Category Archives: addiction

Is there a Law to Govern Drug Abuse by Pregnant Women?

August 16, 2014

Drug Abuse By Pregnant Women

What does the law require?

drug abuse by pregnant womenThis new law does not affect men; it is among the few laws which affect a given gender, the females only. This law seeks to protect the newborns against the effects of drugs as result of abuse of these drugs by the mother while they are pregnant.

Among the drugs which triggered the enactment of this law were the heroine and heavy prescription drugs which the pregnant mothers abused and hence their effects depicted in the newborns. It was found that many of the newborns were born with dependency on the drug which the pregnant mother abused. This is what prompted the need to regulate the drug abuse by the pregnant mothers, with sight to protect the newborns from drug addiction.

Is this law in use anywhere in the world?

The law which criminalizes the use of drugs by a pregnant woman has not been embraced in many states of the world. The alternate laws have rarely been used to charge the women who cause harm on the newborn due to use of a certain drug while pregnant. Contrary to these countries, a country known as Tennessee has enacted a law which declares it a crime for any woman to use drugs while she is pregnant.

Drug abuse by pregnant women has been criminalized in Tennessee, and it remains to be seen whether more states will be following the suit. A bill signed into law by the Republican Governor of Tennessee Bill Haslam explicitly criminalizes drug abuse while pregnant. The law came into effect in July and will remain in effect until 1 July 2016. While other US states, such as Alabama and South Carolina, have used fetal harm laws to charge drug-using pregnant women, Tennessee is the first state to adopt this criminalization approach. The new law allows women to be criminally charged with an “assaultive offense for the illegal use of a narcotic drug while pregnant, if her child is born addicted to or harmed by the narcotic drug or for criminal homicide if her child dies as a result of her illegal use of a narcotic drug taken while pregnant”. Supporters of the new law say its aim is to protect babies but a coalition of medical, public health, women’s rights, and social justice groups worked to oppose the bill as it made its way through the Tennessee legislature: “Under the Obama administration, we’ve really tried to reframe drug policy not as a crime but as a public health-related issue, and that our response on the national level is that we not criminalize addiction”, Our national strategy is based on the fact that addiction is a disease. What’s important is that we create environments where we’re really diminishing the stigma and the barriers, particularly for pregnant women, who often have a lot of shame and guilt about their substance abuse disorders”.

Even after signing this bill into law, due to its controversy the Governor of Tennessee was quoted as saying, “I understand the concerns about this bill, and I will be monitoring the impact of the law and regular updates with the court system and health professionals,”

This law has already been put into use and some women have been charged for committing the crime of using heavy drugs while pregnant.

Does this law have any benefit?

Arguably, this law has benefits especially to the newborns. The law protects the newborn from effects of the heavy drugs which the pregnant mother may use. Research has shown that newborns can be born with dependency on the drugs which the mother abused during the pregnancy. This law seeks to reduce these chances of a child being born with dependency in a given drug.

Another advantage of this law is that it can help in the reduction of drug abuse and consequently addiction. Since pregnant mother will fear the course of the law due to the effects of the drugs they abuse during pregnancy. This will make such women to be willing to undergo recovery from drug addiction or stop taking drugs if not yet addicted. This temporal stoppage of taking of the drugs can cause the patient to permanently stop taking the addictive drugs.

drug abuse by pregnant women

What makes this law controversial?
This law has been controversial ever since it was a bill. The main problem with this law is that it focuses on the effect of the drugs on the newborn with a view that they were taken during the pregnancy period. The fact is that some people may be taking the drugs before the pregnancy and stop immediately they become pregnant but still pass the effects of the drugs to the newborn.

Another factor is that this law doesn’t respect the rights of drug addicts, who cannot be able to stop taking the drug during the pregnancy period. Even if they were to enter a recovery period during the pregnancy period, it is not possible to completely stop taking the drugs, since all the recovery programs emphasizes on gradual withdrawal from the drug, which is a process which can cover the entire pregnancy period before completely withdrawing from the drug.

Another controversy of this law is that it also talks about addiction from opioids which are prescription drugs which are likely to be prescribed to the pregnant women for pain killing. This aspect has attracted questioning of the law by doctors who claim that it is very likely that a pregnant woman will be prescribed opioids and thus the law would make the women charged for a mistake they cannot avoid.

