The British media and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in the United States are lying again.

Scientists are NOT warning of a cannabis timebomb.

A recent report titled “Cannabis and schizophrenia” is the newest weapon for the prohibition crowd. The UK Times ran the headline, “Scientists warn of cannabis ‘timebomb,’” while the Office of National Drug Control Policy Americanized it a bit with, “Scientists warn of marijuana timebomb.”

They are referring to a new report titled ‘Cannabis and Schizophrenia’ by Matthew Hickman, et al. This report does NOT conclude anything remotely close to the headlines.

The report was essentially a large math problem. Researchers wanted to see what the growth rate of schizophrenia would be IF cannabis caused the disease, even as they admitted that they have no proof that it does. The report did not discover anything whatsoever about cannabis.

The very first line of the report makes that clear:
“Aims: To estimate long-term trends in cannabis use and projections of schizophrenia assuming a causal relation between cannabis and schizophrenia.”

This study was set up to produce results that would be used to scare people. The intention was to ask a ‘what if’ question and announce the most extreme results. Unfortunately for the prohibitionist hopefuls, the data got in the way.

If cannabis use led to schizophrenia, then we would expect those who had been smoking cannabis longer to have higher incidents of schizophrenia. That is also what the researchers expected to find on page 602 of the report. Instead, they found no relevant difference.

The report also pointed out that more males tended to use cannabis than females. If cannabis use led to schizophrenia, then we would expect to see a rise in schizophrenia among males. The researchers expected this also on page 602. This did not happen either.

That is why they included the word “timebomb.” Since there is no damning evidence today, the government and the Ministry of Truth (The Times) must assume that the danger is incubating – like an herbal sleeper cell. Are you afraid yet?

The conclusion of the report couldn’t be clearer:

“Our data provide no direct evidence on whether cannabis use causes schizophrenia.”

Contrast that conclusion with the ONDCP’s interpretation of the report.
“Scientists warn of marijuana timebomb.”

This is all part of a greater effort to make us afraid of marijuana. To those who have smoked marijuana and found it to be enjoyable and rather harmless, they claim that marijuana is a new drug these days. To those who have studied the drug and found nothing to fear, they present the timebomb. You can’t see it, you can’t prove it, and you can’t know it. But if you assume what they tell you to assume, you will see what they want you to see. And then you will obey.

If this were a valid way to approach science, cannabis would be heralded as the seed of high society. For nowhere is there a stronger correlation with cannabis use than amongst the artists of our time. Musicians, poets, writers, painters, and creative types of all sorts have been known to use the herb for inspiration. If we think as the ONDCP thinks, and we believe their hype about increased potency, then, using the same math, we can easily convince ourselves that the world is on the eve of a Renaissance. Even stoners know better than that.

The Jewish holiday of Pessah has arrived and some Rabbis are considering sparking up.

Pessah is a Jewish festival that is celebrated over eight days. During this festival the Jews commemorate the escape of their people from Egypt in the 13th century BCE. During the festival, all forms of leaves are prohibited in the house. And on the eve of the festival, the house must be thoroughly cleaned and all chametz must be removed.

Chametz means “leaven.” (Any food made of grain and water that has been allowed to ferment and rise.) But any food that is made of grain or grain derivatives might be considered chametz. And that has some Jews asking about marijuana.

From The Jerusalem Post:

Every Sunday school student knows Pessah for its ban on food that rises, but a growing number of Jews are asking whether the holiday also precludes them from getting high.

Hemp has increasingly been spotted on the list of kitniyot, or legumes, that Ashkenazi Jews abstain from eating during Pessah, according to several influential rabbinical Web sites, including kashrut.com. But not everyone agrees that hemp qualifies for the ban, and the debate has led many to question the definition of kitniyot.

While hemp isn’t a kitchen staple for most people, hemp oil can be found in a number of hygiene products and in some alternative baked goods. But it’s hemp’s more notorious cousin, commonly known as marijuana, that has set the sparks flying. As debate over the kitniyot tradition has gathered steam among rabbinic circles, many are looking at hemp as a case in point of why the practice of abstention needs to be reexamined.

The ban on kitniyot during Pessah began because rabbis were concerned that certain legumes would come into contact with the grains forbidden during the holiday. Farmers often grew wheat and rice in adjacent fields, and families frequently stored all of their grains and legumes in the same containers. The kitniyot tradition only applies to Jews of Ashkenazi descent, since Sephardic Jewry never adopted the practice.

