Trump and Duterte

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Pete

Jeremy Scahill at The Intercept has the story about President Trump’s phone call to Philippine President Duterte. TRUMP CALLED RODRIGO DUTERTE TO CONGRATULATE HIM ON HIS MURDEROUS DRUG WAR: “YOU ARE DOING AN AMAZING JOB”

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump told Duterte at the beginning of their call, according to the document. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

“Thank you Mr. President,” replied Duterte. “This is the scourge of my nation now and I have to do something to preserve the Filipino nation.”

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65 Responses to Trump and Duterte

  1. DdC says:
    May 24, 2017 at 1:04 pm

    Duterte Declares Martial Law in South Philippines
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/philippine-troops-battle-linked-gunmen-southern-city-47578248

    Philippines’ Duterte says ‘I’ll be harsh’ with army rule on island
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/philippines-duterte-warns-terrorists-ill-harsh-024607134.html

    Our View: Sessions brings back ineffective, destructive drug policy
    http://www.centralmaine.com/2017/05/16/our-view-sessions-brings-back-ineffective-destructive-drug-policy/

    ‘Orange is the New Black’ author:
    Jeff Sessions pushes a racist agenda
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/05/16/jeff-sessions-war-on-drugs-racism-column/101716242/

    Even Republicans say Sessions was dumb
    to bring back mandatory-minimum drug sentences
    https://news.vice.com/story/even-republicans-say-sessions-was-dumb-to-bring-back-mandatory-minimum-drug-sentencing

  2. jean valjean says:
    May 24, 2017 at 2:40 pm

    Yes, he found the Holocaust museum “so amazing” too. Mass murder seems to appeal to Trump.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-note-holocaust-memorial-yad-vashem-israel-so-amazing-never-forget-a7751841.html

  3. Thinking Clearly says:
    May 24, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    “In Leaked Call, Trump Praises Duterte’s Campaign to ‘Slaughter’ Drug Addicts” -foreign policy.com
    https://t.co/bGMgAPKQ3R

    Trump can get support from the Phillippine’s murderous president in some alternative fashion to praising the worse thing he has done: instigating a Philippine drug war that has murdered thousands of Filipino citizens without judicial review.

    Americans do not condone this behavior, or the fascist attitudes our own president seems to embrace. Attitudes responsible for the murder in cold blood of thousands of people under the name of democracy in the Philippines.

    What’s next for the new drug war in the US, with a president like Trump and an AG like Sessions?

    Scares me. I think this all scares most people in the US. I favor impeachment on any charges – shouldn’t be too hard to find some. The sooner the better. This guy is a potential mass murderer if he sides with Duterte’s ruthless mass murder campaign with no judicial review or oversight, and he really does believe his back patting praise of Duterte.

    I have no reason to believe he doesn’t, with the Trump appointments amounting to a home run for prohibitionist’s looking for refuge from a population whose opinions favor their retirement from American politics.

    I’d call this Trump’s Last Stand – in memory of General Custer. Except this time its not just Native Americans in the melee, its a majority of ALL Americans.

  4. Servetus says:
    May 25, 2017 at 9:03 am

    John Oliver calls Rodrigo Duterte the “Trump of the East” in this video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tebans1dOYo

  5. jean valjean says:
    May 25, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    OT
    Daily Mail wastes no time in blaming the Manchester bombing and most other terrorist attacks on cannabis.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4539550/Is-marijuana-factor-jihadi-murders.html

    • Boffer Bings says:
      May 25, 2017 at 3:51 pm

      Tope, verb. To tipple, booze, swill, soak, guzzle, lush, bib, or swig. In the individual, toping is regarded with disesteem, but TOPING NATIONS are in the forefront of civilization and power. When pitted against the hard-drinking Christians the abstemious Mohammedans go down like grass before the scythe.

      In India one hundred thousand beef-eating and brandy-and-soda guzzling Britons hold in subjugation two hundred and fifty million vegetarian abstainers of the same Aryan race.

      With what an easy grace the whisky-loving American pushed the temperate Spaniard out of his possessions! From the time the Berserkers ravaged all the coasts of western Europe and lay drunk in every conquered port it has been the same way: everywhere the nations that drink too much are observed to fight well and not too righteously.

      Wherefore the estimable old ladies who abolished the canteen from the American Army may justly boast of having materially augmented the nation’s military power.”

      From “The Devil’s Dictionary” by Ambrose Bierce.

      OT: A little about me: My name is Boffer Bings. I was born of honest parents in one of the humbler walks of life, my father being a manufacturer of dog-oil and my mother having a small studio in the shadow of the village church where she disposed of unwelcome babes.”

      Boffer’s bud NCN says the Brits at the Daily Wail are fucking nutjobs.

  7. DdC says:
    May 25, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    marijuana moment

    U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and 11 other senators sent a letter asking President Trump to rescind his praise for Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “drug war” and disinvite him from the White House.
    http://marijuanamoment.us14.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2b103be7b5d7ad4abd40bfebc&id=587ab56ed3&e=8bff18e77b

    U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) slammed President Trump’s Philippines drug enforcement comments on Twitter.
    https://twitter.com/SenBookerOffice/status/867408530336346112
    //
    https://twitter.com/SenBookerOffice/status/867408713811988480

    The Arizona Republic fact-checker ruled that anti-marijuana-legalization remarks made by Gov. Doug Ducey (R) at a Smart Approaches to Marijuana event are “unsupported.”
    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/fact-check/2017/05/24/fact-check-would-legalizing-marijuana-bring-money-arizona-schools/340262001/

    The Chicago Tribune editorial board criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s ramped up drug war prosecution memo.
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-sessions-mandatory-minimum-sentences-edit-0525-md-20170524-story.html

    DEA busted for lying to Congress; study shows CBD promise; RI judge infuses opinion with pot puns
    http://marijuanamoment.us14.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2b103be7b5d7ad4abd40bfebc&id=98e03db92b&e=8bff18e77b

  8. Servetus says:
    May 25, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    The US has bloodied its hands with its drug war as well. Here is a recent example:

    25 May 2017 — The US Drug Enforcement Administration lied about its role in a bungled anti-narcotics operation in Honduras that left four innocent villagers dead, then misled Congress, the justice department and the public as it tried to cover its tracks, a damning bipartisan investigation has found.

    Honduran officers under the command of DEA agents fired at unarmed passengers traveling by taxi boat in May 2012, killing four people – including two pregnant women and a schoolboy – and seriously injuring three others.

    The operation, which left several children orphaned, was part of a militarized DEA programme that led to a series of deadly confrontations and has now been abandoned.[…]

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/25/us-honduras-drug-enforcement-administration-shooting

    At least the DEA was sane enough to attempt to cover up its murders, whereas Duterte brags about his.

  9. WalStMonky says:
    May 25, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    .
    .

    Shall we play a guessing game? Who said:

    “The legislature has an obligation to find a balance that protects the public health and safety of all Floridians while allowing for legal access of marijuana that was approved by voters,” [redacted] wrote. “It is imperative that our legislators take action and not allow the marijuana industry to operate as it does in some states with no regards to public health and safety.”

