Smoking??????

[chefjeff]

Here's the biggest reason the war on drugs is more unhealthy than the ANY drug ever:

http://www.theagitator.com/2008/01/28/georgia-sheriff-pattons-up-for-the-war-on-drugs/

A police state is NOT healthy...or American. Time to take back the people's power from the violent control-freaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ONcIJ2E6c&feature=related

Jeff Livingston

 

[Joe Rogan]

Joe,

You are not just paranoid because you smoke dope, the world really is out to get you!! The French government conducted the research cited and reported it in a UK medical journal, one more bit of information posted for the third time.(anyone notice a trend here?) You and others continue to ignore what is written to jump on the same old tired horse. This American group or another is out to keep pot use illegal to make a buck or to keep control of the 'heads. This isn't really surprising though, there are still tobacco users in thread after thread about tobacco that claim there is no real proof that tobacco causes harm too. I finally spoke out in this thread after reading all the claims about pot by people who are looking at only what they choose to believe and might influence youngsters or people just starting to use.

I'm not a pilgrim. I came of age in the sixties and early seventies when pot use was probably at a peak. I can look at what became of a large group that smoked pot heavily and it isn't a pretty picture. Far too many died young and most reached nowhere near their potential as indicated prior to their use of pot. That little deal about brain damage and behavioral changes. Blow real and figurative smoke at other pot users all you want and drink deeply into the Kool-Aid of the culture. However, when you are putting this BS out in public for our children and grandchildren to read I will speak out and I speak out as someone that was there.

As for the studies that users like to cite, I noticed that they use fuzzy words like "substantial". Perhaps over 2.5% isn't "substantial" to the authors, over 250 out of less than 11,000 is substantial to me because this is 250 more senseless deaths. As long as we have the vehicles and highways we have now, there will be deaths. There needn't be deaths because people are impaired.

The myth that drivers are safer smoking pot or even as safe is just that, a myth. Driving drunk is defined by set standards. None of the studies I have seen claiming pot use isn't a substantial cause of highway deaths define "stoned". The alcohol in my mouthwash doesn't make me a drunk driver. Driving when I have smoked a joint the day before doesn't make me a stoned driver either although as has already been noted in this thread, it will make you test "dirty". How many of the drivers that had used marijuana in the studies were actually "high" on pot?

Hu

You just said a whole lot of nothing, to go with all the other BS you've already written about the subject. Your ignorance has not only been substantiated, but a clear cause and effect has been established. I showed you over a dozen studies run by people smarter than you, and all you talk about it myths. You don't want to learn, you just want to be "right."

Sounds to me like a clear case of a guy that could desperately use a joint.
Here's a study done by people far smarter than you that actually shows that Marijuana increases brain growth:

Original article here:
http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/2005-3/issue9/ne-mj.html

science: Study shows marijuana increases brain cell growth

By Juanita King, The Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

ST. JOHN?S, Nfld ? Supporters of marijuana may finally have an excuse to smoke weed every day. A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that smoking pot can make the brain grow.

Though most drugs inhibit the growth of new brain cells, injections of a synthetic cannibinoid have had the opposite effect in mice in a study performed at the University of Saskatchewan. Research on how drugs affect the brain has been critical to addiction treatment, particularly research on the hippocampus.

The hippocampus is an area of the brain essential to memory formation. It is unusual because it grows new neurons over a person?s lifetime. Researchers believe these new cells help to improve memory and fight depression and mood disorders.

Many drugs -? heroin, cocaine, and the more common alcohol and nicotine ? inhibit the growth of these new cells. It was thought that marijuana did the same thing, but this new research suggests otherwise.

Neuropsychiatrist Xia Zhang and a team of researchers study how marijuana-like drugs ? known collectively as cannabinoids ? act on the brain.

The team tested the effects of HU-210, a potent synthetic cannabinoid similar to a group of compounds found in marijuana. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the high-inducing compound loved by recreational users.

