January 14, 2012

Romney Meets Dying Medical Marijuana Patient

The larger issue, however, is that the ENTIRE FEDERAL GOVT is willing to let people die in order to continue failed policy.

Shame on you, Congress - most especially Lamar Smith (R) Texas, who is keeping a bill in his committee to decriminalize marijuana. Smith is also the jerk behind SOPA.

Stop this insanity now.

January 13, 2012

O’Shaughnessy’s News Service: The Journal of Cannabis in Clinical Practice

http://cannabisclinicians.org/oshaughnessys/



Many of the articles available at this link are in .pdf format.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to find out about cannabis medicine from those who are involved in research and practice.

January 13, 2012

if you're interested

Here is a doctor who talks about current uses at a conference at UW-Madison Medical School in 2007.

David Bearman M.D., Santa Barbara, California, is one of the leading physicians in the U.S. in the field of medical marijuana. He has spent 40 years working in substance and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs. Dr. Bearman was a pioneer in the free and community clinic movement. His career includes public health, administrative medicine, primary care, pain management and cannabinology.

Bearman's not a pulmonary specialist, however. Dr. Tashkin is.

Tashkin recruited 400 people for an experiment (beyond the ones I linked to initially here.) These people had various levels of usage, including heavy usage.

&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLA8CA98AB933908C9
Part 1 looks at overall lung function and various studies.

Donald P. Tashkin, MD - Medical Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory, Professor of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. Presented to Fifth Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics held in Pacific Grove, CA, April, 2008

His findings in this study replicate his earlier studies. He includes a study from 2007 in New Zealand, another study in Arizona...

regular heavy smoking of cannabis is asso. with coughing and sputum. bronchitis. inflammation of the bronchia. that is not the same as lung disease.

he notes COPD, i.e. emphysema, is not evidenced with cannabis but it is with tobacco. loss of lung function...all lung function for the cannabis users was within the normal function in his large study. The New Zealand study confirmed this. The Arizona study found it might, in the future, lead to COPD.

COPD tends to occur later in life. This is why the study in the OP, a twenty-year study, is considered important b/c of the normal onset of COPD - or decrease in lung function.

&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLA8CA98AB933908C9
Part 2 looks at emphysema

The New Zealand study only found emphysema in the tobacco smokers.

He talks about 4 individuals who were reported with billae (not generalized emphysema) and those people were also associated with cigarette smoking.

Marijuana smokers, even if they smoked tobacco as well, as the same rate of lung function, over time, as non-smokers of any kind. Only tobacco-smokers had decreased lung function.

&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLA8CA98AB933908C9
Part 3 looks a lung cancer

I think what you find, often, is that the govt. has so consistently lied about the properties of cannabis, in general, that people in the U.S. who know about this history begin to have a "the boy who cried wolf" reaction.

The govt. has hurt its capacity, or anyone else's, to make a case about real issues concerning cannabis b/c of this long history of lying about the same.

People know about the bad studies the govt has done and tried to hide - like the one in which they suffocated monkeys and claimed mj causes brain damage - and then tried to deny access to others who wanted to look at the study. (That was in the 1980s.)

People know that the govt tried to make it hard to obtain early studies that other researchers sought out later b/c they didn't like the positive results of those studies. That's not science. That's politics.

This is why prohibition is such a bad idea. In order to maintain it, the govt has been so willing to lie or obscure that they have lost their authority among a population and have created disrespect for institutions that are supposed to exist to provide information, not support for bad law.

January 12, 2012

The Botany of Desire (PBS, 2009)

Based upon Michael Pollan's Book of the same name.
Four plants: Apples, Tulips, Cannabis and Potatoes and their evolution with human populations

&feature=related

January 12, 2012

Medical Ethics and Cannabis Prohibition, by Richard Bonnie, JD

40 Minutes
Professor Richard J. Bonnie, University of Virginia Law School;
In October, 2007, Professor Bonnie was awarded the 2007 Thomas Jefferson Award, the University of Virginia's highest honor
2004

January 12, 2012

Holistic Biochemistry of Cannabinoids

41 Minutes
Robert Melamede, Professor of Biology
2007

January 12, 2012

Cannabis and Cannabinoids in 21st Century Medicine: Medical Marijuana in the Clinic

49 Minutes
University of Wisconsin Medical School
2007
David Bearman

January 12, 2012

Cannabinoid System in Neuroprotection - Raphael Mechoulam

49 minutes long

January 12, 2012

The Moral Case for Legalizing Marijuana

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathanmiller/the-moral-case-for-legali_b_1199242.html

I'm part of (a) moral majority. But unlike Jerry Falwell's version, my values system is based on the multi-religious mandate to "love your neighbor as yourself." I've even written a book, The Compassionate Community, which applies Bible lessons and other religions' texts to advocate for progressive policies that promote the common good.

And I've recently concluded that these same enduring moral values compel me to support legalizing marijuana.

The politician in recovery from KY goes on to state his case...

...It's always important to scrutinize any efforts to solve our economic and social problems through the legalization, taxation, or expansion of so-called "vices" that, when abused, can impair the lives of addicts and their families. That's why it's critical for any cannabis legalization regime to be strictly regulated, and that significant sums be set aside for drug treatment programs. Additionally, local governments must leverage their recent experience with tobacco to provide adequate public protections against secondhand smoke.

But as a matter of public policy, our focus shouldn't be on the private morality of individuals who choose to smoke pot, but on the public morality of the nation. And the beneficial impacts of legalizing marijuana -- for our neighbors who struggle with serious illness; for our heavily-burdened system of criminal justice; and for the job creation and economic opportunity it would bring to our nation -- would only serve to strengthen America's moral fiber.

January 12, 2012

Canada's Liberal Party to vote on cannabis legalization resolution at convention

Here's the resolution: http://convention.liberal.ca/justice/117-legalize-and-regulate-marijuana/

The proposition was one of the "Leading resolutions" among Liberal party members on the party's official website, ranking fourth behind "Democratic Renewal", "Preferential Balloting System," and "Accelerated Development of Clean, Renewable, and of conservation and energy efficiency in Canada."

"What's interesting in this case," long-time marijuana activist and current Liberal Party delegate Marc-Boris St-Maurice told Cannabis Culture, "is there have been similar resolutions in the past but the difference this time is the level of support from leadership of the party, who have been pretty vocal about their support for getting this on the convention floor. That's a first. After doing this for 20 years, to see the leadership of the Liberal party finally developing an appetite for this kind of policy is a big deal and a new development."

(Bob) Rae (current leader of the Liberal Party in Canada) was a vocal opponent of Conservative crime bill C-10, which was passed by the House of Commons in December of 2011 and now heads to the Senate for approval before it can become Canadian law.

"This bill will impose mandatory minimums that will turn young offenders into hardened criminals," Rae said. "It fails the mentally ill, aboriginal people, visible minorities and the poor. It repeats the mistakes of failed, expensive and discredited American crime policy. ... At the end of the day we will have more crime, less justice, skyrocketing costs, prison overcrowding, less rehabilitation for the offenders, less protection for victims and less protection for the public. Liberals are committed to pursuing a crime and justice approach that is evidence-based, cost effective and focused on preventing crime and victimization.”

http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2012/01/11/Proposed-Liberal-Party-Resolution-Calls-Marijuana-Legalization