Smoke Weed

Marijuana can help brain and memory problems

Sunday, November 23rd 2008 at 2:00 pm

Ohio State University scientists are finding that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

Their research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment.

Any new drug's properties would resemble those of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, but would not share its high-producing effects. THC joins nicotine, alcohol and caffeine as agents that, in moderation, have shown some protection against inflammation in the brain that might translate to better memory late in life.

'It's not that everything immoral is good for the brain. It's just that there are some substances that millions of people for thousands of years have used in billions of doses, and we're noticing there's a little signal above all the noise,' said Gary Wenk, professor of psychology at Ohio State and principal investigator on the research.

Wenk's work has already shown that a THC-like synthetic drug can improve memory in animals. Now his team is trying to find out exactly how it works in the brain.

The most recent research on rats indicates that at least three receptors in the brain are activated by the synthetic drug, which is similar to marijuana. These receptors are proteins within the brain's endocannabinoid system, which is involved in memory as well as physiological processes associated with appetite, mood and pain response.

This research is also showing that receptors in this system can influence brain inflammation and the production of new neurons, or brain cells.

Now we have two questions to ask. First and most obviously, why is marijuana still illegal? Second, why are scientists making synthetic THC when when the real (natural) stuff grows everywhere. Instead of wasting time making fake pot so drug companies can get rich, lets spend that time legalizing cannabis so we all win (except drug companies).

Is marijuana safer than aspirin?

Monday, November 17th 2008 at 10:35 am

When Bayer introduced aspirin in 1899, cannabis was America's number one painkiller. Until marijuana prohibition began in 1937, the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for over 100 diseases. Cannabis was such an effective analgesic that the American Medical Association (AMA) argued against prohibition on behalf of medical progress. Since the herb is extremely potent and essentially non-toxic, the AMA considered it a potential wonder drug.

Instead, the invention of aspirin gave birth to the modern pharmaceutical industry and Americans switched away from cannabis in the name of 'progress.' But was it really progress? There can be no doubt that aspirin has a long history as the drug of choice for the self-treatment of migraines, arthritis, and other chronic pain. It is cheap and effective. But is it as safe as cannabis?

History:
Marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years.
No one has ever overdosed on marijuana.
Aspirin has been used for 108 years.
Approximately 500 people die every year by taking aspirin

The Law:

Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning the US government believes it is extremely dangerous, highly addictive, and of no medical value.

Aspirin is available for pennies and can be purchased by children at any drug, grocery, or convenience store. Often they are just handed out free by people with no medical education.

Marijuana side effects and dangers:

The dangers of marijuana include possible respiratory problems caused by the deposition of burnt plant material on the lungs. This danger can be eliminated with alternate forms of consumption such as eating or vaporizing the medicine.

For two to four hours, marijuana causes short-term memory loss, a slight reduction in reaction time, and a reduction in cognitive ability. (It makes you stupid for a little while.)These conditions DO NOT persist after the herb wears off.

Hunger
Paranoia
Depression
Laughter
Introspection
Creative Impulse
Euphoria
Tiredness
Forgetfulness

Aspirin side effects and dangers:

When taken with alcohol, aspirin can cause stomach bleeding.

Reye Syndrome in children: fat begins to develop around the liver and other organs of the child, eventually putting severe pressure on the brain. Death is common within a few days.

People with hemophilia can die.

People with hyperthyroidism suffer elevated T4 levels.

Stomach problems include dyspepsia, heartburn, upset stomach, stomach ulcers with gross bleeding, and internal bleeding leading to anemia.

Dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, vertigo, vision disturbances, and headaches.

Heavy sweating
Irreversible liver damage
Inflamation and gradual destruction of the kidneys
Nausea and vomiting
Abdominal pain
Lethargy
Hyperthermia

Dyspepsia: a gnawing or burning stomach pain accompanied by bloating, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and burping.

Tachypnea: Abnormally fast breathing

Respiratory Alkalosis: a condition where the amount of carbon dioxide found in the blood drops to a level below normal range brought on by abnormally fast breathing.

Cerebral Edema: Water accumulates on the brain. Symptoms include headaches, decreased level of consciousness, loss of eyesight, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, memory loss and coma. If left untreated, it can lead to death.

Hallucinations, confusion, and seizure.

Prolonged bleeding after operations or post-trauma for up to 10 days after last aspirin.

Aspirin can interact with some other drugs, such as diabetes medication. Aspirin changes the way the body handles these drugs and can lead to a drug overdose and death.

Drug Czar backs Mexican plan to decriminalize marijuana

Tuesday, October 28th 2008 at 11:38 am

The Marijuana Policy Project today congratulated White House 'drug czar' John Walters for backing a Mexican government proposal that would remove criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

'I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but John Walters is right,' said MPP executive director Rob Kampia. 'We heartily second his support for eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana users in Mexico, and look forward to working with him to end such penalties in the U.S. as well.'

On Oct. 22, The New York Times reported Walters' public support for a drug decriminalization proposal by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, quoting Walters as saying, 'I don't think that's legalization.' Under Calderon's proposal, individuals caught with small quantities of marijuana would receive no jail sentence or fine and would not receive a criminal record so long as they complete either drug education or, if addicted, drug treatment. Unlike proposals supported by MPP, the Mexican president's proposal would also decriminalize possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

'It's fantastic that John Walters has recognized the massive destruction the drug war has inflicted on Mexico and is now calling for reforms there, but he's a rank hypocrite if he continues opposing similar reforms in the U.S.,' Kampia said. 'The Mexican proposal is far more sweeping than MPP's proposals to decriminalize marijuana or make marijuana medically available, both of which John Walters and his henchmen rail against.'

Dutch towns are closing cannabis coffee shops due to tourists

Saturday, October 25th 2008 at 10:23 am

Local authorities in southwestern Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Doom announced they could no longer cope with the "drug tourists" whose presence they blamed for traffic congestion, crime and unlicenced dealing.

"Soft drug tourism is the motor of criminality linked to (harder) drugs," they said in a joint statement. "It has an overwhelming negative effect on public order." All eight coffee shops in the two towns will shut, with closures beginning in February 2009.

"The mayor of Roosendaal thinks we could close them all within two years," town hall spokeswoman Marjolein Koppens said. Until then, all local coffee shops will be forced to limit the sale of cannabis to two grams per customer per day instead of the current five grams.

Liberal drugs laws in the Netherlands allow people to carry five grams of marijuana on their person without being prosecuted.

Another border town, Terneuzen, announced yesterday it would toughen its local by-laws on the sale of cannabis from May next year. Opening hours would be restricted and the amount each customer could buy would also be reduced.

Marijuana does not raise your risk of cancer

Friday, October 24th 2008 at 6:19 pm

While a clear increase in cancer risk was seen among cigarette smokers in the study, no such association was seen for regular cannabis users.

Even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers.

The findings surprised the study's researchers, who expected to see an increase in cancer among people who smoked marijuana regularly in their youth.

'We know that there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes,' researcher Donald Tashkin, MD, of UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine tells WebMD. 'But we did not find any evidence for an increase in cancer risk for even heavy marijuana smoking.' Carcinogens are substances that cause cancer.

Tashkin presented the findings today at The American Thoracic Society's 102nd International Conference, held in San Diego. The study population was limited to people who were younger than 60 because people older than that would probably not have used marijuana in their teens and early adult years.

'People who may have smoked marijuana in their youth are just now getting to the age when cancers are being seen,' Tashkin says.

A total of 611 lung cancer patients living in Los Angeles County, and 601 patients with other cancers of the head and neck were compared with 1,040 people without cancer matched for age, sex, and the neighborhood they lived in.

