Spring 2023 Cornucopia - Multitopic Show

Show Transcript:

00;00;01;16 - 00;00;05;20

Announcer

And now America's health care advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;20 - 00;00;24;04

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate Show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Our producer, Mr. Darren Wilhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall. This is your show, America. Thank you for joining us and making us one of the most listened to talk shows throughout the United States. You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at America's Health Care Advocate.

00;00;24;07 - 00;00;52;25

Cary Hall

Also, again, I want to thank all of you. The podcasts are... they’re doing really well with 88,189 of you. And the last metric we did over a 28 day period, download and listen to one of our podcasts podcasts are on Pocket Casts, Spreaker, Spotify, Google, RSS Feed Podcast, Tune In, Apple Podcasts, Listen on Sound Cloud, Stitcher, Overcast, Pandora, Amazon Music, and we are on YouTube.

00;00;52;29 - 00;02;51;18

Cary Hall

And that's all because of you out there that are listening to this broadcast on the podcast platforms as well as all of you listening on air to the shows as they air across the country. But again, I want to thank you. And by the way, you've noticed all these shows are videoed now. So the man behind the cameras, Mr. David Thiessen, he is the genius that's put all of this together. And he's also the man that posts all of these on the podcast platforms and on YouTube. So Dave, doing a great job and he's part of the team that's really made a big difference in what we're doing. If you are chronologically challenged and you are looking for Medicare aging in, you want to get a hold of the lovely Joyce Thompson or Carollee Steele, at RPS Benefits by Design. 877 385 2224, that is the phone number. And you can reach them there anytime, anywhere in the country. They are happy to help you. Also, if you are, you know, you may qualify for one of these special needs programs if you've got a chronic illness, if you're on Medicaid, there are conditions that will allow you to qualify for one of these special needs programs. And they are amazing programs under Medicare. They are benefits rich UnitedHealthcare has a suite of them. Aetna has a suite of them, and they are remarkable. If you're interested in finding out, let's say you're a type one diabetic, maybe you're on Medicaid, whatever the case may be, or you're in a nursing home facility, you're a caregiver, you may qualify for one of these that, like I said, the benefits are remarkable. Call Carolee and have a conversation with the they'll be happy to help you. Also, if you're an employer and you're looking for health insurance, you're having trouble. Maybe what you've got is too expensive or you're not happy with the people that are handling it. Again, those folks at RPS Benefits by Design, Maria Ahlers does a great job. Customer service is the number one issue at RPS Benefits by Design, they're going to answer the phone, not going to get an answering service or a bunch of prompts. You're going to talk to a real human being that's going to help you If you're having a problem, find 913 385 2224 anywhere in the country. They are happy to help you in any way they can.

00;02;51;28 - 00;03;47;28

Cary Hall

All right. Today is one of our famous or infamous, depending on how you look at it. Multi-topic or is Darren Wilhite, our producer named them Cornucopia show. So what are we going to talk about today? Well, we've got a host of topics in the way I do these is to bring things to you that relate to health that you're probably not aware of or haven't seen in the media anywhere in your local newspaper, trying to give you information that can be helpful. You know, I had a lady reach out to me last week. She had a 91 year old mother that was starting to experience dementia. She didn't think it was Alzheimer's but dementia. And she wanted to tell. Please tell me that show you did. And the show was with Dr. David Oakley, and I gave her that information center link to the show, but I also connected her with some people that could help her. So that's why we do these. And if I can ever help you, The website is America's Health Care Advocate dot com. You send me an email, I'll be happy to help you.