    Oh never mind. There’s no way anyone could have guessed that it was Calvina Fay not even if given a bazillion years.

  10. DC Reade says:
    May 25, 2017 at 5:25 pm

    I got into a discussion in Atlantic comments a while ago on this, and did some research. to quote:

    “A comparison of the USA and the Philippines shows that
    2% of Filipinos between the ages of 16 and 64 are said to be using methamphetamine. That’s a lower percentage of the population than adult users of legally prescribed amphetamines in the USA. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/168143/un-drug-report-philippines-has-highest-rate-of-shabu-use-in-east-asia

    A comparison of the crime rate of the Philippines and the USA shows that the US rate is 23% higher!
    http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Philippines/United-States/Crime

    As for annual deaths per capita due to illegal drugs, the Philippines has one of the lowest rates of drugs-related death in the world- .41 deaths per 100,000. 130th place, out of 172 countries.
    http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/drug-use/by-country/
    By contrast, the USA is 3rd in the world- 6.96 deaths per 100,000.
    (South Africa is 2nd place, with 8.36 deaths per 100,000. Estonia is in 1st place- 10.15 deaths per 100,000.)

    It’s possible that the Philippines is doing a poor and incomplete job of tabulating the statistics. But even if the officially provided stats underestimate Filipino drug deaths by a factor of 4, the added deaths would only bring their drug-related death rate up to rough parity with Ireland (1.61 deaths per 100,000.)Those are indications of a witchhunt, to me. Street drug dealers and users as scapegoats for corruption. Corruption engendered by drugs prohibition.

    It’s worth noting that historically speaking, intense campaigns supposedly directed at illegal drugs and drugs-related corruption have often as not been carried out by leaders who are themselves corrupted. They’ve worked more like cutthroat business competition than as an effective reset to government honesty and integrity. I can’t say if that’s true for the Philippines. But to judge from the statistics I’ve found, this is definitely more like a hot-button issue exploited for political gain than a crackdown motivated by an authentic crisis…”

    Link to archived Disqus comment, original Atlantic article, and comments

    http://disq.us/p/1gmzf8l

    The comment takes a little while to load- it goes to the Atlantic header/ad first. Be patient, and the page will eventually jump to my full comment in its original full context.

  11. DdC says:
    May 26, 2017 at 12:20 am

    [DFAF executive director] Calvina Fay showed up today to express her support for the bill and thank the sponsor for including so many of her suggestions,” Pollara said. “It is more than a little mind boggling that one of the most prominent opponents of the Amendment’s passage would have such an outsized role in its implementation.
    May 6, 2017 at 1:20 am
    http://www.drugwarrant.com/2017/05/pushback-on-drugged-driving-hysteria-from-madd/#comment-284786

    Mar 30, 2017
    ☛ Florida House to Vote on Ultra-Restrictive Bill
    Activists Dubbed “The Mel Sembler Medical Marijuana Act”
    The passage of Amendment 2 was a widely celebrated victory in Florida last November – but now we are months into lawmakers debating over how the new law should be implemented and probably the worst version is the one that has started making it’s way through House committee meetings. House Bill 1397 builds on the current medical marijuana regulations in the state and bans things like edibles, smoking and vaping – all of which were expected to be options under Amendment 2.

    Everything about this bill – and others which even potentially give the Drug Free America Foundation $500,000 to “educate” Floridians on medical marijuana – is an attempt to control what voters passed.

    Election results from Florida Division of Elections

    Yes 6,518,919 71.32%
    No 2,621,845 28.68%

  12. DdC says:
    May 26, 2017 at 4:55 am

    Narcissistic Personality Disorder

    Many psychology experts use the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, to diagnose mental conditions. DSM-5 criteria for NPD includes these features:

    ☛ Trump and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)

    • Having an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
    • Expecting to be recognized as superior.
    • Exaggerating your achievements and talents.
    • Being preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.
    • Believing that you are superior and can only be understood by or associate with equally special people.
    • Requiring constant admiration.
    • Having a sense of entitlement.
    • Expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations.
    • Taking advantage of others to get what you want.
    • Having an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others.
    • Being envious of others and believing others envy you.
    • Behaving in an arrogant or haughty manner.

    Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal and value yourself more than you value others. Does this sound like Mr. Trump? You bet it does!

    ☛ (NPD) Signs and symptoms
    In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), [1] NPD is defined as comprising a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the presence of at least 5 of the following 9 criteria:

    * A grandiose sense of self-importance
    * A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
    * A belief that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions
    * A need for excessive admiration
    * A sense of entitlement
    * Interpersonally exploitive behavior
    * A lack of empathy
    * Envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her
    * A demonstration of arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes

    More ignorance, it might work,
    so escalate the war on it.

    ☛ Cannabis and NPD: can it help?
    I’ve been hearing that using Cannabis can have a positive effect on the symptoms of NPD, as it creates a kind of ego death. I found this post on Psychforums, written by a person with NPD who finds it helpful. Others have said much the same.

    ☛ NPD and Cannabis psychforums

    ☛ Ecstacy (MDMA) and NPD
    “This makes it (MDMA) a promising candidate as a tool in psychotherapy, allowing the patient to explore and examine their trauma (and accompanying emotions) without the fear and retraumatization encountered without drug. Ordinarily incapacitated by the resurgence of emotions (fear, shame, anger) attached to the trauma, subjects are rendered capable of approaching their trauma in a new and constructive way.”

    ☛ Joe Biden’s Ugly History
    With American Drug Policy
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/2059

    RAVE Act,
    Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act
    The bill was sponsored by Senator Joseph Biden, along with cosponsors Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Joseph Lieberman, Strom Thurmond, Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin.

    This bill was introduced to the Senate again on January 7, 2003 by Senator Thomas Daschle[SD] with co-sponsors; Senator Joseph Biden Jr. [D-DE], Senator Hillary Clinton [D-NY,]

    (April 10, 2003) the Senate and House passed the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act (formerly known as the RAVE Act) as an attachment to the child abduction-related AMBER Alert Bill. The language of the original act was changed slightly before the bill was passed without public hearing, debate or a vote.

    Critics are calling the federal government’s current anti-Ecstasy campaign overhyped “scare tactics” based on faulty science.

    Ecstasy: Are ‘Scare Tactics’ Valid? March 18, 2002
    This is your brain. This is your brain after Ecstasy. The healthy brain fills the skull. It’s all there. The Ecstasy brain is clearly damaged -shrunken, chunks of it missing, like the brain of an Alzheimer’s victim.

    ~ Sentencing Guidelines Toughened for Ecstasy
    ~ ‘Ecstasy’ For Agony
    ~ Scientists Oppose Punishing ‘Ecstasy’ More Harshly

    Drug labelling error forces retraction…
    After RAVE Ax Passes
    WASHINGTON (AP) – A prestigious scientific journal is retracting a study about the effects of the drug Ecstasy on the brain because the animals used in the research were given a different drug.