The researchers found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis ? the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. A current hypothesis suggests depression may be triggered when the hippocampus grows insufficient numbers of new brain cells. If true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for such mood disorders by stimulating this growth.

Whether this is true for all cannabinoids remains unclear, as HU-210 is only one of many and the HU-210 in the study is highly purified.

?That does not mean that general use in healthy people is beneficial,? said Memorial psychology professor William McKim. ?We need to learn if this happens in humans, whether this is useful in healthy people, and whether THC causes it as well.?

McKim warns that marijuana disrupts memory and cognition. ?These effects can be long-lasting after heavy use,? he said. ?This makes it difficult to succeed academically if you use it excessively.?

?Occasional light use probably does not have very serious consequences. [But] there is some evidence that marijuana smoke might cause cancer.?

Still, the positive aspects of marijuana are becoming more plentiful as further research is done. McKim says it?s not surprising that THC and compounds like it could have medicinal effects.

?Many have been identified,? he said. ?It stimulates appetite in people with AIDS, it is an analgesic, and blocks nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. And it treats the symptoms of glaucoma.?

The research group?s next studies will examine the more unpleasant side of the drug.

 

[DeadPoked]

Joe,

You are not just paranoid because you smoke dope, the world really is out to get you!! The French government conducted the research cited and reported it in a UK medical journal, one more bit of information posted for the third time.(anyone notice a trend here?) You and others continue to ignore what is written to jump on the same old tired horse. This American group or another is out to keep pot use illegal to make a buck or to keep control of the 'heads. This isn't really surprising though, there are still tobacco users in thread after thread about tobacco that claim there is no real proof that tobacco causes harm too. I finally spoke out in this thread after reading all the claims about pot by people who are looking at only what they choose to believe and might influence youngsters or people just starting to use.

I'm not a pilgrim. I came of age in the sixties and early seventies when pot use was probably at a peak. I can look at what became of a large group that smoked pot heavily and it isn't a pretty picture. Far too many died young and most reached nowhere near their potential as indicated prior to their use of pot. That little deal about brain damage and behavioral changes. Blow real and figurative smoke at other pot users all you want and drink deeply into the Kool-Aid of the culture. However, when you are putting this BS out in public for our children and grandchildren to read I will speak out and I speak out as someone that was there.

As for the studies that users like to cite, I noticed that they use fuzzy words like "substantial". Perhaps over 2.5% isn't "substantial" to the authors, over 250 out of less than 11,000 is substantial to me because this is 250 more senseless deaths. As long as we have the vehicles and highways we have now, there will be deaths. There needn't be deaths because people are impaired.

The myth that drivers are safer smoking pot or even as safe is just that, a myth. Driving drunk is defined by set standards. None of the studies I have seen claiming pot use isn't a substantial cause of highway deaths define "stoned". The alcohol in my mouthwash doesn't make me a drunk driver. Driving when I have smoked a joint the day before doesn't make me a stoned driver either although as has already been noted in this thread, it will make you test "dirty". How many of the drivers that had used marijuana in the studies were actually "high" on pot?

Hu

He's down for the count!

 

[ShootingArts]

um Joe, THC has the opposite effect

Joe,

Feel free to do some reading yourself. Studies not using your super concentrated synthetic drug which of course isn't found in real pot got the opposite result, far greater loss of the brain cells in the hippocampus. Every claim made about benefits of marijuana is refuted in a dozen more studies.

I did read about your claims of as safe or safer drivers on marijuana. Seems the theory is that they are more paranoid and that makes up for their greater physical limitations. Here is a fun fact for you: According to one of the reports below, 45% of people hauled over for reckless operation that have not been drinking have been using marijuana!

I haven't noticed any insurance company change their policies concerning testing dirty for THC after your studies and I am still waiting for the blue collar workplace to endorse smoking pot since it makes for safer workers. I think I'll be waiting a long time before either of these things happen. Surely these studies have been cited in court cases yet I haven't heard any news of a radical change in the way marijuana and safety is viewed.