All the participants were asked about lifetime use of marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol, as well as other drugs, their diets, occupation, family history of lung cancer, and socioeconomic status. More.

Using hemp as medicine

Tuesday, October 21st 2008 at 5:09 pm

Hemp seed is about 25% protein. It is a high-quality, nutritionally-complete food eaten in many cultures for thousands of years. In the Orient, it was often eaten like oatmeal. It is more digestible than soy protein and provides essential omeg-3 fatty acids, fiber and a complete protein all in one food. Hemp seed cakes make excellent food for fish, birds and livestock.

Hemp seed oil is among the very best oil for eating raw or cooking. It is also excellent for lubricating oil and fuel oil. It can be used in shampoo, hair and skin cream, soap, cosmetics, massage oil and moisturizers. The oil also makes excellent paint, varnishes, lacquer and sealants. In fact, when hemp cultivation was banned in 1937, hemp seed oil was exempted, as it was so important for paints, varnishes and lubricating oil.

Hemp seed oil has the highest total concentration of the essential fatty acids of any oil (about 80%). Flaxseed oil is higher in linolenic acid, but hemp seed is highest in total omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (linolenic) essential fatty acids. These fatty acids have been shown helpful to combat cancer, AIDS, inflammation, ADHD and most other diseases as well. It is desperately needed by all people today.

UCLA researchers R. Lee Hamilton, PhD and William Eidelman, MD stated, "essential fatty acids are responsible for our immune response. In the (European) old country, the peasants ate hemp butter. They were more resistant to disease than the nobility."

Hemp is a very ancient source of medicine. It is mentioned by the famous physician Galen. Several chemicals have been isolated from the hemp leaf and seeds. Medicinal effects include stimulating the appetite, reducing nausea, lowering pressure in the eyes, stimulating the immune response and reducing pain, especially migraine headache pain.

It is an antibacterial, antiviral, anti-convulsant, bronchodilator and expectorant. It reduces spasticity and ataxia in multiple sclerosis, stops menstrual bleeding and helps PMS and the pain of childbirth. Hemp extracts were widely used in medicines in America until it was banned.

Cannabis could actually save your life!

Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 11:01 pm

In some ways the notion of cannabis having antibiotic effects is counter-intuitive. This is because it has been proven that the act of smoking marijuana actually increases vulnerability to infections. This vulnerability however seems to be a result of inhaling marijuana smoke or even smoke in general and likely has little to do with the presence or absence of cannabanoids.

Contrastingly, cannabis sativa itself, when not smoked, has been known since the 1950s to have strong antibacterial properties. However, as the technology of looking into how molecules are structured and how they interact was in its infancy at the time, the researchers were unable to determine which marijuana compounds were actually causing the antibacterial effects.

As the social and research climates started to grow increasingly hostile to the investigation of black-listed substances in the US and around the world, antibiotic cannabis studies were soon shelved and ignored until they were finally picked up again fairly recently by modern science.

The list of medical uses for marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) continues to grow. The Journal of Natural Products recently published a paper outlining the newly isolated antibiotic effects of the class of molecules known as cannabanoids. This group includes the non-psychoactive cannabichromene, cannabigerol, and cannabidiol but also includes the well-known and definitely psychotropic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

Researchers believe that the powerful antibiotic effects of cannabanoids can be enlisted in the increasingly difficult fight against MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) and other 'superbugs' that have evolved resistances to most modern antibiotics. MRSA is perhaps the best known of these superbugs, often running rampant in hospitals, with estimates of up to 1.2 million hospital patients becoming infected and possibly over 100,000 patients dying each year in the United States due to lack of effective medicines against them.

The known effectiveness of cannabanoids and the fact that they have not been used before, and therefore no bacteria has yet developed a resistance to them, could prove to be a very valuable tool in the arms race against these constantly changing bacterial strains.

DEA afraid 90-year-old couple will ruin their lives with marijuana

Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 9:01 pm

For example, the 90-year-old couple, Lester ("Smitty") and Mary Smith--who were raided at their Philo home last week (9.24.08) with law enforcement seizing their life savings and all their plants in the process--are qualified patients with doctors'approvals and did nothing wrong.

Smitty said, "I wasn't worried a bit. I knew it was legal. I planted six plants two years in a row and this year, I planted 17 for me and Mary. That's not too many is it? My wife is very ill, confined to a wheelchair or recliner. She likes the bud tea. She has severe arthritis. It makes it easier for her to get around. She walks easier; she can walk to the bathroom even by herself."

Smitty has health issues too. "I have heart problems, blood clots, stomach cramps, emphysema, bad hips. I've had a heart attack. I sometimes get strong chest pains and can't breathe right. I take nitroglycerine. That brings me back. My doctors want me to take more x-rays here locally but that would be a big expense. Usually, I go to the Veterans Hospital and they pay for it."

Mary Smith was forced to stay in the house by herself during the 5-hour raid while additional warrants for an adjoining parcel were telephoned in and delivered, allowing sheriff's deputies to enter all the residences.

The elderly Smiths were not arrested or charged with a crime, because there was none. Sheriff's deputies were apparently more interested in robbery than arrest (excuse my french). They seized the two things that mattered most to the ill couple--their medicine, all 17 plants, leaving nothing--and their life savings, $52,000 from Mary Smith's inheritance and $29,000 in cashed in CDs.

"As soon as the bail-out hit, I cashed in my CDs and put the money in a safe in my house. I did not sell pot to get it. But turns out my money was not safe. They stormed in here and turned our world upside down. I thought I was legal." More.

San Francisco leads the way with medical marijuana clubs

Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 8:49 pm

Quietly, with little fanfare, San Francisco is on the way to becoming a model for medical marijuana clubs done the right way. Exploitive, profit-hungry drug clubs are being forced out and community-based, patient-friendly ones are becoming the norm. Neighbors have shut down dispensaries in school zones, and patient services have been increased.

Beginning in 2005, when Mayor Gavin Newsom worried aloud about "a path that would allow for a club on every street corner," the city has made a series of small steps that have improved a situation that was nearly out of control. A moratorium on new clubs was enacted, and Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Michela Alioto-Pier pushed for restrictive legislation. Among other things, all pot clubs were required to get an operating permit from the Planning Commission. Neighborhood input, proximity to schools, and criminal and employment background checks were all included in the consideration for a permit.

Since then, almost half of the clubs have closed. And here's an indication of just how well the regulations have worked. When state Attorney General Jerry Brown proposed strict state guidelines for marijuana dispensaries in August, and Newsom's office drafted similar regulations a month later, advocates responded immediately - they said they were wholeheartedly in favor.

"We went through 10 years of an unregulated cannabis environment," said Kevin Reed, president of Green Cross dispensary, which delivers medical marijuana to patients. "Now they are going to try something completely different, and to see it run correctly is a wonderful thing." More.

Mexico's president wants to decriminalize marijuana

Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 1:49 pm

This past June, Bush struck a deal with Calder n to approve $400 million toward additional drug war assistance (representing a 20% increase in the Mexican anti-narcotics budget) -- for still more helicopters, military training, ion scanners, canine units, and surveillance technology.

Considering their close ties, President Calder n's announcement earlier this month must have come as a bit of an unwanted surprise to the Bush Administration. On October 2, Calder n proposed legislation that would decriminalize drug possession, ostensibly for personal use. Not just for marijuana, as one might have expected in a country where pot smoke has not been demonized to the same degree as in the U.S., but for cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, as well.