    ~Report of Ecstasy Drug’s Great Risks Is Retracted
    ~It’ll kill you — wait, no it won’t
    ~Results Retracted On Ecstasy Study
    ~Report of Ecstasy Drug’s Great Risks

    SECOND ECSTASY STUDY RETRACTED 15 Sep 2003
    Johns Hopkins scientists find new error involving vial mislabeled in the first experiment.

  13. Head on a Stick says:
    May 26, 2017 at 6:05 am

    De Braços Abertos has been a success. Within a month of the program’s initiation crack use had reduced in the area by 50 to 70% and within two months 10,555 health interventions had been delivered. Crime rates in Cracolândia fellin the first half of 2014, including a 32.3 percent decrease in theft. In a survey of De Braços Abertos participants, 95% said that the impact on their lives was either positive or very positive; 76% accepted jobs as part of the program (75% of which thought that the employment conditions were either good or excellent); 73% sought rehabilitation services; and 67% said that they had reduced their crack consumption. 66% of the program’s participants were formerly incarcerated, making the emphasis on social reintegration all the more significant.

    The new conservative mayor has decided to terminate this successful program and has inaugurated its replacement, called “Redemption,” with a show of police force that resembles what Duterte is doing in the Philippines.

    At dawn on Sunday, a neighborhood in the center of São Paulo, Brazil awoke to a violent and unanticipated onslaught of nearly a thousand police officers, who descended on residents – many of whom were homeless and many of whom use drugs – with dogs, Tasers and rubber bullets. The area had come to be known as Cracolândia (“Crackland”), and the officers had been sent by São Paulo’s Mayor João Doria to destroy one of the world’s exemplary harm reduction programs, De Braços Abertos (“With Open Arms”).

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/sao-paulo-drug-crackdown-cracolandia

  14. thelbert says:
    May 27, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    six foot four and still growing.

  15. Servetus says:
    May 27, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    Despite the list of Trump/Sessions pitfalls, the neo-fascist juggernaut keeps rolling. Trump aims to create his own death squad, just like Duterte. From Radley Balko:

    May 24, 2017 – Keeping with the Trump administration’s law-and-order rhetoric, Republicans in the House and Senate recently introduced a bill they’re calling the Back the Blue Act of 2017. The Senate bill was introduced by John Cornyn (R-Tex.), and is co-sponsored by 15 senators, all Republicans. The identical House bill was introduced by Ted Poe (R-Tex.), and includes five co-sponsors, also all Republicans. The bill would create new federal crimes, impose federal police over the will of local officials and voters and shield police officers from virtually any civil liability, even in cases of egregious misconduct.[…]

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/05/24/a-new-gop-bill-would-make-it-virtually-impossible-to-sue-the-police/?utm_term=.2820ec957ed4

  16. kaptinemo says:
    May 28, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    Duterte is only taking a page from the Thai playbook of last decade, and is achieving the same dreadfully predictable results…one of which being a handy means of permanently silencing critics and political opponents. A fact which, if Mr. Trump is not cognizant of, those ‘advising’ him certainly are, and no doubt wish to emulate.

    Once again, the DrugWar is accounting for vastly more violent fatalities than the substances themselves. It is also accounting for extra-judicial killings done by the hand of The State in the form of its agents becoming judge, jury and executioner. But this never ends well, as eventually the people grow tired of this and take matters into their own hands. Duterte may one day find himself in company with the ghost of Ferdinand Marcos, literally as well as figuratively.

    • jean valjean says:
      May 29, 2017 at 1:53 am

      “We have waged war on drugs for a century. So who won?”

      “It should not take extrajudicial killings in the Philippines in 2017 to make the world realise that global drug prohibition has turned out to be an expensive way of making a bad problem much worse. When Mikhail Gorbachev realised in the 1980s that communism in the USSR had failed, he called for glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). We now need more openness about drug policy, along with a major restructuring of our response to drugs. The only winners so far have been drug traffickers and the many politicians who found that bad policy made good politics. The longer change is delayed, the more difficult the transition will be.”

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/29/war-on-drugs-philippines-rodrigo-duterte-extrajudicial-killings

  17. Thinking Clearly says:
    May 28, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    ‘We Have an Obligation to Speak About Donald Trump’s Mental Health Issues… Our Survival as a Species May Be at Stake’
    https://tinyurl.com/yao58mqx

    • DdC says:
      May 28, 2017 at 8:12 pm

      Dr. Bearman said the people of New Zealand
      “need to understand that its government
      has been lying to them”.

      Prime Minister Rejects, Bill English and Peter Dunne’s way for weed

      If memory serves Dunne is all about synthetics or big pharma applications,

      A new medicinal cannabis product has been given the green light by the Government for a patient with a severe case of Tourette’s Syndrome.

      Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has approved Aceso Calm Spray, a non-pharmaceutical grade cannabis-based product, following an application from a patient’s consultant.

      Ganja should be in the hands aligned with
      Dr’s David Bearman and Lester Grinspoon. Dr Russo and MAPS Rick Doblin, Dr Tod Mikuriya and Safe Access or WAMM etc etc. What idiot undertakes a task or mission and refuses fact and reason? The Ganjawar worriers. A business would surely fail and we know that a stupid policy produces victims. The people have to wake up and stop this worship of false prophets only seeking profits. It don’t ever trickle down.

      ☛ Expert calls for government to stop ‘lying’ about cannabis
      The New Zealand government should stop “lying” to its people over medicinal cannabis, a visiting doctor says.

      United States physician Dr David Bearman, who specialises in medicinal cannabis effects and pain relief, said Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne needed some remedial education on cannabis.

      “And he needs to stop talking out of both sides of his mouth. I don’t see how on the one hand, he can say there’s no evidence that cannabis is medicine and then on the other hand approve Sativex, which is tincture of cannabis — it’s liquid cannabis.”

      So the ignorant English and Dumb Dunne for Big Pharma
      are the two choices?

      “a legal test as to whether you’re a goodie or a baddie,”

      “The gangs would fail that test.”

      What gang, the DEA, Big Pharma or Bill English? Again it sounds like Dunne is more concerned with “manufacturing a license system for Pharma. same as the US by rescheduling to a lower, but still prohibitive classification. He wants it with psychoactive substances as a health matter over a criminal matter, but always on Ganja the commodity, not the healing herb that anyone should have access too.

      Are goodie and baddies scientific terms in NZ? iow’s if you have ever been an actual expert who has grown pot, you are ineligible.

      As long as Cannabis is stigmatized with false claims the people will be no different than those under TrumpChumps.jpg
      http://oi68.tinypic.com/2na0ilw.jpg

      Tell them both to read…

      Summary of the Testimony of Lester Grinspoon, M.D.
      before the Crime Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee
      U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/717

      October 1, 1997

      Summary of the Statement by Lester Grinspoon, M.D.

      Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you this morning to share my views on the use of marihuana as a medicine.