Drug Abuse By Pregnant Women

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The US Drugs Control Strategy

August 16, 2014

The Us Drugs Control Strategy May Favor Physicians

The 2014 US drugs control policy came as an advancement of the 2013 National Drug Control Strategy, which emphasized for an approach based on scientific research on addiction, evidence-based prevention programs, increased access to treatment, a historic emphasis on recovery, and criminal justice reform. This policy seeks to reduce the increasing rates drug addictions triggered deaths which have been on a rise.

This policy is actually an incentive and a sure new income stream for Physician who are professionals in drug addiction recovery. Physicians need to take advantage of this law to learn about the natural treatment of addiction and implement it in their offices for realization of great psychological and financial rewards.

The US National Drug Control Strategy 2014 is a continuation of the approach of the Obama administration’s earlier strategies with an emphasis on early intervention, treatment, recovery support, criminal justice reform, effective law enforcement, and international cooperation. While the overall framework, goals, and the agency responsibilities set out in Obama’s first Strategy remain in effect, the 2014 Strategy seeks to address issues such as declining perceptions of harm and increases of use of cannabis among young people, problem opioid use disorders and new synthetic drugs. The strategy has goals to be attained by 2015 including a decrease in the 30-day prevalence of drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds by 15 percent and a reduction of drug-induced deaths by 15 percent.

Why should physicians take advantage of this policy?

The physicians should actually take advantage of this policy to research on the natural treatments for addiction. The process of researching on new ways through which a given disease can be treated is obviously an expensive adventure. Many physicians may not afford to conduct sufficient research due to the limitations in resources required in the process of conducting the research.

The intervention of the US government has not only given the physicians a go ahead to conduct these researches but also allocated resources to sponsor any physician who seeks to contribute to the achievements of the drugs control strategy‘s objectives. Some of the treatments when discovered need to be piloted on. The right to administer a medication on a human being to determine its effectiveness requires authorization. With the US government’s drugs control strategy, it is very unlikely that such rights will not be granted, and thus the physicians’ experimentation process receives a boost.

What does the drug control strategy entail?

The drugs policy strategy has its key issues outlined. These are the key issues that must be addressed for the realization of the strategy’s objectives. The following are these key issues outlined by the strategy:-

  • Strengthening the Efforts to Prevent Drug Use in the Communities

The strategy here, looks at addiction as controllable if prevented in the first place. It focuses on the community and the role which each of the persons in the community can play in controlling the drug substance use and hence controlling addiction. It seeks to strengthen the community’s norms against drugs abuse. It also views the personal educational achievements as one of the causations of drugs abuse. It therefore emphasizes on the need to ensure self-sufficiency in the community.

  • Seek Early Intervention Opportunities in Health Care

The strategy emphasizes on the needs to diagnose the disorder drug usage and control it before it causes disorders to the patient. This makes the health care costs lower than treating the disorders when left to occur. This can be helpful to the physicians if they device a natural treatment which can diagnose and control the early symptoms of the drugs’ disorders.

  • Integration of substance use disorder treatment into health care

The US government also strategized to Integrate Treatment for Substance Use Disorders into Health Care and to Expand Support for Recovery. Since the process of recovery from drug addiction is a long process, this strategy seeks to make it possible for the patients to be able to get support from health care professional. It also discourages the use of opioids in the treatment of pain, since it is known to be addictive. If the physicians can exploit this opportunity by researching on the natural effective natural treatment, they can get the backup of the government as offering the appropriate medication and hence realization of great financial rewards.

 

  • Break the Cycle of Drug Use, Crime, Delinquency, and Incarceration

Drug addiction may lead to the abuser being charged before a court of law especially if the addiction is from an illegal drug. Even after the sentence, the person is likely to repeat the punishable behaviors and form a crime cycle. To end this cycle, breaking of the drug cycle is importanr. This strategy proposes that during the sentence, the addict should be put under recovery scheme which should continue even after the sentence.

If you need help with addiction or know of a friend suffering from this addiction, call in live or email us and we will help you get trusted treatment and advice. We are true professionals with proven track records and are very reliable in treatment.