Of the dozen rabbis whom The Jerusalem Post questioned on this issue, none offered a conclusive statement about how hemp should be classified for Pessah. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn of Bat Ayin explained, the issue ultimately boils down to an individual decision by each rabbi about whether hemp seeds themselves could be considered edible. If a rabbi decides that the seeds are edible, then hemp - and, by extension, marijuana - would not be considered permissible for Pessah.

Israel’s Green Leaf Party (”Aleh Yarok”) said it was not taking any chances. Following an inquiry by the Post, a spokeswoman for the party said the group was sending out an e-mail to members warning them about hemp’s possible kashrut problems.

“We are warning our people not to eat anything with hemp products if they follow the practice of kitniyot on Pessah,” said party spokeswoman Michelle Levine. “We are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp just to be on the safe side. We are going with the rabbis on this. People should remove all cannabis and hemp from their homes.”

Levine said one of the party’s main arguments for cannabis legalization was biblical references to it.

“We would like to ask people… if it’s listed as not kosher ‘for Pessah,’ [doesn’t] that mean it must be kosher the rest of the year?” said Levine.

Hemp’s tricky Pessah status has caused the first marital rift for Daniel and Sarah, who recently moved to Jerusalem from Chicago. The newlyweds, who asked not to use their last name, said they had just finished their Pessah cleaning when a friend asked them if he could buy the rest of their marijuana.

“We just had no idea what he meant. It turns out he was buying it from a lot of his observant friends so that they wouldn’t have it in the house, [like] hametz,” said Sarah. “We aren’t habitual users, but we certainly smoke in our house, and we really aren’t sure what our pipe may have come in contact with. It has caused a big crisis for us.”

In the end, the two decided to quietly get rid of the rest of their marijuana (not by selling it to a friend, since it was kitniyot, and not hametz, they explained), and give their home one more cleaning before the holiday.

“There is no problem with hemp clothing, and of course, anything that is taken for medicinal purposes would be fine,” said Kohn. “Many would look at it like cottonseed oil. There are a variety of opinions. If one considered it edible, then it is included in kitniyot.”

On Monday, the religious court of the Shilo Institute issued a ruling that permits all Jews to consume kitniyot during Pessah. Rabbi David Bar-Hayim wrote the ruling, with Rabbis Yehoshua Buch and Chaim Wasserman co-signing.

The move is seen as a direct attack on the kitniyot tradition, as Bar-Hayim wrote that the current explanations for the custom were “unconvincing.”

“Kitniyot is no longer applicable. It’s a tradition people keep going because they want to extend a perimeter so far outside the actual law of Torah that they could not possibly violate the actual law,” said Dan Sieradski, an editor at JewSchool.com who has been at work on a book on Jews and drugs for several years.

“Clearly, you can use hemp in food,” he said. “You might mix it into brownies. You aren’t going to make bread out of it.”

What does a guy have to do to smoke in peace?

Spiegel Online has an interesting tale about a desperate American stoner.

In the German fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel, two children stumble upon an old witch in the forest. In a modern twist, a hiker in the woods near Kobern-Gondorf — not far from Koblenz in western Germany — suspected he’d seen what some might consider the equivalent to the witch’s candy cottage: a marijuana field.

Read the story at Spiegel Online

Remember when you used to have to send a letter bomb to get this much attention?

Prohibitionists often make the claim that marijuana law reform is essentially a fight to get high.

• They call medical marijuana an “excuse” or a “Trojan horse.”
• They claim that the religious use of marijuana is “a smokescreen by people who just want to get stoned.”
• Even the publication of new scientific research or landmark court cases is often answered with a dismissive, “Why can’t you potheads just accept that marijuana is illegal?”

These characterizations are paternalistic and naïve. Using them publicly may work for the time being, but eventually they will open the door to ending prohibition.

Treating adults like children can’t last forever in a free society. In fact, it contradicts freedom. This isn’t just about getting stoned; it’s about respecting the very nature of a free existence. Prohibition, on the other hand, requires a new definition of what it means to be free.

John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher who lived from 1806 to 1873. In 1859, he published On Liberty, articulating a concept of freedom that today’s Western leaders rightfully hold up as, not only a different way of life, but a superior way of life. In an era where tolerance is a virtue, we should never be deluded into forgetting that liberty is not merely one option among equals.

