Category: Public Health and Safety

Marijuana Grows Sites: Chemical contaminants linger in soil

A recent research paper examined illegal trespass cannabis grows on public forest lands and found that pesticides, banned hazardous chemicals, and other contaminants used by growers were still detectable in the soil up to 24 months after growing had ceased. The use of these contaminants on our public lands poses an imminent environmental and public […]

Cannabis and Human Trafficking: Modern Slavery

Some Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO), with direct ties to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), engage in human trafficking to staff their cultivation sites for workers in the United States. These victims of human trafficking are often deceived by traffickers with promises of good work and money by tending plants in the United States. Once […]

California Marijuana Impact Report – 2025

This product was a joint effort by the California based HIDTA Regional initiatives to provide data and information regarding cannabis in California and its impacts to matters of public health and public safety. In addition to information on potency, use rates, traffic fatalities, and other public health data, this report also highlights the recent increase […]

Domestic Illicit U.S. Cannabis Trafficking, by Chinese Nationals, in Washington State

Chinese Nationals & Illicit Marijuana in America

In the United States, there has been an increase in illicit cannabis trafficking by some individuals or organized groups with ties to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) that represents a multi-billion dollar a year criminal enterprise. How much of that money is directed back to the PRC is unclear. These Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) […]

Cannabis Use and Elevated Cardiac Risk

Cannabis using consumers, when compared to a non-cannabis population, are at an elevated risk factor for adverse cardiac events such as heart attacks (MI), strokes, tachycardia, and heart failure. The odds ratio of having a Myocardial Infarction (MI) for cannabis consumers was 6 times greater than that of an individual that does not consume cannabis. […]

Cannabis & Driving: You Feel Different – You Drive Different

Results of a recent highway safety study involving cannabis revealed that the majority of those who use cannabis elect to drive that same day, even when use was as recent as 60 minutes (or less) prior to the act of driving. Cannabis use in America has outpaced alcohol consumption in recent years, it impacts to […]

Cannabis Use: Impairs Both Memory & Brain Function

“Evidence supported that both recent and heavy lifetime cannabis use were associated with diminished brain activation and cognitive performance during working memory.” These are the findings of a recent study released in the January 28, 2025, edition of JAMA Network Open, (Gowin, J. et. al.). This study examined data for over 1000 adults, ages 22 […]

Legalization Linked to Increased Cannabis Use Disorders & Poisonings

The legalization of cannabis for medical and commercial adult use has been associated to “significant increases” in cannabis use disorders (CUD) and cannabis poisonings (CP) when compared to non-legalized states. The authors of this study, Jayawardhana, J. (et.al.), researched national patient records (N=110,256,536), from 2011 to 2021, with diagnoses of a CUD or CP, by yearly […]

Monthly cannabis use rates are now greater than alcohol use

When comparing daily use rates of cannabis to daily alcohol consumption, cannabis users are now 7.4 times more likely to engage in daily use compared to alcohol drinkers. Self-reported cannabis use, in the last 30 days, was nearly 4 times higher than alcohol usage for the same metric. From 1992 until 2022, the reported frequency […]