🚨 NEW RESEARCH | CANNABIS USE & BREASTFEEDING A new study published in Breastfeeding Medicine examined cannabis use, perceptions of risk, clinical counseling, and breastfeeding initiation using multistate Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data. 🤱🧠 🔎 Among respondents reporting perinatal cannabis use, researchers found: • Breastfeeding initiation was lowest among those reporting cannabis use both prenatally and postpartum (71.9%) • Initiation was highest among those reporting postpartum-only cannabis use (89.5%) • Breastfeeding initiation also differed based on whether patients received clinical advice regarding cannabis use while breastfeeding 🩺 The authors emphasize the importance of clear clinician counseling that discourages cannabis use while breastfeeding while continuing to support breastfeeding. 🔗 Read the study: journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs… 📖 Breastfeeding Medicine (2026) DOI: 10.1177/15568253261490303 #IASIC #CannabisResearch #Breastfeeding #MaternalHealth #InfantHealth #PerinatalHealth #CannabisEducation #PublicHealth

Children 12-30 years old living at home with marijuana smoking mother or father are 3 times more likely to use marijuana )a multigenerational problem) then kids whose parents never used.

Pueblo, Colorado: The Hidden Costs of Commercial Marijuana Pueblo embraced commercial marijuana with promises of jobs, economic growth, and tax revenue. Now, city leaders are questioning those promises as Pueblo faces homelessness and financial challenges. The mayor and City Council are taking steps to limit further marijuana expansion. Other communities should pay attention. Marijuana commercialization comes with costs that tax revenue may not cover. #PuebloColorado #MarijuanaLegalization #THCHarms #PublicHealth #CommunitySafety #EveryBrainMatters

Colorado sold voters on tested, regulated weed. Its own state auditor just found 41,000 marijuana harvest batches never got a contaminant test in 2025 alone. Some businesses went five years without an inspection. "As a result, there is an increased risk that marijuana products sold in Colorado may have contaminants or that the potency listed on the labels is inaccurate." 12 years into legalization. Send this to someone who thinks legal means safe. thedrugreport.org/2026/10/20…

14 to 111. In 2017, Texas recorded 14 kratom and 7-OH deaths. In the first eight months of 2026, the state has already counted 111. Federal health officials call 7-OH "gas station heroin." It's still on the shelves. abc13.com/post/grieving-texa…

Imagine your surgeon saying, “Before we start, I’m going to raise your heart attack risk by 46%.” You’d get off the table and walk out. If you use marijuana, you might be doing it to yourself. That’s from a new presentation at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ annual meeting, pooling 5 studies and 44,312 patients. It lines up with the published research: a 2024 Journal of the American Heart Association study found daily users had 25% higher odds of heart attack and 42% higher odds of stroke. Today’s high-THC pot is not harmless. Your heart pays the price. newswise.com/articles/cannab…

🧠 IASIC Speaker Series Presents: “High Stakes: Cannabis and Tobacco Co-Use and Psychosis Risk” Join Heather Burrell Ward, MD, Director of Neuromodulation Research and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, for the October IASIC Speaker Series. Dr. Ward will examine the growing evidence on the co-use of cannabis and tobacco, its association with psychosis risk, and its impact on cognitive performance. This evidence-based discussion will provide valuable insights for clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and prevention professionals seeking to better understand the mental health implications of concurrent cannabis and tobacco use. A nationally recognized investigator, Dr. Ward earned her medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine and completed psychiatry residency training at Brigham & Women’s Hospital–Harvard Medical School, followed by fellowship training in behavioral neurology and noninvasive brain stimulation at Harvard Medical School. She was also named a 2021 STAT News Wunderkind for her contributions to neuroscience and addiction research. 📅 October 19, 2026 ⏰ 12:00 PM EST Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi… Please register, share, and invite others to join us! #IASIC #CannabisResearch #Psychosis #Cannabis #Tobacco #AddictionScience #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #BrainHealth #SubstanceUseDisorder #MedicalEducation

🚨 NEW RESEARCH | CANNABIS USE DISORDER & HOSPITALIZATIONS A new study published in Public Health examined more than 216 million inpatient discharges across 18 U.S. statesfrom 2005–2023. A new study published in Public Health examined more than 216 million inpatient discharges across 18 U.S. states from 2005–2023. A new study published in Public Health examined more than 216 million inpatient discharges across 18 U.S. states from 2005–2023. 📈 The proportion of hospital discharges with a cannabis use disorder (CUD) diagnosis code more than tripled, rising from 1.02% in 2005 to 3.15% in 2023. 🔎 In 2023, CUD coding was: • 9.33% among adolescents ages 10–19—the highest of any age group • 4.19% among males vs. 2.32% among females • 5.43% among non-Hispanic Black patients The researchers concluded that CUD-coded inpatient discharges increased substantially over time, highlighting the need for screening, surveillance, prevention, and connections to treatment. 🔗 Read the study: sciencedirect.com/science/ar… 📖 Public Health (2026) DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2026.106500 #IASIC #CannabisUseDisorder #CannabisResearch #CannabisScience #YouthHealth #Addiction #PublicHealth #Prevention

