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SacBee: PHI’s Lynn Silver Provides Expert Advice on Cannabis & Health Harms
In the Sacramento Bee, public health experts, including Lynn Silver, director of PHI’s Getting it Right from The Start, share their concerns about cannabis packaging mimicking candy and the significant health harms of cannabis.
- Sacramento Bee
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Getting it Right from the Start: Advancing Public Health & Equity in Cannabis Regulation
“When California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, voters were promised a safe, regulated market that would prioritize child safety.
Nearly a decade later, a lack of clear state regulations and insufficient enforcement from the Department of Cannabis Control created a system that critics say is failing to protect the state’s most vulnerable.
Public health experts are saying the problem starts with packaging. Brands mimicking candy is just the start of a broader trend where a business can market an increasingly potent substance unchecked.
Cannabis is not strawberries. It’s a product that has some additional uses, but it also has significant health harms and generates dependency. It’s the most frequent cause of people needing substance abuse support.Lynn Silver, MD, MPH
Director, Getting it Right from the Start, Public Health Institute
The lack of state enforcement, combined with an increasing THC potency is at the heart of a growing public health crisis that has seen child cannabis poisonings surge by 469% since legalization.
Click on the link below to read the full article.
Originally published by Sacramento Bee
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