      It has been well known for thousand of years that cannabis has medical uses. It is far safer than most medicines prescribed by doctors daily and often works for patients who cannot tolerate the side effects of other drugs. In many cases no other drug will do the job as safely or as well. Cannabis has never been demonstrated to have caused an overdose death. It does not disturb any physiological functions or damage any body organ when used in therapeutic doses. It produces little or no physical dependence or tolerance, and there is no evidence that medical use of cannabis has ever led to habitual use as an intoxicant. There are many ways in which marihuana can be used to reduce human suffering at small cost. Clinical experience suggests that it is helpful for patients with severe nausea and vomiting, arthritis, glaucoma, muscle spasms, premenstrual syndrome, seizure disorders, the AIDS weight loss syndrome, asthma, fibromyalgia, Tourette’s syndrome, and depression, to name a few.

      Many thousands of patients are using cannabis to treat these and other disorders. Given the legal risks, they would not be doing this if they did not believe it was helpful to them. These patients are in urgent need of a legal accommodation that allow them to use a medicine which they know is important to their well-being.

      Lester Grinspoon, M.D.
      Associate Professor of Psychiatry,
      Harvard Medical School
      before the Crime Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C.
      October 1, 1997

    • DdC says:
      May 28, 2017 at 11:29 pm

      @ Mr_Alex

      Dublin hemp shop says cannabis oil helps autistic children
      https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dublin-hemp-shop-says-cannabis-oil-helps-autistic-children-nnwnc9686

      Owner of Dublin business denies claiming his hemp product can cure autism
      https://www.joe.ie/news/hemp-shop-cannabis-autism-589127
      Jeffrey’s Journey
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/396
      Cannabis Treatment For Autism
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/855
      Pediatricians Demand DEA Reclassify Cannabis
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/954

      • Mr_Alex says:
        May 29, 2017 at 4:40 am

        @DdC

        Not surprised in New Zealand all evidence on Cannabis treating Autism is ignored, a major impediment to this is advocacy groups like the Autism Society in New Zealand and the Ministry of Health

        • DdC says:
          May 29, 2017 at 1:42 pm

          @Mr_Alex
          So either cannabis works for autism or it doesn’t. If kids or adults use it and it works. Then what message is the government sending by banning it? Its all about the kids, except when big pharma has profits at stake. Says a ton about the politicians priorities. These are things the citizens need to think about.

    • Mr_Alex says:
      May 30, 2017 at 6:26 pm

      @DdC, you know when Israel invited New Zealand to obtain their research on Cannabis, guess what New Zealand did, the Government said No and what I suspect is that some of that research does contain on Cannabis as a treatment for Autism, in New Zealand, there is a underground community of Autism spectrum individuals that do use Cannabis. From what I have heard it is way better than Ritalin or even Prozac

  19. Servetus says:
    May 28, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    France won’t be sending any more people to jail for weed. Not because marijuana persecution is wrong, nor because they want to be magnanimous, but because marijuana arrests consume too much of French police officers’ time:

    French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to reform laws on cannabis use in his election campaign manifesto. Currently offenders can face up to a year in jail plus a fine of up to 3,750 euros ($4,200).

    “Last year, 180,000 people were found to be in violation of drug laws. On average these cases take up six hours of police time and the same amount for the presiding magistrate,” government spokesman Christophe Castaner said.

    “Is the system effective?” No,” he added. “What is important today is to be effective, and above all to free up time for our police so they can focus more on essential matters.”

    Castaner stressed however that the new measures will not amount to decriminalisation of cannabis use, recalling that Macron had no wish to reopen that debate “because consuming drugs remains serious and is dangerous to health”.

    Macron’s predecessor, Socialist Francois Hollande had refused to consider decriminalisation, a fact which became a source of friction within his own party.[…]

    … 17 million French citizens in 2014 said they had taken cannabis at some point in their lives, and 700,000 used it daily.

    https://www.thelocal.fr/20170527/france-to-scrap-prison-terms-for-cannabis-users/amp

    • jean valjean says:
      May 29, 2017 at 8:21 am

      I’m interested in Macron. He seems to be a leader who gets Trump and sees him for what he is…. an overgrown juvenile. The way he punked Trump over the handshake was pure high school and the fact that the 70 year old POTUS is falling for it demonstrates his immaturity for all the world to see. Also Trump’s closest advizors are his daughter and son in law, who are of the same generation as Macron, as is Melania Trump. Macron meanwhile has his own inter-generational network and life-style with his ex-drama taeacher, 24 years his senior. I’m guessing that Macron is going to win this duel on every level, from handshake to statesmanship, from locker room to lecture hall. Thank you French voters, we’ve all been in a dark place since Brexit and Trump.

    • kaptinemo says:
      May 29, 2017 at 4:13 pm

      So, once more, as predicted here and elsewhere, when the police, themselves, admit that prohibition has become too costly and ineffective, we hear the de facto admission of defeat in the form of the meme of “Smart of crime”, with almost tacit admission that “Tough on crime” isn’t working. M. le President is grudgingly bowing to the réalité of the situation…one governed by economics as well as politics.

  20. jean valjean says:
    May 29, 2017 at 10:48 am

    “After Trump’s disastrous vacation, Angela Merkel warns: The world has no leader…..”

    “I suppose that most of us, worried as we were, hoped that once Trump got into office he would sober up and settle down, hire some qualified people who would help him understand the job and reassure the world that the United States hadn’t turned the nuclear codes over to an imbecile. But it was always an open question. After all, it was only 16 years before, following yet another election in which an incurious lightweight had ascended to the presidency by a dubious process, that the world saw the U.S. invade a country that had not attacked us.”

    http://www.salon.com/2017/05/29/after-trumps-disastrous-vacation-angela-merkel-warns-the-world-has-no-leader/

  21. Servetus says:
    May 30, 2017 at 10:25 am

    ‘Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition’ — Warnings from David Horsey posted at a critical time when it might have mattered about a Trump/Sessions political regime:

    September 20, 2016 – …indeed, no one did expect the Spanish Inquisition or any of the innumerable calamities that periodically befall human societies. Ancient Romans did not expect the Visigoths. The native tribes of North America did not expect the Europeans and the deadly germs they brought with them. Europeans did not expect an Austrian archduke’s assassination to spark a horrific world war, nor a mediocre artist who served as a corporal in that Great War to morph into the German dictator who killed six million Jews.

    It is not easy for humans to accept the possibility their pleasant lives can be completely upended by ominous rumbles on the dark horizon. Denial is much more comforting. That is why so many Americans choose to believe climate change is a hoax concocted by godless scientists and that glaciers and polar ice caps are melting for no particular reason.

    And, on a less monumental scale than all of these — we hope! — no one expected that Donald Trump might become president. To most of the smart people in the media, he was a clown who would boost their ratings and readership for a few months and then go away. For liberals, he was a perfect opponent, so flagrantly unfit that he would guarantee a Democratic landslide. For mainstream Republicans and traditional conservatives, he was a boorish nuisance who could not possibly be taken seriously by their constituency.[…]

    http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-inquisition-trump-20160920-snap-story.html

    During the Carter administration, Iranian citizens never expected a theocracy would overtake the Shah’s secular government. And if we revisit various specific times, no one expected the drug war. Expect the unexpected when dealing with religions.