How many of your fighters smoke before a performance to increase their physical abilities? I don't doubt some take a hit or two to fight the butterflies if they aren't tested but I don't think I can find one that will claim the levels generally accepted as needed to have a buzz increase physical abilities. Many years ago I drove short track with a couple of drivers that liked to share a joint before a race to smooth out their nerves. They made handy lap counters.

At the end of the day you have a few studies that say what you want to believe and hundreds of studies and endless real world experience to prove differently. Interestingly, the Netherlands and other countries in Europe that liberalized marijuana laws have tightened back down and started campaigns to discourage it's use. Seems they were wrong.

Have fun boys but at the end of the day, marijuana still causes cancer and respiratory disease, damages brain cells, and causes behavioral changes. I don't blame you for grasping at straws and deluding yourselves, much better than admitting how foolish it is and still using.

Hu

http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Marijuana/Marijuana3.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/marijuana_position.html#delinquent_behavior

http://www.friendsdrivesober.org/docs/marijuana_driving.doc

You just said a whole lot of nothing, to go with all the other BS you've already written about the subject. Your ignorance has not only been substantiated, but a clear cause and effect has been established. I showed you over a dozen studies run by people smarter than you, and all you talk about it myths. You don't want to learn, you just want to be "right."

Sounds to me like a clear case of a guy that could desperately use a joint.
Here's a study done by people far smarter than you that actually shows that Marijuana increases brain growth:

Original article here:
http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/2005-3/issue9/ne-mj.html

science: Study shows marijuana increases brain cell growth

By Juanita King, The Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

ST. JOHN?S, Nfld ? Supporters of marijuana may finally have an excuse to smoke weed every day. A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that smoking pot can make the brain grow.

Though most drugs inhibit the growth of new brain cells, injections of a synthetic cannibinoid have had the opposite effect in mice in a study performed at the University of Saskatchewan. Research on how drugs affect the brain has been critical to addiction treatment, particularly research on the hippocampus.

The hippocampus is an area of the brain essential to memory formation. It is unusual because it grows new neurons over a person?s lifetime. Researchers believe these new cells help to improve memory and fight depression and mood disorders.

Many drugs -? heroin, cocaine, and the more common alcohol and nicotine ? inhibit the growth of these new cells. It was thought that marijuana did the same thing, but this new research suggests otherwise.

Neuropsychiatrist Xia Zhang and a team of researchers study how marijuana-like drugs ? known collectively as cannabinoids ? act on the brain.

The team tested the effects of HU-210, a potent synthetic cannabinoid similar to a group of compounds found in marijuana. The synthetic version is about 100 times as powerful as THC, the high-inducing compound loved by recreational users.

The researchers found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis ? the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. A current hypothesis suggests depression may be triggered when the hippocampus grows insufficient numbers of new brain cells. If true, HU-210 could offer a treatment for such mood disorders by stimulating this growth.

Whether this is true for all cannabinoids remains unclear, as HU-210 is only one of many and the HU-210 in the study is highly purified.

?That does not mean that general use in healthy people is beneficial,? said Memorial psychology professor William McKim. ?We need to learn if this happens in humans, whether this is useful in healthy people, and whether THC causes it as well.?

McKim warns that marijuana disrupts memory and cognition. ?These effects can be long-lasting after heavy use,? he said. ?This makes it difficult to succeed academically if you use it excessively.?

?Occasional light use probably does not have very serious consequences. [But] there is some evidence that marijuana smoke might cause cancer.?

Still, the positive aspects of marijuana are becoming more plentiful as further research is done. McKim says it?s not surprising that THC and compounds like it could have medicinal effects.

?Many have been identified,? he said. ?It stimulates appetite in people with AIDS, it is an analgesic, and blocks nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. And it treats the symptoms of glaucoma.?

The research group?s next studies will examine the more unpleasant side of the drug.

 

[Tommy Tube Sock]

smoking is so last century

without reading any replies, this is mine

Smoking is so 20th century. Its time we all made it history. (Except for pot of course) Pot is history for me, but I begrudge no one else the experience.