One of Mill’s most important contributions in the understanding of Liberty was his articulation of the “harm principle.” It is the basis for many modern civilizations. It is also a core value of those who seek an end to marijuana prohibition.

Mill explains the harm principle:

The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection.
That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right…The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others.

In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.

In order to support marijuana prohibition, one must reject the harm principle and embrace a belief that people are not responsible for themselves. The government must be accepted as a father figure from whom rights are granted.

Some still respect the harm principle and the historic definition of liberty. When we see a sane adult being prohibited by law from smoking marijuana in the privacy of his or her own home, we see a government that has overstepped. Totalitarian societies impose morality by machine gun. Free societies do not.

Not everyone agrees. Marijuana prohibitionists believe that when you smoke marijuana in your own home, you actually harm people who are not there. Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork once stated, “No activity that society thinks is immoral is victimless. Knowledge that an activity is taking place is a harm to those who find it profoundly immoral.” It is almost hard to believe that this came from a man nominated to the United States Supreme Court and not a leader of the Taliban.

Americans are not so amenable to the moral argument. We respect science. But even if the government did believe that marijuana smokers were shrinking their balls, killing their brains, or losing their memories (all of which are bullshit, by the way), is that now enough for us all to surrender our liberty and allow bureaucrats to make our personal decisions for us? To some it is.

Sure, there are some people for whom marijuana law reform is all about getting high. There are others for whom it is about communicating with God. Many marijuana smokers don’t get high at all; they just soothe the pain that otherwise nags them. But all of these people are being made criminals and none is hurting anyone else. They are being punished for taking control of their own bodies.

In a free and responsible society, marijuana would be taxed and regulated. Adults would be free to make their own decisions about marijuana. If those decisions harmed anyone else, that person would become a criminal at that point. Drive stoned, give marijuana to your neighbor’s kid, or otherwise cause real harm and you break the law – just as it is with alcohol.

As it stands, we tolerate the government punishing people for what they do in private. We endanger our children by failing to put in place adequate controls for substances we claim to want to keep from them. We surrender our liberty and we get nothing in return. It doesn’t take a desire to get stoned to have a problem with that.

The situation for medical marijuana patients near Long Beach, California just got better. Quality Discount Caregivers is the new kid on the block and locals would be smart to check them out.

The entire facility is up-scale and mellow. They carry a nice selection of meds, tons of edibles, vaporizers and clones. They also have some nice concentrates, including a very fine Diesel kif.

Their quality is better than most and as good as anyone south of LA. The staff was also extremely hospitable.

But the price is what puts these folks on top.

The compassion is flowing out the door at this place. The best Kush strains were $45/eighth for new patients and we were told will never cost more than $60. They also have a $50 and $40 board, both 25% off for new patients.

Usually you get high quality or a good price. At quite a few places, you get neither. At Quality Discount Caregivers you get compassionate amounts of both.

I highly recommend them.

Quality Discount Caregivers
1150 East San Antonio Dr.
Long Beach, CA. 90807

OPEN 7 Days: 11am – 8pm

Phone: 562.988.8889
Fax: 562.988.9111

Somebody finally got it right.

Forget those cumbersome, buggy directories that are loaded with so many ads that they are virtually unreadable. Forget all that registration nonsense.

CA NORML hooks us up with a clean directory that finds doctors and dispensaries in an instant. Big thanks to the folks at CA NORML for this awesome tool.

Medical Cannabis Caregivers Directory

When Bayer introduced aspirin in 1899, cannabis was America’s number one painkiller. Until marijuana prohibition began in 1937, the US Pharmacopoeia listed cannabis as the primary medicine for over 100 diseases. Cannabis was such an effective analgesic that the American Medical Association (AMA) argued against prohibition on behalf of medical progress. Since the herb is extremely potent and essentially non-toxic, the AMA considered it a potential wonder drug.

Instead, the invention of aspirin gave birth to the modern pharmaceutical industry and Americans switched away from cannabis in the name of “progress.” But was it really progress? There can be no doubt that aspirin has a long history as the drug of choice for the self-treatment of migraines, arthritis, and other chronic pain. It is cheap and effective. But is it as safe as cannabis?

History:

• Marijuana has been used for over 5,000 years.
• No one has ever overdosed on marijuana.