To be more specific, Calder n's proposed legislation, supported by the Mexican attorney general's office, is intended to address a different kind of drug crisis on Mexican soil: a growing number of addicts. Cocaine once solely destined from Colombia and other Andean nations toward the U.S. is still flowing in such great supply that it has ended up attracting more users -- and abusers. In addition, meth lab crackdowns in the U.S. have allowed narco-cartels to step in and fill the void, so that speed is now more readily available in Mexico, as well. The impact has been dramatic: according to the government's own statistics, the number of drug addicts in Mexico is estimated to have doubled in just six years to 307,000, while the number of people who have tried drugs at some point rose from 3.5 million to 4.5 million.

If passed, Calder n's legislation would decriminalize up to 2 grams of marijuana, 500 milligrams of cocaine, 40 milligrams of meth, and 50 milligrams of heroin. To qualify, any individual arrested with those drugs would have to agree to a drug treatment program to address admitted addiction or enter a prevention program designed for recreational users. Those who refused to attend one of these kinds of programs would be subject to a fine.

This proposal isn't the first of its kind in Mexican political history. In fact, former President Vicente Fox also supported limited decriminalization just over two years ago, but his efforts were quashed in the wake of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It's a safe bet that pressure of this kind has already started up where Calder n's proposal is concerned. More.

Teen pleads guilty to being high for two straight weeks

Sunday, October 12th 2008 at 9:52 pm

Tyler R. Sutton, 18, pleaded guilty this morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 to three counts of operating a vehicle with a controlled substance causing death and feticide, all Class C felonies.

If Judge Thomas Busch accepts Sutton's plea with the Tippecanoe County prosecutor's office, at least two of those counts would have to be served concurrently - meaning the former North Montgomery High School student could spend 16 or more years in prison.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 17. Deputy Prosecutor Elizabeth Goodrich requested that at least an hour be allotted so victims'families and law enforcement officers who responded to the Sept. 8, 2007, crash near Stockwell can testify.

Toxicology tests taken after the crash showed that Sutton had marijuana metabolites in his blood, though Sutton's Indianapolis-based attorney, Dennis Zahn, disputed in court that the drug was present in the teen's urine.

Yes, they are claiming that the pot he smoked over 2 weeks before his car accident was the reason for his car accident. This is just so ridiculous it's crazy. Unless he has some of the best weed in the world, and was still high 2 weeks later, and if that's the case, can I have some?

Religious teenagers are less likely to try marijuana

Saturday, October 11th 2008 at 2:11 pm

Now a new national study by two Brigham Young University sociologists finds that religious involvement makes teens half as likely to use marijuana. The study ' which will be published October 13 in the Journal of Drug Issues ' settles a question scholars have disagreed on in the past.

"Some may think this is an obvious finding, but research and expert opinion on this issue have not been consistent," said BYU sociology professor Stephen Bahr and an author on the study. "After we accounted for family and peer characteristics, and regardless of denomination, there was an independent effect that those who were religious were less likely to do drugs, even when their friends were users."

The study, co-authored by BYU sociologist John Hoffmann, also found individual religiosity buffered peer pressure for cigarette smoking and heavy drinking. The term religiosity as used in the study has to do with people's participation in a religion and not the particular denomination. Hoffmann said the protective effect of church and spirituality supplements the influence of parents.

'Parents shouldn't force it, but they can encourage spirituality and religion in their families, which in itself becomes a positive influence in their children's lives,' Hoffmann said.

Two data sets were used in the study, 13,534 students who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and 4,983 adolescents in a state-wide survey of Utah schools. Individual religiosity was measured by two questions: one asked the students how frequently they attended church and the other asked the students to rate the importance of religion to them.

"The power of peers is less among youths who are religious," Bahr said. "Meaning if you are religious, the pressure from peers to use drugs will not have as much effect". More.

I personally don't think it's peer pressure that is stopping religious kids from trying marijuana. It's a fear that god will send them to hell for using marijuana, which is weird since god created the Earth, and thus also created marijuana. I can only assume he created it for us.

Doctor says marijuana pill doesn't work

Tuesday, October 7th 2008 at 12:34 pm

There's a key reason why some groups want to make it legal for some seriously ill patients to smoke marijuana to ease vomiting and nausea.

Although there is a pharmaceutical version of marijuana called Marinol that comes in pill form, it doesn't work, according to Dr. Elaine Chottiner. She serves as section head of hematology and oncology at Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, which runs the Saint Joseph Mercy Woodland Center in Genoa Township.

"If Marinol worked, nobody would care about legalizing marijuana," Chottiner said. On Nov. 4, Michigan voters will decide the fate of the medical use of marijuana ballot question. Under Proposal 1, there would be specific guidelines to using marijuana. A physician would need to approve marijuana use for a patient with a debilitating medical condition, and patients would receive an identification card. Patients would only have protected use in their home and could not smoke it in public places.

Chottiner said Marinol was approved because it was shown in clinical trials to alleviate vomiting and nausea caused by certain kinds of chemotherapy. It contains a synthetic form of THC, the major active substance in marijuana, which helps relieve nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and stimulates appetite for AIDS patients. More.

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco

Thursday, October 2nd 2008 at 2:54 pm

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy. The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior experts and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals.

"Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission. The government is pressing for cannabis to be re-classified in law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious, Class C classification.

The Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, claimed only two deaths worldwide have been attributed to cannabis, while alcohol and tobacco use together kill an estimated 150,000 people in Britain alone.

In Holland, you get fined for smoking tobacco, not cannabis

Tuesday, September 30th 2008 at 11:23 pm

Last July, Holland introduced a law that banned smoking in public. Cannabis smokers and tourists who go there to get a feel for the culture were devastated. But those laws aren't always followed, at least not with marijuana.

A 27 year old man, who happens to own a cannabis coffee shop in Holland, was fined by police recently for smoking a cigarette in his coffee shop. The police officers explained, 'The man was not fined for smoking a cannabis joint, but for smoking tobacco. You can smoke cannabis but not tobacco in coffee shops'. How's that for 'crazy backward liberal laws'?

The man was caught lighting a hand rolled cannabis joint during a routine police check and fined because officers found tobacco mixed with the soft drug. Had the joint contained 100% marijuana, he would not have been fined and everything would have been okay.

The man is expected to fight the case in court, but since there is a legal ban on smoking tobacco in public, he probably won't win. I guess it's different looking in from the outside, but I would be fine and dandy being allowed to smoke weed in public, in return for not smoking cigarettes in public. It kind of seems like a no-brainer to me.

How much medical marijuana is too much?

Saturday, September 13th 2008 at 11:19 am

Robert Dalton is a 61 year old man from Oregon who uses medical marijuana to ease his pain. He's been using medical marijuana for almost 10 years, and he's been battling the courts every since.

Recently, his property was raided and he was charged with manufacturing marijuana. But his lawyers contend that Dalton was growing within the limits allowed in a 60-day supply.

Deputy prosecutor Coreen Schnepf said in the trial's closing arguments Thursday that Dalton had violated the medical marijuana law because she said he'd made remarks to WestNET detectives that he'd supply it to others. But one of Dalton's attorney argued that under state law, Dalton can become a "primary provider" and distribute pot to other card-carrying patients.

The main problem is, the state never defined how much a "6 months supply" is, and therefore they're able to bust people who are growing many plants, even if they only produce 3 months worth of medicine. "Once we get a clear definition from the Department of Health on what a 60-day supply is, it will be much easier for patients to comply".

In her final argument, Deputy Prosecutor Schnepf said that under the law passed by voters in 1998, Dalton needed to have pain incurable by other medicines to use cannabis. She said that opiate-based medicines he had used were relieving his pain.

