I’m leaving very early tomorrow morning for a week in New York City, along with 70 people. I’m host of this annual theatre trip and will be conducting walking tours of the city each day, along with seeing six shows with the group.
Naturally, it’ll keep me pretty busy. I’ll stop by when I can, but posting will be very light. However, I’ve got a few friends who may drop in and add a post now and then. Treat them well.
Not just a high by Nathan Seppa in Science News — a nice roundup of some of the discoveries going on now regarding the miracle plant cannabis.
But while the medical marijuana movement has been generating political news, some researchers have been quietly moving in new directions — testing cannabis and its derivatives against a host of diseases. The scientific literature now brims with potential uses for cannabis that extend beyond its well-known abilities to fend off nausea and block pain in people with cancer and AIDS. Cannabis derivatives may combat multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory conditions, the new research finds. Cannabis may even kill cancerous tumors.
Would like to see more candidates for Congress talk this way:
The closest thing I could see to a quick fix with all the economic issues we’re having is the legalization of marijuana and hemp. We just can’t continue to fund this war on drugs and lock up people, breaking up families and all the other issues that come up with it.
Jamaica Says it Can Win Its Drug War for $1 Billion
What a great idea. If only we would spend a billion dollars on the drug war, maybe we could win ours… oh, wait.
Opponents are getting desperate and turning to dirty tactics… Montana kids warned of ‘Medical Marijuana Crises’ in flyers — and these flyers were passed out by the schools.
‘War on drugs’ behind endless misery by Evan Wood at CNN.
Given that the scenes of violence between rival drug gangs are so common, people often fail to consider the factors that fuel this violence. The reality is that Jamaicans are just the latest victims in a misguided and expensive war that has taken countless thousands of lives, from the streets of New York to the slums and shantytowns of Colombia, Mexico and other third-world nations.
It was through this article that I discovered the new International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. This looks like an excellent, and much needed, organization, urging scientists to speak out to counter the self-interested lobbying of the drug warriors.
There remain critical areas in public health where the gap between evidence and public policy persists. Few areas suffer from this concern more than society’s response to the illicit drug problem. Despite the wealth of scientific evidence that drug law enforcement may be associated with increases in violence and homicide, policymakers continue to focus energy on police and prisons at the expense of effective public health and regulatory approaches.
Continue to read their overview of the challenge of Science and Drug Policy.
This is an open thread.
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If the schools allow one side of a political discussion access to the schools, students and staff, they can hardly refuse the other side the same opportunity. It would be interesting to present the true facts to the students, give them brochures containing same, and encourage them to present this to their parents. It could help to get the bill passed, but in any event would be fair, and seen as fair.
What a scam the Jamaican government is about to pull off. The World Bank and UN are about to get conned big-time.
Heh, after the government bribes and pay-offs there might be just enough money left-over to spend on some new threads for the coppers and a coupla shiny new choppers.
Cannabis derivatives may combat multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory conditions, the new research finds. Cannabis may even kill cancerous tumors.
This is the reason I got involved in this fight. Watching a loved one slowly die from cancer and the drugs they use to treat it is horrifying. Every time I post some where that I want the government out of the way so we can get REAL studies done, I always get these asswipes telling me I’M a fool. Weed is bad and causes cancer.
Oh really?
I got one question for all you asswipes , prohibs, government goons and the just plain uninformed. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? DO THE STUDIES! Your all afraid your beloved hatred of the devil weed is wrong? Will you deny your loved ones of a cure even if its from cannabis?
So I ask again, what are you afraid of? Do you want to deny the world a POSSIBLITY of a cure? If so, your just plain evil .
I just read a story and can’t find the stupid thing! It’s about a bill that was “pasted in darkness” that provides money to bring Palistinians to the US. I guess it’s more of the Administration’s idea of “transparancy.”
2012 can’t come quick enough!
