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imagination.io
anything you imagine we can bring to life. imagination.io
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bust the myths, not the users
Part two of our look at Dr. Melanie Dreher’s research into ganja use among Jamaican women.
Our last issue featured an interview with Dr Melanie Dreher, a highly-respected academician and researcher who is probably the world’s foremost authority on ganja use in Jamaica. That interview contained a general overview of Dreher’s 25 years of Jamaican research, while this article will explore what she found out about uses of ganja by Jamaican women and children.
Dreher’s research is interesting and relevant because it challenges the prevailing notion that all drug use during pregnancy is bad for children. Ironically, some of Dreher’s findings suggest that ganja use by mothers during pregnancy, and by their children after birth, might actually be good for children.
Such findings contradict earlier studies. A study conducted in Ottawa during the 1980’s allegedly found that moderate marijuana use (an average of seven joints per week) by mothers during pregnancy caused negative effects in their newborns. These effects included higher levels of irritability, increased tremors and startles, and poorer habituation to light.
Other studies have purported to find similar problems, but Dreher notes that such studies suffer from the same problems that most marijuana studies suffer from. These problems include incorrect assumptions of cause and effect, failure to account for use of other drugs (such as tobacco, alcohol, and cocaine), and unequal comparisons between users from differing socioeconomic groups and lifestyles.
Dreher’s studies largely eliminated such problems by studying “lower-income” women from rural villages in southeastern Jamaica. Dreher selected ganja-using women and compared their children’s health and adjustment with the children of women who had not used ganja during pregnancy. The women chosen were matched by age, health, and economic and educational status, to minimize the effects of class and environmental differences.
Instead of conducting dehumanized scientific research, Dreher chose an anthropological approach which combines solid statistical data with ethnographic observation and interaction. Dreher and her team of researchers became part of the communities they studied, and were given access to the private lives of their subjects. Thus, she was able to determine how and why Jamaican women used ganja, and also to gauge the interactions of ganja with culture, schools and the country’s legal system. Part two of our look at Dr. Melanie Dreher’s research into ganja use among Jamaican women. ... more -
When It Comes To Medical Pot, Rats Are Smarter Than Our Politicians
You can learn a lot from a rat -- especially if the subject is medical cannabis.
According to a just-published study from the University of Milan -- you didn't actually think medicinal marijuana research took place in this country, did you? -- the administration of whole-plant cannabis extracts provides superior pain relief compared to the administration of the plant's isolated components (such as THC) in an animal model of neuropathic pain.
"[T]he use of a standardized extract of Cannabis sativa ... evoked a total relief of thermal hyperalgesia, in an experimental model of neuropathic pain, ... ameliorating the effect of single cannabinoids," investigators reported. "Collectively, these findings strongly support the idea that the combination of cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid compounds, as present in [plant-derived] extracts, provide significant [therapeutic] advantages ... compared with pure cannabinoids alone."
Ironically, US lawmakers and bureaucrats have long argued just the opposite -- maintaining that the therapeutic use of the plant should remain illegal, but that its "active ingredients ... could be isolated and developed into a variety of pharmaceuticals, such as Marinol."
So if rats can deduce that whole cannabis works better as a medicine than a single synthesized molecule, what's stopping our politicians from reaching this same conclusion?
You can learn a lot from a rat -- especially if the subject is medical cannabis. ... more -
Smoking ban leads to new religion
Café owners in the Netherlands are joining religious movement known as the One and Universal Smokers Church of God, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.
‘We stand firmly behind the church’s teachings and that is smoking,’ Cor Busch, owner of the former Lindeboom café in Alkmaar told the paper. ‘Smokers are being discriminated against… but a beer and a cigarette belong together.’
Smoking has been banned in Dutch bars since July 1.
Several dozen bars have joined the movement which claims the Dutch constitution and European rules give it legitimacy under the right to freedom of religion, the paper says.
People who join the church get a membership card entitling them to smoke inside the building. Worshippers believe in the trinity of smoke, fire and ash and honour their god by smoking.
Church founder Michiel Eijsbouts says café owners who are trying to get round the ban on smoking will not be allowed to join. The church, he says, takes smoking very seriously.