• Aspirin has been used for 108 years.
• Approximately 500 people die every year by taking aspirin

The Law:

• Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, meaning the US government believes it is extremely dangerous, highly addictive, and of no medical value.
• Aspirin is available for pennies and can be purchased by children at any drug, grocery, or convenience store. Often they are just handed out free by people with no medical education.

Marijuana side effects and dangers:

• The dangers of marijuana include possible respiratory problems caused by the deposition of burnt plant material on the lungs. This danger can be eliminated with alternate forms of consumption such as eating or vaporizing the medicine.
• For two to four hours, marijuana causes short-term memory loss, a slight reduction in reaction time, and a reduction in cognitive ability. (It makes you stupid for a little while.)These conditions DO NOT persist after the herb wears off.
  

• Hunger
• Paranoia
• Depression
• Laughter
• Introspection
• Creative Impulse
• Euphoria
• Tiredness
• Forgetfulness

Aspirin side effects and dangers:

• When taken with alcohol, aspirin can cause stomach bleeding.
• Reye Syndrome in children: fat begins to develop around the liver and other organs of the child, eventually putting severe pressure on the brain. Death is common within a few days.
• People with hemophilia can die.
• People with hyperthyroidism suffer elevated T4 levels.
• Stomach problems include dyspepsia, heartburn, upset stomach, stomach ulcers with gross bleeding, and internal bleeding leading to anemia.
• Dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, vertigo, vision disturbances, and headaches.
• Heavy sweating
• Irreversible liver damage
• Inflamation and gradual destruction of the kidneys
• Nausea and vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Lethargy
• Hyperthermia
• Dyspepsia: a gnawing or burning stomach pain accompanied by bloating, heartburn, nausea, vomiting and burping.
• Tachypnea: Abnormally fast breathing
• Respiratory Alkalosis: a condition where the amount of carbon dioxide found in the blood drops to a level below normal range brought on by abnormally fast breathing.
• Cerebral Edema: Water accumulates on the brain. Symptoms include headaches, decreased level of consciousness, loss of eyesight, hallucinations, psychotic behavior, memory loss and coma. If left untreated, it can lead to death.
• Hallucinations, confusion, and seizure.
• Prolonged bleeding after operations or post-trauma for up to 10 days after last aspirin.
• Aspirin can interact with some other drugs, such as diabetes medication. Aspirin changes the way the body handles these drugs and can lead to a drug overdose and death.

If you think that cannabis is actually safer than aspirin, you are not alone. In October 2000, Dr. Leslie Iversen of the Oxford University Department of Pharmacology said the same thing.

In her book, ‘The Science of Marijuana,’ Dr. Iversen presents the scientific evidence that cannabis is, by-and-large, a safe drug. Dr. Iversen found cannabis had “an impressive record” when compared to tobacco, alcohol, or even aspirin.

“Tetrahydrocannabinol is a very safe drug,” she said. “Even such apparently innocuous medicines as aspirin and related steroidal anti-inflammatory compunds are not safe.”

So if safety is your concern, cannabis is clearly a much better choice than aspirin. If you eat it or vaporize it, it just might be the safest painkiller the world has ever known.

Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.

Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.

Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.

Reinforcement: A measure of the substance’s ability, in human and animal tests, to get users to take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.

Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.

This chart originally appeared on DrugWarFacts.org.

I tracked it down at SaferChoice.org.

Connecticut is on its way to becoming the thirteenth state to allow the medical use of marijuana. Legislation permitting the non-toxic herb moved easily out of the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and has a good chance of passing the House and Senate. Patients would be allowed one caregiver to assist them in treating cancer, glaucoma, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injuries, epilepsy and other medical problems.

On Friday, lawmakers began hearing testimony on the efficacy of medicinal marijuana. A teary-eyed Montel Williams addressed the legislature. Mr. Williams manages pain from multiple sclerosis using marijuana.

“I have to pray that the local law enforcement gives me a right of passage back to my state. Because when I walk out of here, I will smoke pot,” said the New York resident. “I have to stay ahead of the pain.”

At the hearing, lawmakers from both parties expressed recent shifts in their own beliefs about medical marijuana.

“I feel legislators are finally at the place where they want to act compassionately with this law,” said Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, R-Somers, who said she risked arrest more than 20 years ago to get marijuana for her husband. He eventually died of bone cancer.