One of Dalton's lawyers countered that the opiates made Dalton sick and weren't effective. He said the court also shouldn't be "second-guessing" the doctor who recommended Dalton for medical marijuana.

Oregon voters trying to legalize marijuana

Friday, September 12th 2008 at 8:43 pm

A proposed law for Oregon would radically alter the availability of marijuana for adults, by allowing the herb to be purchased in liquor stores. The Oregonians For Cannabis Reform 2010, say the Oregonian Cannabis Tax Act would make cannabis products legal and available in a retail environment. Proponents say it will mean millions and millions of dollars for Oregon's state coffers and many predict that the move would literally salvage the state's unstable economy.

Backers of this Initiative say their plan would send 90 percent of the proceeds from the state's sale of marijuana to Oregon's General Fund, which could lower the state tax burden significantly. Portions of the revenue would be used to fund drug abuse education and treatment programs.

But right now, the people bringing this opportunity for Oregon voters forward, says their effort needs money, equipment, and, most of all, volunteers.

But they say the payoff will be enormous, as the Cannabis Tax Act (CTA) will take the lucrative marijuana market out of the black market, where children and substance abusers often control it today, and place it in state liquor stores, where the age limit of 21 and older is strictly enforced. More.

Mr. Rip from BongTV

Tuesday, September 9th 2008 at 9:46 pm

He calls himself Mr. Rip, and he hosts a live Internet TV show called BongTV. From 4:20 pm to 4:20 am every day, he brings is weed-smoking life to you.

BongTV features Mr. Rip traveling around the Southland in his '88 Rolls Royce limo, rapping with guests and friends and smoking tons of weed. On screen, he'd made short work of four big joints, demonstrated repeatedly and convincingly why his name is Bong Rip and otherwise had not gone three minutes without a quick lung full from his glass pipe.

'It's like a virtual party, right in your computer,' he said, 'I have over 100 people watching that I take with me in my limousine ' they don't make a mess, they don't cause any trouble and they don't smoke my weed.'

'BongTV' has a small but dedicated following ' Bong Rip calls them the Stoner Army. People watch the show on multi-way video chat services Stickam.com and UserPlane.com. Because it's live, viewers get to chat, joke and toke with Bong Rip in real time. But a warning to those easily offended: This show exists only because there are no ratings on the Internet.

Whenever Bong decides it's time to light up, he calls out '420 in the chat room if you're smoking!' Within moments, dozens of viewers have eagerly chimed in. '420!' they type ' and they're not just posturing ' among the 10 or 20 viewers that are running their own webcams, a healthy number can be seen reaching for an implement and joining right in. More.

Marijuana the wonder-drug: Now fighting bacteria

Friday, September 5th 2008 at 10:12 pm

Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, shows promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs.

It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections.

The current research looked at the antibacterial activity of the five most common cannabinoids. All of them were found to be effective against several common multi-resistant bacterial strains, although the researchers suggested that the nonpsychotropic cannabinoids might prove more promising for eventual use.

The last line in the previous paragraph might be a downer for recreational stoners, but this is extremely promising research. The fact that a natural plant condemned by almost the whole world can fight bacteria that we cant fight, it's sadly ironic. More.

Founders of Arizona 'Marijuana Church' facing jail time

Friday, September 5th 2008 at 10:05 pm

The founders of an Arizona church that deifies marijuana have pleaded guilty to two criminal charges. Dan and Mary Quaintance are each facing up to 20 years in prison.

The couple pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to two counts relating to their 2006 federal arrest -- one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute 200 pounds or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana; and one count of possession with the intent to distribute 100 pounds or more of a substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana, as well as aiding and abetting.

The people who attend this church smoked marijuana to communicate with God. Who am I to judge, right? After all, the Supreme Court did say another church can drink hallucinogenic tea to see god. The only difference here is these guys supplied the church members with weed, which means they had to posses a lot. So they're being charged with intent to sell.

I'm sure their appeal will go to the Supreme Court, and I think they should stick with their precedent. More.

Poland moves to legalize marijuana

Wednesday, September 3rd 2008 at 8:24 pm

Under currently Poland law, even a small amount of marijuana is a serious "crime". But there's a move underway that could change that, legalizing marijuana for personal use. A polish radio station is behind this campaign.

A petition to the Ministry of Justice requesting the legalization of marijuana for personal use has already been signed by hundreds of people, including drug rehab specialists and members of Monar, a nonprofit group that works with addicts, the HIV/AIDS positive, and the homeless.

Now, would-be legalizers are trying a new tack: direct contact with members of parliament (MPs). "Cannabis canvassers" recruited via the Internet have been paying visits to politicians in an effort to win them over, and it seems to be working. The canvassers have already collected the signatures of five MPs, including former health minister Marek Balicki.

This just seems amazing to me. Can you imagine a United States politician signing a petition to legalize marijuana? More.

Help us reform the law! Contact your representative today

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:45 pm

Representatives Barney Frank and Ron Paul have introduced H.R. 5843, an "Act to Remove Federal Penalties for Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults" to the house for a vote.

This measure, if passed, would strip the federal government of its authority to arrest responsible adult cannabis consumers. That means the states decide their marijuana laws, not the federal government.

BUT WE'RE NOT THERE YET! You need to email your local representative and tell them to vote YES on H.R. 5843. Click here to contact your representative. They have a nice pre-written form so the work is already done for you.

Cannabis could help prevent colon cancer

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:41 pm

It's already very well known and documented that cannabis is great at relieving pain and nausea, and a number of other health related issues. But new evidence shows that THC might actually prevent colon cancer.

There are cannabinoid receptors on the surface of cells in the colon. When those receptors are turned off, tumor growth is turned on. But if you smoke cannabis and fill those receptors with THC, tumor growth is turned off.

"We've found that CB1 expression is lost in most colorectal cancers, and when that happens, a cancer-promoting protein is free to inhibit cell death," senior author Dr. Raymond Dubois, provost and executive vice president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

They also found intestinal tumors in mice were also smaller or non-existent when treated with cannabis. Maybe governments of the world are worried cannabis will be too effective if they recognize it has medical value. There's no money in curing people's cancer, just keeping them alive.

"Potential application of cannabinoids as anti-tumor drugs is an exciting prospect, because cannabinoid agonists (synthetic molecules that mimic the action of natural molecules) are being evaluated now to treat the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy," DuBois said. "Turning CB1 back on and than treating with a cannabinoid agonist could provide a new approach to colorectal cancer treatment or prevention".

Police raid Mayor's home and kill his 2 dogs

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:39 pm

A police swat team raided the Mayor's house after he signed for, and took a package of marijuana into his house. They busted in, shot and killed is two dogs, and tore his house apart.

"My government blew through my doors and killed my dogs," Calvo said. "They thought we were drug dealers, and we were treated as such. I don't think they really ever considered that we weren't.".

Surprisingly, nobody was arrested during this drug raid, and the Mayor isn't even a person of interest. They police say they're investigating his wife and mother-in-law. I'm curious how they kill both dogs and tear the house up, but not arrest anybody.

Calvo described a chaotic scene, in which he -- wearing only underwear and socks -- and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and interrogated for hours. They were surrounded by the dogs'carcasses and pools of the dogs'blood, Calvo said.

Conflicting cannabis laws on trial in California

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:38 pm

The fight over California state rights, and federal government rights, is on. A man in California is on trial today defending his choice to open a cannabis dispensary. His store is legal under California state law, but not under federal law.

