Clinical trials show medical benefits of pot

by Victoria Colliver,Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writers

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The first U.S. clinical trials in more than 20 years on the medical efficacy of marijuana found that pot helps relieve pain and muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and certain neurological conditions, according to a report released Wednesday by a UC research center.

Dr. Igor Grant, a UC San Diego psychiatrist who directs the center, called the report "good evidence" that marijuana would be an effective front-line treatment for neuropathy, a condition that can cause tingling, numbness and pain.
"We focused on illnesses where current medical treatment does not provide adequate relief or coverage of symptoms," Grant said. "These findings provide a strong science-based context in which policymakers and the public can begin discussing the place of cannabis in medical care."
Despite California's passage in 1996 of Proposition 215, which allows patients with a valid doctor's recommendation to grow and possess marijuana for personal medical use, the federal government classifies marijuana as an illicit drug with no medical use and has closed pot clubs and prosecuted suppliers. Thirteen other states have passed similar measures legalizing medical marijuana.
Proponents of medical marijuana see Wednesday's news as the turning of the tide for what they hope would become federal acceptance of pot's therapeutic benefits.

The report by the University of California's Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research can be found at www.cmcr.ucsd.edu.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/17/MNRF1C3964.DTL#ixzz0fvRdkJhr

Demand CBS Reverse Decision Declaring Pro-Marijuana Ad “Too Political” | Criminal Justice | Change.org

Demand CBS Reverse Decision Declaring Pro-Marijuana Ad “Too Political” Criminal Justice Change.org


Targeting: Leslie Moonves (CBS CEO), Dana McClintock (CBS Senior VP for Corporate Communications) and Jeremy Murphy (CBS Outdoor VP Communications)
Started by: Change.org

CBS, which recently ran a superbowl ad sponsored by the extreme right-wing group Focus on the Family, has just rejected an ad by NORML calling for the legalization of marijuana.
The ad was supposed to run on Times Square billboards owned by CBS in New York City. The slogan at the end of the ad was simply “Legalize Marijuana – Billions in Taxes.”

CBS previously rejected ads from a variety of progressive organizations including MoveOn and the United Church of Christ by saying that it didn’t accept “advocacy” ads at all. In response to the controversy surrounding the Focus on the Family ad, however, the company claimed it changed its policy and would now accept “responsibly produced” advocacy ads.
An email from the ad buying company NORML used told the organization “that If CBS changes their morals we will let you know.”
CBS is clearly acting in bad faith as it accepts conservative political ads but not progressive ones. The company is not only banning NORML’s message, it is implicitly endorsing Focus on the Family at the same time.


Send an email to CBS and tell them to accept the NORML ad now!  Sign the Petition by clicking here.

The Petition to End Drug Prohibition

The Petition to End Drug Prohibition

The Petition to End Drug Prohibition


www.enddrugprohibition.com

Students for Sensible Drug Policy is committed to providing education on harms caused by the War on Drugs, working to involve youth in the political process, and promoting an open, honest, and rational discussion of alternative solutions to our nation's drug problems
 
http://www.enddrugprohibition.com/?sid=5&sub=1

A Brief History of Medical Marijuana

By Patrick Stack, with Claire Suddath Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

On Oct. 19, the U.S. Justice Department announced that federal prosecutors would not pursue medical-marijuana users and distributors who comply with state laws, formalizing a policy at which the Obama Administration hinted earlier this year. Currently, 13 states allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients suffering from ailments ranging from AIDS to glaucoma, and in Maryland a prescription can soften punishment if a user faces prosecution. But until now those laws didn't provide any protection from federal authorities. (Read "Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy?")

Should Professors Cheech and Chong ever receive university tenure teaching the medical history of their favorite subject, the course pack would be surprisingly thick. As early as 2737 B.C., the mystical Emperor Shen Neng of China was prescribing marijuana tea for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria and, oddly enough, poor memory. The drug's popularity as a medicine spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and down the eastern coast of Africa, and certain Hindu sects in India used marijuana for religious purposes and stress relief. Ancient physicians prescribed marijuana for everything from pain relief to earache to childbirth. Doctors also warned against overuse of marijuana, believing that too much consumption caused impotence, blindness and "seeing devils."

By the late 18th century, early editions of American medical journals recommend hemp seeds and roots for the treatment of inflamed skin, incontinence and venereal disease. Irish doctor William O'Shaughnessy first popularized marijuana's medical use in England and America. As a physician with the British East India Company, he found marijuana eased the pain of rheumatism and was helpful against discomfort and nausea in cases of rabies, cholera and tetanus.

