Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center

Last updated
Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center
AbbreviationNCPC
Formation2018;4 years ago (2018)
Location
Director
Anna Song
Parent organization
University of California
Website ncpc.ucmerced.edu

The Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) is a research institute operated by the University of California and funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program and Proposition 56 (2017). [1] [2] [3] NCPC is directed by Dr. Anna Song and is housed on the campus of UC Merced, [4] and has the goal of addressing nicotine and cannabis policy issues across the state of California and within the central San Joaquin Valley. [5] [6] [7] Part of the reason for placing the institute at UC Merced was its proximity to a large diverse population as well as having a higher rate of tobacco and cannabis use compared to the rest of the state. [8]


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California</span> Public university system in California

The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz, along with numerous research centers and academic abroad centers. The system is the state's land-grant university. Major publications generally rank most UC campuses as being among the best universities in the world. Six of the campuses, Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego are considered Public Ivies, making California the state with the most universities in the nation to hold the title. UC campuses have large numbers of distinguished faculty in almost every academic discipline, with UC faculty and researchers having won 71 Nobel Prizes as of 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merced, California</span> City in Merced County, California, United States

Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1, 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council–manager government. It is named after the Merced River, which flows nearby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State University</span> Public university system in California, United States

The California State University is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public university system in the United States. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, with the other two being the University of California system and the California Community Colleges. The CSU System is incorporated as The Trustees of the California State University. The California State University system headquarters are in Long Beach, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco smoking</span> Practice of burning tobacco and inspiring the resulting smoke

Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed to have begun as early as 5000–3000 BC in Mesoamerica and South America. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 17th century by European colonists, where it followed common trade routes. The practice encountered criticism from its first import into the Western world onwards but embedded itself in certain strata of a number of societies before becoming widespread upon the introduction of automated cigarette-rolling apparatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, Merced</span> Public university in Merced, California

The University of California, Merced is a public land-grant research university and Hispanic-serving institution located in Merced, California, and is the tenth and newest of the University of California (UC) campuses. Established in 2005, UC Merced was founded to "address chronically low levels of educational attainment in the region." UC Merced enrolls 8,321 undergraduates and 772 graduates with 63.8% of students receiving Pell Grants, more than 99% of UC Merced students coming from California, and the largest percentage of low-income students from underrepresented ethnic groups in the UC system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaporizer (inhalation device)</span> Device to vaporize substances for inhalation

A vaporizer or vaporiser, colloquially known as a vape, is a device used to vaporize substances for inhalation. Plant substances can be used, commonly cannabis, tobacco, or other herbs or blends of essential oil. However, they can also be filled with a combination propylene glycol, glycerin, and drugs such as nicotine or tetrahydrocannabinol as a liquid solution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Baskin School of Engineering</span>

The Jack Baskin School of Engineering, known simply as Baskin Engineering, is the school of engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It consists of six departments: Applied Mathematics, Biomolecular Engineering, Computational Media, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Statistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannabis smoking</span> Inhalation of marijuana fumes

Cannabis smoking is the inhalation of smoke or vapor released by heating the flowers, leaves, or extracts of cannabis and releasing the main psychoactive chemical, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs. Archaeological evidence indicates cannabis with high levels of THC was being smoked at least 2,500 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hookah lounge</span> Establishment where patrons share hookah / shisha

A hookah lounge is an establishment where patrons share shisha from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table or a bar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic cigarette</span> Device that vaporizes a liquid nicotine solution for inhalation

An electronic cigarette is an electronic device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such, using an e-cigarette is often called "vaping". The atomizer is a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution called e-liquid, which quickly cools into an aerosol of tiny droplets, vapor and air. E-cigarettes are activated by taking a puff or pressing a button. Some look like traditional cigarettes, and most versions are reusable. The vapor mainly comprises propylene glycol and/or glycerin, usually with nicotine and flavoring. Its exact composition varies, and depends on several things including user behavior.

Dokha is a tobacco product, consisting of dried and finely shredded tobacco flakes mixed with herbs and spices. It originated in Iran during the 15th century. Unlike hookah tobacco, dokha is not cured with molasses. Users smoke the tobacco blend in small quantities using a pipe called a midwakh. Because the midwakh pipe is used almost exclusively for smoking dokha, the terms are often used interchangeably.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug policy of California</span> Overview of the drug policy of the U.S. state of California

Drug policy of California refers to the policy on various classes and kinds of drugs in the U.S. state of California. Cannabis possession has been legalized with the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, passed in November 2016, with recreational sales starting January of the next year. With respect to many controlled substances, terms such as illegal and prohibited do not include their authorized possession or sale as laid out by applicable laws.

Elbert D. Glover is an American researcher and author in the field of tobacco addiction and smoking cessation. After several academic positions he retired as a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland at College Park School of Public Health where he served as chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health from 2005 to his retirement in 2015. Moreover, he was entrepreneur, editor, publisher and co-founder and principal owner of Health Behavior and Policy Review and co-founder, owner, editor, and publisher of American Journal of Health Behavior and Tobacco Regulatory Science. Glover was the founder of the American Academy of Health Behavior and served as its first president from 1997 to 2001.