 

[Tommy Tube Sock]

ok seriously

Ok seriously, I hadn't read a single reply before posting mine. Then I page up and see all this anti vs. pro pot stuff.

When I think "smoking" I think cigs. Cigs are dumb. I did it and I was dumb, or ignorant, or stupid or something. I smartened up enough to quit. I might have the occasional cigar on my birthday or something. But I will never buy a pack of smokes again. (God I hope not!)

I also used to smoke a lot of pot. Wake and Bake most for a lot of my early adut life. I got tired of it and quit. But I do partake now and again. On a camping or fishing trip, hell yeah! I don't think pot is dumb - although it does make you dumb in excess. I don't regret my pot smoking years like I regret my cig smoking years.

There is quite a difference between a physically addictive drug like nicotine vs. a phsyco addictive drug like THC. When I had had enough of the pot, I just quit. When I had had enough of the cigs, I had to buy a replacement drug (in my case nicorette gum) and wean my body off the drug.

Pot is by now a right of passage for American youth. It should be decrimanalized along with almost every other recreational drug. Regulate and take out the profit motive for the black market. Refocus the criminal justice system on murder, rape, organized crime, terrorism, and such. Stop filling the jails with non violent pot smokers.

Wait, am I in the main forum or NPR?

 

[p1noy]

"the" book

For all of the aspiring quitters (cig smoking) this book is worth a shot.. "Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking"

I am not related in any way to the author, publisher, and my family name is most certainly not barnes or nobles..but after this book helped me, I've been personally endorsing this book like i wrote it. It's definitely worth a try, it only costs about 3 packs of Marlboro's maybe 6 packs if you live in Virginia but it really helps..no cravings, no withdrawals, no scare tactics whatsoever. So for anybody who's willing to take the "wonder pill" and totally quit smoking check out this book. Here's the website.

http://www.theeasywaytostopsmoking.com/

 

[quitecoolguy]

Thank god i dont smoke...i tried to when i was 17 hell 1 pack of Cowboy Killers lasted me two months. haha I knew i wasnt a smoker. but i do have a complaint...i hate tthat people can smoke in public places...especailly a pool hall. I dont usually get on a soap box but here it the deal.. I dont disagree that as a smoker and me a non smoker that we both have the right to enter a pool hall. However nothing i do i going to have a direct effect on your health. Okay..i take it back..maybe i have a cold and you pick it up from me. But the lasting effect of second hand smoke is awful. I hate smelling like that when i leave. I hate the way my throat hurts the next morning. I wish Virginia would pass the no smoking in public law

 

[Joe Rogan]

Joe,

Feel free to do some reading yourself. Studies not using your super concentrated synthetic drug which of course isn't found in real pot got the opposite result, far greater loss of the brain cells in the hippocampus. Every claim made about benefits of marijuana is refuted in a dozen more studies.

I did read about your claims of as safe or safer drivers on marijuana. Seems the theory is that they are more paranoid and that makes up for their greater physical limitations. Here is a fun fact for you: According to one of the reports below, 45% of people hauled over for reckless operation that have not been drinking have been using marijuana!

I haven't noticed any insurance company change their policies concerning testing dirty for THC after your studies and I am still waiting for the blue collar workplace to endorse smoking pot since it makes for safer workers. I think I'll be waiting a long time before either of these things happen. Surely these studies have been cited in court cases yet I haven't heard any news of a radical change in the way marijuana and safety is viewed.

How many of your fighters smoke before a performance to increase their physical abilities? I don't doubt some take a hit or two to fight the butterflies if they aren't tested but I don't think I can find one that will claim the levels generally accepted as needed to have a buzz increase physical abilities. Many years ago I drove short track with a couple of drivers that liked to share a joint before a race to smooth out their nerves. They made handy lap counters.