The sea change in American attitudes toward pot came at the end of the 19th century, when between 2% and 5% of the U.S. population was unknowingly addicted to morphine, a popular secret ingredient in patent medicines with colorful names like "The People's Healing Liniment for Man or Beast" and "Dr. Fenner's Golden Relief." To prevent more of the country from being washed over with a morphine-induced golden relief, the government introduced the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, creating the Food and Drug Administration. While it didn't apply to marijuana and merely brought the distribution of opium and morphine under doctors' control, the regulation of chemical substances was a major shift in American drug policy. (See pictures of cannabis culture.)

(continued at TIME…)

U.S. Support for Legalizing Marijuana Reaches New High

 

Majority in the West favors taxing marijuana sales to boost state revenues

by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup's October Crime poll finds 44% of Americans in favor of making marijuana legal and 54% opposed. U.S. public support for legalizing marijuana was fixed in the 25% range from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, but acceptance jumped to 31% in 2000 and has continued to grow throughout this decade.

"The highest level of support for decriminalizing the use of marijuana today is seen with self-described liberals, among whom 78% are in favor."

Public opinion is virtually the same on a question that relates to a public policy debate brewing in California -- whether marijuana should be legalized and taxed as a way of raising revenue for state governments. Just over 4 in 10 Americans (42%) say they would favor this in their own state; 56% are opposed. Support is markedly higher among residents of the West -- where an outright majority favor the proposal -- than in the South and Midwest. The views of Eastern residents fall about in the middle.

The new findings come as the U.S. Justice Department has reportedly decided to loosen its enforcement of federal anti-marijuana laws by not pursuing individuals who buy or sell small amounts of the drug in conformity with their own states' medical marijuana laws. This seems likely to meet with U.S. public approval, as previous Gallup polling has found Americans generally sympathetic to legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. In 2003, 75% of Americans favored allowing doctors to legally prescribe marijuana to patients in order to reduce pain and suffering.

Basic Support for Legalization Highest Among Liberals

The highest level of support for decriminalizing the use of marijuana today is seen with self-described liberals, among whom 78% are in favor. In contrast, 72% of conservatives are opposed. Moderates are about evenly divided on whether the use of marijuana should be legal, although they tilt against it (51% vs. 46%).

Somewhat milder differences are seen according to political party, mainly because of the tempered support of Democrats relative to that of liberals. However, a solid 70% of Republicans -- similar to the rate seen among conservatives -- are opposed.

Gallup also finds a generational rift on the issue, as 50% of those under 50 and 45% of those 50 to 64 say it should be legal, compared with 28% of seniors.

(continued…)

U.S. Support for Legalizing Marijuana Reaches New High

Possible Major Speed Bump on the Way to Legal Marijuana | AlterNet

By Stephen Webster, Raw Story. Posted October 11, 2009.

In spite of a law on California books for over a decade allowing sales of pot, L.A. DA Steve Cooley suddenly announces, "The time is right to deal with this problem."

In spite of a law on California books for over a decade which allows the sale of medical cannabis to properly licensed patients, the district attorney in Los Angeles County is preparing an all-out legal assault against the "vast majority" of dispensaries.

"Hundreds of dispensaries operate under a 1996 voter initiative that allowed medical marijuana use, and a state law that allows for collective growing of marijuana," NBC Los Angeles reported. "But based on a state Supreme Court decision last year, [LA County District Attorney Steve] Cooley has concluded that over-the-counter sales are illegal. Most if not all of the dispensaries in the state operate on that basis."

"The vast, vast, vast majority, about 100%, of dispensaries in Los Angeles County and the city are operating illegally, they are dealing marijuana illegally, according to our theory," Cooley said, according to The Los Angeles Times. "The time is right to deal with this problem."

That "problem" -- over the counter sales of marijuana to licensed patients -- accounted for some $18 million in tax revenue for the state last year, reported The Christian Science-Monitor, during a time when California is facing the greatest budgetary challenges in its history.

However, those with prescriptions for marijuana account for roughly 10 percent of the state's marijuana users, according to a California NORML report (PDF link) prepared for the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance.

"In a radio interview on KABC-AM (790), Cooley reiterated his plan to close down many of the 800 to 900 medical marijuana shops believed to be operating in the city of Los Angeles," noted the Contra-Costa Times.

"We will give them fair notice and, hopefully, they will see the light and voluntarily close down," Cooley reportedly said. "We are going to uphold the laws of California."

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a group which advocates the nation-wide legalization of cannabis for adults, strongly disagrees.

"In a radio interview on KABC-AM (790), Cooley reiterated his plan to close down many of the 800 to 900 medical marijuana shops believed to be operating in the city of Los Angeles," noted the Contra-Costa Times.