  22. DdC says:
    May 30, 2017 at 12:28 pm

    Zealous prosecutor leading review of violent crime in cities
    https://apnews.com/a1d174f56ea74176927bacfd10f5d70d

  23. Thinking Clearly says:
    May 30, 2017 at 4:24 pm

    Why you can’t blame mass incarceration on the war on drugs
    https://t.co/79vitAWO9R

    “The “Standard Story” of mass incarceration, as Pfaff calls it, was largely popularized by a 2010 book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. Pfaff goes through many facts and statistics to show that this Standard Story gets a lot wrong about the causes and realities of mass incarceration, from the types of crime that people are locked up for (in reality, largely violent offenses) to the areas in which reform is truly needed (with a focus on state and local, not federal, reform).

    “The core failing of the Standard Story is that it consistently puts the spotlight on statistics and events that are shocking but, in the grand scheme of things, not truly important for solving the problems we face,” he writes. “As a result, it gives too little attention to the more mundane-sounding yet far more influential causes of prison growth.”

    The story that Pfaff carefully describes is different from the standard narrative: It’s not drug offenses that are driving mass incarceration, but violent ones. It’s not the federal government that’s behind mass incarceration, but a whole host of prison systems down to the local and state level. It’s not solely police and lawmakers leading to more incarceration and lengthy prison sentences, but prosecutors who are by and large out of the political spotlight.”

    – I agree that there is a criminal justice component driving the mass incarceration problem in the USA. If we only look at “The New Jim Crow” we are missing a large part of the story. –

    “Simply stopping the rise in incarceration has been a huge accomplishment,” Pfaff notes. “If the goal is real decarceration, however, it is time to shift focus to the much broader, much more confounding issues that keep us locked in to our current predicament.”

    “To this end, Pfaff agrees that, for example, we should strive to get low-level drug offenders out of prison. He just says it’s not enough — that the real issue is much bigger.”

  24. Thinking Clearly says:
    May 30, 2017 at 4:27 pm

    A bit OT but some valuable info:
    Alcohol and Cannabis – The Science Behind How They Interact
    https://t.co/zY5iuzfe83

    “Weed before beer; you’re in the clear.”
    “Beer before grass; you’re on your ass.”

    … “Although alcohol appears to increase levels of THC, cannabis has quite the opposite effect on blood alcohol levels. Studies have shown that after consuming cannabis, blood alcohol levels do not rise as fast.” …

  25. Servetus says:
    May 30, 2017 at 6:20 pm

    Researchers in Finland find the brain’s natural opioids affect emotional responses so that many people really do feel other people’s pain:

    30-MAY-2017 — Recent results obtained by researchers from Turku PET Centre and Aalto University have revealed how the human brain’s opioid system modulates responses to other people’s pain.

    Seeing others experiencing pain activated brain circuits that are known to support actual first-hand experience of pain. The less opioid receptors the participants had in their brain, the stronger were their emotion and pain circuits’ response to seeing others in distress. Similar association was not found for the dopamine system despite its known importance in pain management.

    – Capacity for vicarious experiences is a fundamental aspect of human social behaviour. Our results demonstrate the importance of the endogenous opioid system in helping us to relate with others’ feelings. Interindividual differences in the opioid system could explain why some individuals react more strongly than others to someone else’s distress, says Researcher Tomi Karjalainen from Turku PET Centre.[…]

    …Our findings thus suggest that the brain’s opioid system could constitute an important social resiliency factor, says Professor Lauri Nummenmaa […]

    AAAS Public Release: Brain opioids help us to relate with others.

    Further research should determine whether prohibitionists feel other people’s pain. I’m betting they don’t.

    • jean valjean says:
      May 31, 2017 at 2:04 am

      Hari gives ACES a mention in Chasing the Scream (p.160). Surprised there is no mention of cannabis as an exit drug for opiate users, either alongside buprenorphine or instead of.

  27. strayan says:
    June 1, 2017 at 12:12 am

    A must read:

    In The New Jim Crow, Alexander depicts the War on Drugs as a war on black America, but, as Forman shows, the war intensified already existing class divisions among blacks. When open-air drug markets began to emerge in DC in the late 1970s, local activists and politicians joined Burtell Jefferson in calling for longer mandatory drug sentences, including 15 years for the sale of heroin. In 1982, John Ray, a black city councilman, proposed a bill to introduce mandatory minimums for violent offenders and drug dealers. It passed with 73 per cent of the vote; the only precinct where it failed to attract a majority was a wealthy, mostly white area near Georgetown. As Forman notes, the racial impact of mandatory minimums had not yet made itself felt, and the notion of ‘non-violent drug offenders’ was inconceivable: drugs and violence were all but synonymous. For black people in working-class neighbourhoods, most of whom did not use drugs, harsher sentences and tougher policing provided a short-term fix in the absence of a national commitment to provide the investment, jobs and schools that might have addressed the root causes of crime. By the early 1980s, they were worried that unless extreme measures were taken, their communities would be destroyed.

    https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n09/adam-shatz/out-of-sight-out-of-mind

  28. Head on a Stick says:
    June 1, 2017 at 1:27 am

    The walls appear to be closing in on our Jeff

    First on CNN: Sources: Congress investigating another possible Sessions-Kislyak meeting

    Congressional investigators are examining whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions had an additional private meeting with Russia’s ambassador during the presidential campaign, according to Republican and Democratic Hill sources and intelligence officials briefed on the investigation.

    Investigators on the Hill are requesting additional information, including schedules from Sessions, a source with knowledge tells CNN. They are focusing on whether such a meeting took place April 27, 2016, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, where then-candidate Donald Trump was delivering his first major foreign policy address.

    http://tinyurl.com/PoorOldJiffy

  29. jean valjean says:
    June 1, 2017 at 4:37 am

    “There exists a wicked synergy between the war on drugs and the war on immigrants…

    “With the Trump administration apparently fully committed to using marijuana prohibition as a tool in its anti-immigrant campaign, that’s all the more reason for immigrant communities to get on board with marijuana legalization. For immigrants—and not just “illegal” immigrants—living in Trump world, changing the drug laws is an act of self-preservation.”

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/trump-escalation-drug-war-exposes-immigrants-deportation-marijuana-drug-crime

  30. Will says:
    June 1, 2017 at 8:10 am

    Oh well…

    Officials In Obama’s Drug Czar Office Wanted To Decriminalize Marijuana

    http://tinyurl.com/y9m62tah

    • darkcycle says:
      June 1, 2017 at 9:46 am

      I saw that a couple of days ago, and I didn’t bother bringing it back here. Nobody on the couch will be the least bit surprised by this. We knew his (Botticelli’s)hands were tied.
      We even know who it was tied ’em.
      Who was that?
      Mean Joe Biden.

      • Will says:
        June 1, 2017 at 2:22 pm

        Except that the article is not simply about the the director of the ONDCP having his or hers hands tied. It’s more about some officials at the ONDCP during the Obama administration desiring to possibly take different approaches to cannabis laws if the limiting statute hadn’t been there in the first place. I would have been less surprised if Boticelli had said, “Not that I needed it, but I’m glad I was legally restrained from discussing anything other than full criminalization. As a recovering addict, I wanted the full force of the law to help prevent people from suffering as I have” (or some other expected rhetorical nonsense).

