Stämning: Cannabisföretag anklagas för att ha mörkat risker för psykisk ohälsa | NTD NYHETER

Next, a good a big tobacco moment becoming for marijuana. Cannabis companies in 13 states are facing a federal class action lawsuit accusing them of misleading consumers about the health risks of their products. NDD's Daniel Monaghan spoke with an addiction specialist about this case. Have a look at that. The lawsuit was filed last month by the law firm White's in Luxembourg. It alleges manufacturers promoted cannabis for benefits such as anxiety and sleep relief while failing to adequately warn about potential mental health harms including cannabis-induced psychosis. The complaint cites research linking frequent cannabis use to a higher risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. They highlight really three main things, which is the cannabis-induced psychosis and the rates of cannabis-induced psychosis, something called cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome and then also the other mental health risks associated with it. Master certified addiction professional John Pulse says research has linked cannabis use to psychosis in one to three percent of users, adding that there needs to be more transparency about the risks. If you were to buy a product from the grocery store and even if you really liked it and for most people it was fine but it carried a one to three percent chance of having a psychotic break, I think there should be transparency about that. Pulse says the lawsuit resembles earlier legal battles against tobacco companies which ultimately led to warning labels, marketing restrictions and tighter regulations. It went from arguably over-policing, over-enforced, total prohibition to now broad legalization in most states with very little regulations. And there's really no product, whether you look at tobacco, alcohol or anything else similar, there's no product that has this little regulation and oversight. You can't, for example, have flavored cigarettes anymore. That was determined in the courts. But you could have any type of flavored THC product, THC gummies, cookies, candies, lollipops that are really high potency. The addiction specialist believes the lawsuits will result in what he views as more common sense policies including warning labels, regulations around THC content, what type of products can be sold so that hopefully they can come to a middle ground instead of these two extremes. Pulse finds it curious that many people report that marijuana relaxes them. They almost view it as a way to unwind from the day. But if you monitor somebody through some type of medical monitoring equipment, what you actually see is the vast majority of people, even those who say that it's relaxing them, experience an increase in heart rate and their blood pressure increases. Pulse says research shows that the number of emergency room visits related to cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome has risen sharply from 4.4 per 100,000 in 2016 to over 22 per 100,000 in 2022. The symptoms are often referred to as scrommeting when you're scream vomiting at the same time. And the risk there is dehydration when you can't keep the fluids down. And that's how most people end up in the emergency room. Supporters of legal cannabis argue millions of Americans use marijuana without serious adverse effects and say regulated markets are safer than illicit products. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News.