Will Congress Apologize?

19 Responses to Will Congress Apologize?

1. darkcycle says:

   December 10, 2019 at 11:46 am

   Wow. The bricks just keep falling…
   • WalStMonky says:

     December 11, 2019 at 12:49 pm

     .
     .

     Hehehe…I see what you did there. Hey, it wasn’t that long ago that I went into my local dispensary and the counter sales guy says the special today is an ounce for $130. Always one with the snappy comeback I gave him the most serious look I could muster and asked, “Mexican brick weed?” Well heck, it hasn’t been that many years since I was paying $125/ounce for genuine Mexican brick weed. But I must say that price special cannabis appeared to be genuine medicinal grade. $130 was a one off event but quality is regularly on special for $200/250, but even the shelf price for top shelf tops tops out at $400/oz. Tack on the 0% sales tax and the equally impressive 0% excise tax but make sure to deduct your $40 in loyalty points but only after asking why the heck you couldn’t plan your visit for when you could buy it for $250? I’ve read that the people in the DC gray market are paying $580/oz. I’m skeptical of that number. They don’t pay that in the DC Medical dispensaries which do honor Maryland cards. But they do collect a 6% sales tax and even after the loyalty games and high/low price schemes the cost of medicinal cannabis is at least 20% higher in DC than literally less than 100 meters past the city limits into Maryland.
     • darkcycle says:

       December 13, 2019 at 12:30 pm

       Was wondering if anybody got that double meaning…lol.
2. Servetus says:

   December 10, 2019 at 12:50 pm

   Five times the Congress has apologized:

   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-times-united-states-officially-apologized-180959254/

   Congress might also want to use this opportunity to apologize for Afghanistan. How about a $9 billion mea culpa for money wasted there on counter-narcotics efforts?
3. daniel Williams says:

   December 13, 2019 at 2:39 pm

   Repealing drug prohibition and replacing it with a regulated market would be all the apology I need.
4. DdC says:

   December 13, 2019 at 5:37 pm

   Demanding Congress Apologize For The Racist War On Drugs

   After decades trying to convince the Congressional Black Caucus.

   Well over due, totally unrealistic in a Cocaine McConnell Senate. Where to start with the Military Industrial Complex? Vietnam and Korea were foreign for profit police actions. Junior converted the National Guard into the International Guard in Iraq. Cheney’s Haliburton smiled big. With the corruption I’ve seen with outlawing Ganja. I now ? how the Japanese got so close to Hawaii and how quickly the xenophobes turned to support FDR in WW2, even if it meant helping the Jews. When that was a priority to talk about. Now it seems there are competing factors with the Prison Industrial Complex and the $Trillion Ganjawar Industrial Complex.

   5 Times the US Officially Apologized

   Maybe next time Trail of Tears, Jackson’s still on the double sawbuck.

   Ganjawar sab·o·tage /ˈsabəˌtäZH

   verb: sabotage; 3rd person present: sabotages;
   past tense: sabotaged; past participle: sabotaged;
   gerund or present participle: sabotaging

   deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something),
   especially for political or military advantage.

   Its Basic fascism. Us or Them. Ends Justify Means. Count the votes. Legislate lies, then History becomes a set of lies agreed upon.

   Think Trump is so horrible, he is, he’s just not as discrete as the DEA. Now you witness what hundreds of millions of Americans have experienced and were shunned or persecuted for, for using a safer alternative.

   50 years the media, politicians and the general public informed by them. Never got involved. Never said a word. Until the Internet’s slow progression of truthing. Still a Schedule#1 controlled substance, so 50 years this act of fascism never saw the mainstream consciousness. Now it seems like its new, or started by Trump, the fool on the hill.

   50 years we’ve been pushing Hemp clothing, nutrition and 50,000 alternatives to status quo fossil fools, trees, crude plastic and nukes. Shunned and censored. Jailing sick people, forfeitures, confiscations 700,000 arrested last year. Making them banned for life from tuition assistance and Pell Grants. Getting a med card has had patients removed from organ transplant lists. Until it is removed federally from the controlled substance ax. CSA

   Now its getting obvious on several issues, they blame Trump? He’s only shaking the pillars, no one hears on a censored media or taught in censored schools. The Fascism has been here all along, now that you see it, its not any worse than before you knew. Okay, maybe with Trump so attached to Putin it is worse. Not different, just uncoordinated or clumsy. Surely selfishness, greed and a huge lack of empathy. I’d still take the lesser evil with American fascism than old style Kremlin terrorism Putin and his Bitch seem fond of.