00;03;47;28 - 00;04;47;06

Cary Hall

All right. Topics today, Vitamin D. All right. So everybody was talking about vitamin D during COVID, and then it kind of got off the chart. Well, if you're a seasoned citizen, you know, one of us that's chronologically challenged, you probably need to be taken vitamin D in doses you probably don't even understand. We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about how much alcohol you can have in a weekly basis. Yes. How many of those martinis are you allowed to have in a one week basis? We'll chat about that. Then we’re going to talk about marriage. This is going to be fascinating. This is an in-depth study done by Harvard that equates marriage to health, you know, long term health and marriage. How are they connected? We're going to talk about that study from Harvard. We're also going to talk about weed, marijuana and teen agers. What's happening to teenagers that are partaking in marijuana and weed. If you're a parent or grandparent, you want to listen to this because it's pretty serious. And last but not least, if we have time, we will talk about the ACA exchanges, what's going on with Obamacare.

00;04;47;06 - 00;05;38;14

Cary Hall

So let's get started. And the first thing we're going to talk about today is the benefits or the benefits, if you will, a vitamin D, So if you're 51 to 70, you should be taking 600 units of vitamin D daily. That's 600 units. Okay. It lowers the risk of dementia. This is kind of interesting, and I'm sure it probably surprises a few people. A new study examining the vitamin D supplementation habits of 12,388 participants in a National Alzheimer's Coordinating center linked data to the supplementation of significantly higher doses of vitamin D to reduce dementia. They found that by taking vitamin D, you were among 3000 participants those who developed dementia over decades long study, 75% had no vitamin D in their system.

00;05;38;25 - 00;06;03;06

Cary Hall

So the vitamin D is is able to either stop, slow down or impede the the the your body getting Alzheimer's or dementia, whatever the case may be. So it's important that that's one of the top benefits of vitamin D. Here's another one that you'll find interesting. Vitamin D helps prevent cancer. Now, that's probably a little surprising to a lot of people that you link vitamin D to cancer because you think about other things.

00;06;03;06 - 00;06;37;26

Cary Hall

We think about that like turmeric and other kinds of supplements. They're supposed to be directly related to cancer. But listen to this. When it comes to advanced cancer, vitamin D supplementation can extend its life. According to a 2020 daily study published in the Journal of American Medical Association in a clinical trial of 25,871 people. So, you know, both of these every time I'm giving you one of these pieces of information, it comes out of a study that's pretty significant, 25,871 people.

00;06;37;26 - 00;07;23;23

Cary Hall

The Vitamin D Council recommends that women with breast cancer take 5000 to 15000 per day vitamin D and check levels to ensure they stay above 70 milligrams, for prevention level. Recommend 60 milligrams. Several studies show the benefit associated with reducing breast cancer because of a family history of breast cancer. There is also an element about keeping vitamin D high, depending again on vitamin D and lowering breast cancer risk up to 83% that you believe that lowering breast cancer up to 83% for 30% of the American Association Cancer Research annual meeting of the population.

00;07;23;23 - 00;08;07;16

Cary Hall

So that's important to understand. So that's another benefit of vitamin D is cancer. And here's one that really kind of surprised me. Vitamin D reduces fractures. This is interesting. This is a correlation I never understood. So a study showed 72% reduction in falls among those with higher levels of vitamin D, it went on to say that vitamin D in those studies bone mineral metabolism reviewed 28 different studies on 61,744 cases and 9767 hip fractures and concluded that the serum of vitamin D levels in the bone structure in elderly people was directly associated to a high risk of fractures if they didn't take vitamin D.

00;08;07;17 - 00;08;52;26

Cary Hall

So the vitamin D thing is a big deal for those of us that are seasoned citizens. Also, as you can see, there are a lot of other benefits with regard to vitamin D and why we should be taking in. Like I said, it kind of fell off the radar after COVID. There was a big rush to take it during COVID because you couldn't get outside a lot of times you're not getting it from sunshine and all the rest of it, but the vitamin D is a big deal, and if you're not taking it, you should be. All right. We're coming up on the break when we come back from the break, we're going to continue our Cornucopia show and move on to our next set of topics. And that's going to be the benefits or non benefits of alcohol. And just how much can you drink in a week? Stay tuned, you're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. We'll be right back after the break.

