tagged w/ Marijuana Study
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By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 17:13 EDT
R. Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, on Tuesday denied there was any reason the United States should regulate marijuana the same way it regulates alcohol.
“There are no good reasons to legalize marijuana,” he said at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress.
“I often hear about tax, regulate and control as an answer,” Kerlikowske continued. “And then I look at prescription drugs — which as I mentioned take over fifteen thousand lives a year, let alone the number of people who come into emergency departments and the number of people that are treated — and prescription drugs are already taxed, are already regulated, are already controlled and we do a very poor job of keeping them out of the hands of abusers and young people.”
“So I don’t see that we would do a very good job with a substance that can easily evade the tax scheme because it doesn’t take rocket science to grow marijuana.”
Residents of Colorado and Washington will vote on a ballot initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in November. A similar ballot initiative failed in California in 2010.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/02/drug-czar-there-are-no-good-reasons-to-legalize-marijuana/
Watch video, clipped by the Marijuana Policy Project...
"I don't think he ever answered the question, and Yes, we just may legalize marijuana here in Colorado in November!!!" =)By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 17:13 EDT
R. Gil Kerlikowske, the director... more
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Cannabis Christmas: Decorated pot plant gets 'old hippie' busted
A man described by German police as "an old hippie" must have been dreaming of a cannabis Christmas, just like the ones he used to know.
The man was arrested, police said on Wednesday, after they found a 6-foot-tall marijuana plant decorated as a Christmas tree in his house, news agency AFP reported. He's now facing drug possession charges.
"The 2-metre-tall marijuana plant had been put in a Christmas tree stand and decorated with a string of lights," the police in the city of Koblenz said in a press release glibly titled, "All you need is love or how a hippie celebrates Christmas."
Police said the man told them he planned to put presents under his giant pot plant and celebrate according to tradition, AFP reported.
-- Lance Murray
Read more: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/crime_time/2010/12/cannabis-christmas-decorated-pot-plant-gets-old-hippie-busted.html#ixzz17pqdjESjCannabis Christmas: Decorated pot plant gets 'old hippie' busted
A man... more
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Since 2007, Oaksterdam University has been teaching marijuana law and cultivation. The school trains people to operate within the industry in a safe and responsible manner.
On the forefront of a new industry, students are trained to work in a dispensary, start their own business or work at changing the laws for marijuanaSince 2007, Oaksterdam University has been teaching marijuana law and cultivation. The... more
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Now many studies are coming out showing that Cannabis aka marijuana successfully and safely fights Cancer.
THC the active chemical in cannabis is a well know effective medicine for a variety of conditions. Now it could be shown that it is the cure for several types of cancers. According to many accredited medical studies.Now many studies are coming out showing that Cannabis aka marijuana successfully and... more
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The more research they do, the more evidence scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.The more research they do, the more evidence scientists find that specific elements of... more
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As well as brightening your room, pot plants may one day help to prevent headaches in "sick" houses by absorbing toxic gas, according to Japanese scientists.
Researchers have genetically engineered plants that can absorb formaldehyde, a pungent chemical compound used as adhesive in building materials and furnishing, one of the researchers said Tuesday.
Formaldehyde is seen as a major factor in what is known as sick-house syndrome -- headaches, dizziness and other health problems triggered by chemical substances in the home.
"We expect the plants to absorb it steadily" along with carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, said Katsura Izui, a professor of molecular plant physiology at Kinki University in western Japan.
The plants have two kinds of genes imported from micro-organisms known as methylotrophs, which use formaldehyde for their growth.
One host plant was tobacco and the other was thale cress, a small plant formally called Arabidopsis, which has a short life span of two months and is widely used as a model plant in biology.
Izui said the amount of formaldehyde absorbed by the plants was small compared with the carbon dioxide they use.
But the study showed that modified Arabidopsis survived four weeks in boxes dense with formaldehyde with the level of toxic gas falling to some one-tenth of the original level.
All wild Arabidopsis died in the same circumstances. Similar results were also obtained with experiments using modified tobacco plants, he said.
Izui said the density drop may have also stemmed from absorption by the agar used as a substitute for soil in the experiment boxes because formaldehyde is highly soluble in water.
"We are now trying to make new devices for more precise observation," he said, adding they were trying to apply the technology in common foliage plants.