   Maybe with ECS deficiency stoners are the remaining individual thinkers. Chill and learn about the candidates history. We are Americans first, parties are vehicles to get to the office, that has no need of politicians tweaks or tweets. The office has protocols and rules in place and a format to change it called Congress. Not enforcing good laws has led to enforcing bad laws to compensate. If Emancipation was enforced and adapted by the citizens we would not have needed future laws to compensate. Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Act to Nixon’s Ganjawar. Its not Camelot and Trump damn sure ain’t no Prince Charming.

   Bipartisan Money has been stacking the deck with Neocons for decades. Reagan Bush blew it open. Iran Contra was paid with DEA money. The Tea Party was inculcated by the Dick Armey of Health Insurance & Big Pharma. Koch’s buying shy democrats and loud gopers. Commie Mitch blocking 600 bills, pushing inept judges and giving out get out of jail free cards to the corrupt. Dozens of bills never seen, incrementally tweaking how to deal with a weed. Each typically varying between about 3 and 30 supporters out of 435 voting members. No Representation Without Taxation!

   Cops still part of the equation. Its a health issue that was kidnapped by a fat pharm monopoly on symptom treatment profits. Less profits on healthy people and peace. Like less crime, taking profits from police and prisons. Profits treating misery, they create, no bucks made on prevention and cures. The goal is dumbing down &it don’t need no free edumakation. If history keeps repeating itself, maybe we’re forgetting the past or maybe it was censored. Trump U had less credibility than Bullwinkle’s Wossamotta U. I see DeVoid is at it again…

   Trump settled all three lawsuits in November 2016 for a total of $25 million after being elected to the presidency. Billionaires without Brains or Empathy. To the Greed the money’s all green, from taxes or students. Not the results of churning diplomas.

   mho profits replaced necessity as the Mother of Invention. If it replaces profits, its usually shelved. Last cure was Polio taking profits from steel and leather leg braces. We fought the revolution and won and declared our independence with the birth rights of Life, Liberty prerequisites of any Pursuit of Happiness. So the birth right prerequisites of Life are also protected. Basic staples would include education, housing, food, clothing, healthcare and without public means, transportation.

   https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ELsUz_tUcAA25nM?format=jpg

   psa via Kings Garden Royal Botanicals
   “Jack” strain @ 22.954% thc and
   UPNORTH Platinum Ultra High Potency Limited release
   Durban Poison @ 32.73% thc
   • NorCalNative says:

     December 14, 2019 at 12:57 pm

     I had an interesting experience with some UPNORTH GMO recently. It tested @34.36% THC.

     I added a small dab of some Wedding Cake live rosin @80% THC to my pipe on top of the flower.

     I’ve had “green-outs” before where there is brief loss-of-vision. My episodes last maybe 5 or 6 seconds.

     The above combo produced a fucking sonic-boom in my head. A very loud explosion. It freaked me out.

     I’ve never heard of this, nor would I believe it if someone told me. Sounded like a gun being fired inside my head.

     A few seconds later I was back. Vision working with NO apparent negative lingering effects.

     THC kicked my ass!

     Humboldt weed (UPNORTH) is potent.
     • DdC says:

       December 19, 2019 at 3:31 am

       Hey NCN,
       I did have a 2 minute rainbow of streaming strips of light apparently coming from my eyes forward. No sound. Like a head light.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I thought finally Nixon’s keeping his promise about flashbacks. Then I thought about the commercial on Macular Degeneration. So I enjoyed it for a minute waving my hands through it, and then it was gone. But now when I smear a doobie or cap the hash, just a little “Dab”ll do ya.

       Happy Fucking New Year
       from the State of Californicating Stoners.

       Ganja Taxing & Regulating it Back to Prohibition

       California Dispensary Sales Tax
       1. Excise Tax (15%)
       2. State Sales Tax (8-10%)
       3. Cannabis Business Tax (5-15%)
       4. Medical vs. Adult-Use Tax Rates

       ☛ The California Legislative Analyst’s Office released several reports on marijuana tax issues, including a recommendation that cannabis be taxed by potency instead of weight.