00;08;55;26 - 00;09;54;14

Steve Kuker

The golden rule, Treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, Senior Care Consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor, our mother and father, respect our elders, care for those in need, and treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make, serving them in their greatest time of need. If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913 945 2800. Know your options and choose with care at seniorcareconsulting.com.

00;09;57;18 - 00;10;37;25

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Show broadcasting coast to coast across USA on the HIA Radio Network. You can learn more at us by going to the website America's Health Care Advocate dot com. You've got a question or comment like the lady whose 91 year old mother had some issues we helped with. Feel free to send me an email. I'm happy to help you. Also, all the podcast platforms, you know, the shows are all posted on podcast platforms. There are 12 of them, 13 of them now. Audacy is the newest one. I forgot to mention that. And we are also on YouTube. So you want to tell somebody about this show, maybe the topic on vitamin D or some of the other things that we're talking about in this segment. Feel free to let them know they can go listen to the podcast.

00;10;37;25 - 00;10;49;22

Cary Hall

Also, if you are looking again for help with Medicare health insurance of any kind. The lovely Carolee Steele or Joyce Thompson 913 385 2224 anywhere in the country.

00;10;49;22 - 00;11;17;20

Cary Hall

All right. Next topic up. This one is kind of interesting for all of you folks that like to imbibe those in adult beverages. Okay. This this is out of the Wall Street Journal study debunks claims of alcohol's benefits. All right. So now we have a study. Remember the studies that said that you drink so many glasses of wine or alcohol that it's going to help you. So now we have a new study. First, the good news. A nip of alcohol here and there probably won't kill you, but it won't help you live longer.

00;11;17;21 - 00;11;43;24

Cary Hall

Okay. That's interesting to know. Some research is suggesting that drinking alcohol improves life expectancy. Other studies have demonstrated poor health outcomes for any level of drinking. Now, keep in mind, people, you know, we've we've had studies on coffee that said coffee is, you know, is going to have effects on your life expectancy, etc.. And then one comes out two months ago that says drinking coffee is really good for you.

00;11;44;00 - 00;12;10;07

Cary Hall

So these studies tend to go back and forth. So I find them somewhat interesting. So so now they're saying, here are people who never drank or drank 45 grams of alcohol or more a day. About as much as three glasses of wine increase their risk of dying sooner by as much as a third among women. Anything more than 25 grams of alcohol a day increase their risk of dying sooner among men as well.

00;12;10;15 - 00;12;30;22

Cary Hall

Alcohol is linked to more than 200 diseases. Yeah, if you're you should be bored by the time you finished naming all of them. They say in the article here because they're that many of them. The Center for Addiction and Mental Health wasn't involved in this study, but they believed that this is correct. This is interesting. Okay. So here's the thing.

00;12;30;24 - 00;12;49;27

Cary Hall

Okay. I mean, they go on to say after all of that, that here's what you can drink. The findings suggest that the average man can drink up to about three drinks a day. Okay. So the study says it's not going to increase your lifetime, but it doesn't say that you're going to decrease it either if you drink up to three drinks a day.

00;12;50;05 - 00;13;14;01

Cary Hall

Okay. As long as you'll live, as long as the nondrinkers. So there you have it. Okay. Now, in women, you might want to stop at about two drinks. The research suggested So at the end of the day, you can have three drinks a day. So, you know, I have, what, maybe two, maybe three martinis a week, You know, when I'm really feeling like I want to have a martini.

00;13;14;06 - 00;13;33;25

Cary Hall

And I normally have a glass of wine with dinner. But if you keep it, it's like anything else, people. If it's done in moderation, you're you're probably going to be okay. It's if you you know, if it's done in excess, then that's a different issue. And unfortunately, in this country, we have a tendency to do things in excess from time to time, and that's not always in our best benefit.

00;13;33;25 - 00;13;51;28

Cary Hall

So now we now we know that it isn't going to extend your life. But guys, three, three glasses of wine a day or three drinks a day. Okay. If you're if that's what you're doing, women should stop it to no more than that and you'll be fine. Obviously, if you drink less than that, you're going to be just fine.

