A puff a day might keep Alzheimer's away

Facts mean nothing?

http://current.com/items/91855687_top-anti-drug-researcher-changes-mind-says-leg...

For 30 years, Donald Tashkin has studied the effects of marijuana on lung function. His work has been funded by the vehemently anti-marijuana National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has long sought to demonstrate that marijuana causes lung cancer. After 3 decades of anti-drug research, here’s what Tashkin has to say about marijuana laws:

“Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects,” Tashkin says. “But at this point, I’d be in favor of legalization.

UCLA’s Tashkin studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.

“What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect,” says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted.

I do care. I advocate fully legalizing industrial hemp, medical marijuana, as well as recreational use. So that's where I'm coming from. Being for recreational use does not automatically negate my being for medical marijuana, nor does it negate my humanity. Of course I care about the patients!

My parents are medical marijuana patients. My dad is a cancer survivor and has all sorts of medical problems. He's been beaten up by life - he has diabetes, liver disease, plastic in his back because he broke it in an auto accident, and more that I'm not going to get into -- once he had an operation where he had only a 10% chance of living through it, yet another operation gave him 50% odds. He's very skinny because of his nausea and inability to keep food down, and the only medication that helps his appetite while (moderately) helping his other pains and ailments, is marijuana. I live in a state (RI) where it is legal and I am his caregiver so I grow it for him and I network with other caregivers and patients, so don't assume that I don't care about the patients.

It is a false dichotomy to think you have to choose between support recreational use and medicinal use. Given that the laws against marijuana came to fruition through nefarious means, and the war on drugs is a total failure, and that marijuana doesn't make you into a crazy "reefer madness" murderous lunatic or anything like that at all, and how it is objectively safer than alcohol, legalizing marijuana for recreational use is a no brainer for me and others I speak to.

Given that, it is even more of a no-brainer for medical marijuana and industrial hemp. It logically follows that anyone who supports recreational use would also legitimately and sincerely support medical and industrial uses as well since the arguments against all of them overlap.

The fact that you would assume such a thing shows just how biased you really are. I don't mean that as an insult. Everyone has biases. It is a logical non-sequitur to automatically assume that because someone advocates legalizing recreational use of cannabis, that they don't have compassion for other human beings who are suffering.

this thread got incorrectly posted outside of the one above. My error. Sorry.

be that as it may, I do not debate Tashkin's work. It merely is not important to the point I am trying to make.

I am only saying that it is likely he ducked the question because the reasons that one might want to continue research are fairly obvious. By purifying an better understanding the chemicals that are helping and rumoving the ones that are either hurting the process or are merely a waste of space people can be better helped.

>"It logically follows that anyone who supports recreational use would also legitimately and sincerely support medical and industrial uses as well since the arguments against all of them overlap."<
Then why are they arguing AGAINST the research? That is the basis of the original statement in the article. Complaint that additional research was unnecessary since it must be better and cheaper to get blazed.
Also they may not overlap. It might very well be that the medical effects of some cannaboids may be a lot greater if they are separated out of pot. The point that I made that pot might be improved medicinally was met quite aggressively.

All I said was it contained a chemical that was deadly. So does table salt. It contains sodium and chlorine, which in their pure form are both very dangerous. My point is that as our understanding of how the chemicals in cannabis work, we can improve on them just as we have with hundreds of other naturally derived drugs.

Thank you for explaining the different types. It is also important that you mentioned vaporizers. Bombastinator it would be great if there were more research related to medical cannabis. Most patients do in fact use a vaporizer as it is prescribed to them especially if they have limited use of their lungs. The problem is that many want the plant to be legalized as they enjoy the drug in a recreational manner. This is why so many people are fighting you about tar. Tar has been used by the drug campaign to fight against people who have been working to get the drug legalized or decriminalized. The other problem pro pot people have with the term tar is that it makes it sound like the drug is more harmful than it really is. If it does not kill people or cause some form of cancer then it doesn't really matter to them I guess.

the point is it likely won't be soon.

The experience of not having Alzheimers? Off hand I'd have to say "No".

bomb's trollish comment aside, I vote yes.

not trolling this one actually.

that didn't even make sense. You sure you're not out behind the 'skool' like normlnick there?

@bombastinator bombast I say! you really live up to your tag, at least you crack me up any where I go on this site.

02 really? Once again with this silly comment?

Can't let you pot heads get too comfy. A little barb with your leaf.