The prosecutor says this man is a "brazen drug trafficker who sold dope to teenagers and toted around a backpack stuffed with cash". He replies by saying he only sold to medical patients when it was prescribed by their doctor.

His defense attorneys would like to present evidence that their client was dispensing doctor-prescribed medical marijuana to sick people in accordance with state law and with the blessing of elected officials in Morro Bay. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has concluded that federal drug laws trump those of the state and that the reasons why the drug is distributed are irrelevant. For that reason, the judge banned the term "medical marijuana" during his trial.

Even if he wins this case, it will be pushed to the Supreme Court eventually, and they will probably take their old stance that federal law overrides state law.

Police officers with the noses of dogs

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:37 pm

Two police officers in Georgia arrested a man after they say they smelled "raw marijuana" from inside his car. They found 10 pounds in his drunk, but he has come up with a very interesting defense.

He and his lawyer argue the human hose is not as sensitive as a dogs nose, and there is no way they could have smelled the marijuana wrapped up in the trunk. How do they plan to prove this?

Aside from the director of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center's Smell and Taste Center who says the officers couldn't have smelled it, they want to re-wrap the 10 pounds of marijuana and put it in a random trunk in the parking lot. Then the police officers can go sniff it out and prove they had probable cause to search his car.

If the judge allows it and the police officers fail to find the marijuana, the case could be dismissed.

www.ajc.com

Large study finds NO link between cannabis and lung cancer

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:36 pm

The facts just keep piling up. A large study in California of 1,000 patients ultimately concluded that even heavy, long-term marijuana use does not cause lung cancer.

The scientists found that even those who smoked more than 20,000 joints in their life did not have an increased risk of lung cancer. "We expected that we would find that a history of heavy marijuana use - more than 500 to 1,000 uses - would increase the risk of cancer from several years to decades after exposure to marijuana" said physician Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles.

The researchers interviewed 611 lung cancer patients and 1,040 healthy controls as well as 601 patients with cancer in the head or neck region under the age of 60 to create the statistical analysis. They found that 80 percent of those with lung cancer and 70 percent of those with other cancers had smoked tobacco while only roughly half of both groups had smoked marijuana. The more tobacco a person smoked, the greater the risk of developing cancer, as other studies have shown.

Although the study does not reveal how marijuana avoids causing cancer, this is still huge news. Finding out how cannabis avoids causing (and maybe even helps cure?) cancer will be the logical next step, and hopefully it will come soon. There's no reason a medication this powerful shouldn't be legal.

Can cannabis kill brain tumors?

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:35 pm

There isn't much information about this study yet, but here is a snippet I found pre-publication.

EVIDENCE FOR SELECTIVE ANTI-TUMOR ACTIVITY OF THC TO BE PUBLISHED IN PRESTIGIOUS NEURO-ONCOLOGY JOURNAL

SETH scientists discovered that THC, the major active compound in medical marijuana, can selectively kill human brain tumor cells in Petri dishes at non-toxic concentrations (see Featured Experiment). The work has been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Journal of Neuro-Oncology, and is expected to be in print later this year. A synthetic compound that mimics the activity of THC did not perform as well as the herbal compound in parallel tests.

Even though the test tumor cells were at non-toxic levels, they still killed the essence of the tumor, which is more than promising. It's amazing, and it will be hard for people to continue to deny it has no medical use now.

www.sethgroup.org

A medical cannabis compound that won't get you high

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:34 pm

Scientists have discovered an anti-inflammatory compound in marijuana that does not affect the brain, which means it will not produce the same psychotropic effects as the plant's better-known anti-inflammatory component, THC.

Researchers say that another cannabinoid, called beta-caryophyllene is already found in food items like black pepper and oregano. Beta-caryophyllene can treat pain, nausea, and other ailments without getting patients high. Targeting the CB2 receptor could be a therapeutic strategy to prevent or treat diseases like Crohn's disease, liver cirrhosis, osteoarthritis, and atherosclerosis.

I wonder if the FDA would approve this since it doesn't get you high, even though it's the same thing you find in regular cannabis. They couldn't approve it because if they did, they would be showing hypocrisy on a whole new level.

Puerto Rican officials try to legalize marijuana

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:33 pm

Roughly 24% of the inmates in Puerto Rico are there because of drug charges. Now, the former health secretary wants to try to reform Puerto Rican cannabis laws, and let some of those innocent people out of jail.

Under the plan, marijuana would be taxed as liquor and tobacco are now, with proceeds going toward drug-treatment programs, said former Health Secretary Enrique Vazquez Quintana. "The fight against drugs, using punishment, has not worked," said Jose Manuel Saldana, former president of the University of Puerto Rico. "This is a social reality".

Even though we have progressive-spirited people all over the world, this plan probably won't go through any time soon. Lawmakers have said they are open to discussing the legalization of marijuana, but only for medical purposes. This is obviously a great first step, but maybe they should have a debate as to why liquor is legal and cannabis is not, without the spin, made-up facts and other bullshit out there.

Teen marijuana use down in states with medical marijuana programs

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:32 pm

That's right, ring the bells and sound the alarms. Who would have thought that when you legalize, tax, and control a substance, that substance is harder for underage kids to obtain.

The MMP has a report that in state where medical marijuana is legal, marijuana use among teenagers has decreased in all these states. This means it's probably not just a fluke that happened once in one place.

"When states consider proposals to allow the medical use of marijuana under state law, the concern often arises that such laws might "send the wrong message" and therefore cause an increase in marijuana use among young people. The available evidence strongly suggests that this hypothesis is incorrect and that enactment of state medical marijuana laws has not increased adolescent marijuana use. Consequently, legislators should evaluate medical marijuana proposals based on their own merits ' without regard for the speculative and unsupported assertions about the bills sending the "wrong message".

Stupid study linking heart attacks to marijuana use

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:31 pm

I know there are a lot of people and organizations that are extremely opposed to the legalization of marijuana, but some of these articles and "studies" are just ridiculous. This article's headline is "marijuana use linked to heart attack and stroke". They continue to go through reasons why marijuana might increase your risk for a heart attack or stroke.

Then the last line on the first page of the article is "The marijuana users in the study averaged smoking 78 to 350 marijuana cigarettes per week". I can only assume "marijuana cigarettes" are joints. So that's 50 joints a day. Assuming you sleep for 8 hours a night and are up for 16, you would have to smoke 3 joints every hour of every day you're awake. How could somebody even sustain this type of lifestyle? You obviously wouldn't have a job smoking that much weed, and you would need to get money somewhere otherwise you wouldn't be able to smoke so much weed.

This is just a reminder to really think about the "facts" some people put out there, because lots of times their bullshit is easily refuted.

New York tries to legalize medical marijuana

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:30 pm

New York could possible become the 13th state to allow patients to use marijuana as a form of medication. A group by the name of "Patients to Push for Medical Marijuana Law" currently has TV ads playing across New York trying to persuade their senators to pass a bill making this a reality.

Some people are still concerned this won't change anything, even if the senate does pass the bill because The U.S. Supreme Court has said the issue is a matter of federal law. While it may be a federal issue, I couldn't disagree more that passing this bill won't change anything. 12 other states have already passed similar legislation, and if enough states pass their own bills allowing the use of medical marijuana, the federal government might come to their senses and legalize medical marijuana federally. That's how things change, local grassroots changes from the ground up.

When there is an update as to how the senate votes, we will have those results here.

Job security for medical marijuana patients

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:29 pm

Imagine this scenario: Your doctor says medical marijuana is the best drug to help your medical condition. You begin using marijuana at home, medically. Then you get fired for using the same marijuana your doctor told you to use. This is the battle Gary Ross of California is fighting after the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ross'former employer.