The Us Drugs Control Strategy May Favor Physicians

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Polysubstance Abuse, You can fight Polysubstance Abuse

August 15, 2014

Fighting Polysubstance Abuse – Drug Addiction

Polysubstance abuse

Fighting polysubstance abuse- the war on drugs must be worn at all cost. Indulgence in polysubstance abuse is not helping fight the war.

We are living in a world where people want to explore all things even those things that are dangerous to their lives. Take for example drugs, there are substances which are not just harmful to one’s life but are life threatening and fatal. You would therefore wonder why someone would want to take this kind of adventure. I am not trying to confuse you here but I am talking about what is known as polysubstance abuse which is defined as the use of more than three groups of addictive substances over a period of one year. This normally happens when a person indulges in acts of abusing several substances within a short period of time, often in an attempt to enhance the effect of a single drug to create a more intense high. We can therefore conclude that polysubstance abuse is where no single substance is identified as the user’s drug of choice.

Some combination drug users have “patterned” use. These include:

  • Alcoholics who for example use will cocaine only after they’ve reached a certain state of intoxication meaning that they don’t overuse.
  • Addicts who speed ball that is to say that they are mixing cocaine and heroin for intravenous use and other combinations.
  • There is another polysubstance subgroup, consisting mostly of adults already addicted to alcohol. After an injury or surgery, they were placed on opiate medications and developed a pain syndrome over time. They then mixed substances or switched to opiates as their drug of choice.

Polysubstance Abuse among Different Populations

Adult polysubstance abuse, according to literature, is often associated with other mental health conditions. Homelessness, personality disorders, and psychiatric disorders such as major depression, psychosis, and bipolar disorder are common. The overlap of polysubstance dependence and psychiatric problems points to a lot of self-medication. Typically, among multiple substance users, individuals used alcohol or marijuana at an early age and then added other substances (or changed their drugs of choice) without quitting their original substances.

  • Among young people, polysubstance abuse is often the norm, and not the exception. The most commonly abused polysubstance by adolescents are marijuana, alcohol, and heroin. Other drugs used include MDMA (ecstasy), dextromethorphan, multiple forms of opiates, cocaine, hallucinogens, and inhalants.
  • A 2004 study of young people reported that one-half had used an illicit street drug by the end of their senior year. Two million young people need treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, but only 8 percent actually get it. Nearly one-third of young people addicted to psycho-stimulants also suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and 20 percent said they gave their medications to others.
  • One treatment facility said that 33 percent of the adolescents currently in treatment had polysubstance addiction.
  • The elderly are another population that clearly has a problem with polysubstance abuse.
  • Older people have more medical conditions that often require prescriptions. Over time with debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease the tendency to over medicate (taking more of a drug, more often, forgetting when and if medication was already taken) increases the likelihood of polysubstance abuse. Combined with alcohol, the results can be devastating, even fatal.
  • Elderly women tend to keep their substance abuse and chemical dependency secret. Alcoholism occurs later in women’s lives, perhaps due to problems associated with divorce or separation. Women who are over 55 have less tolerance for alcohol and are therefore more prone to addiction. They are also less likely than men to seek treatment and also use prescribed psychoactive drugs.
  • Polysubstance abuse is increasingly prevalent among the street drug user population. Different substances abused include heroin, prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, cocaine, crack, alcohol, and marijuana.

Detoxification for Polysubstance Abuse and Addiction

Before treatment to address underlying causes of polysubstance addiction, detoxification must first be done. Detox is more complex and problematic with polysubstance addiction for several reasons. An accurate history of total substances abused must be obtained, and the patient may not be able or willing to provide complete details. Determination of the actual substance being used has to be made using screens for breath, urine, and/or blood.