Rep. Marie Kirkley-Bey, D-Hartford, said she has become a convert after two of her cousins were diagnosed cancer. She watched both die in agonizing pain.

“It took a life-changing experience to realize I was being small-minded on this issue,” Kirkley-Bey said.

For others who testified, life-changing experiences have become a cover from behind which they can attack things they know little about with virtual impunity.

Steven Steiner, founder of Americans for a Drug Free Youth, testified against allowing marijuana to the chronically ill.

“These people come here to this legislature talking about pain. You don’t know what pain is until you’ve lost a son,” he said.

Steiner’s son died from prescription drug overdose when he was 19 and Mr. Steiner believes marijuana was responsible.

Steiner may deserve condolences for his loss, but he deserves no respect whatsoever as an expert. If Steiner wishes to use his tragedy for the greater good, perhaps he could start by educating parents on the dangers of prescription drugs and the need to keep them responsibly.

Instead, Steiner deals with his grief by placing blame. The organization that was supposedly motivated by his son’s prescription overdose has done nothing but crusade against marijuana and issues press releases complaining about soft drink branding. He is a sad, broken man, but he is not an expert on marijuana or marijuana policy.

Other dissenters merely seemed resistant to change.

Rep. Lawrence Miller, R-Stratford, said he decided against “smoking some kind of a weed” after being diagnosed eight years ago with cancer.

“Medical marijuana, it’s still marijuana — put any name in front of it that you want,” Miller said. “I think we should just stick with the doctors.”

And that is what we are trying to do. Every year, more and more doctors are discovering what people in pain have known for 5,000 years. Cannabis is a phenomenal painkiller that has never caused an overdose. For some medical patients, it doesn’t even get them stoned.

“I don’t get the buzz, I don’t get the high,” Montel Williams said. “Right now, all it does for me is stop the pain.”

Whether other residents will be allowed to stop the pain will be decided soon.

I want to learn more about the Montel Williams Multiple Scerlosis Foundation.

Siem Reap, Cambodia is the jump point for some of the world’s most impressive archaeological sites. Lost to the jungle for over 500 years, Angkor is home to over 1000 Khmer temples dating from the 9th to the 15th Century. Over one million people visit every year.

In town, Happy Herb Pizza is one of those places that travelers often describe as “something I wish we had back home.” The restaurant is tranquil and breezy. In the corner sit wild cats perched on urns full of water and in the doorway appears the occasional monk seeking alms. The atmosphere is perfect for relaxing after a long day, but it is the pizza that really sets this place apart.

When you place your order at Happy Herb Pizza, the waiter will ask if you would like your pizza not so happy, happy, or extra happy. The happier you go, the more marijuana they put inside. And if you go extra happy, the folks at Happy Herb Pizza will take care of you quite nicely.

Afterwards, plenty of cheap (and extremely low-quality) marijuana can be found at the bazaar down the street. The old women control the herb in this town, and they seem humored by the enthusiasm with which Americans snatch up their baggies of “gan-cha.”

In talking with the lady who ran my hotel, I learned that the survivors of the Khmer Rouge can barely understand how the pasty-faced loud people from the US can be so in-your-face about their ‘freedom,’ while simultaneously being so excited about their ability to purchase the leaves and flowers of a wild herb.

I certainly couldn’t explain it to them.

Med-strips are like the Listerine breath strips you buy at the supermarket, except that each one of these comes loaded with 625mg of wonderful THC. The label claims these strips will be effective, discreet and convenient and Med-Strips deliver big-time.

Here is the breakdown:

Purchased in West Los Angeles, California
Cost: $10/ea. Or three 2-packs for $50.
Flavors available: Mint and Cinnamon
THC Content: 625mg per strip (a 45x sucker is 600mg)

The ups: Smoke free, could not be more convenient or discreet, actually packs a punch (especially if you take two at a time), excellent for the purse or wallet for those emergency times when you must get medicated

The downs: These are a little thicker than Listerine strips. When they dissolve, they turn into a little glob of goo in your mouth. That’s not so nice. Also, some might not like them because they abandon the natural wholeness of dried cannabis.

The rest: The taste is decent and about what you might expect. Like putting a nugget in a wad of spearmint gum and chewing it.

Overall, I loved Med-Strips and will be buying them again. If you are sick, these are quite a find.