The study was conducted jointly with Professor Yasuyoshi Sakai, an expert on micro-organisms at Kyoto University.As well as brightening your room, pot plants may one day help to prevent headaches in... more
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In terms of estimated rate ratios, persons who develop cannabis-induced psychosis are as predisposed to schizophrenia spectrum disorder and other psychiatric disorders as those who develop schizophrenia spectrum disorder without a history of cannabis-induced psychosis.In terms of estimated rate ratios, persons who develop cannabis-induced psychosis are... more
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This summer, British and Italian researchers found that in a laboratory plate, molecules in marijuana can slay the superbug methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, which recently infected seven babies and four employees in a Yonkers, N.Y., maternity ward, heightening fears of outbreaks in schools and locker rooms, as well as in its more familiar breeding grounds, hospitals and nursing homes. In theory, compounds derived from the cannabis plant could someday serve in topical creams for patients with MRSA or other antibiotic-resistant infections.
This isn't the first time marijuana has tantalized the world as a possible wonder drug. In recent years, compounds in cannabis or related molecules have been shown to slow the growth of lung tumors in mice, decrease hardening of the arteries in rats, and boost the egg-binding capability of tobacco smokers' sperm. Research on the receptors that THC and other cannabis compounds attach to—and the nitty-gritty mechanisms by which they exert their effects—has been booming. So has work on native molecules, called endocannabinoids, that bind to the same sites. These molecular interactions affect a wide range of functions, from appetite to inflammation to the perception of pain.
The onslaught of basic science has helped to separate cannabis from an association with hippies and recreational pot smokers. It has also spurred hopes that these molecules (or similar ones) might prove therapeutic for traumatic brain injury, inflammatory bowel disease, allergic contact dermatitis, atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's disease, among others. For all the razzle-dazzle, though, potential treatments frequently seem stuck in perpetual adolescence. Research on traumatic brain injury seemed promising but got mixed results in human clinical trials, while most of the others simply haven't gotten very far in the experimental process.
Still, a few prospects show signs of inching toward adulthood. The most enticing are aimed at lessening pain associated with nerve damage and improving some symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Between 2007 and this summer, several randomized clinical trials have found that smoking marijuana can relieve pain in patients with nerve degeneration caused by HIV or other disorders. Compounds in cannabis also seem to reduce nerve pain and possibly decrease spastic movements in people with MS. A drug called Sativex—which delivers two cannabis compounds in a spray under the tongue—is now in late-stage clinical trials in Europe for MS patients. Much as we've heard the hype before, these findings deserve some notice even from the jaded.
Studying the upside of marijuana can be a bureaucratic nightmare. In 1970, Congress deemed it a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse and "no currently accepted medical use"—making research on possible benefits a tough sell. In the 1980s, the Food and Drug Administration approved Marinol, an oral formulation of THC, the most psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, to treat nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. Later, it also approved Marinol to boost the appetites of people with AIDS. But Marinol was never fully accepted by patients, says Donald Abrams, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. It took effect more slowly than smoked marijuana and was also more psychoactive. (When THC enters the bloodstream from the digestive tract, it is broken down by the liver into even more psychoactive molecules.) Nor has Marinol been approved in the United States to treat pain. Those who wished to push research further—whether by studying smoked marijuana, developing better formulations, or testing cannabis for other conditions—got no love from the federal government.
moreThis summer, British and Italian researchers found that in a laboratory plate,... more
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*To Join This Study You Must:
-Have Ongoing Chronic Pain
-Be 18 or older
-Be on a stable twice-daily dose of sustained-release oxycodone (Oxycontin) for at least 2 weeks before enrollment
-Be willing to give up marijuana for a month prior to entering the study
-Not be a cigarette and/or cigar smoker, or be willing not to smoke for 2 weeks before starting the study
-Meet some additional criteria
If You Are Eligible You Will:
-Spend 5 days and nights in a clinical research center at San Francisco General Hospital
-Have blood tests and other measurements done
-Inhale vaporized marijuana three times a day
If you’re interested in participating in this important medical research, and qualify for the necessary research protocols, please directly contact 415-476-9554 (x315).
Absent these kinds of well constructed scientific research programs to better understand and determine the medical utility of cannabinoids and cannabis, the federal government will continuously oppose patient access to whole-smoked cannabis, therefore this kind of research takes on an even greater sense of concern and scope than just how a specific therapy interacts with patients.*To Join This Study You Must:
-Have Ongoing Chronic Pain
-Be 18 or older
-Be on a... more
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