At the end of the day you have a few studies that say what you want to believe and hundreds of studies and endless real world experience to prove differently. Interestingly, the Netherlands and other countries in Europe that liberalized marijuana laws have tightened back down and started campaigns to discourage it's use. Seems they were wrong.

Have fun boys but at the end of the day, marijuana still causes cancer and respiratory disease, damages brain cells, and causes behavioral changes. I don't blame you for grasping at straws and deluding yourselves, much better than admitting how foolish it is and still using.

Hu

http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Marijuana/Marijuana3.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/marijuana_position.html#delinquent_behavior

http://www.friendsdrivesober.org/docs/marijuana_driving.doc

What studies? You're showing a bunch of .gov articles, which you can just throw out immediately. Independent University studies are what are relevant, as all you're going to EVER see published by the Government is propaganda supporting their retarded, archaic drug policies that existed far before humans had this wonderful tool called "google search" which allows you to read paper after paper, including ones funded by our own government way back to the days of Richard Nixon which show that Marijuana is far more harmless than aspirin or even coffee.

Cigarettes kill 400,000 people every year in this country alone, and marijuana has killed 0 in over 10,000 years of use.

You're a typical, misinformed person that's clinging to their argument because your ego is taking a tremendous beating every time you read a post by anyone with logic opposing your dopey statements, and every time you read an independent scientific paper completely refuting every single piece of propaganda that you've spouted out.

It's ok, though. I've seen a million people like you. You ALL want to be right, and you ALL have a problem with a substance that you don't even use.
Even though I'm sure you're going to continue on this fruitless, pathetic path, I'm going to help out any people that are reading this and are on the fence with some rock solid science, K?

Here's a recent finding from The Journal of Clinical Investigation, a noted University Science Journal written by people a thousand times smarter than you:

In a paper appearing online on October 13 in advance of print publication of the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Xia Zhang and colleagues from University of Saskatchewan show that a potent and synthetic cannabinoid promotes neurogenesis. This drug also exerts anti-anxiety and antidepressant-like effects.

The researchers suggest that there is a positive correlation between increased adult neurogenesis and modified behavior following chronic cannabinoid treatment. These data expand the existing knowledge about the positive roles cannabinoids and their receptors play in brain processing and medicine. Moreover, cannabinoids are perhaps the only illicit drug that can enhance adult neurogenesis and subsequently modify behavior.

Reference: Cannabinoid promotes embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis and produces anxiolytic- and antidepression-like effects. J. Clin. Invest. 115: 3104-3116 (2005). doi:10.1172/JCI25509.

Here's some other findings that might interest some folks out there that are curious:

Myth: Marijuana is a dangerous drug
Any discussion of marijuana should begin with the fact that there have been numerous official reports and studies, every one of which has concluded that marijuana poses no great risk to society and should not be criminalized. These include:

* the National Academy of Sciences Analysis of Marijuana Policy (1982);
* the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse (the Shafer Report) (1973);
* the Canadian Government's Commission of Inquiry (Le Dain Report) (1970);
* the British Advisory Committee on Drug Dependency (Wooton Report) (1968);
* the La Guardia Report (1944);
* the Panama Canal Zone Military Investigations (1916-29);
* and Britain's monumental Indian Hemp Drugs Commission (1893-4).

It is sometimes claimed that there is ``new evidence'' showing marijuana is more harmful than was thought in the sixties. In fact, the most recent studies have tended to confirm marijuana's safety, refuting claims that it causes birth defects, brain damag e, reduced testosterone, or increased drug abuse problems.

The current consensus is well stated in the 20th annual report of the California Research Advisory Panel (1990), which recommended that personal use and cultivation of marijuana be legalized: "An objective consideration of marijuana shows that it is respo nsible for less damage to society and the individual than are alcohol and cigarettes."

