With increasing use of state legalized medical marijuana across the country, health care providers need accurate information on patterns of marijuana and other substance use for patients with access to medical marijuana. This study compared frequency and severity of marijuana use, and use of other substances, for patients with and without state legal access to medical marijuana. Data were collected from 2,030 patients who screened positive for marijuana use when seeking health care services in a large, urban safety-net medical center. Patients were screened as part of a federally funded screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) initiative. Patients were asked at screening whether they had a state-issued medical marijuana card and about risky use of tobacco, alcohol, and other illicit substances. A total of 17.4% of marijuana users had a medical marijuana card. Patients with cards had higher frequency of marijuana use and were more likely to screen at moderate than low or high risk from marijuana use. Patients with cards also had lower use of other substances than patients without cards. Findings can inform health care providers of both the specific risks of frequent, long-term use and the more limited risks of other substance use faced by legal medical marijuana users.

No abstract

The rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora) is an aggressive, invasive weed species with a high spreading potential that has caused great ecological impacts and economic costs to the areas in which it has been introduced. In Mexico, there is little information on the invasion of this species. In Baja California Sur (BCS), the first record of the species is documented from 1935 in one oasis. Despite the ecological problems that this invasive species may cause in the oases of BCS, little was known about its distribution and status. The aim of this work was to document the presence of the rubber vine in 57 oases in Baja California Sur during 2006-2008. The rubber vine was present in 22 (39%) of the sampled oases. The distribution pattern strongly suggests that the rubber vine had been introduced by the local population and then spread in the oasis and into the vicinity of streams and canyons. Vertebrate and invertebrate endemic oasis-dependent species may be at risk because the rubber vine can become a dominant species in oases and because reptiles and birds may not use the plant and instead avoid the areas where it grows. This is risky in fragile ecosystems immersed in a desert. Education and eradication of rubber vines from oases should be urgently done.

Findings suggest that health care providers may be serving increasing numbers of patients using marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.

Objective: The aim of this study is to measure the knowledge regarding the new sanitation water system being implemented in Dessources, a rural community