00;13;51;29 - 00;14;12;11

Cary Hall

So that that's an interesting, interesting piece of information. And I can't wait for the next day that comes out and says that if you drink three a day, you'll live 15% longer than those that don't. They'll probably be one. Okay. Now we're going to turn to the People's Republic of California. And please don't some emails from San Luis Obispo or San Bernardino.

00;14;12;12 - 00;14;35;02

Cary Hall

I mean, I have to I just have to use that name from time to time. So notable and quotable. This is out of The Wall Street Journal. Sacramento, California. Some California lawmakers want to ban all tobacco sales in the nation's most populous state, filing legislation to make it illegal to sell cigarettes and other products to anyone after January 7th.

00;14;35;08 - 00;15;02;12

Cary Hall

Now they want to backdate this. I don't understand this to 2007, which makes no sense. I don't even know how you could possibly do that. No, I'm sorry. That's wrong to anyone born after 2007. So if you're born after 2007, they cannot sell you cigarettes. If signed into law, it would mean that by 2073 people wanting to buy cigarettes should would have to show ID and prove they are at least 67 years old.

00;15;02;25 - 00;15;30;24

Cary Hall

Just do you see how absurd this is? You're going to have to. You're going to get carded to show your 67 years old. They're going to be a lot of senior citizens making a lot of money buying cigarettes for people that can't buy them. And I'm just telling you right now, can you imagine the little lady going into the store and buying two cartons of camels and then coming out and she's got five kids waiting and five young people waiting to buy packages of cigarettes from her and she sold them at $10 a package.

00;15;30;29 - 00;15;49;12

Cary Hall

I mean, this is going to create a black market that'll blow your mind. California never ceases to amaze me with the level of stupidity and lack of thought that goes into some of the things they're are doing. And this is one of them. You're immediately going to create a black market. Look at New York. If you want to understand what happens when you go crazy with cigarettes.

00;15;49;12 - 00;16;15;05

Cary Hall

So the taxes on cigarettes in New York or out of out of there ridiculously high. So what happens? This has been going on for years. Truckloads of cigarettes are taken into the state that do not have the state tax stamp on them, and they're sold on the black market because they're sold for significantly less. Can you imagine what's going to happen in California when you have to be 67 years old to buy cigarettes?

00;16;15;06 - 00;16;38;03

Cary Hall

You know, some things just never change. I mean, you can't cure stupid people. That's all I can say. Okay. You know, that's California. And you can go buy fentanyl on the street, but you're not going to be able to buy cigarettes unless you're 67 years old. We'll see if this actually if this actually happens. This is Assemblyman Damon Connelly, a Democrat from San Rafael.

00;16;38;03 - 00;16;55;08

Cary Hall

He is the author of the bill and he is the one that wants to put this in play. And they haven't announced what the penalties and the fines will be, but those will be coming along shortly. So this will be a nightmare to enforce and we'll see we'll see if this is going to happen. So that that's a little bit about what's going on in California.

00;16;55;15 - 00;17;14;19

Cary Hall

All right. So in the next segment of the show, we're going to get into something that I think you're going to find very interesting. This is a study that was done by Harvard. And I'm going to, you know, prep this a little bit right now and kind of give you a little bit of information. The title of the article is For Long Term Health and Happiness.

00;17;15;00 - 00;17;35;16

Cary Hall

Marriage Still Matters. You ought to find this really interesting. I think you're going to find it very interesting, as we get into this and talk about this. This flies in the face of a lot of what we see in our society today. And it was a fascinating article. This was in the reviews section, which comes out typically on a Saturday in The Wall Street Journal.