(Click the link below to read the entire story.)

Possible Major Speed Bump on the Way to Legal Marijuana | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet

Marijuana: A Potential Treatment for “Swine Flu”?

From Show Me the Facts;
So as the world slowly but surely begins to freak out about the new swine flu going around, I came across an interesting article about Cannabis Science Inc. reporting on a “prospective life saving treatment for H1N1 Swine Flu and H5N1 Bird Flu”.

Marijuana: A Potential Treatment for “Swine Flu”?

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MA: Next week's Town Meetings and City Council Meeting on local marijuana laws

Pertinent NORML meetings in Massachusetts on local marijuana laws.  The meetings are to stop the state from raising penalties form $100 to $300 for using marijuana. 

If you live and Massachusetts and can attend any of these meetings please do and stand up for smokers rights!

Dear NORML Supporters in MA,

Town meeting season is heating up.

Next week there are eight town meetings and one city council meeting involving local bylaws/ordinances that increase the penalties for using up to $300.

-Do you live in one of these communities?

-Do you live near these communities?

-Do you know people in these communities?

Please spread the word, it is our turn to JUST SAY NO!

Canton (Open) ATM, Monday, April 27 (Fin. Comm. informed that Article was being withdrawn p. 86 .) Concord (Open) ATM , Monday, April 27 (no motion expect )

Hingham (Open) ATM, Monday, April 27 (passage is recommended by Finance & Advisory)

Reading (Representative), ATM , Monday, April 27 (Fin. Com. no report, By-Law Com. recommends passage!)

Wareham (Open) ATM , Monday, April 27

Truro (Open) ATM , Tuesday, April 28 (Selectmen by a vote of 2 - 3 refused to recommend its passage)

Braintree City Council, April 28, Pot Patriots please attend .

Wenham (Open), Saturday, May 2 (Selectmen saved it a place )

Wilmington (Open), ATM, Saturday, May 2

There will be eighteen town meetings the week of May 3 - 10 and eight more that we know about before the end of May. City council agenda's are set with less advance notice.

Being vocal is having an effect. In the cities of Everett, Quincy and Revere it has been placed on the back burner, if not forgotten. We have identified 65 towns, who have held or are holding Town Meetings without the issue being on the warrant and as you will note above in both Canton and Concord no motion is expected.

Worcester and West Newbury REJECTED such proposals.

Auburn, Topsfield and Walpole decided NOT to put it on the ATM Warrant.

Although Plymouth's police chief mentioned it in January Plymouth selectmen the selectmen didn't discuss it at all nor did they put it on the warrants for April 4 Special and Annual Town Meetings.

Wellesley Town Meeting 4/7 NO MOTION!

Provincetown Town Meeting 4/6 Motion failed to carry!

Manchester Town Meeting 4/6 amended to place it before voters at town election and to refer it to Board of Health .

For more details visit: http://www.masscann.org/legal-reform/60-politics/176-cities-and-towns-considering-their-own-laws-updated-42209-at-626-am

Attorney Steven S. Epstein Treasurer and Database Manager 978-352-3300

Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition\NORML A State Affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Proud Sponsor of Freedom Rally XX, Sept. 19, 2009 on the Boston Common P.O. Box 0266, Georgetown, MA 01833-0366 781-944-2266 -http://www.masscann.org/

Technorati Tags: marijuana,Massachusetts,marijuana laws,activism,actions,town meetings,marijuana decriminalization,decriminalization,NORML,Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition,Freedom Rally XX,cannabis

5 Tips for Calling Congress on Marijuana Policy Reform

Watch as MPP's Aaron Houston walks through the things you should know before calling Congress to express your opinions and support for marijuana policy reform. Help end the war on drugs and get active by following these easy steps.



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For Marijuana Advocates, Not-So-Secret Holiday Hints @Change

By JESSE McKINLEY

SAN FRANCISCO — On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people will gather for High Times magazine’s annual beauty pageant, a secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will “turn the Big Apple into the Baked Apple and help us usher in a new era of marijuana freedom in America.”

They will not be the only ones partaking: April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year’s “high holiday” carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.

“It is the biggest moment yet,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who cited several national polls showing growing support for legalization. “There’s a sense that the notion of legalizing marijuana is starting to cross the fringes into mainstream debate.”

For Mr. Nadelmann and others like him, the signs of change are everywhere, from the nation’s statehouses — where more than a dozen legislatures have taken up measures to allow some medical use of marijuana or some easing of penalties for recreational use — to its swimming pools, where an admission of marijuana use by the Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was largely forgiven with a shrug.