In 1996, California voters passed a law that allowed doctors to give marijuana to patients who could benefit from it. But because of the line between state law and federal law, the California Supreme Court said that since marijuana is illegal under federal law, businesses have the right to fire anyone who tests positive for it. And this is raising some serious issues with the residents of California.

"It's insane that someone has to fight so hard to use a medication that a doctor says is best for your treatment". said Ross. "The issue is not whether workers can be stoned on the job ' they can't ' but whether trace amounts of doctor-approved marijuana are grounds for firing".

"An employer may require pre-employment drug tests and take illegal drug use into consideration," the Supreme Court said. The problem is that cannabis is legal in California, and the California Supreme Court is going by federal law, not state law. The state says marijuana is not an illegal drug. And if it is, it should be considered just as illegal as Vicodin or Morphine which are also doctor-approved drugs. This ruling essentially forces medicinal pot smokers to choose between work or medication.

The argument against Ross is: "We really shouldn't be forcing employers to hire illegal drug users". Again, calling cannabis an illegal drug in California is just like calling any other doctor-prescribed drug "illegal". And if employers can fire you for using medical marijuana, there shouldn't be any law against firing them for using any doctor prescribed medication that is otherwise illegal to purchase.

Free marijuana from customs officers in the Tokyo airport

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:26 pm

So a lucky person traveling to Tokyo, Japan ended up with a nice little gift in their suitcase after passing through customs. That nice surprise was over 140 grams of marijuana, for free, from the Japanese Government. Why would they do such a thing? By mistake, of course.

A Japanese customs officer wanted to test the true ability of their drug-sniffing dogs, so he put a bag filled with 142 grams of marijuana in a random suitcase. As the bags passed through customs, the dogs failed to detect the giant bag of marijuana. That's when panic set it, because at that point the customs officer was unable to remember which suitcase he put the bag of marijuana in! Sounds like somebody tried the marijuana performing this customs test.

Normally these tests are performed with a special suitcase that customs officers can find if the dogs fail. This officer became overconfident in the dog's abilities, and decided to use a real, random suitcase. Officials are asking to contact customs if you happen to find this huge bag of pot.

"I knew that using passenger's bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog's ability". Japan has strict laws against drugs and possession of small amounts of cannabis can lead to a prison sentence.

My question is, what would they have done if the dogs did find the drugs? I mean if I was pulled out of line and questioned for having 140 grams of pot, I would be furious. But in a foreign country you play by their rules, and I think it is possible they could have used this test as an actual "drug bust" and somebody's life could be ruined.

Microsoft Zune engraved with a pot leaf

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:26 pm

This is too cool. I've seen lots of laptops with cool engravings, but never an iPod or a Zune with a pot leaf engraving.

Pot leaf Zune engraving

Hemp powered cars trucks and vehicles

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:24 pm

Originally, Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel dreamed of making cars that were powered by hemp. What a concept. However they came to discover that gasoline-powered engines were a lot cheaper to make and were very easy to maintain. And since money > environment, the gasoline engine caught on in the automotive industry. Now, we are exhausting our oil resources very rapidly, and a prime time to bring back the original ideas of Mr. Ford and Mr. Diesel.

From 1776 to 1937, hemp was a major American crop and textiles made from hemp were very common. The Declaration of Independence is written on hemp. George Washington used to grow cannabis for hemp. During the great depression, farmers were required to grow cannabis for hemp because it was such a big export. But the government's war on marijuana smokers has created an atmosphere of self censorship, and speaking of hemp in a positive manner is considered taboo.

Hemp is also a huge source of ethanol. This is important because Ethanol from corn won't solve our problems because then we won't have any damn corn. But hemp is very cheap, and even easier to produce. This way we can continue to work on global warming, while working on food shortages in the 3rd world at the same time.

Barney Frank introduces federal marijuana decriminalization bill

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:22 pm

Today, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a bill, The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, to congress that would decriminalize personal use of marijuana and make legal the use of medical marijuana. "I think it is poor law enforcement to keep on the books legislation that establishes as a crime something which in fact society does not seriously wish to prosecute," Frank said in a statement.

Under this bill, people would be allowed up to 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces) for personal use, however public consumption would be punishable by a $100 fine, the same as most states that have decriminalized it. The cultivation, sale, import and export of marijuana will still be illegal, however a not-for-profit transfer of up to 28 grams would be allowed.

Aaron Houston, a member of the Marijuana Policy Project, says
"Congressman Frank's bill represents a major step toward sanity in federal marijuana policy. The decades-long federal war on marijuana protects no one and in fact has ruined countless lives. Most Americans do not believe that simple possession of a small amount of marijuana should be a criminal matter, and it's time Congress listened to the voters."

I couldn't have said it better myself, with a majority of the American people believing that small amounts of marijuana possession should not be a crime, it's about time somebody in congress started listening to the people.

This is a big step in the right direction for marijuana reform, even if the bill doesn't pass it will have brought up the topic among a powerful group of people and might just make them think a little bit, and if more bills similar to these, especially with public backing, come to them, well they can't deny the will of the people for ever... can they?

This bill was co-sponsored by Republican Congressman Ron Paul (TX). Ron Paul is a rebel-republican who is traditionally conservative and believes in freedom for the individual and small government. This gives the Marijuana Decriminalization Bill bi-partisan support from the very beginning.

Barney Frank called his bill the "Make way for serious criminals" act. Here he is on Real Time with Bill Maher talking about this bill last month.

New study confirms marijuana works for pain relief

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:19 pm

In a recent study at the University of California at Davis, they showed that marijuana gives a significant relief to those who suffer from a verity of different pain cause by damaged nerves. Just over a year ago a similar study concluded that marijuana helped patients who suffered form other symptoms such as cancer and HIV.

In this study patients were given three different joints containing marijuana with different THC levels(0%, 3.5% and 7%). When patients smoked the joints with THC their pain was significantly reduced and it lasted for over five hours. "This is yet more proof that the American College of Physicians was right that U.S. government policy on medical marijuana is totally divorced from scientific reality," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "Congress needs to act to end the federal war on medical marijuana, but in the meantime states should act on their own to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest, as several states are considering right now."

As Rob said, it's just amazing that with so many studies out that show marijuana is an effective medicine for a wide range of illnesses, and having the American College of Physicians, the second largest group of physicians in the United States, endorse medical marijuana, the government still decides they know best, without knowing anything at all.

Proposals in Colorado for legalizing marijuana causing organized crime? DEA says yes, with no facts to back it up

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:17 pm

Jeffrey Sweetin, a DEA special agent, claimed that "a law to legalize small amounts of marijuana in Denver and a failed state ballot initiative to do the same thing as making Colorado a good market for drugs and organized crime."

When a spokesman for the DEA was asked about the lack of evidence for this claim he responded "I don't think there's any numbers I can give," said DEA media representative Mike Turner about the crime connection to legalization efforts. "It's just that the ongoing cases we're seeing I think reflect the fact that that's what's going on."

So because they say there is organized crime because of legalization proposals, were all just suppose to believe it. No facts or information, just their word. And why would we question them, I know the DEA has always had my best interests at heart. This just seems like a scare tactic to try to convince Colorado residents that any new bills that would easy penalties of marijuana is going to lead to more crime and violence in your neighborhood! Scary!

The executive director of Safer Colorado, Mason Tvert, the foundation that was responsible getting an initiative on the ballot in Denver to legalize up to an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older, had a few thoughts on the DEA's baseless claims. "If the DEA were a student submitting a report on organized crime in Colorado, they'd get a 'D,'assuming they spelled 'DEA'correctly. It is unacceptable for our federal law enforcement agencies to be making such broad and baseless claims without any evidence to support them."