‘It has ritual aspects, it is something you experience and we follow our faith very strictly,’ he told the Telegraaf. Café owners in the Netherlands are joining religious movement known as the One and Universal Smokers Church of God, the Telegraaf repo... more -
Hemp Oil and Cancer
The American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a new policy statement last week endorsing medical marijuana use. The group is urging the government to reverse its ban on medical treatments using marijuana. "ACP encourages the use of non-smoked forms of THC (the main psychoactive element in marijuana) that have proven therapeutic value," the new policy statement said. The Philadelphia-based organization, the second largest doctors group in the United States, cited studies into marijuana’s medical applications such as treating severe weight loss associated with illnesses such as AIDS, and treating nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy for cancer patients.[i]
Medical marijuana is becoming more and more associated with anti-carcinogenic effects, which are responsible in preventing or delaying the development of cancer. This means that cannabinoids offer cancer patients a therapeutic option in the treatment of highly invasive cancers. Before we look at the hard medical science that sustains these statements go to http://www.youtube.com/chrychek to see a series of videos that will convince you of the validity of these statements on cancer. The American College of Physicians wants it made legal as do millions of other people. If you or one of your loved ones every get cancer you will be wishing that the government would begin to listen to this medical organization.
12 Million new cases of Cancer Diagnosed in 2007 in the US. In addition Cancer also killed 8 million people worldwide in 2007
- American Cancer Society
After reading the science and watching this video series I am certain that any sane person with cancer or any late stage chronic disease will want free and legal access to hemp oil with a maximum concentration of THC, the active ingredient that is illegal in most places in the world. [ii] The American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a new policy statement last week endorsing medical marijuana use. The group is urging ... more -
Africa: NDLEA rates Ekiti high on Marijuana
VICTOR OGUNJE, ADO EKITI
EKITI State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has rated the state as a leading producer of Marijuana a.k.a. Indian hemp on the African continent.
The Agency also threatened to prosecute any landlord who fails to monitor his tenants’ means of livelihood.
NDLEA also revealed that a landlord was now helping it to trace the whereabouts of his tenant who allegedly stocked 34kg of Indian hemp at the popular Fayose market, located at the Ajilosun area of Ado Ekiti.
The Command had also launched a manhunt for one Bunmi Adeleye, who was said to have fled after being caught with 2.2kg of substance suspected to be a dangerous weed
Making the disclosures yesterday in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, the state Commander of the anti-drug body, Mr Ben Ikani had declared that the largest seizure which was discovered in the state last April had made the state to be recognized by the United Nations Anti- drug department as one of the areas vulnerable to drug abuse
Operatives of the NDLEA had made a landmark record, through the seizure and destruction of substances suspected to be Indian hemp, worth N84million by conservative estimation of the Agency.
Ikane disclosed the Agency would be collaborating with the state government on the need to sensitize the public to reduce the scourge of drug abuse in the state, even as he solicited for useful information that would enable the Agency to be more efficient in its duties
According to him "We are in dire need of information because we need it to perform. We are not magicians, so we can only nab the perpetrators of this dastardly act if we have useful information from people.
"Though, a lot of programmes are on Radio and Television to get the people acquainted with the evils behind drug abuse and bad name attached to it. So, I assure, no efforts would be spared to make the state Drug free", he said
On the warning to the landlords to be wary of the activities of their tenants, Ikani disclosed that the law establishing the Agency empowered it to prosecute a landlord as an accomplice if he fails to promptly report the activities of his tenant.
Ikani said those now at large could not be declared wanted at present, clarifying that such order must come from the Headquarters of the Agency in Abuja.
He said, the culprit, Adeleye, who had escaped had not been arrested when he had fled, saying he managed to escape when his men had laid an ambush for him during a night operation
On the success recorded by the Agency in its efforts to rehabilitate some victims of drug abuse, the Commandant revealed that no fewer that four persons had been rehabilitated and some were still receiving treatment to bring them to normal life.
VICTOR OGUNJE, ADO EKITI ... more -
Seattle police seize marijuana patient files
By GENE JOHNSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer
SEATTLE —
Activists say that Seattle police seized files on nearly 600 medical marijuana patients when officers searched the University District headquarters of a patient cooperative.
The search occurred on Tuesday after a bicycle officer smelled marijuana. Martin Martinez, who runs the Life Vine cooperative as well as the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said no one was arrested but officers seized about 12 ounces of marijuana in addition to the patient files and a computer. He said there were no marijuana plants growing there.
The patient files were at the office because the group issues identity cards to authorized patients, but requires their records for verification.