        However, it is typically maddening to learn of former ‘lock step’ officials softening their positions after no longer having any influence or authority to make a positive difference.

        • jean valjean says:
          June 2, 2017 at 2:34 am

          “As a recovering addict, I wanted the full force of the law to help prevent people from suffering as I have” (or some other expected rhetorical nonsense).”

          Michael Botticelli gets all nervous when he smells weed in the street. He “wants to see less of that, not more,” so he’s willing to continue arresting people to protect himself…at least that’s the essential argument he puts out with that piece of rhetoric.

  31. Servetus says:
    June 1, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    Move over D.A.R.E. A new NIDA-funded propaganda mill has arrived. It’s called PROSPER, and it’s showing success levels of up to 41 percent:

    31-MAY-2017 — In this latest study, researchers found a 41 percent reduction in lifetime use of methamphetamine within a group of more than 1,900 19-year-olds, randomly selected from the full PROSPER sample of over 11,000 youth who joined the study in 6th grade.

    Study results, comparing youth in PROSPER communities vs. control communities, also showed reductions of lifetime cocaine use and marijuana use of over 30%, and a reduction of prescription drug misuse of 20%. The investigators also found that at age 19, youth in PROSPER communities reported a significantly lower level of drug-related problems than youth in the control communities.[…]

    Funded by NIDA, the PROSPER project is a collaboration with Iowa State, led by Richard Spoth, and Penn State’s Cooperative Extension service and the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center.

    AAAS Public Release: Young adult substance abuse down 41 percent among PROSPER program participants: Benefits of middle school prevention program extend into emerging adulthood according to long-term study.

    Reasons for PROSPER failing 59 to 80 percent of the time might have been gleaned from the study, but weren’t, and likely the opportunity was lost. PROSPER data may have identified only those most likely to publicly renounce drugs or drug cultures.

    An historical parallel exists. In Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella’s favorite Bishop convinced the Royal Couple he could convert the Jews of Spain to Christianity. His first attempt resulted in about 3,000 voluntary conversions of Jews who afterwards were referred to as Conversos. Ferdinand and Isabella were so impressed by the number of Jews who converted that they believed a little extra effort would convert them all. So in 1492, two months before Columbus set sail for the New World, the Spanish King and Queen founded the Spanish Inquisition.

    Conversos, which included Moors, were later persecuted by the Inquisition regardless of their conversions, as inquisitors always suspected the conversions were faked. Outward displays of any ethnic or cultural indicators (indicia) of Judaism or Islam could get a Converso or even an ordinary Spanish Christian citizen secretly arrested, tortured, and indefinitely detained in a secret penitential prison. Prisoners were not allowed contact with the outside world until after their trial and penance. Penances might include a lifetime sentence that involved wearing a penitential tunic called a San Benito, or burning at the stake for repeat offenders. Offenses included washing linen on a Saturday, which is something Jews did, but allegedly not Christians; although some did, and they were arrested for it and their lives were destroyed.

  32. Thinking Clearly says:
    June 1, 2017 at 2:00 pm

    Public opinion is in favor of legalization. Why has congress not made it so?

    Our democracy no longer represents the people. Here’s how we fix it by Larry Lessig – a TED talk
    https://t.co/o7bMBIQ2rm

  33. Mr_Alex says:
    June 1, 2017 at 8:15 pm

    @DdC

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/332137/doctors-now-able-to-prescribe-cannabidiol

    Doctors now able to prescribe cannabidiol

    New Zealand has taken another step towards the legalisation of medicinal cannabis.

    The government is lifting restrictions on cannabidiol, or CBD, a substance found in cannabis with potential therapeutic value and little or no psychoactive properties.

    It means doctors will be able to prescribe products containing CBD without Ministry of Health approval.

    Cannabidiol is currently a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

    Mr Dunne said it was part of a deliberate policy to broaden access to medicinal cannabis in line with standards “to make sure people aren’t getting junk, but are getting reputable quality products.”

    He said it was a move towards legalising medicinal cannabis, but wouldn’t “immediately bring about a revolution”.

    “In the longer term as the international market develops and as more quality products come available, I think it will prove to be beneficial to New Zealand patients.”

    Cannabidiol products come in pill or injectable form.

    Strict import and export restrictions on products sourced from other countries would hold back their supply to New Zealand, Mr Dunne said.

    And he said there were currently very few products which meet the quality standards necessary to be prescribed.

    “However, we do know of at least one CBD product in development made to high manufacturing standards that will contain two percent or less of the other cannabinoids found in cannabis,” said Mr Dunne.

    “Really what today’s announcement is about is future-proofing the system … Once the quality products become available, it means they will be able to be prescribed without any form of ministerial or other interventions.”

    Two years ago, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne cleared the way for Nelson teenager Alex Renton to use the medicinal cannabis, Elixinol, as a one-off treatment.

    His family campaigned for better access to the drug, arguing it could have improved his quality of life.

    Earlier this year, the rules were changed so that anyone wanting to use it could go to the Health Ministry for approval, rather than the minister.

    • DdC says:
      June 3, 2017 at 8:17 pm

      Now Trump is going rouge maybe the world won’t keep following the DEA. As far as I can see NZ is still only concerned with Prohibition or if push comes to shove, then Big Pharma products. Some might see it as a lesser insanity. The plant is still an outlaw.

      New Zealand has taken another step towards the legalisation of Pharmaceutical cannabis. ~ DdC
      ___________________________________________________

      “However, we do know of at least one CBD product in development made to high manufacturing standards that will contain two percent or less of the other cannabinoids found in cannabis,” said Mr Dunne.
      ___________________________________________________

      So, in other words, if a pharmaceutical product contains THC extracted from the marijuana plant, that would be a legal commodity. But if you or I possessed THC extracted from the marijuana plant, that would remain an illegal commodity.

      Wait, it gets even more absurd.

      Since the cannabis plant itself will remain illegal under federal law, then from whom precisely could Big Pharma legally obtain their soon-to-be legal THC extracts? There’s only one answer: The federal government’s lone legally licensed marijuana cultivator, The University of Mississippi at Oxford, which already has the licensing agreements with the pharmaceutical industry in hand.
      Is The DEA Legalizing THC?
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1680

      ☛ Epidiolex
      In 2015 GW Pharmaceutical initiated Phase 3 clinical trials of an investigational cannabidiol, Epidiolex, for treatment of two orphan conditions in children – Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes. GW also received fast track designation from the US FDA for use of the drug candidate to treat newborns with epilepsy

      ☛ Sativex in New Zealand

      ☛ Sativex Approved in New Zealand for the Treatment of Spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis

      Currently, the CBD oil used by GW Pharmaceuticals in their trials is restricted to clinical
      7 October 2016

      Insys
      As a premier provider and manufacturer of innovative drugs and novel drug delivery systems, we aim to set new standards with our progressive line of products.

      ☛ The Food and Drug Administration approved the final product label for Syndros, the oral THC spray from Insys Therapeutics (which helped fund the effort to defeat Arizona’s 2016 marijuana legalization initiative).