00;17;35;16 - 00;18;01;14

Cary Hall

And it was quite a study. And when we go through this in the next segment, I'm going to go through all the different benefits of being married and what a difference it makes. I think you're going to be shocked when you hear what this study, which was done on a large number of nurses. I'll give you the numbers when we do the segment, but I think you'll be shocked to find out that marriage actually has some extremely positive effects on our lives and those people that have been married.

00;18;01;14 - 00;18;38;25

Cary Hall

I got to ask you a question, Darren. How long you've been married? 36 years and. All right, Dave, how long you've been married? I've been married 30 years. Okay. And I've been married 38 years. So I take the lead on the sled here. But you see, you got 30, 36 and 30 years. Okay, All of us. And this this will be interesting. This will be interesting for these guys to hear this as well. So we'll be right back after the break. We're going to talk about the long term health and happiness of marriage. What what still matters. Stay tuned. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate, broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA. We've got more right after the break.

00;18;42;02 - 00;19;02;27

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Show, broadcasting coast to coast across USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network, my producer, Mr. Darren Willhite. I'm your host, Cary Hall. In this segment, we're going to talk about long term health and happiness for marriage, why it still matters. This is very interesting study. It was done by two Harvard doctors.

00;19;02;28 - 00;19;29;04

Cary Hall

Dr. Case is the associate director for research at Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program. And Dr. Chen is his research assistant. They're the two that conducted this study. It's quite fascinating, actually. All right. So we're going to start off. Okay. When European travelers first encountered the wall, a pre Australian outback folks and the Calypso in the Amazon in the 19th century, one thing would have been familiar to them.

00;19;29;21 - 00;19;52;13

Cary Hall

It related to life in the cult and in the culture in the West, and that was the institution of marriage. Marriage was a very big part of those societies, even though those societies had no exposure to the Western world or as we you know, these anthropologists found that marriage was like the bedrock of those societies. So we go on.

00;19;54;27 - 00;20;23;05

Cary Hall

Marriage represents the Keystone Institution for most, if not all, societies and may be the most primal of human institutions. This is interesting. Perhaps marriage is now become merely an optional or a capstone rather than the keystone of what we believe here in Western culture today. And so what we're talking about here is how there's been this huge shift in our culture here in the United States, in Europe, most particularly.

00;20;23;13 - 00;21;25;11

Cary Hall

Okay with not getting married or waiting to get married much later. And a lot of folks just simply aren't getting married. They're living together, cohabitating, but they're not married. It's not the same thing. And that's what this study is going to show in a new study in the Journal of Global Epidemiology. That's where this was published. We examined 11,830 American nurses, all women who were initially never married and compared those to those who got married between 1989 and 1983, those who remained unmarried. We assessed how their lives turned out on a wide range of important outcomes, including psychological well-being, health, longevity over about a 25 year period. So this is a comprehensive study done over 25 years. Our findings were striking. This is where it gets really interesting. The women who got married in the initial time frame, including those who subsequently got divorced, had a 35% lower risk of death for any reason over the follow up period than those who did not married during that same period.

00;21;26;07 - 00;21;52;00

Cary Hall

Listen to that for a minute. Over 25 year period, the repeats again, their findings showed that women who got married in the initial time frame, that was 89 to 93, okay, that time frame, including those who subsequently divorced, had a 35% lower risk of death than for any reason over the follow up period than those who did not get married during that period compared with those who didn't get married.

00;21;52;04 - 00;22;18;18

Cary Hall

Women also had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, less depression, loneliness, and were happier and more optimistic and had greater a greater sense of purpose and hope. That's quite a study. That's quite a bit of information. There was also a somewhat robust evidence that women who divorced had a 19% higher risk of death for any reason over the 25 year period that followed than those who stayed married.

00;22;18;26 - 00;23;04;10

Cary Hall

Given the two factors that influence health, well-being, genes and exercise, environmental, social networks, etc., the fact that marriage could reduce the 25 year mortality rate by more than a third and that divorce could possibly increase that rate by nearly a fifth indicates how important it remains for modern life. What I said in the opening and the reason why this really got my attention, you know, as I just did here in the studio a minute ago, you know, David’s married 30 years. Darren’s been married 36. I've been married 38. Okay. I always say that, you know, the day that I got married was the best day of my life. And I mean that. I'm very fortunate. My wife's a wonderful person. I'm very fortunate to have her in my life. But she's made a huge difference for me. And this study was done on women.