The majority of lifelong smokers begin smoking habits before the age of 24, which makes the college years a critical time for tobacco companies to convince college students to pick up the habit of cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking in college is seen as a social activity by those who partake in it, and more than half of the students that are users do not consider themselves smokers. This may be because most college students plan to quit smoking by the time that they graduate.

Regulation of electronic cigarettes varies across countries and states, ranging from no regulation to banning them entirely. For instance, e-cigarettes were illegal in Japan, which forced the market to use heat-not-burn tobacco products for cigarette alternatives. Others have introduced strict restrictions and some have licensed devices as medicines such as in the UK. However, as of February 2018, there is no e-cigarette device that has been given a medical license that is commercially sold or available by prescription in the UK. As of 2015, around two thirds of major nations have regulated e-cigarettes in some way. Because of the potential relationship with tobacco laws and medical drug policies, e-cigarette legislation is being debated in many countries. The companies that make e-cigarettes have been pushing for laws that support their interests. In 2016 the US Department of Transportation banned the use of e-cigarettes on commercial flights. This regulation applies to all flights to and from the US. In 2018, the Royal College of Physicians asked that a balance is found in regulations over e-cigarettes that ensure product safety while encouraging smokers to use them instead of tobacco, as well as keep an eye on any effects contrary to the control agencies for tobacco.

The scientific community in United States and Europe are primarily concerned with the possible effect of electronic cigarette use on public health. There is concern among public health experts that e-cigarettes could renormalize smoking, weaken measures to control tobacco, and serve as a gateway for smoking among youth. The public health community is divided over whether to support e-cigarettes, because their safety and efficacy for quitting smoking is unclear. Many in the public health community acknowledge the potential for their quitting smoking and decreasing harm benefits, but there remains a concern over their long-term safety and potential for a new era of users to get addicted to nicotine and then tobacco. There is concern among tobacco control academics and advocates that prevalent universal vaping "will bring its own distinct but as yet unknown health risks in the same way tobacco smoking did, as a result of chronic exposure", among other things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobacco-free college campuses</span>

Tobacco-free college campuses are colleges and universities that have implemented policies prohibiting the use of tobacco products at all indoor and outdoor campus locations. Tobacco is known to be harmful to the health of smokers, bystanders, and the environment. Since this issue was first recognized, colleges have been creating policies for tobacco use on campus in an effort to improve health standards, provide more enjoyable campus conditions, and to reduce the negative environmental effects of tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Usage of electronic cigarettes</span> Overview about the usage of electronic cigarettes

The usage of electronic cigarettes has risen rapidly since their introduction to the market in 2002. The global number of adult e-cigarettes users rose from about 7 million in 2011 to between 68 million and 82 million in 2021. Awareness and use of e-cigarettes greatly increased over the few years leading up to 2014, particularly among young people and women in some parts of the world. Since their introduction vaping has increased in the majority of high-income countries. E-cigarette use in the US and Europe is higher than in other countries, except for China which has the greatest number of e-cigarette users. Growth in the UK as of January 2018 had reportedly slowed since 2013. The growing frequency of e-cigarette use may be due to heavy promotion in youth-driven media channels, their low cost, and the belief that e-cigarettes are safer than traditional cigarettes, according to a 2016 review. E-cigarette use may also be increasing due to the consensus among several scientific organizations that e-cigarettes are safer compared to combustible tobacco products. E-cigarette use also appears to be increasing at the same time as a rapid decrease in cigarette use in many countries, suggesting that e-cigarettes may be displacing traditional cigarettes.

Joseph I. Castro is an American academic and was the eighth chancellor of the California State University. Before that, Castro was the eighth president of California State University, Fresno, and the first California native and first Mexican-American to hold the position. In 2016, he received the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government. He resigned in 2022 as CSU chancellor after accusations of mishandling sexual harassment claims against a fellow administrator.

Sally Katharine Hammond is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Her research considers the impact of pollution and passive smoking on public health. It resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration issuing a ban on smoking on aeroplanes. Hammond serves on the World Health Organization study group on Tobacco Product Regulation.

References

  1. "UC Merced receives multimillion-dollar grant for new policy center". Calaveras Enterprise. 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  2. Backus, Alex (2018-07-25). "UC Merced to lead regional health study". KSEE24. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  3. Crowder, Lucien (2019). "The rapid evolution of UC cannabis research". California Agriculture. 73 (3): 106–112. doi:10.3733/ca.2019a0024. ISSN   0008-0845. S2CID   203410381.
  4. Alvarex, Jason (2018-07-23). "Multimillion-Dollar Grant Brings Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center to Campus | Newsroom". news.ucmerced.edu. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  5. "UC Merced creating new center aimed at researching smoking habits in the Central Valley". ABC30 Fresno. 2018-09-10. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  6. Caiola, Sammy. "Tobacco And Nicotine Research Center To Open At California University". CapRadio . Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  7. Balla, Agnes; Forsyth, Andrew; Richmond McKnight, Tracy (2020-06-01). "University of California Cannabis Research Workshop May 2019 Meeting Summary". Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 5 (2): 183–186. doi:10.1089/can.2020.0022. ISSN   2578-5125. PMC   7347074 . PMID   32656350.
  8. Anderson, Barbara (2018-07-23). "New center at UC Merced will be the place to learn about cigarette and pot smoking" . Fresno Bee . Archived from the original on 2018-07-25. Retrieved 2022-10-26.