      ☛ The Battle For Cannabidiol (CBD): Big Pharma VS The People

      DEA calls CBD as a Schedule 1 substance
      This permits Big Pharma to hijack medicinal solutions for patenting, as witnessed by the story of GW Pharmaceuticals below. Another tactic is often to discredit functional solutions that can not be patented, to thwart competition (example being colloidal silver, a natural antimicrobial that could undermine the antibiotics industry).

      • Mr_Alex says:
        June 4, 2017 at 6:38 am

        @DdC did you know in April when i fronted up in Wellington at Parliament for the Select Health Committee hearing, i mentioned to Peter Dunne when he asked me a question on cannabis treating Autism, I simply told him that many in the Autism community in New Zealand are using THC the psychoactive ingredient from Cannabis because it is much better than CBD

        • DdC says:
          June 4, 2017 at 2:35 pm

          Mr_Alex

          Cannabis is used for Autism. Cannabis has many cannabinoids, including CBD and THC. The 5 brothers developed a cannabis strain with high percentage of CBD and lower THC, (Charlotte’s Webb). It is still cannabis and requires the synergy of all whole plant cannabinoids. Before the 5 brothers all Autism patients had was street pot with THC, But it still contained some CBD, as all pot does. Same with CBD strains have a little THC. Not enough to make it psychoactive to the euphoric state. Dunne is a charlatan trying to make some bucks on the suffering of citizens.

          ☛ Cannabis’s Entourage Effect: Why Whole Plant Medicine Matters
          “Whole plant medicine” is a term used to describe medicines utilizing the full spectrum of therapeutic compounds cannabis has to offer. A glimpse of the most abundant cannabinoids and terpenes is provided below in our two graphics illustrating the properties and benefits of each (click on each for enlarged versions).
          https://s3.amazonaws.com/leafly-s3/content/cannabis-entourage-effect-why-thc–and-cbd-only-medicines-arent-g/CRqvGHvVRejee20hG20h_Cannabinoids-Infographic-English.jpg

          ☛ Terpenes and the “Entourage Effect”
          Most animal studies with cannabidiol utilize synthetic, single-molecule CBD produced by biochemical laboratories for research purposes. In contrast, whole plant extractions typically include CBD, THC, and more than 400 trace compounds. Many of these compounds interact synergistically to create what scientists refer to as an “entourage effect” that magnifies the therapeutic benefits of the plant’s individual components—so that the medicinal impact of the whole plant is greater than the sum of its parts.

          ☛ CBD – Inspiring the Body to Heal Itself
          Synergy Wellness is a hand crafted artisanal CBD cannabis collective. We are engaged in horticulture production and manufacture of high quality medicinal cannabis products. This is a small not-for-profit boutique operation in West Marin. Focused on making the highest quality medicinal products, we are CBD (Cannabidiol) Specialists. Only Organic and natural nutrients are used in the plant production. Products include dried flowers (buds) from both indica and sativa strains of cannabis, CBD Rich strains, tinctures, infused oils, salves, edibles, capsules and vaporizers. All products produced are for medicinal purposes only and are produced in accordance with California State guidelines.

          ☛ CBD and THC Synergy – Medicine | King Harvest Wellness
          Research suggests that CBD or Cannabidiol reduces cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis by inhibiting gene mutation expression. While this is exciting news in the arena of disease prevention, further study shows that when combined with THC, the synergistic healing effects can be profound.

          ☛ Cannabis Synergy: Beyond THC
          Contrary to the omnipresent terpenoids, phytocannabinoids are produced exclusively in Cannabis. Their involvement with the endocannabinoid receptor system in humans has been an intriguing mystery, with theories such as the surreptitious mimic and others that are beyond the scope of this review (for more information, refer to the National Insitute of Medicine’s publication in 2003: “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base). Its evolutionary role as a functional component of the plant is much clearer. Many phytocannabinoids carry antifungal activity, and the sticky nature of the glandules that carry them allows for insect defense. However, most interesting are the biochemical interactions with the human endocannabinoid system as well as other possible receptors, and the combined interaction of multiple cannabinoids.

          ☛ Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy
          and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects
          Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been the primary focus of cannabis research since 1964, when Raphael Mechoulam isolated and synthesized it. More recently, the synergistic contributions of cannabidiol to cannabis pharmacology and analgesia have been scientifically demonstrated. Other phytocannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabivarin, cannabigerol and cannabichromene, exert additional effects of therapeutic interest. Innovative conventional plant breeding has yielded cannabis chemotypes expressing high titres of each component for future study. This review will explore another echelon of phytotherapeutic agents, the cannabis terpenoids: limonene, myrcene, α-pinene, linalool, β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, nerolidol and phytol.

      • primus says:
        June 4, 2017 at 7:36 am

        I get that Trump has people who primp him up, do his hair etc. Now you are telling me he is using rouge? A manly man who stared down the evil Macron while being held in a death grip by the younger, stronger man would never stoop to such effeminacy. Would he?

        • DdC says:
          June 4, 2017 at 1:29 pm

          The rouge on top of his yellow streak is what makes him orange. I don’t believe he went rogue. I believe he’s an idiot.

      • Mr_Alex says:
        June 5, 2017 at 4:06 pm

        @DdC

        You know groups like Autism New Zealand and Altogether Autism, they took issue with me when i told them that Cannabis is a viable treatment for Autism, in fact they hated it when Dr David Bearman mentioned that Cannabis is a viable treatment for Autism in Wellington when I attended his talk in Wellington, Autism New Zealand and Altogether Autism as i suspect are fronts for fat pharma

    • DdC says:
      June 3, 2017 at 11:47 pm

      It’s simply the business of healing. Patients are White Powder Guinea Pigs. Bottom Line Treatment then outlaw preventions and cures.

      (example being colloidal silver,
      a natural antimicrobial that could undermine the antibiotics industry).

      ☛ The Battle For Cannabidiol (CBD):
      Big Pharma VS The People

      DEA calls CBD as a Schedule 1 substance

      The DEA wants to classify CBD as a Schedule 1 drug – right up there on the same level as heroin, ecstasy, and LSD. Anyone who knows a bit about medicinal marijuana and CBD, will be struck by the absurdity of such a categorization. Reminder: CBD has no psychoactive properties whatsoever.

      There are over 1,600 published scientific studies on cannabidiol’s beneficial health effects. So what is really going on here? The threat of criminalizing CBD is part of an old tradition in which the agencies follow the drum beat of the pharmaceutical industry.

      This permits Big Pharma to hijack medicinal solutions for patenting, as witnessed by the story of GW Pharmaceuticals below. Another tactic is often to discredit functional solutions that can not be patented, to thwart competition (example being colloidal silver, a natural antimicrobial that could undermine the antibiotics industry).

      The purpose of controlling the distribution of medicinal solutions is to make profits, by the same industry that also fleshes out dangerous substances like opiates and amphetamines through “legal” prescriptions.

      The hypocrisy won’t go away, unless the institutions are systematically confronted by the people, for the people.