       ☛ Legislative Analyst @LAO_CA Dec 17
       We recommend that #CALeg make a series of decisions on #cannabis taxes, starting with the type of tax. (1- 6)

       ☛ California’s Illegal Cannabis Problem @Puff Puff Post

       ☛ How High Are Taxes on Recreational Marijuana in Your State?

       ☛ Cannabis Rate Changes Effective January 1, 2020

       ☛ How Much is California Dispensary Sales Tax? (Breakdown)

       ☛ Harborside Inc.
       Announces Filing Appeal in Tax Case
       Continues commitment to fighting unfair and incorrect application of Section 280E

       ☛ California’s cannabis black market
       has eclipsed its legal one

       ☛ Nearly 500 Growers
       Receive Warning Letters from Humboldt County

       Until the Feds remove Ganja from the CSA, there is still a need for underground growers, especially Humboldt. To service Vets and Patients who can’t get a card due to Fed laws or in places still outlawed or incrementally banned.

       Dear Gov Gav.jpg
5. DdC says:

   December 20, 2019 at 11:24 pm

   Hey Mr Alex, U ok?

   ☛ Eruption of a New Zealand volcano
   where tourists had been hiking.

   ☛ New Zealand police providing an update

   ☛ A generation criminalized
   How six months of protests
   changed Hong Kong forever

   ☛ New Zealand Announces Draft
   of Cannabis Legalization And Control Bill For Debate
   The New Zealand government has a plan to legalize and regulate cannabis, and it wants to know what the public thinks. Next year, it will be up to voters to decide whether they’re for or against…

   ☛ New Zealand’s Medical Cannabis Scheme Regulations Announced
6. Servetus says:

   December 21, 2019 at 10:53 am

   Drug induced homicide laws are a part of the drug war’s harm production. Prosecutions for drug induced homicides first began appearing 40 years ago and are now found in 20 states.

   http://www.drugpolicy.org/resource/DIH
7. Servetus says:

   December 26, 2019 at 10:24 am

   Another breakthrough in opioid addiction science. From Sweden:

   12-24-2019 — Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have come one step closer toward understanding how the part of our brain that is central for decision-making and the development of addiction is organized on a molecular level…Their spatiomolecular map, published in the journal Cell Reports, may further our understanding of the brain’s reward-system. […]

   In this study, the researchers created a molecular 3D-map of the nerve cells targeted by opioids, such as morphine and heroin, and showed how they are organized in striatum. It is an important step toward understanding how the brain’s network governing motivation and drug addiction is organized. In the study, the researchers described a spatiomolecular code that can be used to divide striatum into different subregions.

   “Our map forms the basis for a new understanding of the brain’s probably most important network for decision-making,” says Konstantinos Meletis, associate professor at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet and the study’s main author. “It may contribute to an increased understanding of both normal reward processes and the effects of various addictive substances on this network.”

   To find this molecular code, the researchers used single-nucleus RNA sequencing, a method to study small differences in individual cells, and mapping of the striatal gene expression. The results provide the first demonstration of molecular codes that divide the striatum into three main levels of classification: a spatial, a patch-matrix and a cell-type specific organization. […]

   This new knowledge may also form the basis for the development of new treatments based on a mechanistic understanding of the brain’s network, according to the researchers.

   AAAS Public Release: A molecular map of the brain’s decision-making area

   Publication: “A spatiomolecular map of the striatum,” Antje Märtin, Daniela Calvigioni, Ourania Tzortzi, Janos Fuzik, Emil Wärnberg, Konstantinos Meletis, Cell Reports, online Dec. 24, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.096
8. JoeyTheFix says:

   December 27, 2019 at 8:20 am

   Paving the way for full legalization, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation rules that home growing in small quantities for personal use is OK.

   https://tinyurl.com/ItaliaVerdeItalia
9. Servetus says:

   January 12, 2020 at 10:34 am

   Opioid ODs reduced by Medicaid expansion. Naloxone nasal spray most convenient for OD emergencies:

   From the NYU Langone Health/NYU School of Medicine,
   Medicaid expansion associated with fewer opioid overdose deaths across the US

   And from Binghamton University,
   Research shows nasal spray antidote is easiest to give for opioid overdose
10. Servetus says:

    January 29, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    CBD moderates the altered brain activity of people with psychosis:

    28-JAN-2020 — Published in Psychological Medicine, the research used fMRI scans to examine the brain activity of 13 people with a diagnosis of psychosis under the influence of a single dose of CBD or placebo and 16 controls whilst they were undertaking a memory task. The researchers showed that, during the task, there was a different pattern of activity in the prefrontal and mediotemporal brain areas of people with psychosis under placebo compared to the activity seen in those without psychosis. When those with psychosis were given one dose of CBD, the activation in these brain areas became more like the activation seen in controls. […]

    Senior author on the study, Professor Sagnik Bhattacharyya, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London said: ‘Our study provides important insight into which areas of the brain CBD targets. It is the first time research has scanned the brains of people with a diagnosis of psychosis who have taken CBD and, although the sample is small, the results are compelling in that they demonstrate that CBD influences those very areas of the brain that have been shown to have unusual activity in people with psychosis.’ […]

    The results indicate that CBD has a moderating effect on the altered pattern of brain activity in the prefrontal, mediotemporal and striatal areas in people with psychosis. The study also showed that psychotic symptoms did show a decreasing trend after the dose of CBD but researchers highlighted that no definitive conclusions could be drawn about this effect as the study did not look at sustained use of CBD and the sample size was small.

    Professor Bhattacharyya added: ‘This study provides important insight into the brain mechanisms behind the antipsychotic effects of CBD. It gives confidence in the antipsychotic potential of CBD by demonstrating that it targets the function of brain regions implicated in psychosis and indicating that even a single dose may ameliorate some of the brain function alterations that may underlie psychosis. The finding that psychotic symptoms may show a trend towards improvement in this group even after one dose of CBD is encouraging, but requires a larger scale clinical trial to investigate if the effects would continue with longer term treatment. […]

    AAAS Public Release: New insight into how cannabidiol takes effect in the brains of people with psychosis

    Original Publication: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/normalization-of-mediotemporal-and-prefrontal-activity-and-mediotemporalstriatal-connectivity-may-underlie-antipsychotic-effects-of-cannabidiol-in-psychosis/6571F47CE15D05DC50782A7BB7C00A7F
11. Servetus says:

    February 1, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    Hemp ‘goes hot’ due to genetics, not growing conditions:

    January 29, 2020 — As the hemp industry grows, producers face the challenge of cultivating a crop that has received comparatively little scientific study, and that can become unusable – and illegal – if it develops too much of the psychoactive chemical THC.

    In a new study, Cornell researchers have determined that a hemp plant’s propensity to “go hot” – become too high in THC – is determined by genetics, not as a stress response to growing conditions, contrary to popular belief. “Often that issue of going hot has been blamed on environment,” said Larry Smart, senior author of the study and professor in the horticulture section of the School of Integrative Plant Science. “[People thought] there was something about how the farmer grew the plant, something about the soil, the weather got too hot, his field was droughted, something went wrong with the growing conditions,” Smart said. “But our evidence from this paper is that fields go hot because of genetics, not because of environmental conditions.”

    The study, Development and Validation of Genetic Markers for Sex and Cannabinoid Chemotype in Cannabis Sativa L was published Jan. 10 in Global Change Biology-Bioenergy.
12. Servetus says:

    February 10, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    Hemp and marijuana distinctions are possible with an electronic hand scanner that accurately differentiates between various cannabis varieties:

    January 10, 2020 — Hemp is technically legal in Texas, but proving that hemp is not marijuana can be a hurdle, requiring testing in a licensed laboratory. So, when a truck carrying thousands of pounds of hemp was recently detained by law enforcement near Amarillo, the driver spent weeks in jail awaiting confirmation that the cargo was legal.

    Stories like that one inspired a team of Texas A&M AgriLife researchers to create a “hemp scanner” that could easily fit in a police cruiser and distinguish hemp and marijuana instantly, without damaging any of the product. The study was published in January in the scientific journal RSC Advances. […]

    In 2019, Texas lawmakers made a distinction between hemp and marijuana based on the level of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in a plant. THC is the major psychoactive agent in marijuana. If a plant has less than 0.3% THC, it is designated hemp. […]

    Now that Kurouski’s team has demonstrated its quick, noninvasive test for THC, they are looking to collaborate with industry to mass-produce their hemp scanner. Mass production could feasibly begin in two or three years, Kurouski said.