Yea but there is no need to continuously antagonize these people. They already have to live in fear as they like a different recreational drug than most of America. There is no need to keep stoners on their toes. The police do a great job of that. Besides it seems that you always pick a fight with the wrong successful stoner.

Thank you. I have a problem with people who denounce others due to a single aspect of their life.

No. Not unless you happen to be a rat and you have Alzheimer's, and even then only maybe.

um... .003 is basically nothing. Count the zeroes. I seriously doubt hemp soap is going to produce any behavior beyond a placebo effect. I could be wrong of course. It would be fascinating if it turned out that the dosages were low enough to make some cannaboid medications legal over the counter. Yet again, more research needed. We need to find some more funding for these guys. I'm getting sick of that line.

You guys are gettin' carried away. I know you're proud of your minds and your capabilities, and you have good reason to be.

But ask yourselves, what would you be doing with your creativity and your solid strengths, if you were not getting stoned?

It is my opinion that you would very quickly fill the void with exactly as much fun and stimulation from life that you have placed into your experiences around pot - only you'd be doing something else.

That something else, that you would be doing - you are not doing and are not going to do. Because your stuck on pot.

It is also my opinion that very likely, whatever nifty and peculiar, and real, experiences you have attributed to pot, are now wholly learned. -No new lessons.-

That should be the hint.

Pot tends to put you in a stupor, at least some, if not a lot, of the time. It's like someone staying in bed and thinking they are having a better time for it.

They are missing out on their own life. Sorry to be so blunt, but what are friends for?

@02: well you're not my friend (thank God, based on your comment) and in regards to your statements; please speak for yourself. That may be true if you were to smoke pot, but it does not go for everyone. A lot of "pot heads" are very successful.

The point is it alters your thinking and physical state. Without it - YOU would be a bit different. Not me, you.
You are missing out on where your own footsteps would take you, sans pot.
With pot, you head in your present direction, and that might seem just fine. However, without pot, you will be finding a somewhat different path - and that would take you to new places. Places you will not go on the Pot Path.
And - that's just the way it is.

hemp food is beneficial for your body. The seed especially.

No, that's not just the way it is. First of all, I'm no pot head, I used to be. And while I was a pot head, I managed to graduate college, begin working in a law firm and purchase my own home. I'd say that's a pretty good path, on pot, wouldn't you? So what the fuck are you doing on your righteous path, 02?

Hoping I'll amount to something before I die. I've already smoked my 15 bales of pot and grown it etc. As the old song goes, there's a time for everything - but pot, along with it's particular social circle, tends to keep people around a little longer than they might some day wish.
We only are here for a short time - and if you would like to get something done - that you need to do; let me rephrase it this way: That you will wish you had gotten off your ass and done while you had the time, you might find being stoned out is a fat waste.
I mean once you can say you know what pot is and what is does. Or any drugs. Or any time consuming process that is not different from a poor habit - that might keep you slowed down in your own progress such that you don't take care of biz.

Lethargy IS one of the actions for which pot is famous. No?

And the goodie raids aren't any good for anybody. For me, it's time to knock off the food, get back in shape and get something done. Being a stoner is not part of that. For me, it could not be in any way a helpful device.

My point is, 02, that the symptoms you're describing associated with pot may apply to you, but not everyone. I have the opportunity to choose certain strains to make you feel certain ways. Some are an upper, some are a downer. It just depends on how I'm feeling and what I feel like doing that day.

Pot holds no one back, YOU hold yourself back. I don't know maybe it's just me, but I've always believed in choosing your own destiny and making it happen. Pot NEVER held me back from anything, and still doesn't. I have a successful career, a house (which I'm remodeling myself with the help of my husband and some close friends, and yes we all smoke, and yes we smoke while we're working, and our house still looks AMAZING!!). So please don't genearalize all pot heads. I hate when people do that!

Being stoned is not a "fat waste" of my time. I get a lot done whether I'm stoned or sober, that's just me. The only time I'm sitting on my ass is after a long day of work to catch a basketball game, or during the weekend to catch a movie. Other than that, I'm always doing something. I'm very productive, I'll say it again, whether I'm stoned or not.

Why don't YOU get off your ass and do something.

well since 02 claims to not be stoned and is doing the exact same thing we all are, namely wasting time commenting on a news blog, I'd have to conclude that the very fact that he made the comment shows it to be self evidently flawed.

as for the replies to his comments the semantic equivalent of 'you're wrong because you are a big meanie' boo hoo. That argument is even worse than his.