Medical marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt said the records are protected under federal privacy laws and the police shouldn't have them. The police department did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.
By GENE JOHNSON AP Legal Affairs Writer SEATTLE — ... more -
Cannabis may help the war on cancer
Cannabis could be used to treat many forms of cancer, new research suggests.
The drug contains an ingredient which slows tumour growth and prevents the reproduction of cancer cells, doctors say.
Its effects are seen in all cancers but particularly in those of the lung and brain, and leukaemia, it is claimed. Cannabis could be used to treat many forms of cancer, new research suggests. ... more -
Reading, writing and... marijuana?
By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News
Wilmer-Hutchins High School was shut down due to mold problems in 2004.
The vacant Wilmer-Hutchins High School hasn't been as empty as it appears. Dallas school police dismantled a suspected marijuana operation inside one of the school's classrooms Monday night.
The Dallas Independent School District owns the high school and plans to renovate it using money from a bond program that voters approved in May.
DISD police, acting on a tip, found about 240 pots in a classroom, with lights designed to help plants grow. Forty-nine pots had been seeded and a few plants had sprouted from the soil, said DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander.
Dahlander said police think the plants are marijuana but can't be certain until tests are run. No one has been arrested in connection with the operation but there are a few leads, he said.
Police also found buckets that they thought were probably used to bring in water, Dahlander said. He added that police thought the growers planned to move some seedlings to the empty pots so they'd have room to grow.
He said the high school has had a few break-ins, and that copper has been stolen. The school is boarded up but has electricity, he said.
The Wilmer-Hutchins school district, which was plagued by financial and management problems, was closed by the state in 2006 and absorbed into the Dallas district. DISD took in Wilmer-Hutchins students and acquired the defunct district's school buildings.
Dallas school officials plan to renovate the Wilmer-Hutchins High School building to use as a magnet school. DISD trustee Lew Blackburn, whose area includes the high school, had not heard of the suspected drug find Tuesday afternoon but said security would have to be beefed up once the remodeling begins.
Dr. Blackburn said it wouldn't be difficult to break in the school undetected because it's in a remote area.
"You have a whole lot of wooded area," he said. "You can break your way in because there's nobody out there."
Dahlander said the district has not provided a lot of security at the campus because it's vacant. But he said that would be reviewed in light of the suspected drug find.
"Obviously, we've got some issues out there if we've got copper being stolen and people trying to grow things inside classrooms," he said.
Several pot farms have been discovered in the Dallas area in the last year. Federal agents uncovered 10,451 marijuana plants worth up to $5 million near a Grand Prairie middle school last July. By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News Wilmer-Hutchins High School was shut down due to mold problems in 2004. ... more -
Prison Games
California Can't Afford to Play Them Anymore
'Aging inmates add strain on state prisons," said the headline in last Sunday's Reporter. It was affixed to an Associated Press report detailing how the average age of California prisoners is climbing, putting more pressure on the broken prison health-care system.
But it wasn't prison health-care that captured the attention of The Reporter's editorial board, or the fact that the writer highlighted the problem by focusing on a Vacaville prison. It was a single paragraph describing why Louis Rodriguez - a 66-year-old inmate struggling through the final stages of liver cancer at the California Medical Facility - is even in prison.
"He is serving a life sentence after being convicted of a 'third strike' for stealing candy and cheese from a Los Angeles County grocery store," author Don Thompson wrote. "The conviction in 2000 followed another petty theft and a string of robberies nearly 30 years ago."
A life sentence for petty theft? And it's costing taxpayers $98,000 to $138,000 a year to incarcerate sick inmates such as Mr. Rodriguez - more than twice to lock up a healthy prisoner.
Is this really what California voters had in mind when they approved Three Strikes 14 years ago? California Can't Afford to Play Them Anymore ... more -
Cannabis helps me deal with pain - Shields Gazette
By Andy Hughes
A MAN grew £3,000 of cannabis in his home to cope with the pain of a crippling bone disease, a court heard.
John Langley was arrested after police raided his home on March 18, and found 36 cannabis plants in his upstairs bedroom.
The 54-year-old, of Collingwood Street, South Shields, has osteoporosis – which causes pain from having brittle bones – and said cannabis helps ease the agony caused by the condition.
Langley, who also underwent a hernia operation recently, pleaded guilty to producing the cannabis plants at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court yesterday. He was given a conditional discharge for two years.