References: The National Academy of Sciences report, Marijuana and Health (National Academy Press, 1982), remains the most useful overview of the health effects of marijuana, its major conclusions remaining largely unaffected by the last 10 years of research. Lovinger and Jones, The Marihuana Question (Dod d, Mead & Co., NY 1985), is the most exhaustive and fair-handed summary of the evidence against marijuana. Good, positive perspectives may be found in Lester Grinspoon's Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine (Yale Press, 1993) and Marihuana Reconsidere d (Harvard U. Press 1971), which debunks many of the older anti-pot myths. See also Leo Hollister, Health Aspects of Cannabis, Pharmacological Reviews 38:1-20 (1986).



As for the retardedly misinformed statement that Marijuana kills brains cells, again, that can be easily attributed to Government propaganda and explained:

Myth: Pot kills brain cells
Government experts now admit that pot doesn't kill brain cells.(8) This myth came from a handful of animal experiments in which structural changes (not actual cell death, as is often alleged) were observed in brain cells of animals exposed to high doses of pot. Many critics still cite the notorious monkey studies of Dr. Robert G. Heath, which purported to find brain damage in three monkeys that had been heavily dosed with cannabis.(9) This work was never replicated and has since been discredited by a pair of better controlled, much larger monkey studies, one by Dr. William Slikker of the National Center for Toxicological Research(10) and the other by Charles Rebert and Gordon Pryor of SRI International.(11) Neither found any evidence of physical alteration in the brains of monkeys exposed to daily doses of pot for up to a year. Human studies of heavy users in Jamaica and Costa Rica found no evidence of abnormalities in brain physiology.(12) Even though there is no evidence that pot causes permanent brain damage, users should be aware that persistent deficits in short-term memory have been noted in chronic, heavy marijuana smokers after 6 to 12 weeks of abstinence.(13) It is worth noting that other drugs, including alcohol, are known to cause brain damage.

 

[Joe Rogan]

There's a reason why there's "Medical Marijuana" and not "Medical Whiskey." Marijuana is an amazing plant that has hundreds of uses for the human body. It helps millions of people all over the world every day, with a variety of different issues from anxiety to glaucoma.
It's uninformed fools and fascist governments that get in the way of this amazing plant getting the treatment that it deserves.

This stuff was put here by God and Nature for humans to appreciate, and dopes like you posting retarded propaganda about it do nothing but harm.
Here's some more information on the medical uses of this amazing plant, a plant superior in it's health benefits to every other plant ever observed by science:

Recent Research on Medical Marijuana
Share This Page del.icio.us | digg | Stumble Upon | Facebook

Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids
A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000 — 2008
Get the PDF Version of this Document
Medical Conditions

Foreword

Alzheimer's Disease
ALS
Diabetes Mellitus
Dystonia
Fibromyalgia
GI Disorders
Gliomas
Hepatitis C
HIV
Hypertension
Incontinence
Multiple Sclerosis
Osteoporosis
Pruritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sleep Apnea
Tourette's Syndrome

Despite continued political debates regarding the legality of medicinal marijuana, clinical investigations of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids are now more prevalent than at any time in history. A search of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed website quantifies this fact. A keyword search using the terms "cannabinoids, 1996" reveals just 258 scientific journal articles published on the subject for that year. Perform this same search for the year 2007, and one will find over 3,400 published scientific studies.

While much of the renewed interest in cannabinoid therapeutics is a result of the discovery of the endocannabinoid regulatory system, some of this increased attention is also due to the growing body of testimonials from medicinal cannabis patients and their physicians. Nevertheless, despite this influx of anecdotal reports, much of the modern investigation of medicinal cannabis remains limited to preclinical (animal) studies of individual cannabinoids (e.g. THC or cannabidiol) and/or synthetic cannabinoid agonists (e.g., dronabinol or WIN 55,212-2) rather than clinical trial investigations involving whole plant material. Predictably, because of the US government's strong public policy stance against any use of cannabis, the bulk of this modern cannabinoid research is taking place outside the United States.

As clinical research into the therapeutic value of cannabinoids has proliferated exponentially, so too has investigators' understanding of cannabis' remarkable capability to combat disease. Whereas researchers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s primarily assessed cannabis' ability to temporarily alleviate various disease symptoms — such as the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy — scientists today are exploring the potential role of cannabinoids to alter disease progression. Of particular interest, scientists are investigating cannabinoids' capacity to moderate autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as their role in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease.)