  • Some patients can be treated on an outpatient basis, but others, particularly those with alcohol, sedative, hypnotic, opioid, and anxiolytic abuse may require hospitalization or inpatient detox. Repeated abstinence failures or severe anxiety, depression, or psychotic symptoms lasting 1 to 3 days after abstinence may also require inpatient substance abuse treatment.
  • After patients admitted for detox for opioids began to show classic alcohol withdrawal symptoms, some treatment professionals opted to routinely treat their detox patients with thiamine until a determination could be made that there was no history of alcohol use.
  • Diagnosis and treatment of patients who have been on psychotropic medications while they were already addicted is more difficult.
  • If a patient doesn’t know, or is unable to discuss, use of opioid drugs and it’s been days since their last drug use, opiate withdrawal symptoms can lag. Urine screens my not be able to detect the drug.
  • Treatment for mixed addiction that also includes alcohol use may include benzodiazepines during the acute phase of alcohol withdrawal. Benzodiazepines can help decrease tremors and prevent or reduce increases in heart rate and blood pressure.
  • Medication to treat symptoms of diarrhea or muscle aches may also be prescribed. Folic acid, thiamine, and Vitamin B-12 may counteract vitamin deficiencies.

Evaluation Factors

The length of the treatment program is determined by how long and what type of substance dependence the patient has, whether or not organ damage exists, any underlying mental illness, the patient’s desire to change and willingness to undergo treatment, adequacy of the patient’s social support system, treatment choice, and plans for ongoing care.

Treatment after Detox

After drug use patterns and substances have been identified, a thorough psychological evaluation is necessary. There needs to be enough time for detox, history evaluation, and a thorough understanding of any psychiatric conditions that exist.

Although there are many different aspects of treatment, they generally include four phases.

The acute phase – this is where the focus is on alleviating symptoms or physiological withdrawal. This typically lasts 3 to 5 days, but is dependent on the number, type, and length of substances abused.

The abstinence period – this phase concentrates on changing the patient’s behavior which is usually about one month

The early remission phase – follows and can last up to 12 months. The sustained remission phase lasts as long as the patient refrains from alcohol or substance use and no longer exhibits any of the criteria for polysubstance abuse.

Treatment during early remission may involve education on the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of addiction and recovery. The patient learns to identify stressors and triggers that cause drug use. They learn ways to manage those stressors and also build up coping skills. They can also undergo assertiveness training and relaxation techniques.

Polysubstance Addiction – Is There Hope?

Fighting polysubstance abuse is more difficult than abuse of a single substance, but it can be successful. The likelihood of success depends on the individual’s determination and discipline to follow through on the requirements to abstain completely from substance abuse. Such determination and discipline does not come easily, especially for hard-core or long-term abusers and addicts. There may be repeated relapses before stability becomes a part of the recovering addict’s life. After treatment, recovery from polysubstance abuse and addiction just like for any addiction requires ongoing diligence and participation in a support network. While understanding the difficulty involved in treatment and recovery of this nature doctor Dalal Akoury established AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center facility to help in the treatment of all kinds of addiction. Doctor Akoury cares for you and she is riding on more than two decades of experience. Calling on doctor Akoury will benefits you since she will attend to you in the most natural way by focusing on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE

Fighting Polysubstance Abuse – Drug Addiction

 

 

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Effects of Heavy Use of Cannabis On the Brain and Body

August 15, 2014

Effects Of Chronic, Heavy Cannabis Use On The Executive Brain Function

What is cannabis?

This is a plant which is commonly known as marijuana and by many other names. Though this plant is sometimes used for medicinal value, it is commonly used for recreational purposes as a depressant. If the drug is taken in large doses it can be an hallucinogen.

What makes cannabis to have effects in the brain?

Heavy CannabisThere is a specific chemical which is found in the cannabis, and which is responsible for the effects that cannabis have in the brain. This chemical is called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This chemical varies in quantity in the cannabis depending on factor such as the part of plant that is used, the plant variety, and the condition under which the plant was grown. This is what makes cannabis from different geographical areas to be different.

When this chemical enters in the brain, it causes the user to have a ‘high’ feeling. This is because the chemical (THC) enter the brain reward system and activates it. This occurs by stimulating the brain cells to release another chemical known as dopamine.

How does cannabis have medicinal value then?

Cannabis when taken in small doses may cause little or no harm in your body. When it is abused can have an intense negative effect on your body though. For medicinal value of cannabis, small doses are administered due to the properties of the chemical THC which emulates properties which make it have medicinal value. These properties are:-

  • Cannabis has shown to be effective as an anti-nausea drug.
  • It has also shown to be effective in the treatment of glaucoma, which is a very serious eye condition.
  • It has likewise shown to be valuable in stopping loss in weight, improving moods and also easing of pain. This is according to (National Task Force on Cannabis 1994:17)

What are the effects of using cannabis?