00;23;04;15 - 00;23;23;00

Cary Hall

But I'm just talking as a man, okay? For me, marriage is your life. It's not, you know, a straight line. There are ups and there are downs. And my wife has been with me through all of it. We've built companies, we've done things. We've had, you know, lots of, you know, issues in our lives with business and kids like everybody else.

00;23;23;08 - 00;23;45;23

Cary Hall

But the fact that we're together and we did it together made a big difference. What's fascinating about this study is that they literally did a scientific study that shows all of that. So we'll go on here. The studies Focus on Women offers important insights containing the feminist critiques on marriage as an instrument of patriarchal domination. Other words, this this narrative that, you know, marriage allows men to dominate the women.

00;23;45;24 - 00;24;03;26

Cary Hall

Okay. That's and there I know a lot of guys that are very dry would say that maybe the opposite of that. But nonetheless let's just let's go on with this in particular, the cases, they often aren't married with support and affection. It offers the most crucial constant in a flourishing life for many women. What did I just say about myself?

00;24;04;02 - 00;24;31;20

Cary Hall

Okay. The most crucial component, affection and companionship is a critical component in the quality of your life. This goes on. Okay. The study found that typically found that unmarried cohabitating couples report less happiness and relationship stability than do married couples. In the view of marriage, has profound effects on our sample's health and well-being. It is unsettling to consider the rapid displacement in American life.

00;24;31;20 - 00;25;02;19

Cary Hall

In 2021, for instance, the annual marriage rate reached an all time low of 24 marriages per 1000, 24 marriages per 1000. That that that's where we're at now, down from 76.5 in 1965. And the trend is driven down by rapid increases in cohabitation and even steeper rises in individuals living alone. Now, I'm going to stop with that piece for just a second that individuals living alone, I'm going to tell you that social media has got a lot to do with this.

00;25;02;19 - 00;25;26;18

Cary Hall

They don't say that in here, but I want but, you know, if you hear these stories about these young men who don't date, who are socially inept because they spend all their time gaming on social media, etc., and this this this goes back and forth, not just men. It happens with women, too. But I think that social media a lot of times today prevents that.

00;25;26;25 - 00;25;49;06

Cary Hall

What used to be the case, Darren, we were talking of off camera earlier, Darren married his high school sweetheart. They're still together. Okay. Well, they weren't doing Snapchat. Okay, And they weren't doing Twitter and all the rest of it. I mean, it's a different world today. I get that. But I'm not so sure that all of that doesn't contribute to what we're seeing and the deterioration of marriage in this country.

00;25;49;14 - 00;26;11;16

Cary Hall

So, too, the US leads the world in that percentage of children growing up in single parent homes, 23% in 2019 compared to an example of 12% in Germany. All of these trends are concentrated among poor Americans and those that are people of color who have the most to gain from the safety net of marriage. Okay, So now we come to another piece in this.

00;26;11;26 - 00;26;29;20

Cary Hall

Okay, You know, how many how many of these kids do we see who have a single parent home? How many of these kids do you see that are in the news that are in jail or committing crimes, doing things that they're out of the social norm who don't have a or who have just a single parent at home?

00;26;29;26 - 00;27;09;18

Cary Hall

That's that that's a huge problem in our society today. And it's an even bigger problem if you go down to the level of people that are in the lower socio economic structures in terms of income, race and all the rest of it. So this is interesting how this study ties all of that back in. Okay. In other words, the folks they're saying here that that need this benefit are those in the lower socio economic structures because it offers them stability, stability they often don't have, which is why you see these kids with low graduation rates out of high school, why you see these kids getting in trouble because they are in single parent homes where

00;27;09;18 - 00;27;30;26

Cary Hall

they don't have a mother and father there to guide them. So, again, you know, marriage comes back to a long term health and happiness for you if you're married. Okay. B, what does it mean to your children? Okay. And see, what does it mean as you age on in life, if you are cohabitating, you're not married, whatever the case may be.