I couldn't agree more. As I said before this is nothing more than scare tactics right before the election.

Michigan will have a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:16 pm

When Michigan voters get out to the booths this November, they will have the choice to make marijuana use for medically ill people a reality. The Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care submitted a petition with over 500,000 signatures to get the Legislature, who had 40 days to act on it before it would go to the people of Michigan for a vote this November. Well those 40 days have passed with no action, so now it goes to the people.

If the people of Michigan decide to pass this into law, anybody with a recommendation from a doctor will be permitted to grow and use their medicine without the fear of being prosecuted. There are currently 5 different cities in Michigan that have adopted medical marijuana laws, however anyone caught is prosecuted under state law where medical marijuana is still illegal.

Michigan is not the only state where this occurs. Medical marijuana is legal in the entire state of California, but if the Federal government (DEA) decides to come charge you, they can because growing and using medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law. This makes me wonder why we give cities and states a voice at all. When a small community of people decides that they want to allow their community members to do something, who are you to tell them they're not allowed? That attitude ultimately defeates the purpose of democracy and voting by rendering the opinions of small groups of people, useless.

Two charged with giving child marijuana

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:15 pm

Two teenagers (16 and 18) are being charged with, among other things, child endangerment after a video of them getting a child high came to light. The video shows the teens smoking then holding the pipe up to the child's mouth to get the kid to inhale some of the smoke. So, how did the police get their hands on this video? Turns out the teens needed some extra cash so they pawned the video camera, including the video tape of them getting this child high. The pawn shop turned over the video to the police when they realized what was on it. See the video here.

One of the teens, Angel Dailey, is the daughter of Don Dailey, who was allegedly found in his home recently with more than a ton of marijuana and about 4 million dollars in the walls and floors. You would think that Angel would have been a lot more careful about anything marijuana related having her father just been busted with so much. It's things like this that the government will jump all over as another reason marijuana (medical or otherwise) should not be allowed, because that would just open the door to many more incidents like this. Though this isn't true, it's all they need to start scaring people that having marijuana around will lead to child abuse, or something similar.

But if you think back to your childhood, when was the first time you had a sip of your father's beer? Not that it makes it okay, but it's a double-standard to say marijuana leads to child abuse while alcohol leads to ... spousal abuse? Maybe it's time to re-think how we give drugs and alcohol to people and go by maturity level instead of age. Because the substance doesn't matter, it's the people we need to be looking at.

Barcelona approves new medical spray containing cannabis

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:14 pm

After positive results in a 2006-2007 study, Barcelona has made legal, by prescription, a spray containing cannabis. The spray is prescribed to patients who who suffer from conditions such as nausea, cancer or AIDS. I assume since this spray treats the same illnesses as does smoking herb, this is just an alternative to smoking as would be baking it into food.

There is the question of effectiveness as well. As lots of people know, the effects of eating or smoking cannabis can be pretty intense (or effective, depending on how you look at it). Having a spray might not provide as much strength to the patient unless it's used in higher doses. It would also be perfect for people who are not in extreme pain and don't need a high dose, but are still looking for an all-natural alternative.

This is good news for medical marijuana because I believe there is a general negative stereo-type that anything you smoke could be medicine,so having a spray like this can help move cannabis further into the medical industry. What do you think, will having a spray as an option help the medical marijuana movement?

If Spain can do it, so can America

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:13 pm

Spain has been using cannabis as a way to relieve the pain of chemotherapy for cancer patients. Cannabis is available in a medicine form throughout the Spanish health service for patients being treated with chemotherapy if other drugs fail to be effective. While I'm sure people would prefer all-natural cannabis as a first choice, but at least they are actually trying to help their citizens, not profit off of them at any cost.

The head of the Catalan health service said that a pilot program using cannabis to treat those with multiple sclerosis, cancer, chronic pain and other illnesses had shown that sickness in 67% of the patients in the study had decreased. In the case of patients suffering from anorexia-caquexia associated with Aids up to 53% of these regained their appetites. The number of patients in the study suffering from multiple sclerosis who went from having unbearable pain to suffering tolerable pain went down from 66% to 35% and the number of patients who suffered almost no pain at all increased from 11.40% to 27.70%. And right on the heels of this study comes an endorsement from the American College of Physicians (ACP) for medical marijuana. The ACP shows data backing up the fact that marijuana has medical benefits for people who suffer a wide ranger of illnesses from nausea, vomiting, and chronic pain to cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

I'm no scientist, but based off of these results I would have to say that cannabis, at a minimum, has the ability to ease people's pain naturally. But when people who can't eat begin eating and living again, that goes beyond just finding just a treatment, this is the right (and sometimes, only) treatment for people. Study after study shows the same results, but in some places ignorance and stupidity have more influence over facts.

But the government can't stop people from using the things that help them, unless they lock you up. So it will only be a matter of time until so many people know that it works that they will demand the government stop prosecuting medical marijuana patients. But for that we need to kill the negative stereotypes about cannabis, and educate people. Ignorance and stupidity can't win forever.

Medical Marijuana: Where the candidates stand

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:11 pm

With the general election only 7 months away, there is a certain excitement in the air about getting rid of Bush and all of his failed policies, among those being the war on drugs. It seems like every day there is some new research out proving that marijuana does have medical benefits from cancer and HIV patients to those with glaucoma or epilepsy, yet the DEA still spends its time busting people just for using medicine... now thats American. Now with the election on the horizon, we have a chance to put somebody into office who understands the medical value of marijuana, so what does your candidate think about medical marijuana? Lets take a look...

Barack Obama
When Barack Obama was asked early on in his campaign if he had ever smoked marijuana, he responded "Yes, and I inhaled... thats the point". So he used to enjoy the occasional recreational toke, but how does he feel about medical marijuana?

"When it comes to medical marijuana, I have more of a practical view than anything else. My attitude is that if it's an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else. I think there are legitimate concerns in not wanting to allow people to grow their own or start setting up mom and pop shops because at that point it becomes fairly difficult to regulate.

So Barack wants to allow doctors who see fit be able to recommend marijuana as a treatment, and the doctors wouldn't have to worry about being prosecuted for making that recommendation.

Hillary Clinton
When Hillary Clinton was asked her opinion on medical marijuana she responded...

"With respect to medical marijuana, you know I think that we have had a lot of rhetoric and the federal government has been very intent upon trying to prevent states from being able to offer that as an option for people who are in pain. I think we should be doing medical research on this. We ought to find what are the elements that claim to be existing in marijuana that might help people who are suffering from cancer and nausea-related treatments. We ought to find that out. I don't think we should decriminalize it, but we ought to do research into what, if any, medical benefits it has."

So Hillary isn't for it or against it, she thinks there needs to be more research done to show that marijuana has medical purposes, which is a better stance than our current guy.

John McCain
When John McCain was asked about medical marijuana on the campaign trail, he gave the following response...

"Every medical expert I know of, including the AMA [American Medical Association], says that there are much more effective and much better treatments for pain than medical marijuana...I still would not support medical marijuana because I don't think that the preponderance of medical opinion in America agrees with [the] assertion that it's the most effective way of treating pain."

His response isn't really surprising considering his age and past, and the fact that he has been called "The second coming of Bush". However, the AMA does support unimpeded research on medical marijuana, as well as other major medical organizations including: The Institute of Medicine, The American Cancer Society; American Medical Association; Australian Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health; California Medical Association; Federation of American Scientists; Florida Medical Association; and the National Academy of Sciences.

