was supposed to be a fried egg. I also remember thinking that the egg looked pretty delicious. Even if I watch that ad now, I feel the same way I felt as a kid—bewildered and a little hungry.”
A white paper published by FAIR Health on Sept. 27 sheds light on the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic trends of gender in association with substance abuse disorder and overdosing. “In this report, drawing on the nation’s largest repository of private healthcare claims, FAIR Health analyzes substance use disorders and overdoses prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as compared to during the pandemic,” the FAIR Health report stated in a press release. “Trends in the percentage of patients with a substance use disorder or overdose diagnosis are analyzed, as well as such aspects as age, gender, incidence, relevant substances, states, preexisting mental health conditions, venues of care and provider specialties.”
The evidence shows that 62-63% of substance abuse diagnoses are male, vs. 37-38% are female. However, those who overdosed were 60-61% female, vs. 39-40% male.
In 2019 before the pandemic began, alcohol was the leading substance connected to substance abuse disorders at 47% (followed by opioids at 25% and cannabis at 10%). Reviewing the same categories in 2021 during the pandemic showed that alcohol accounted for 52% of substance abuse patients, with opioids at 21% and cannabis at 11%.
The percentage of patients who were diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder and were also found using a stimulant (such as amphetamines and methamphetamines) increased by 36.4%, from “0.046% of all patients to 0.063%)—which was more than those who consumed, alcohol, opioids, or cannabis.
Drug overdoses remained similar to previous years. In 2021, data showed patients as having overdosed on prescribed medications (48%), other drugs (35%), opioids and opioid-like drugs (5%), and other psychoactive drugs (6%).
In 2019, substance abuse disorder was found to be most prevalent in New Mexico (a high of 2.58%, out of all medical patients throughout the state), followed by Rhode Island, Florida, Alaska, and Massachusetts. At the time, the lowest states include the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nebraska, and South Carolina.
Two years later, New Mexico still led the pack, along with the inclusion of Alaska and Massachusetts in the top 5 again, as well as the addition of North Dakota and Wisconsin. States with the lowest percentage of substance abuse disorder patients changed to include the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and South Carolina again, with Maine and Virginia contributing to the lowest five states.
Among all states, Nebraska was the one to have the greatest increase in the proportion of patients with a substance use disorder. Conversely, Maryland had the greatest increase in overdose diagnosis.
Earlier this summer, a study showed that cannabis could be a “very promising” replacement for opioids. Based in South Africa, the study is analyzing patients who are currently taking opioids for pain management. Over the course of three months, patients will switch to medical cannabis (specifically the cultivars Tallyman, Exodus, and 9 Pounds Hammer). “We are currently recruiting patients, and data-capturing all the questionnaires and feedback from the patients for the live study,” said medical cannabis researcher Dr. Shiksha Gallow about the study. “It has been fairly slow. However, more options have been introduced in the live study as suggested by the patients in the pilot study. The pilot results of the study were very promising, as it showed 98% of the patients have some sort of pain relief from the cannabis.”
Dub-tinged American band Stick Figure released their seventh studio album Wisdom on September 9. Wisdom was written, produced, and recorded by vocalist Scott Woodruff, with help from drummer Kevin Offitzer, bassist Tommy Suliman, guitarist Johnny Cosmic, percussionist Will Phillips, and KBong (real name Kevin Bong) who also has a successful solo career.
The album was recorded at Great Stone Studios in Oakland, California—former home of Green Day—featuring guests Slightly Stoopid, Barrington Levy, and Collie Buddz. The album was led by singles like “Paradise” and “Way of Life.” Ye and DJ Khaled were spotted on TikTok getting down to “Here Comes the Sound” off the new album, as Khaled appeared to egg on Ye as he started bobbing to the upbeat.
There’s no denying the band’s imminent rise heightened by sold-out tours. In fact, Stick Figure averages over 4,200 tickets sold per show on almost every tour. The album topped the iTunes Reggae Albums chart, andJamaica ObserverandJamaica Gleaner report that Wisdom debuted on the spot atop the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart—the title normally occupied by Bob Marley’s collection Legend, or at least for the previous 140 weeks.
Last February, Stick Figure performed to an energetic crowd at Cali Vibes, complete with pyrotechnics, and at Cali Roots. The connection with the crowd is one of the band’s key strengths. Stick Figure’s other star—a rescued Australian Shepherd named Cocoa—even has her own 501(c)3 charity and following on social media.
Woodruff discussed the new album with High Times, and finding peace and solace in the craziness of the world.
High Times Magazine: Tell us about what new themes can be found on the new album, Wisdom.
Scott Woodruff:Wisdom is all about the journey. I wanted to give people an album that makes them feel good and resonates with whatever they’re going through in their lives and hopefully reminds them that there is beauty and joy in the midst of all the craziness.
What was it like working with Barrington Levy?
I’m truly honored to work with the legend himself Barrington Levy. He inspired me so much from an early age and is one of the main reasons I make music. Barrington’s album Too Experienced was the first reggae album I ever owned, and this feels like such a full circle moment to collaborate with him on “Soul of the World.”
Honored to collaborate with the OG legend himself Barrington Levy on the new tune “Soul of the World.” Been a dream collaboration since the beginning & it’s . Excited to share this one.
Hear it this Friday! pic.twitter.com/233lodx239
Was any of the new material recorded during the pandemic?
Yeah, my childhood friend TJ O’Neill and I challenged ourselves to write a whole album in a year and we did. We kept busy doing exactly what we love to do, writing music. Then I spent every day of the next year producing the whole album, playing one instrument at a time in my home studio.
Your tours frequently sell out. Is there an element that goes with Stick Figure that only comes alive during live shows?
We put a lot of thought into every element, from the live arrangements to the transitions to having a great light show. However, we try to keep it fresh, even during the set we often change the songs in real time; it keeps it interesting, as you never know what you’re going to see in our live show. For example, on one of our most recent tours we played the crowd a brand new song and recorded them singing along.
We then blended those recordings into a song on the new album Wisdom. There ended up being over 50,000 voices on that track from the ten shows we recorded at. We named the track “Smoke Signals”. Keep an eye on www.stickfigure.com for more tour dates.
Do you have a favorite venue to perform at?
It’s gotta be Red Rocks in Colorado—the setting, the energy, the sound; everything just feels like a movie at Red Rocks.
How is Cocoa doing?
She’s living the life. We just moved full time to San Diego, and she’s loving life being by the beach. She’s such a sweetheart, man.
Do you have any festivals lined up in the upcoming months?
We’re playing Reggae Rise Up in Las Vegas in October and Closer to The Sun in Mexico in December. We have some exciting festivals to announce for next year as well.
You’ve been working with Slightly Stoopid quite a bit again. How far do you guys go back?
Slightly Stoopid have been our big brothers in the music scene and supported Stick since day one. They’ve been a massive influence for me since I was a kid, especially when I was learning guitar and started singing. We’ve now done several tracks together, and it’s always fun collaborating and playing shows together.
The world desperately lacks positivity. Is that something you want to promote in general with Stick Figure?
Absolutely. The music is meant to bring peace and happiness into your life and create a feeling of joy and hope. Positivity makes the world a better place.
Do you have any other announcements or shoutouts regarding the new album?
It’s always exciting to release new music. The album has only been out a couple weeks, and the feedback has been incredible. I want to shout out my band and crew and the entire Stick Figure Family. Couldn’t do it without any of you.
. Excited to share this one.