Just like we earlier mentioned, when cannabis is abused it can have effects on the user. These effects can be categorized as either short term or long-term effects. There are effects which will be witnessed after a short period of abuse, while there are others which may take quite long before they are witnessed on the cannabis user. In most cases, the short-term effects are the ones considered as effects of cannabis abuse.

The following are the general effects of cannabis abuse:-

  • Mood fluctuations – the person experiences mood changes occasionally, revolving around relaxed, ‘high’, sleepy, anxious depressed and many other mood forms.
  • Impaired memory and attention – the person faced difficulty in remembering as well as paying attention.
  • Stronger sensory experience
  • Increased heart beat rate may result
  • The person may be faced with dizziness and nausea
  • Cannabis abuse has been associated with abnormal hunger.
  • May cause dilated pupils and blood-shot eyes.
  • Other effects of cannabis abuse worthy mentioning are confusion, anxiety, hallucination, delusion, agitation and sometimes paranoia. In the long run, apart from these short term effects of cannabis, it may lead to smoking related cancers. This is in the most cases the respiratory system cancer. It may also lead to permanent memory loss and difficulty in learning.

What effects can cannabis abuse have on employees?

The effects of cannabis in employees may make the workplace an abyss. In any given workplace, teamwork is key, but how the employees relate determines whether teamwork will ever exist in a given firm. The usage of cannabis by either the employees or the CEO affects the workplace in the following ways:-

  • Poor interpersonal relations – the employees will not relate well, since the cannabis effect of ‘highness’ cause disrespect. The cannabis user rarely relates well with the other employees and hardly respects the authority.
  • Poor/ low output – the output of the employees who use cannabis decline. This is as a result of impairment in memory and retention of instruction. For instance, a person may forget how a given machine is normally operated, though he/she has been working with it before.
  • Activities such as meetings and time bound tasks will be negatively affected. This is especially the case with the person whose memory has been affected and cannot remember scheduled events like meetings.

Heavy Cannabis

  • Accident proneness – the employee who uses cannabis will be at a high risk of causing accident especially if he/she is working by use of machines which can cause accidents. For instance, if an employee was using an electrically powered machine, a small mistake may lead to shock or even loss of one’s live.
  • The levels of error are high- this can be a serious problem especially with doctors, where a small error may cost life of a patient. If a doctor is using cannabis, errors such as wrong prescription of drugs, inappropriate operation, misinterpretation of results etc. may occur, causing damage or loss of live of the patient. Imagine of a surgeon who is to do a surgery but he/she is in cannabis ‘highness!’ actually a serious damage may occur, since the surgeon cannot be keen with details.
  • Relationship with clients will be negatively affected. A cannabis user cannot maintain good relationship with the clients since his/her attention may be impaired. This causes clients/ customer decline in numbers over time and hence losses to the firm.

If you need help with cannabis addiction or know of a friend suffering from this addiction, call in live or email us and we will help you get trusted treatment and advice. We are true professionals with proven track records and are very reliable in treatment.

Effects Of Chronic, Heavy Cannabis Use On The Executive Brain Function

 

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Medicinal Marijuana Can be Replaced

August 14, 2014

Natural Alternatives To Smoking Medicinal Marijuana

What is medicinal marijuana?

This is marijuana that in not different from the one that people recreationally smoke, apart from being an illegal weed in many parts of the world. The only difference is that this marijuana is taken for medicinal value and it is prescribed by doctors. In states where medicinal marijuana is allowed, patients who are found suitable for the type of medication involving medicinal marijuana, it is prescribed to them and they are given a card that permit them to buy the product from authorized dealers. Some of the licenses allow the patient to even grow a controlled amount of marijuana for their personal use.

The main reason why medicinal marijuana may be prescribed to a patient is for pain killing purposes. This medication has been mainly used for people with cancer or those living with HIV/AIDS. In this case, it has been used to treat vomiting and reduce nausea and also in the treatment of pain and muscle spasticity.