The CEO of one of the largest cannabinoid suppliers in the country emailed me today. He sent a catalog. In that catalog were THCP, THC-O, HHC — chemically converted and semi-synthetic cannabinoids, offered for sale by the kilogram. Out of curiosity I called the number and met a representative for Bret Worley, not Bret himself. Tyler told me Bret founded HIFA, the organization that has spent millions lobbying Congress and the White House to keep chemical conversion alive. Here’s what makes that call extraordinary. Bret Worley is not just any industry executive. NBC News reported in August that that he is the son-in-law of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — married to her youngest daughter. Republican senators have complained directly to their leadership about the White House’s push to delay the hemp ban, Susie Wiles’ office. The same White House that asked Congress for “fair treatment of hemp products” is connected, by marriage, to the man selling Schedule I-adjacent product out of a Colorado warehouse. THCP is already Schedule I. It always has been. The DEA’s May 2026 rule put chemically converted cannabinoids on the synthetic side of the line. And under the law Congress passed, cannabinoids the plant cannot naturally produce lose hemp status on November 12 — not December 11. The December date only covers what the plant can make. THCP is not something the plant makes. It is something a lab makes from CBD. So the picture is this: a company whose CEO has a family tie to the top of the White House is circulating a wholesale catalog of products that federal organizations have classified as controlled substances. The farmer  who tests a tenth of a percent over the threshold gets his crop destroyed, his license revoked, and in some cases loses everything. The converter gets White House access, a catalog, and from what I’ve been hearing a 2 year runway to get through all of their stockpiles of what I can only assume are imported from other countries.  There are legislative documents circulating right now that would put guardrails on the hemp industry while still allowing naturally occurring cannabinoids. HIFA and the Hemp Roundtable continually block them from going forward if they don’t include conversions, because their business model relies on converting cannabinoids and keeping raw material providers like the American farmer out of the equation and useful only as precursor growers who take all the risk and reap none of the reqard. If the hemp industry, the medicinal marijuana industry, and the recreational marijuana industry all grouped together and pointed out the obvious … That chemical conversion companies should not be allowed to participate in cannabis and should stay in the pharmaceutical realm, which is what they are most closely adjacent to.  We could get something across the finish line. But no one is going to agree when we’ve got people like this man saying he represents us, because he does not. Just because he’s found a way to extract money by selling what I personally believe are already Schedule I drugs, converted, and therefore unable to take the hemp exemption…  he has taken that money and used it to lobby Congress and even state-level lawmakers to continue doing exactly this. This is an obvious abuse of the American farmer, and anyone who doesn’t appreciate that is being ignorant of the facts in exchange for money. If you didn’t know that, now you do. Now do something about it. This is not a eulogy for hemp. Hemp has a real future in American agriculture as a rotation crop, a fiber source, a building material, a feed ingredient, and yes, as a source of naturally occurring cannabinoids grown under the rules. That future is worth fighting for. What I am saying is that the people currently negotiating the terms of that future are the same people who spent eight years exploiting the loopholes that destroyed it. They parade farmers at hearings and in press releases as proof they care. They don’t.

Oklahoma had to pass a law to stop marijuana edibles shaped like cartoons, animals and candy bears. Starting Nov. 1, packaging can't be designed to appeal to kids. But dispensaries can keep selling the kid-friendly stock already on their shelves. This is what commercialization looks like. kosu.org/new-marijuana-packa…

Two new case reports highlight a potential cardiovascular risk associated with cannabis use. Researchers reported two young men who experienced ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMIs) following cannabis consumption. One patient died after cardiac arrest; the second, who also used cocaine, had coronary thrombosis requiring intervention. The authors conclude that cannabis may act as a trigger for acute myocardial infarction, including in young adults without traditional cardiovascular risk factors, while emphasizing that larger prospective studies are needed. Read the report: reference-global.com/article… #IASIC #CannabisResearch #CannabisScience #HeartHealth #HeartAttack #CardiovascularHealth #MyocardialInfarction #PublicHealth #PatientSafety

Legalization was supposed to shut down the illegal market. This week in Colorado Springs, police raided unlicensed shops after an 18-month investigation and seized a large amount of THC and psilocybin products. At one of them, a minor was allegedly working the sales counter alone. Commercialization didn't end the illegal market. It's selling right alongside it. kdvr.com/news/local/cspd-thc…