When it's time to vote, remember it's important to vote for your interests, not just your political party. And if doctors can give you morphine and vicodin to help you, there is absolutely no reason your doctor can't give you cannabis to help you as well. Health, and the care of our fellow humans should be the top priority of our government and our health care providers. Money, shouldn't. Please register and vote this November!

So if the elections were held tomorrow, and the only issue was medical marijuana, who would your candidate be?

Beer Prohibition Ended 75 years ago today

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 7:59 pm

On April 7, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt put and end to prohibition, and as a gift he received a case of beer delivered straight to the white house. 75 years later alcohol is a huge industry.

Beer by the numbers in the US:
* Beer is a $190 billion a year industry
* Beer accounts for 1.7 million jobs
* Over 13,000 labels of beer marketed by over 1,400 brewers
* 2,750 independent beer distributors

As we celebrate the anniversary of the end of alcohol prohibition, marijuana prohibition is still strong and kicking. With the number of jobs created by the alcohol industry you'd think governments (who love their greed) would opt for taxing marijuana just like we do alcohol, and it is slowly coming, just look at California.

The Irony, and Comradery, Should Be Clear Here'Cannabis Consumers and Beer Drinkers Are Much More Alike Than Different

Find out more about alcohol prohibition with NORML.

Oranges that get you high

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 7:56 pm

Mother nature has another trick up her sleeve. Well, not quite, but still oranges that get you high is pretty impressive. In the summer of 1984, 10th-grader Irwin Nanofsky and a friend were driving down the Apalachee Parkway on the way home from baseball practice when they were pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic infraction.

After Nanofsky produced his driver's license the police officer asked permission to search the vehicle. In less than two minutes, the officer found a homemade pipe underneath the passenger's seat of the Ford Aerostar belonging to the teenage driver's parents. The minivan was seized, and the two youths were taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession.

Illegal possession of drug paraphernalia ranks second only to open container violations on the crime blotter of this Florida college town. And yet the routine arrest of 16 year-old Nanofsky and the seizure of his family's minivan would inspire one of the most controversial drug-related scientific discoveries of the century.

Meet Hugo Nanofsky, biochemist, Florida State University tenured professor, and the parental authority who posted bail for Irwin Nanofsky the night of July 8, 1984. The elder Nanofsky wasn't pleased that his son had been arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, and he became livid when Tallahassee police informed him that the Aerostar minivan would be permanently remanded to police custody.

Over the course of the next three weeks, Nanofsky penned dozens of irate letters to the local police chief, the Tallahassee City Council, the State District Attorney and, finally, even to area newspapers. But it was all to no avail.

Under advisement of the family lawyer, Irwin Nanofsky pled guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia in order to receive a suspended sentence and have his juvenile court record sealed. But in doing so, the family minivan became "an accessory to the crime." According to Florida State law, it also became the property of the Tallahassee Police Department Drug Task Force. In time, the adult Nanofsky would learn that there was nothing he could do legally to wrest the vehicle from the hands of the state.
Biochem 101: How to design a Cannabis-equivalent citrus plant

It was in the fall of 1984 that John Chapman Professor of Biochemistry at Florida State University, now driving to work behind the wheel of a used Pontiac Bonneville, first set on a pet project that he hoped would "dissolve irrational legislation with a solid dose of reason." Nanofsky knew he would never get his family's car back, but he had plans to make sure that no one else would be pulled through the gears of what he considers a Kafka-esque drug enforcement bureaucracy.

"It's quite simple, really," Nanofsky explains, "I wanted to combine Citrus sinesis with Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol." In layman's terms, the respected college professor proposed to grow oranges that would contain THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Fourteen years later, that project is complete, and Nanofsky has succeeded where his letter writing campaign of yore failed: he has the undivided attention of the nation's top drug enforcement agencies, political figures, and media outlets.

The turning point in the Nanofsky saga came when the straight-laced professor posted a message to Internet newsgroups announcing that he was offering "cannabis-equivalent orange tree seeds" at no cost via the U.S. mail. Several weeks later, U.S. Justice Department officials showed up at the mailing address used in the Internet announcement: a tiny office on the second floor of the Dittmer Laboratory of Chemistry building on the FSU campus. There they would wait for another 40 minutes before Prof. Nanofsky finished delivering a lecture to graduate students on his recent research into the "cis-trans photoisomerization of olefins."

"I knew it was only a matter of time before someone sent me more than just a self-addressed stamped envelope," Nanofsky quips, "but I was surprised to see Janet Reno's special assistant at my door." After a series of closed door discussions, Nanofsky agreed to cease distribution of the THC-orange seeds until the legal status of the possibly narcotic plant species is established.

Much to the chagrin of authorities, the effort to regulate Nanofsky's invention may be too little too late. Several hundred packets containing 40 to 50 seeds each have already been sent to those who've requested them, and Nanofsky is not obliged to produce his mailing records. Under current law, no crime has been committed and it is unlikely that charges will be brought against the fruit's inventor.

Now it is federal authorities who must confront the nation's unwieldy body of inconsistent drug laws. According to a source at the Drug Enforcement Agency, it may be months if not years before all the issues involved are sorted out, leaving a gaping hole in U.S. drug policy in the meantime. At the heart of the confusion is the fact that THC now naturally occurs in a new species of citrus fruit.

As policy analysts and hemp advocates alike have been quick to point out, the apparent legality (for now) of Nanofsky's "pot orange" may render debates over the legalization of marijuana moot. In fact, Florida's top law enforcement officials admit that even if the cultivation of Nanofsky's orange were to be outlawed, it would be exceedingly difficult to identify the presence of outlawed fruit among the state's largest agricultural crop.

Step One: Biochemically isolate all the required enzymes for the production of THC.

Step Two: Perform N-terminal sequencing on isolated enzymes, design degenerate PCR (polymerase chain reaction) primers and amplify the genes.

Step Three: Clone genes into an agrobacterial vector by introducing the desired piece of DNA into a plasmid containing a transfer or T-DNA. The mixture is transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a gram negative bacterium.

Step Four: Use the Agrobacterium tumefaciens to infect citrus plants after wounding. The transfer DNA will proceed to host cells by a mechanism similar to conjugation. The DNA is randomly integrated into the host genome and will be inherited.

Amidst all of the hubbub surrounding his father's experiment, Irwin Nanofsky exudes calm indifference. Now 30-years-old and a successful environmental photographer, the younger Nanofsky can't understand what all of the fuss is about. "My dad's a chemist. He makes polymers. I doubt it ever crossed his mind that as a result of his work tomorrow's kids will be able to get high off of half an orange." via Cannabis Odling

Colorado Cannabis Stores

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 7:50 pm

Opening Monday in Fort Collins, Colorado will be the first of its kind in Fort Collins. James and Pat Fleming are opening a store to sell medical marijuana. They said they want to serve the needs of people who suffer from chronic pain and other illnesses and that they're "not out to be legal drug dealers".

Not surprisingly, they also offer other services such as yoga, hypnosis, nutrition and meditation.

Fort Collins Police spokeswoman Rita Davis says what the Flemings are doing is legal as long as they are certified to grow marijuana and they sell it to users with a doctor's prescription and a state-issued registration card.

8 years ago, Colorado voters approved an Amendment to allow marijuana use for medical purposes. Unlike California, cannabis stores are very rare in the state of Colorado, and most medical patients rely on growing their own cannabis.

How to make a Waterfall Bong

Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 7:47 pm

Of course you use weed instead of tobacco, but you get the point.