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• DFA - Where is the Public Discussion on Cannabis?

This mail has been sent to all Australian Health and Shadow Minister.

With the constant noise being made about not only misinformation, but more concerningly, disinformation, it is imperative that your support staff and researchers become aware of the well spun, and on growing occasions patently false information being promoted by the worldwide Cannabis industry.  

Drug Free Australia kindly requests your department to review this very important paper and also the 77 references and the 5 related articles.  

Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms  https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(23)00582-5/fulltext <https://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(23)00582-5/fulltext>  

Published: October 18, 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.009 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.009 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.009> >  

Highlights

CBD products may have varying amounts of CBD, varying from none to much more than advertised. 

CBD products may contain other chemicals than CBD, some of which may be harmful. 

16 RCTs for pain used pharmaceutical CBD in oral, buccal/sublingual, and topical forms. 

15 of the 16 RCTs were negative: no greater pain-relieving effect for CBD than for placebo. 

 Meta-analyses link CBD to increased rates serious adverse events and hepatotoxicity.

Abstract 

Cannabidiol (CBD) attracts considerable attention for promoting good health and treating various conditions, predominantly pain, often in breach of advertising rules. Examination of available CBD products in N America and Europe demonstrate that CBD content can vary from none to much more than advertised, and that potentially harmful other chemicals are often included. Serious harm is associated with chemicals found in CBD products, and reported in children, adults, and the elderly. A 2021 International Association for the Study of Pain task force examined the evidence for cannabinoids and pain but found no trials of CBD. Sixteen CBD randomised trials using pharmaceutical supplied CBD or making preparations from such a source and with pain as an outcome have been published subsequently. The trials were conducted in 12 different pain states, using three oral, topical, and buccal/sublingual administration, with CBD doses between 6 and 1600 mg, and durations of treatment between a single dose and 12 weeks. Fifteen of the 16 showed no benefit of CBD over placebo. Small clinical trials using verified CBD suggest the drug to be largely benign; while large scale evidence of safety is lacking there is growing evidence linking CBD to increased rates of serious adverse events and hepatotoxicity. In January 2023, the FDA announced that a new regulatory pathway for CBD was needed. Consumers and health care providers should rely on evidence-based sources of information on CBD, not just advertisements. Current evidence is that CBD for pain is expensive, ineffective, and possibly harmful. 

Perspective 

There is no good reason for thinking that CBD relieves pain, but there are good reasons for doubting the contents of CBD products in terms of CBD content and purity. 

77 important References for review.

5 Related Articles for review  

Kind Regards  

Herschel Baker   

Queensland Director
Drug Free Australia
Prevent. Don't Promote Drug Use
M: 0412988835
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
W: https://drugfree.org.au/ 

In its submission last Friday to the Queensland Police Inquiry into decriminalising the use of all illicit drugs, Drug Free Australia noted that 99% of 25,000 Australians surveyed in 2019 did not approve the regular use of heroin, ice and speed, with 97% not approving of the use of cocaine and 96% of ecstasy, yet these are the very drugs the Queensland Police want to decriminalise.

Drug Free Australia went on to demonstrate that wherever the use of these same drugs has ever been decriminalised, increased drug use and havoc has followed.  Portugal 'compassionately' decriminalised all drugs in 2001 and by 2017 their drug use had increased 59%, use by high school up 60%, and opiate deaths up 61% by 2018.  Australia introduced Tough on Drugs in 1998 and by 2007 had DECREASED the use of the same drugs tracked by Portugal by 42%.  Drug Free Australia has pointed out that the strong Australian disapproval of illicit drugs is proof they do not want increasing drug use - which Queensland's Police will inevitably bring, with all the added criminal networks that must supply them.

California decriminalised the use of all drugs in 2015.  So many people are fleeing California and shifting to other US states, that California will lose a representational seat 

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-04-26/census-data-redistricting-delay

 in Congress as a result, such has been the exodus. Amongst the main reasons cited is the homelessness < caused by unchecked drug use.   Oregon decriminalised in 2021 and saw a 216% https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/overdose-deaths-oregon-skyrocket-one-year-decriminalizing-hard-drugs/

increase in opiate deaths within 10 months – testimony to the bonanza for criminal drug suppliers and dealers these deaths represent (increased opiate deaths percentage-wise track the same https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:36895> percentage-wise rises in opiate use).

A 2019 article https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/09/12/why-california-keeps-making-homelessness-worse/?sh=5949dce45a61

in the centrist Forbes magazine well-describes the connection between California’s liberalised drug policies and the homelessness which is driving residents away. From the article:

QUOTE

“I’ve rarely seen a normal able-bodied able-minded non-drug-using homeless person who’s just down on their luck,” L.A. street doctor Susan Partovi told me. “Of the thousands of people I’ve worked with over 16 years, it’s like one or two people a year. And they’re the easiest to deal with.” Rev. Bales agrees. “One hundred percent of the people on the streets are mentally impacted, on drugs, or both,” he said.

Bales says people have little incentive to do treatment (i.e. rehab – our clarification) when there is no threat of jail time. . . . Things went further in this direction with the passage of Proposition 47 in 2014, which decriminalized hard drugs and released nonviolent offenders from prison without providing after-care support. “Our guests went from 12 - 17% addicted to 50% or higher,” Bales says. “Policymakers need to understand that if you allow the use, you also allow the sales, and if you allow the sales, then you allow the big guys to break your legs when you owe them money,” says Bales."

UNQUOTE

Drug Free Australia is urging Queensland Parliamentarians to make decisions in favour of their voters instead of their uninformed Police.  Removing the possibility of a criminal conviction is precisely what makes Australian drug courts and MERIT programs a success in getting users off to rehab and off their drugs, rather than continuing to harm themselves, their children, partners, parents, friends and workmates. Liberal drug policies helped create California's problems. Don't let it happen to Queensland. 

Gary Christian

Research Director      

0422 163 141 

Drug Free Australia