Long stigmatized as political poison, the marijuana movement has found new allies in prominent politicians, including Representatives Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, who co-wrote a bill last year to decrease federal penalties for possession and to give medical users new protections.

The bill failed, but with the recession prompting bulging budget deficits, some legislators in California and Massachusetts have gone further, suggesting that the drug could be legalized and taxed, a concept that has intrigued even such ideologically opposed pundits as Glenn Beck of Fox News and Jack Cafferty of CNN.
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Happy 4/20! The True Story Behind Stoners' Favorite Number

by Ryan Grim, Huffington Post -

Where does 420 come from?

Warren Haynes, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist, routinely plays with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now touring as The Dead. He's just finished a Dead show in Washington, D.C. and gets a pop quiz from the Huffington Post.

Where does 420 come from?

He pauses and thinks, hands on his side. "I don't know the real origin. I know myths and rumors," he says. "I'm really confused about the first time I heard it. It was like a police code for smoking in progress or something. What's the real story?"

Depending on who you ask, or their state of inebriation, there are as many varieties of answers as strains of medical bud in California. It's the number of active chemicals in marijuana. It's teatime in Holland. It has something to do with Hitler's birthday. It's those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.

The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers every April 20th, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the folks who made it a phenomenon.

The Huffington Post chased the term back to its roots and was able to find it in a lost patch of cannabis in a Point Reyes, California forest. Just as interesting as its origin, it turns out, is how it spread.

It starts with the Dead.

It was Christmas week in Oakland, 1990. Steven Bloom was wandering through The Lot - that timeless gathering of hippies that springs up in the parking lot before every Grateful Dead concert - when a Deadhead handed him a yellow flyer.

"We are going to meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais," reads the message, which Bloom dug up and forwarded to the Huffington Post. Bloom, then a reporter for High Times magazine and now the publisher of CelebStoner.com and co-author of Pot Culture, had never heard of "420-ing" before.

The flyer came complete with a 420 back story: "420 started somewhere in San Rafael, California in the late '70s. It started as the police code for Marijuana Smoking in Progress. After local heads heard of the police call, they started using the expression 420 when referring to herb - Let's Go 420, dude!"

Bloom reported his find in the May 1991 issue of High Times, which the magazine found in its archives and provided to the Huffington Post. The story, though, was only partially right.

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A younger Barack Obama on the War on Drugs and marijuana

Barack Obama says the War on Drugs has been an utter failure and advocates the decriminalization of marijuana.
This clip will be blogged about at http://2parse.com/?p=2648


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Want to Have Great Sex? Smoke a Joint

Marijuana has been used as an aphrodisiac for thousands of years. So what exactly is it about weed that turns people on?

By Josey Vogels, My Messy Bedroom.

Marijuana has been used as an aphrodisiac for thousands of years.

The ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine systems used cannabis to increase libido, produce long-lasting erections, delay ejaculation, facilitate lubrication and loosen inhibitions.

Some Tantric sex practitioners drink a substance called bhang, a sort of spiced marijuana milkshake to enhance the sexual experience. According to one source, Indian prostitutes eat bhang sherbet to help them feel sexually aroused.

In 19th century Serbia, female virgins were given mixtures of lamb's fat and cannabis on their wedding night to make sex less painful. Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon and other Middle Eastern and Northern African cultures used cannabis for sexual purposes in a potent form known at kif as recently as the early 20th century.

So what exactly is it about weed that turns people on?

Besides the obvious: it heightens your senses, relaxes you and makes you feel hyper connected, there are also physiological effects.

Along with an increased heart rate, changes in blood flow and respiration, according to William Novak, author of the 1980 tome, High Culture: Marijuana in the Lives of Americans, "Neurochemistry, hormonal systems and brain regions such as the temporal lobe are affected by both marijuana and sexual arousal."

That's because THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the active ingredient in pot, not only releases dopamine in the brain -- causing the "high" -- it actually replicates the effects of a sexy little naturally occurring neurochemical called anandamide.

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Former Miss New Jersey Speaks Out For Medical Marijuana

From MikeCann.net

A former Miss New Jersey has put down her tiara and is ready to fight for the legalization of medical marijuana.

Georgine DiMaria, 24, said as a child her asthma was so severe that it left her bedridden, forcing her to be homeschooled. “When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters,” she said.When DiMaria learned that her uncle in South Carolina had used marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer, DiMaria investigated it herself. It helped her immensely, she said. Because of law enforcement taken against people that have used marijuana for medicinal purposes, DiMaria would not say when she used marijuana or how she obtained it, but she did say it was medically beneficial to her.

