CU Anschutz In The News

With marijuana use putting people at greater risk for bad health outcomes such as heart attack and stroke, reducing usage may sound like a good idea, said Dr. Robert Page, a professor of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine/rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora. But T-breaks come with certain risks, especially when it comes to withdrawal symptoms, he said. Page spoke to CNN about tolerance breaks and whether or not they are a sound strategy.

“The latest research about cannabis use indicates that smoking and inhaling cannabis increases concentrations of blood carboxyhemoglobin (carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas), tar (partly burned combustible matter) similar to the effects of inhaling a tobacco cigarette, both of which have been linked to heart muscle disease, chest pain, heart rhythm disturbances, heart attacks and other serious conditions,” said Page, a professor in the department of clinical pharmacy and physical medicine/rehabilitation at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Aurora, Colorado.

However, most studies on seizures, nausea and pain have investigated the impact of carefully made synthetic cannabis or extracts, said clinical pharmacologist Robert Page II, who chaired the medical writing group for the American Heart Association’s 2020 scientific statement on marijuana. Page was also not involved in the study.

“This isn’t acceptable — all children need to feel safe to learn,” said lead author Dr. Mandy Allison, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado.

While the study numbers were small, the research was robust because the use of marijuana was verified via urine tests, said Brianna Moore, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora. She was not involved in the study. “Urinary THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) testing is more objective than self-report, since pregnant people may not want to state that they are using cannabis,” she said.

CNN's Kim Brunhuber speaks with professor and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Mona Pearl Treyball [CU College of Nursing faculty], about veterans' mental health care in the wake of the mass shooting in Atlanta, where authorities say the shooter was a veteran.

“If we looked at all those other leading causes of death – whether you’re talking about motor vehicle accidents or childhood cancer – and we said, ‘Gosh, if we had some simple, safe thing we could do to get rid of one of those, wouldn’t we just jump at it?” And we have that with Covid with vaccines,” said O’Leary, who is also a professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado.

“These chemicals are ubiquitous in the American environment. More than 2,800 communities in the US, including all 50 states and two territories, have documented PFAS contamination,” Dr. Ned Calonge, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and chair of the Academies committee that wrote the report, told CNN previously.