Sounds like you need a little toughening up. Since you're puddling around on the web, I prescribe these web comics to get into the right mind frame. They both have extensive archives.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/
http://www.smbc-comics.com/

Well how bout a story.
My friend goes to Japan, secreting LSD in his titanium white paint tube. His friends are all experimenting with life at it's very high - wherefore they find a special pot smuggled in from the high mountains of Laos. He says, little golden blossoms folded flat between pages. One hit and you are in soaring creativity for hours upon hours, no downs.
Since he and I have smoked the best pot in existence, I know it is true when he says this is the best and strongest pot in the world.
He sneaks some back in his paint-tube.
His dad ran the Cow Palace and the Dubie Bros were doing their sound check. My friend thought we'd go and I might climb on stage with my guitar. He gives me one of his Mexican shirts with the embroidery and a pocket, into which he gives me the last fat dub of the best pot in the world.
We embarked to the Cow Palace and it turned out I knew all the people. Their management was the Cohen Brothers, Marty and Bruce.
We waited to the side - feeling rather good about ourselves while the drummer was having fun being obnoxious and spitting pizza on the microphone.
Eventually, we just decided to blow the whole thing off - going out for other adventures in the evening and finally saying goodbye at his place.
Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, I realized I had the strongest, best weed in the whole world in my pocket. Reaching in, I found only a hole.

But some person - found on the street somewhere a joint and went into some bathroom or some place to smoke it - and that person never forgot that night.

02 and I fought in the same way about this very subject anna and there is no point to continuing. I have no idea why he hates it so much and no matter how you try to prove that there are people out there who use the drug and are successful he will continue his truth.org way of fighting the issue.

Whatever, 02. I'm not sure what your story was trying to prove, sounded like a lot of bull shit to me. And I just ignore Bombastinator's comments all together. He never has anything smart to say or worth reading. So I'm going to take Sed's advice, and stop arguing with you fuck heads. Get a fucking life.

Peace.

O2, I say you're wrong to think that cannabis makes one impotent to succeed in life. I have never just sat on the couch doing nothing or let my life pass me by. I'm a college graduate, I have a great career as a computer programmer. I've written 2 books on computer programming, and contributed to other books, I own my home and have a great family with 3 very well-behaved kids, etc.

Pot hasn't held these people back (link below). These people exist as a contradiction to your premise, demonstrating its falsehood:

http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/

lol deadly? proof for the loaded claim, please?

Once the particular chemical or compound that does the trick is isolated, among the next steps, I presume, will be to determine the "therapeutic dosage." At the risk of drawing slings and arrows in my direction, that dosage may be much smaller than the recreational user might prefer.

I really have no idea whether pot smoke contains deadly chemicals. I continue to think just from a common sense standpoint, that burning pretty much ANYTHING and inhaling the smoke from the conflagration over an extended period of time must have SOME detrimental effect.

But perhaps not. For me, the point is moot simply because in my experience, pot dramatically reduces my ability to focus and my capacity for intense concentration. I have so few brain cells remaining that I am afraid a couple of hits will leave me seriously vegetative...but I know others don't have the same issues...

The chemical I was thinking of in particular was tar. There's quite a bit of it. If you're taking a medicine to help with cancer it would be nice if it didn't also cause more. One could see how it might work even better in fact. IIRC volcanoes are pretty good at lowering tar content which is one example of how research could help with this kind of thing.

As for slings and arrows don;t worry about that. Just catch them and throw them back. Just like gym class.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729....

I have no idea where you got your information. Marijuana has no additive chemicals even when grown indoors. If it has these effects individuals would have gotten cancer from this plant. In India where it is used extensively there is no connection to cancer. There have also been many different studies which have suggested this fact and that is why it has been approved as a medicine in so many states.

It's not an additive. Tar is part of the plant. Many plants actually. Tobacco is just the most famous one our culture spends time inhaling. Burn a random leaf theres a reasonable chance there is tar in the smoke. That stuff our roads are made out of is billion year old leaves.

That cannabis contains tar is not in contention. It does seem in some studies to produce less cancer risk than equivalent amounts of inhaled tobacco tar though which is one reason researchers are interested in it for cancer treatment. It seems likely that there is something else in the plant that prevents the genetic damage it causes from progressing to cancer.

@samantha LMGTFY. Try "cannabis smoke contents" and hit the 'I'm feeling lucky" button

...and did you do what I told you and google the phrase? See I'm not merely answering your question I'm helping you with your apparently deficient research skills by showing you how to do it yourself.

