I had the opportunity to read Dr. Stewart Reese report and would like to share the first part.  Your readers might like to take the quiz and see how their current knowledge rates to the data available.

Cannabinoid Genotoxicity Extends to Cannabidiol and Other Cannabinoids too – Cannabis is not a soft drug – especially in its marketing campaign

Why don’t we start with a short quiz of general knowledge of current events and topical issues in the community?

Questions:

Brain:

Which American state has 500 students with autism in every graduating year group across the whole state?

Which American state has current legislation afoot to declare autism at epidemic proportions in their state?

Which American state has the fastest growing autism epidemic by recent metrics (at 30 percent every two years)?

Which smoked illegal drug is now linked with causing strokes?

Which smoked illegal drug is linked with causing most major psychiatric diseases – including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety.

Which illicit drug is known to cause failure of achievement of major life goals – forming a long term stable relationship, getting a job, having a career, paying tax?

In which US state have city after city been trashed by out of control mental illness, drug use, homelessness, poverty and law enforcement and social relief services completely overwhelmed?

Heart:

Which American state is amongst the top four for rates of children born with holes in their heart (known as atrial septal defect)?

In which American state did the rate of holes in the heart (atrial septal defect) increase more than threefold from 299 to 912 cases 2000-2012?

Which smoked illegal drug is now recognized to cause heart attacks?

Which illegal drug is known to stop the heart by causing major cardiac arrythmias?

Head:

Which two American states share the highest rates of children born without ears or with tiny little ears (like peas – called anotia or microtia)?

Chromosomes:

Which four American states have the highest rates of Downs syndrome in the nation?

What do all four of these states have in common??

Which American state has the highest rates in the nation for all four major chromosomal abnormalities of birth namely Trisomies 13, 18, 21 (Down’s syndrome) and Turner’s syndrome?

Limbs:

Which are the two leading states for babies born without arms?

What do these two states have in common?

Drugs:

Drug use is known to damage babies when they are growing inside their mothers.

In which leading American state, which was also home to most of the above waves of recent deformed babies, was the rate of all drug use actually falling – all except one drug.  Which state was that?

And which drug was the exception?

Cancer:

Drug use is well recognized as leading to cancer in many organs.  This is widely recognized for both tobacco and alcohol.

Which drug has been linked with causing cancer of the testicles in 100 percent of the studies – four out of four - which have examined this question?

Which is the only illicit drug linked to four inheritable cancers in the children born to infants exposed in utero exposed?

Which drug was examined in detail in a 150-page report by the Californian environmental Protection agency and found to be a proven carcinogen in 2009?

Why are virtually all carcinogens considered teratogens – known to harm developing babies?

Reproduction:

Which smoked illicit drug causes major genetic damage to both eggs and sperm?

Which smoked illicit drug reduces fertility in both males and females?

Our genes not only carry our DNA sequence, but also the software which programs those genes and turns them on and off – which scientists call the “epigenome”.

Which smoked illicit drug is known to damage the epigenome?

For how many generations does epigenetic inheritance continue?

Is this period more or less than 100 years?

Answers:

The above series of questions relate to the recent experience of the US state of Colorado following its progressive legalization of cannabis over the period 2000-2014.

If you answered “Colorado” to most of the questions about congenital defects you were correct.  The two exceptions were the question about babies born without limbs – the two commonest US states for these defects are Alaska and Oregon; and babies born with tiny ears – which are Alaska and Oregon.

Terry Wiley, DC, IHS