    The team also aims to create a similar test for CBD. Farmers looking to grow hemp may want to know the amount of CBD in their plants to better estimate their value.

    The study also uncovered the scanner’s ability to distinguish among different varieties of hemp and marijuana. In the changing legal landscape, there are thousands of varieties of cannabis, many of questionable quality.

    “Our colleagues, the farmers, were positively surprised that we could identify the variety with 98% accuracy,” Kurouski said. “That blew them away.”

    Agrilife Today: Is it hemp or marijuana? New scanner gives instant answer: A handheld spectrometer quickly determines the level of THC in cannabis plants
13. Servetus says:

    February 27, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    Cannabigerol (CBG) is the cannabinoid most effective against MRSA. From Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where research on cannabis is made easier due to increasingly less stigma surrounding the topic:

    February 26, 2020 – McMaster University researchers have identified an antibacterial compound made by cannabis plants that may serve as a lead for new drug development.

    An interdisciplinary team of McMaster researchers found that the chemical compound, or cannabinoid, called cannabigerol (CBG) is not only antibacterial but also effective in mice against a resilient family of bacteria known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). […]

    “In this study, we investigated 18 commercially available cannabinoids and they all showed antibiotic activity, some much more than others,” said study lead Eric Brown, professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster.

    “The one we focused on was a non-psychoactive cannabinoid called CBG, as it had the most promising activity. We synthesized that cannabinoid in mass quantity which gave us sufficient compound to go deep into the research.”

    The research team found that CBG had antibacterial activity against drug-resistant MRSA. It prevented the ability of that bacteria to form biofilms, which are communities of microorganisms that attach to each other and to surfaces; and it destroyed preformed biofilms and cells resistant to antibiotics. CBG achieved this by targeting the cell membrane of the bacteria. […]

    “CBG proved to be marvellous at tackling pathogenic bacteria,” Brown said. “The findings suggest real therapeutic potential for cannabinoids as antibiotics.”

    One caveat noted by the research team is the toxicity of CBG on the host cells which makes the study’s findings an important lead rather than a likely final product, Brown said.

    “It opens a therapeutic window, but a narrow one, to develop this into a drug,” he said. “The next steps are to try to make the compound better in that it is more specific to the bacteria and has a lower chance of toxicity.”

    AAAS Public Release: McMaster researchers uncover hidden antibiotic potential of cannabis: May serve as a lead for new drug development
    • DdC says:

      February 27, 2020 at 1:21 pm

      Cannabinoids and Viral Infections
      https://t.co/iVBop2BkmS?amp=1

      Endocannabinoids
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1683
14. Servetus says:

    March 17, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Chinese researchers have revealed differences in the CB1 receptor between male and female mice:

    17-MAR-2020 — A major challenge in neuroscience lies in understanding how molecular and circuit differences in the brain synergistically contribute to sex differences in behavioral phenotypes. Sex differences in the brain may arise from the identity, distribution and relative abundance of cell types.

    The cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1R), the main receptor for cannabinoids and endocannabinoids (eCB), is the most abundantly expressed G protein-coupled receptor in the brain and is highly conserved in animal evolution. However, whole-brain mapping of CB1R expression in adult male and female mice had not previously been described in detail. […]

    In the orbital cortex, insular cortex, cingulate cortex, piriform cortex, secondary visual cortex, caudate putamen and ventral hippocampus CA1, there were significantly more CB1R positive cells in males than in females. On the contrary, in the fornix and dorsal hypothalamus, CB1R positive cells were displayed more in females.

    It is plausible that the difference in CB1R expression in the brain contributes to sex differences in various phenotypes. For example, the striatum, which harbors a greater amount of CB1R positive cells in males, has been widely recognized as the main affected region in Parkinson’s disease, which has a higher incidence in males. The dorsal hypothalamus, with a female-biased number of CB1R positive cells, is associated with maternal behaviors.

    More interestingly, CB1R mRNA seems to fluctuate with the estrus cycle in female brain regions, including the medial amygdala, basolateral amygdala and parabrachial nucleus, which has not been reported before. […]

    AAAS Public Release: Scientists find sexual dimorphism in cannabinoid 1 receptor expression in mice

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