Had you actually performed the google instead of wasting twice as much time typing that non topical diatribe, you would have gotten to this site.
http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_info3.shtml The next 5 google hits are more or less on the same topic as well

If no cancer can be associated with the use of the drug why then does Tar content matter?

The tar is still the same as the tar in cigarettes. Tar is pretty nasty stuff. It used to be used as a fast acting insecticide till they made it illegal because it was so dangerous. Genetic damage is still being done. Just because something else in the cannabis is making up for it doesn't change that. If the goal is to use cannabis to treat cancer it stands to reason that it will be more effective if it doesn't have to fight itself.

No you keep fighting about a subject in which the plant has been proven to not cause cancer and to be safe. If there are no side effects then what is your huge problem with tar?

Purified alcohol is also dangerous and can be used as both an insecticide and herbicide. So should we make beer illegal? If broken down salt can be dangerous lets put that on a bill for congress to regulate. Poisons are used in soda and that should be illegal too I guess. In fact sugar causes diabetes so fuck candy.

Read my last post again. It's like you want something to be true so very very hard that you skip past the stuff you don't like. I feel like a deprogrammer here.

bombastinator, but your claim that cannabis smoke contains deadly chemicals is trivial. If something is deadly, it causes death. There has never been a case where marijuana has been listed as the cause of anyone's death that I know of, so whatever 'deadly' chemicals cannabis may contain don't really seem to be causing anyone to die.

Also it is NOT well known to science that a synthetic form of cannabis is better than using it directly (you can vaporize ya know). There is no synthetic cannabis that is more effective in medicinal uses than straight marijuana. All attempts to create such a thing have failed. It's not to say that some day in the future they might create something that works better, but you cannot claim that science knows this as obviously true just yet. That's not how science works... Just like we can't claim that cannabis definitely cures or postpones Alzheimer's yet.

Also, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would rather not give money to big pharma, whose goal it is not to help people, but to profit -- and when helping people comes into conflict with profit, profit always wins and the sick people lose.

The fact is that cannabis has been scientifically shown to be potentially helpful in treating cancer, at least enough to demonstrate that further research is warranted. The fact that you are being so knit-picky to pull these comments out of your butt shows that your goal is not to inform people, but to *look for* flaws in all cannabis articles, no matter how trivial. It just seems like you constantly focus on the negative while arrogantly waving an air of superiority (deprogrammer, eh?) against any who are focusing on the positive. I wonder why?

I understood your post. I know that there has not been testing and that it could hurt my health. I know beer can too. I still like to drink it though. You also have not noticed the comments involving vaporizers.

It is also a good point that since there has been so much hysteria surrounding marijuana scientists have not really had the opportunity to continue studies or experimentation. Up until now scientists worked to prove the negative aspects of the drug rather than the positive aspects.

I was the one who made the comment involving vaporizers. As for the triviality, I whole wholeheartedly agree with you. It was just a minor example as to how they could make drugs derived from cannabis that could work even better than the raw plant.

I'm just trying to explain why the guy ducked the question. It's everyone else that's going nuts. Apparently there are a bunch of people who actually want to stop cannabis research now that it says something that might give them an excuse to get blazed, because they are afraid that if something better comes along they might lose that excuse. They don't seem to actually care about the peopel with diseases at all.

IMHO it's appalling.

I agree with you in that the medical uses are certainly used politically by legalization supporters. The reason for this is that individuals want the drug legalized for recreational use and they found a way to make pot appeal to more groups. However, individuals who smoke do care about people who use the plant for cancer. So much so that they even smoke pot for some of the health benefits.

if they were gong to smoke it anyway they aren't doing it for the health benefits.
They are using the health benefits as an excuse to do it which is not the same thing.

As for the caring if they do care, it doesn't seem to be enough to actually allow these people to actually have life saving drugs, just enough to ride their coat tails as long as it is to their advantage to do so.

It isn't enough because beer is legal. They are using the issue to kill two birds with one stone. It can't be left alone so that it is only prescription or the plant will still be illegal for recreational use. Many people have also started smoking due to medical reasons. Not every stoner just picked up the habit as there is so much media surrounding the health benefits.

If the plant were legalized for recreational use but then in turn made illegal for medical use I think pot supporters would be just as angry as they are today.

I think everyone would be mad about that in much the same way as if the government suddenly mandated that all pets wear clothing and have their limbs amputated. It's bizarrely cruel and nonsensical.