,
9 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Alright, let's provide a bit of context to this article on Colorado - because these are stats you commonly see being cited by anti-legalisation folks! /1 abc.net.au/news/2019-06-0…
Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is totally a thing. We don't have any good numbers on prevalence, but it's generally considered "rare" or "very rare" and only an issue if you are a heavy, daily user of cannabis ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29327809 /2
Will legalisation increase ED visits for CHS? Absolutely. But how much of this is because of increased prevalence, and how much is because cannabis use is de-stigmatised through changes in law? There is no evidence legalisation has made CHS more common. /3
The comments about edibles and ED visits is definitely relevant. Colorado buggered up the legalisation process of edibles, allowing very strong products on the market. If you were an occasional user of sub-par illicit weed - it's going to be too much for you. /4
Legalisation should include very strict regulation on edibles as well as community education about cannabis intoxication (which can be unpleasant, but not dangerous). /5
The statistics on "fatal crashes involving cannabinoids" also need to be given some context. A detectable level of cannabis in someone's system is not the same as being *impaired* by cannabis at the time. We have better stats on this. /6
Below is a comparison of the data of any detectable level of THC (the blue line) used to make cannabis complicity in fatalities versus data on the number of fatalities where detectable THC levels are > 5 ng/mL -consistent with impairment, (orange line). /7 
As you can see the number of fatalities where a person is impaired by cannabis has increased slightly since legalisation, but is in no way the dramatic increase often cited by those who oppose legalisation. /8
On a final point, we don't need to follow Colorado's model when we speak of cannabis legalisation. It was done in a very American way, allowing cowboy capitalists free reign on the market. I'm far more interested in Canada's moderate approach. /fin