But Langley, who may go to prison if he commits another offence while on probation, today claimed it was "unfair" that he be punished for easing his pain.
He said: "I don't understand it, I'm not harming anyone. Cannabis helps me cope with the problems I have.
"It's legal to buy all the equipment, the lights, and even the seeds, but as soon as you grow it for yourself you get thrown in court."
Glenda Beck, prosecuting, told the court how police found hundreds of pounds worth of cannabis growing equipment, including a special fluorescent light to help the plants grow.
There were 15 small, 16 medium-sized and four large plants confiscated, which will all now be destroyed.
Mrs Beck added: "Mr Langley said the plants were for his own personal use as he smokes the buds.
"The cannabis had a potential street value of £3,240."
Tony Malia, defending, said: "The street value of the cannabis is irrelevant, as this was for his own use and he had no intent to supply, otherwise the police would have charged him with intent to supply.
"The cannabis gave him more pain relief than the drugs prescribed to him by his GP.
"He was given the equipment by a friend who told him what to do." By Andy Hughes A MAN grew £3,000 of cannabis in his home to cope with the pain of a crippling bone disease, a court heard. ... more -
Ireland: Is It Time To Legalise Drugs?
Ending prohibition would probably lead to a reduction in drug use overall, he says, pointing to the example of the Netherlands, which introduced a policy of permitting the legal use of cannabis in 1972.
The numbers of young people using cannabis went down, and the number of people going on to hard drug use also went down. Teenagers in the Netherlands are less likely than many in Europe - and much less likely than Irish teenagers - to use cannabis.
"They made cannabis boring, it was something people in their late 20s and 30s did to waste their afternoons. It had no glamour for teenagers. Prohibition is an engine of counter-productivity and attracts young people into drugs. They are curious, they want to experiment." Ending prohibition would probably lead to a reduction in drug use overall, he says, pointing to the example of the Netherlands, which ... more -
Woman who promoted drug testing in schools indicted on heroin charges
A Norwalk woman who promoted drug testing in Norwalk City Schools has been indicted for selling heroin.
Broz BUY PHOTO
A Huron County grand jury on Friday indicted Stephanie L. Broz, 22, of 154 W. Main St., Apt. C1, on three counts of trafficking in heroin and one charge of possession of heroin. She had been arrested June 5 during a traffic stop on Benedict Avenue. Officers located a significant amount of suspected heroin in Broz's possession.
The arrest came pursuant to two Norwalk Municipal Court warrants, which were for trafficking in heroin.
"She admitted selling in the Norwalk area," Norwalk Police Detective Sgt. Todd Temple said at the time of her arrest.
The arrest was part of a METRICH investigation. Huron County Sheriff's Capt. Robert McLaughlin and Erie County Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Lippert also assisted with the investigation.
Following the arrest, Temple said the current investigation of Broz was "about a week old" but added officers had been investigating her for about a year.
Temple said Broz's supplier was from Columbus. "There's an active investigation in Columbus, too," Temple said.
Following the arrest, Broz's then-2-month-old child was removed from the home and placed with Huron County Children Services.
Broz's speaking at Norwalk school board meetings was not honest, according to what she told officers in June.
"She told officers she talked about the drug testing to take the pressure off or to avert attention (from her)," Temple said. "She said it was a scam." A Norwalk woman who promoted drug testing in Norwalk City Schools has been indicted for selling heroin. Broz BUY PHOTO ... more -
Santacruzan 2008 Queen Reyna Elena
In many places in the Philippines, during the month of May, many processions are held in honor of the Virgin Mary. This one is held in Glendale, California. Sometimes, one is reminded only that it is the month of May when one meets such a procession downtown or in a sidestreet of the city. That is the Santa Cruz de Mayo. Many versions of the procession have evolved through the years. And this makes it interesting to find out what it was really like in the time of our grandfathers. In many places in the Philippines, during the month of May, many processions are held in honor of the Virgin Mary. This one is held in... more
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Glass Man
One man's passion with the art of making stained glass.
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Il nuovo portatile low cost
Ed ecco in un video la presentazione di Nicholas Negroponte per la seconda versione del suo laptop per i bambini dei Paesi in via di sviluppo.