DiMaria also said she kept her usage under wraps while serving as Miss New Jersey, due to the controversy surrounding the drug and its potential to be abused. DiMaria became Miss New Jersey pageant and competed in the Miss America pageant in 2006. Since then, she has served as a national spokeswoman for the American Lung Association. DiMaria emphasized that she does not condone smoking.

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Medical Marijuana Lies Must Not Stand!

From New York Medical Marijuana Society

But what happens when they do not? What and where is the accountability when politics is allowed to extinguish the flame of truth, when propaganda rather than sound science is allowed to rule the day, dictate policy and shape public perception? Propaganda is a strong word, and therefore one I wish to define...from my perspective, for the purpose of this article, Propaganda is selectively omitting or employing facts to persuade members of the general public to hold a specific view point. All this may not make sense if you are unaware of ASA's (Americans for Safe Access) court case in the Ninth Circuit Court that was heard yesterday. At question...the Federal Government's wrongful position in public discourse that there are no Medical Benefits to be found in Cannabis (marijuana).

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FOX News Says Marijuana Activists are Just Internet Trolls

Good reply to FOX News' failure to admit defeat in the elections so they attack people with a purpose thinking they'll break them down...activists are the bleeding heart liberals that the GOP made fun of for sooooooo many years....nothing will break us after the last 8 years of hell...nothing! Boo-Yah!

Peace to those that believe everything is possible!

soul

Posted in Speakeasy Main by Scott Morgan

Really, FOX News? You are so incapable of understanding our argument that you would dismiss us as saboteurs? If the mere mention of reforming marijuana laws is such a grand affront to civil discourse, let me introduce you to a few more "trolls" out there on the internet spreading crazy ideas about not arresting people for marijuana:
There's Joe Klein at Time, David Sirota at The Nation, Kathleen Parker at the Washington Post, Paul Jacob at TownHall.com, Hendrik Hertzberg at The New Yorker, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic, Glenn Greenwald at Salon, Debra Saunders at the San Francisco Chronicle, Leonard Pitts at Miami Herald, John Richardson at Esquire, Margery Eagan at Boston Herald and many more. If these names sound familiar to you, it's becaue they aren't trolls at all, rather they are respected journalists who are joining the national conversation about the harms of our vicious marijuana laws.
In one of Obama's recent online forums, I saw this question: "How many donuts can I fit on my dong?" That was a troll, and it got deleted. This is a movement, and it isn't going away. Our issue is bigger than the organizations backing it. It didn't win Obama's forum because marijuana reformers know something about online organizing that other interest groups don't. It won because it is this defining question that quickly separates petty hypocrites from bold leaders, that distinguishes self-evident truths from antiquated propaganda, and that pits common sense against the mindless drug war hysteria that maintains a frigid stranglehold on our political culture, rendering impotent the promise of change that inspired so many hopeful Americans to lay their hopes and dreams at the steps of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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90% Of CNN Viewers Want Marijuana Legalized!

Two talking heads (both part of government anti-drug programs) take on the tough issues of how to solve the violence at the US/Mexican border. SURPRISE! 90% of CNN viewers want it legalized!



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The big business of marijuana

From CNN’s Jeanne Meserve - And all this week we’re breaking down America’s drug addiction and examining how it’s helping fuel the violence spilling over the border. Today we’re looking at the 8.5 billion dollar business being made off marijuana. How do you stop the supply when there’s such a massive demand?



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In Calif., Medical Marijuana Laws Are Moving Pot Into the Mainstream

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- With little notice and even less controversy, marijuana is now available as a medical treatment in California to almost anyone who tells a willing physician he would feel better if he smoked.

Pot is now retailed over the counter in hundreds of storefronts across Los Angeles and is credited with reviving a section of downtown Oakland, where an entrepreneur sells out classes offering "quality training for the cannabis industry." The tabloid LA Journal of Education for Medical Marijuana is fat with ads for Magic Purple, Strawberry Cough and other offerings in more than 400 "dispensaries" operating in the city.

Los Angeles officials say applications for retail outlets surged after Feb. 26, when U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration will no longer raid such stores. Those pressing for change in drug laws regard the announcement as a watershed in a 40-year battle against marijuana's official listing as a dangerous drug -- a legal fight that, in California, is being waged on ground that has shifted dramatically toward acceptance.

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What the drug wars cost

 

Isn't this obvious?

 

Drug abuse is a bad thing.

But giving a big slice of the world economy to criminals is utterly insane.

I never heard the case stated so clearly.

What the drug wars cost

Technorati Tags: drugs,drug reform,opinion,video,BrasscheckTV,war on drugs,marijuana,marijuana prohibition