00;27;30;26 - 00;27;48;09

Cary Hall

I thought this study was fascinating. It was done, as I said, by Dr. Case, an associate director of research at Harvard University, a flourishing program, and Dr. Chen, who is his research assistant. I guess Mary Jane is outdated. It's a lot of people want us to think it is. All right. We'll be right back after the break and wrap it up.

00;27;48;09 - 00;27;57;08

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's health care advocate broadcasting on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA. Stay tuned.

00;27;57;08 - 00;28;11;26

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's health care ever control broadcasting coast to coast across USA. The website America's Healthcare Advocate.com. If you've got questions, send me an email. All right. This is interesting. This last say. We're going to wrap it up with legal weed.

00;28;11;28 - 00;28;29;09

Cary Hall

Weed is now available since 2012 in a whole series of states. I think it's 21 states or 26 states across the country. You can buy weed recreationally. And of course, then there are the other states where you can buy it medically. Missouri used to be a state where you could only buy it medically, but you could get a card.

00;28;29;09 - 00;28;52;00

Cary Hall

There were doctors who specialize in giving people cards to get marijuana. So this is for adults, obviously, a yet to be 21 in all the states, basically to buy marijuana. The problem is that we now have a proliferation of teenagers taking weed. You've heard the story about Gateway Drug and all the rest of it. Well, we're going to talk about some of the immediate effects on teenagers.

00;28;52;00 - 00;29;16;27

Cary Hall

This was an article, again, in The Wall Street Journal. So it's 21 states have legalized recreational marijuana since 2012. Teen mental health problems have been on the rise ever since. In that same period of time, JAMA, the Journal of American Medical Psychiatry, observed that cannabis consumption in adolescents is associated with increased risk of developing major depression in youth and adulthood.

00;29;17;09 - 00;29;39;12

Cary Hall

Suicidal issues as well, especially suicide ideation. I'm assuming that means people that are examining or looking at suicide and thinking about ending their lives. A 2021 study by the National Institute of Health found that an extended risk of suicide is greater for women than for men. Now, think about that for a minute, especially in the teen age area.

00;29;39;25 - 00;30;00;17

Cary Hall

These girls that are on TikTok, these girls that are on Instagram and Facebook and all these different places where there's all of this back and forth going on, these girls putting nude pictures of themselves up there and being criticized by their peers. Well, all of that kind of comes out of what's going on on social media, but it gets worse.

00;30;01;02 - 00;30;31;22

Cary Hall

If they are using marijuana and you know, they're getting marijuana because their parents have it or a friend of theirs has it, and this is what's going on. So the idea that marijuana is an addictive is out of date. Weed was considered to be not addictive in the 1960s because the levels of psychoactive, chemical THC were minimal. But marijuana has steadily increased in potency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that three in ten users have cannabis use disorder.

00;30;32;04 - 00;30;53;18

Cary Hall

Three in ten. These are the adults. Now three in ten users have cannabis use disorder because the levels of THC, the stuff's being grown in grows now in professional growers. And the more they raise the level of THC, the better the product is, the higher the prices, the more people want it. So it's like any other addiction.

00;30;53;23 - 00;31;21;29

Cary Hall

The more of it you do, the more you want. That directly relates to what's going on with this issue of problems with teen and mental. And it's a mental health crisis because these kids are not equipped to handle this stuff and they're getting it. Okay. Marijuana directly affects key parts of of development for adolescent brain, including those involved in memory learning, attention deficit disorder, coordination, emotions and reasoning in time.