Can medicinal marijuana be harmful?

There has not been clarity in the long term effects of medicinal marijuana, but there have been concerns such as loss in memory and cognition problems, the risk for the patient becoming dependent and also the risk of children accessing the medicinal marijuana and taking it by mistake.

Medinal marijuana

Just like we had earlier mentioned in the definition of medicinal marijuana, is worthy noting that medicinal marijuana is not different from the “weed” that is illegal almost all over the world, (Cannabis) and the one with known addiction effects on the users. Just like any other medicinal drug also, it is important to note that the abuse of the drug may have more harm than benefits. Marijuana is a known addictive substance and a habit forming. Thus is the patient continues to use the substance over time, resistance may develop leading to increased dosage amount and consequently leading to addiction. When the person becomes addicted, the situation meant to be cured by the medicinal marijuana will even look more complicated since apart from its treatment, the addiction that has resulted must also be addressed.

Are there better alternatives to medicinal marijuana?

The alternative of medicinal marijuana which can prove beneficial is the one that produces similar medicinal value to the medicinal marijuana and leaving no side effects at the same time. This medication focuses on the treatment of pain particularly since it is the main reason why medicinal marijuana is prescribed to the patients. The main alternatives for medicinal marijuana are the herbal, supplement and nutritional treatments.

The natural alternatives to medicinal marijuana

medicinal marijuanaThe natural alternative to smoking medicinal marijuana focuses on what causes the symptoms which medicinal marijuana seeks to address. It therefore uses natural methods of addressing the symptoms through herbs, supplements or nutrition.

The herbal, nutritional & Supplements alternatives to medicinal marijuana

Someone will wonder whether marijuana is not a herb, and why we should use other herbs but not marijuana! The reason why we will consider some other herbs as better options to medicinal marijuana is because these other herbs are considered to have no negative effects to the patient, they are non-addictive, and above all they are legal all over the world. The following are some of the common herbs which can be alternatives to medicinal marijuana:-

  • Willow bark – this is a herb that has been used in different cultures to reduce pain, fever and inflammation. This herb is a very strong medication in the treatment of pain and it is commonly used in treatment all over the world. One of the advantages of this herb over cannabis is that it is non-addictive and has no side effects. For more information on this medication, visit or call awaremednetwork.com
  • Turmeric – this is one of the most powerful known medications for inflammation. This herb is known for its ability to cure arthritis, gout, autoimmune disease, sciatic and other inflammatory conditions. This medication is non-addictive and hence a good alternative to medicinal marijuana.
  • Skullcap – this is a common herb especially in northern America. It has been used for over 200 years to date, in the treatment for allergies, inflammation, painkilling, chronic pain, and even for cancer treatment. It can be used for painkilling for people living with HIV/AIDS and cancer and this makes it a good alternative to medicinal marijuana.
  • Magnesium – this is a nutrient which is very important in human body. It is used in treatment of pain in muscles and nerves. Magnesium has been proven to have capability to balance the brain chemical known as NMDA that is responsible for pain transmission in the nervous system. Deficiency in magnesium is a common cause for and pain amplifier. To controls pain by use of magnesium, it can be taken as a supplement or through nutrition. Foods which are rich in magnesium are recommended. Some of the foods rich in magnesium include:- Dark leafy greens especially Spinach, nuts and seeds, fish, beans and Lentils, low fat diary among many others.
  • SAMe – this is a popular dietary supplement required in the treatment of depression and osteoarthritis. SAMe itself, is a compound which is naturally found in every human cell in the body. In is known for its role as anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent. It can therefore be used in the treatment of pain, relieving stiffness, reducing joint swelling among other health benefits. For more details on how this treatment works, call or visit awaremednetwork.com
  • Vitamin D – this vitamin is known to be very essential in the human body, and its deficiency may lead to chronic illnesses like chronic pain. This nutrient can be obtained as a supplement or from diets.

Are you struggling with medicinal marijuana treatment? Or are you experiencing endless pains and now you want a treatment that has no side effects? Awaremed.com is your solution. Call us today and get your solution to the problem.

Natural Alternatives To Smoking Medicinal Marijuana

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