Cannabis a missing therapy in Trump's health emergency declaration

As South Dakota struggles with obesity, alcoholism and its worsening opioid crisis former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White is preaching to New Mexicans about his success with therapeutic cannabis in kicking reliance on pills.

“I got to a point in my life, like many people, that I…taking opiates every day is not quality of life,” he said. “I just wanted to try something different.” Much like the positive changes White said medical marijuana has brought to his life, he has now watched it transform the lives of others. [KOB teevee]

But in the failed red state of South Dakota jails and drug courts are treatments.

At least one overdose patient arriving in the Spearfish Emergency Room per week is not uncommon. Dr. Thomas Groeger of Lead-Deadwood Regional Medical Clinic said that the number one overdose seen in their emergency room is from alcohol. [Black Hills Pioneer]

Alcohol remains the primary substance abused by patients at Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health in Yankton, too; but the lion's share of funding from the Trump Organization is going to the law enforcement industry.

A study done by the Department of Health found that South Dakota had 66 individuals die from drug-related causes in 2015. Twenty-four of those deaths, or 36 percent, were attributed to opioids. It was also reported that, in the same year, enough doses of opiates were prescribed to South Dakotans to medicate every adult in the state around the clock for 19 straight days. [Yankton Press & Dakotan]

Our Cheeto-dusted Führer has issued an edict to address the opioid epidemic spreading through his white voter base but is missing an opportunity to actually fix it.

Researchers and pharmacologists agree: cannabis is a safe and effective treatment as a bridge to recovery from opioid addiction. University of New Mexico researchers and the Industrial Rehabilitation Clinics of Albuquerque have released findings that showed 71% of patients either ceased or reduced their use of manufactured opioids within 6 months of enrolling in that state's medical cannabis program.

New Approach South Dakota expects voters to drain that state's Policing for Profit swamp.

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