      ☛ Silver Makes Antibiotics Thousands of Times More Effective

      The antimicrobial treatment could help to solve modern bacterial resistance

      Like werewolves and vampires, bacteria have a weakness: silver. The precious metal has been used to fight infection for thousands of years — Hippocrates first described its antimicrobial properties in 400 bc — but how it works has been a mystery. Now, a team led by James Collins, a biomedical engineer at Boston University in Massachusetts, has described how silver can disrupt bacteria, and shown that the ancient treatment could help to deal with the thoroughly modern scourge of antibiotic resistance. The work is published today in Science Translational Medicine.

      ☛ Colloidal Silver – Super Antibiotic Rediscovery?
      The Rediscovery of a Super Antibiotic?

      Colloidal silver was in common use until 1938.

      How It Works

      The presence of colloidal silver near a virus, fungus, bacterium or any other single celled pathogen disables its oxygen metabolism enzyme, its chemical lung, so to say. Within a few minutes, the pathogen suffocates and dies, and is cleared out of the body by the immune, lymphatic and elimination systems. Unlike pharmaceutical antibiotics, which destroy beneficial enzymes, colloidal silver leaves these tissue-cell enzymes intact, as they are radically different from the enzymes of primitive single-celled life. Thus colloidal silver is absolutely safe for humans, reptiles, plants and all multi-celled living matter.

      ☛ Drug Worriers preferred methods of treatment…
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1945
      ☛ FDA, a subsidiary of Fat Pharma
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1002

      • Dr. Zig-Zag says:
        June 4, 2017 at 12:46 pm

        Reminder: CBD has no psychoactive properties whatsoever.

        From Jahan Marcu of ASA, at Project CBDs website in an article titled “Is CBD Really Non-Psychoactive.”

        “Researchers have demonstrated that CBD confers anti-psychotic, anxiolytic (i.e, anxiety reducing), and antidepressant effects. If CBD can relieve depression or psychosis, then obviously, cannabidiol is a profound mood-altering substance, even if it doesn’t deliver much by way of euphoria.”

        “Perhaps it would be better to say that CBD is “not psychoactive like THC,” rather than repeating the familiar and somewhat misleading refrain that “CBD is not psychoactive.”

        The entire article is a good read. In it Jahan explains how CBD is an allosteric neuromodulator at CB1, which means it’s a “dimmer switch” on THC psychoactivity.

        • DdC says:
          June 4, 2017 at 1:23 pm

          Reminder: Hemp has no psychoactive properties whatsoever either.

          Its all Cannabis to the DEA. Euphoria is what they dread.

  34. Servetus says:
    June 2, 2017 at 10:29 am

    Greg Grandin at The Nation writes that Mexico’s Drug War is Really a War Against Journalists – Waged by the Government. While United States corporate media is all agog over Twitter distractions by Tsar Trump, many journalistic colleagues, along with environmental scientists, are being disappeared in Mexico due to a US instilled drug war that keeps the Mexican economy afloat while conveniently silencing government and corporate critics. Trump and Duterte would undoubtedly approve of the Mexican drug war, particularly its usefulness to corrupt regimes such as their own:

    May 10, 2017 – Mexico’s “drug war” is the second-most-lethal conflict on earth, according to this year’s “Armed Conflict Survey,” conducted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, with 23,000 fatalities, more than Iraq and Afghanistan and behind only Syria’s 50,000 killed. If Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are included—and they should be, as part of a unified catastrophe of free-market economics and militarized public security—the death toll rises to 39,000.

    The headlines reporting the survey have all blamed the “cartels,” but I put “drug war” in scare quotes because the conflict goes well beyond illegal narcotics. It’s a war against journalists. “Mexico is one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist today,” according to a New York Times article titled “In Mexico, ‘It’s Easy to Kill a Journalist.’” “At least 104 journalists have been murdered in this country since 2000, while 25 others have disappeared, presumed dead.” And it’s not primarily the cartels doing the killing: “according to government data, public servants like mayors and police officers have threatened journalists more often than drug cartels, petty criminals or anyone else in recent years.… Cases include journalists tortured or killed at the behest of mayors, reporters beaten by armed men in their newsrooms on the order of local officials, and police officers threatening to kill journalists for covering the news.”

    It’s a war against environmentalists, too: In January, an indigenous anti-deforestation activist, Isidro Baldenegro López, who won the Goldman Environmental Prize—the same award given to Honduran activist Berta Cáceres before her murder—was executed in Chihuahua. “Mexico has emerged as one of the most perilous countries” for environmental activists, writes Newsweek. “Organized crime, state-sanctioned intimidation and near-total impunity have proved to be a hazardous and often deadly combination for the many activists trying to protect the country’s natural resources. […]

    The United States got Donald Trump as a consequence of decades of failed, bipartisan economic and military policies. Mexico and Central America got a mountain of corpses that is getting higher by the day.

    The US has expedited the deaths of US journalists and writers such as Peter McWilliams and Gary Webb over their revelations of drug war politics. Authors Alfred McCoy, Peter Dale Scott, and Alexander Cockburn have survived their own anti-prohibition publications, so far. Director Ron Howard is making a movie about Medellin cartel drug smuggler Barry Seal. Seal is played by actor-Scientologist-anti-druggie Tom Cruise, of all people. It’s set for release on September 29, 2017.

  35. DdC says:
    June 3, 2017 at 2:19 pm

    The Los Angeles Daily News editorial board points out how drug prohibition causes violence in Mexico and elsewhere, writing that “the war on drugs does more harm than drugs themselves.”
    http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20170601/war-on-drugs-is-costing-thousands-of-lives

    Not enough stress?

    A study concluded that “chronic cannabis use is associated with blunted stress reactivity.”
    https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00213-017-4648-z
    Subjective stress ratings and cortisol levels were significantly higher in non-users in the stress condition relative to non-users in the no stress condition. In contrast, cannabis users demonstrated blunted stress reactivity; specifically, they showed no increase in cortisol and a significantly smaller increase in subjective stress ratings. The stress manipulation had no impact on cannabis users’ self-reported cravings or withdrawal symptoms.

    Alaska collected $964,900 in marijuana tax revenue in the first seven months of legal sales.
    https://www.adn.com/alaska-marijuana/2017/06/01/almost-1-million-in-alaska-marijuana-tax-revenue-received-so-far-still-short-of-projections/

    Congressional leaders are considering an expedited appropriations process that could jeopardize marijuana law reform supporters’ ability to put forth amendments on the House floor.
    http://thehill.com/homenews/house/335712-house-urged-to-go-ugly-early

    Scheduled Delusion: How Jeff Sessions Treats Cannabis the Same As Heroin
    http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2017/06/01/scheduled-delusion-jeff-sessions-treats-cannabis-heroin
    CANNABIS CULTURE- Marijuana’s inclusion as a Schedule I drug makes little sense, but it impacts people’s lives every day. Drug schedules affect the legality of a drug, so when someone is arrested for marijuana use or possession, they may face the same consequences as someone with a heroin possession charge. This just doesn’t seem right.

    This Sleepy California City was $3 Million in Debt —
    Now It’s Cashing in on the Marijuana Industry
    http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2017/05/29/sleepy-california-city-3-million-debt-now-cashing-marijuana-industry

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