00;31;22;10 - 00;31;41;21

Cary Hall

Okay, So now I'm just going to throw something out there. If you've got a child or a grandchild that you're seeing having all these problems, you might want to think about it. Are they somehow getting their hands on marijuana or marijuana supplements? Are they getting the oil? Are they getting gummies or, you know, or the smoking weed, whatever the case may be?

00;31;42;06 - 00;32;05;00

Cary Hall

If they're experiencing these issues where they're having learning disorders, attention deficit disorders, you know, the first thing people want to do when they see ADHD is start giving them Adderall or one of the other medications. Maybe you might want to take a look and see There might be something else going on there you're not aware of. Every state has permits for recreational marijuana that restricts it to 21 or older, but minors still have access to the drug.

00;32;05;07 - 00;32;30;06

Cary Hall

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that in 2019 drug among teens had reached the highest rate in 30 years. This is a real problem, people. This is not something that's, you know, in passing or going away any time soon. This is a real problem. And, you know, I've got grandchildren. I've got six grandchildren. Okay. Obviously, most of them are too young to even be knowing about this.

00;32;30;06 - 00;32;49;06

Cary Hall

But I got a grandson going to high school. Okay. And his mother and father keep a very close eye on them. But I'm going to tell you something. This is a significant issue and, you know, so the article goes on to say we need to educate them on the dangers and there needs to be open communication, emotionally, availability.

00;32;49;11 - 00;33;19;07

Cary Hall

Passivity is the enemy of mental health. If you suspect your child using marijuana or other drugs, take action and address it head on. Your fear and vigilance may be the difference between the child who makes it through adolescence and those who don't. That's pretty strong stuff. And, you know, so this has had a significant issue. So if you take this passive approach to this, if you're the parent or the grandparent, you find out this is going on, that's the worst thing you can do.

00;33;19;14 - 00;33;39;18

Cary Hall

What they're saying here, very simply, is that all these different medical journals that, you know, psychiatry and mental health for children, all the rest of are saying the same thing. Deal with the issue head on. Confront it. Okay. Have a conversation with the child. Explain why this is bad. Get get the studies. Go look for the studies. They're out there.

00;33;39;21 - 00;34;01;15

Cary Hall

Let them read it themselves. Okay. And if necessary, get them into a counselor and have the counselor explain to them that the long term effects of this on your life and the quality of your life are significant. And if you've got a child that is having severe depression, any kind of issue like this, you might want to take a serious look at this because this is how we wind up with teen suicides.

00;34;01;22 - 00;34;21;13

Cary Hall

And it's a very, very serious issue. That's one of the reasons why I do these kinds of shows and get into these kinds of issues, because they are significant. Like I said, I've got six grandchildren and these kinds of things. I think about these things when I read these kind of articles and get into this. And that's the purpose of what we're doing here on this broadcast, is bringing this kind of information to you.

00;34;21;21 - 00;34;38;24

Cary Hall

So I hope you've enjoyed the show today. You know, as I said, the purpose of these is to do these shows and bring information to this different. And what you see typically in mainstream media that warn about marriage probably surprised a lot of you out there. Okay. And I'm sure there are a lot of younger folks that may not even buy that.

00;34;38;24 - 00;35;00;14

Cary Hall

Okay. But that article is available as it was in the Wall Street Journal. I'm sure you can find it in the reviews section in March. And it's a fascinating article. Remember, that study was done by Harvard? That's not exactly a right thinking think tank, if you will. Okay. So I think I thought that was pretty interesting. Again, we try to bring you interesting information that is both interesting and entertaining, but it's also informative.

00;35;00;14 - 00;35;17;26

Cary Hall

And that's what we do here. Your feedback America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. If you've got questions, please let me know. Send me an email. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all those places. If there are questions or things I can help you with. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I leave with this thought from Albert Einstein.

00;35;18;05 - 00;35;38;25

Cary Hall

The one who follows the crowd usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Remember, friends. It's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Health Care Advocate Show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the. Goodbye America.