Just awesome: http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=12254
For those who like to read – A.R. Torsone, author “Herb Trader – A Tale of Treachery and Espionage in the Global Marijuana Trade” –
We are moving out of this gawd awful state to a medical marijuana state at the end of this June and we’ll be ordering several copies when we get a permanent address. One too read, many to give away.
I’ve mentioned Dean Becker before, never heard yay or nay from anyone here so I’m assuming people like him as much as I do. It’s from his website, shown below, that I heard about this. If you’d like to hear the show or read the transcript it’s on the left hand side of the screen under Cultural Baggage.
05/30/10 – A.R. Torsone
A.R. Torsone, author “Herb Trader – A Tale of Treachery and Espionage in the Global Marijuana Trade” + Jamaican and money laundering clips from “Need to Know” on PBS
…….
You can order the book from this site:
HERB TRADER A tale of treachery and espionage in the global marijuana trade.
By A.R.Torsone
http://www.herbtraderbook.com/
Oops, here’s Dean’s site:
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/
Left hand side of the screen under Cultural Baggage.
05/30/10 – A.R. Torsone
A.R. Torsone, author “Herb Trader – A Tale of Treachery and Espionage in the Global Marijuana Trade†+ Jamaican and money laundering clips from “Need to Know†on PBS
Dean Becker. Yay!
Dean’s has been a diligent and powerful voice for freedom and justice.
I can win the drug war for a fee of $250,000. Once the money is in my account I will give the guaranteed solution. Your money back if you accurately follow my suggested procedure and it doesn’t work, guaranteed. Heck, we can even put the money in escrow until we see the actual conclusion.
Just me, the thing that kills me about the claim that cannabis causes cancer is that cannabis has no carcinogens. You have to burn the plant to manufacture the nasties of which they warn, and burning the plant is just not needed. Indeed, were you to burn oatmeal you would produce the same carcinogens give or take a statistically insignificant percentage. Why have I never heard any warnings about the possibility of cancer from oatmeal?
No need to burn cannabis, as a matter of fact with the exception of cost there are many more preferable ways of delivery. Of course nicotine patches don’t have cancer causing agents either. Hey I know, let’s all quit smoking, then we can quit blaming the dangers of smoking on that which is smoked.
Dean Becker rocks and deserves all the praise anyone cares to heap on him. He found his way onto the MAP/DrugSense Chatroom back in the late ’90s. We haven’t been able to get rid of him since! Thank goodness… Dean is also a member (former LEO) of LEAP.
“You have to burn the plant to manufacture the nasties”
Even then, it still appears to be cool when burned:
1) Donald Tashkin, a UCLA researcher whose work is funded by NIDA, did a case-control study comparing 1,200 patients with lung, head and neck cancers to a matched group with no cancer. Even the heaviest marijuana smokers had no increased risk of cancer, and had somewhat lower cancer risk than non-smokers (tobacco smokers had a 20-fold increased lung cancer risk). Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a Case-Control Study. American Thoracic Society International Conference. May 23, 2006.
2) Researchers at the Kaiser-Permanente HMO, funded by NIDA, followed 65,000 patients for nearly a decade, comparing cancer rates among non-smokers, tobacco smokers, and marijuana smokers. Tobacco smokers had massively higher rates of lung cancer and other cancers. Marijuana smokers who didn’t also use tobacco had no increase in risk of tobacco-related cancers or of cancer risk overall. In fact their rates of lung and most other cancers were slightly lower than non-smokers, though the difference did not reach statistical significance. Sidney, S. et al. Marijuana Use and Cancer Incidence (California, United States). Cancer Causes and Control. Vol. 8. Sept. 1997, p. 722-728.
Just got in on the tail end of the “news” from Peru on you know who, and heard, “he had smoked marijuana just before the murder”.
It was on HLN with a female reporter in Peru. If I could find the internet article from HLN I’d bitch slap the female reporter for sensationalism and then tell her “it’s been proven marijuana does not cause violent behavior so clean up your reporting”.