Più piccolo e leggero del suo predecessore, consumerà un solo Watt, e costerà meno della meta: 75 $. Ed ecco in un video la presentazione di Nicholas Negroponte per la seconda versione del suo laptop per i bambini dei Paesi in via di s... more -
Indian students among the best in the world say Oxford University
The Oxford University considers Indian students among the best in the world and would like more of them joining its campus, Chancellor Chris Patten has said.
The university, which produced the likes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has presently 257 Indian students on roll. But one-third of its students are from China.
"We want more Indian students because we want the best in the world to come to Oxford," Mr. Patten said. Most of the Indian students are in the Said Business School.
"About a quarter of the students are doing MBAs...but I would like to see more in social sciences and humanities, doing both under-graduate and post-graduate work," he said.
Though Indians are less in number, they have won more scholarships than the Chinese.
Last year, they won 54 different scholarships, including the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, according to an Oxford journal. "They (Indians) probably got more than China," the Chancellor said.
He said the number of scholarships may go up as the university improves its financial position.
"I hope as we develop our endowments we will be able to offer many more (scholarships) to post-graduate students in the next few years," Patten said. The university has developed a Master’s programme in South Asian studies.
For a one-year MBA programme, it could cost as much as Rs. 40 lakh, including the cost of tuition fee, boarding and lodging and the out-of-pocket expenses.
"It is a different world out here...We are gaining immensely," said Karandeep Singh Vohra, pursuing MBA at the Said Business School.
http://www.worldamazingrecords.com The Oxford University considers Indian students among the best in the world and would like more of them joining its campus, Chancellor... more -
Stile Italia - Un Corto d'Animazione - Gli autori della Grafica che hanno lanciato...
Stile Italia is a movie produced with motion picture animation on The Great Italian Graphic Designer. [by Antonio Prigiobbo, Clemente Brunetti e Gianluca Iannotta] On Franco Bassi, Walter Ballmer, Antonio Boggeri, Egidio Bonfante, Erberto Carboni, Leo Lionni, Bruno Munari, Remo Muratore, Marcello Nizzoli, Giovanni Pintori, Saul Steinberg, Albe Steiner, Armando Testa, Luigi Veronesi.
Stile Italia is a movie produced with motion picture animation on The Great Italian Graphic Designer. [by Antonio Prigiobbo, Clemente ... more -
L'opera completa di Charles Darwin on-line
La teoria dell'evoluzione per selezione naturale è valida oggi quanto lo era cinquant'anni fa, quando Charles Darwin la illustrò con grande eleganza nell' "Origine della specie attraverso la selezione naturale". Il meccanismo di evoluzione dipende dal fatto che in tutti gli organismi, dai microbi agli esseri umani, si verificano continuamente dei piccoli cambiamenti casuali che si trasmettono per via ereditaria. Di conseguenza, tutti i membri di una nuova generazione sono leggermente diversi dai loro predecessori. La maggior parte delle variazioni a un effetto nullo o negativo sulla capacità dell'organismo di sopravvivere e di riprodursi, ma di tanto in tanto si verifica un cambiamento che aumenta la sua capacità di vivere meglio nella nicchia ambientale in cui si trova. Queste mutazioni positive tendono a diffondersi tra la popolazione. Una caratteristica importante dell'evoluzione darwiniana è che agisce sui singoli individui. Non esiste un meccanismo di selezione naturale in grado di modificare una specie nel suo complesso, se non attraverso l'accumulo di cambiamenti che portano alla sopravvivenza degli individui più adatti. Il ritmo di evoluzione varia enormemente tra i diversi tipi di organismi e le diverse situazioni ambientali. Quando la pressione è forte può essere molto rapido. Per esempio, quando i batteri sono esposti agli antibiotici, le mutazioni resistenti al farmaco possono nascere e diffondersi attraverso la popolazione nel giro di pochi mesi.
Ora l'opera completa di Charles Darwin è disponibile on-line. L'università di Cambridge ha digitalizzato 20.000 scritti, 90.000 immagini e almeno una copia di ogni pubblicazione del naturalista inglese. Tra le altre cose, si possono consultare il manoscritto della prima bozza dell'"Origine della specie" e i disegni degli animali realizzati alle Galapagos. La teoria dell'evoluzione per selezione naturale è valida oggi quanto lo era cinquant'anni fa, quando Charles Darwin la illustrò con g... more -
wannabe a filmaker
Un modo alternativo per apprendere la magica arte dell'immagine in movimento
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