Investigators are also studying the anti-cancer activities of cannabis, as a growing body of preclinical and clinical data concludes that cannabinoids can reduce the spread of specific cancer cells via apoptosis (programmed cell death) and by the inhibition of angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels). Arguably, these latter trends represent far broader and more significant applications for cannabinoid therapeutics than researchers could have imagined some thirty or even twenty years ago.

HOW TO USE THIS REPORT

As states continue to approve legislation enabling the physician-supervised use of medicinal marijuana, more patients with varying disease types are exploring the use of therapeutic cannabis. Many of these patients and their physicians are now discussing this issue for the first time, and are seeking guidance on whether the therapeutic use of cannabis may or may not be appropriate. This report seeks to provide this guidance by summarizing the most recently published scientific research (2000-2008) on the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids for 17 separate clinical indications:

* Alzheimer's disease
* Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
* Diabetes mellitus
* Dystonia
* Fibromyalgia
* Gastrointestinal disorders
* Gliomas
* Hepatitis C
* Human Immunodeficiency Virus
* Hypertension
* Incontinence
* Multiple sclerosis
* Osteoporosis
* Pruritis
* Rheumatoid arthritis
* Sleep apnea
* Tourette's syndrome

In some of these cases, modern science is now affirming longtime anecdotal reports of medicinal cannabis users (e.g., the use of cannabis to alleviate GI disorders). In other cases, this research is highlighting entirely new potential clinical utilities for cannabinoids (e.g., the use of cannabinoids to modify the progression of diabetes.)

The diseases profiled in this report were chosen because patients frequently inquire about the therapeutic use of cannabis to treat these disorders. In addition, many of the indications included in this report may be moderated by cannabis therapy. In several cases, preclinical data indicates that cannabinoids may halt the progression of these diseases in a more efficacious manner than available pharmaceuticals. In virtually all cases, this report is the most thorough and comprehensive review of the recent scientific literature regarding the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids.

For patients and their physicians, let this report serve as a primer for those who are considering using or recommending medicinal cannabis. For others, let this report serve as an introduction to the broad range of emerging clinical applications for cannabis and its various compounds.

Paul Armentano
Deputy Director
NORML | NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
January 24, 2008

* The author would like to acknowledge Drs. Dale Gieringer, Gregory Carter, Steven Karch, and Mitch Earleywine, as well as NORML interns John Lucy, Christopher Rasmussen, and Rita Bowles, for providing research assistance for this report. The NORML Foundation would also like to acknowledge Dale Gieringer, Paul Kuhn, and Richard Wolfe for their financial contributions toward the publication of this report.

** Important and timely publications such as this are only made possible when concerned citizens become involved with NORML. For more information on joining NORML or making a donation, please visit: http://www.norml.org/join. Tax deductible donations in support of NORML's public education campaigns should be made payable to the NORML Foundation.


On top of that, if you can handle the high and not freak out, it can allow you to play and enjoy some Jam up pool

We can do this all day, "shooting arts." I live for this shit

 

[DaveK]

... in advance of print publication of the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Xia Zhang and colleagues from University of Saskatchewan show that a potent and synthetic cannabinoid promotes neurogenesis. ....

Good citation, smart fellas there ... go Huskies.

Dave

 

[chefjeff]

without reading any replies, this is mine

Smoking is so 20th century. Its time we all made it history. (Except for pot of course) Pot is history for me, but I begrudge no one else the experience.

Then we can be assured that you NEVER vote for someone who plans on continuing the drug war?

Just looking for consistency here, not pointing fingers.

Jeff Livingston

 

[Fatboy]

Joe is 100% spot on, the .Gov BS reports have to read like that because if they didnt they would lose the basis for the ILLEGAL trafficing, possession, distribution etc of weed, So the Govt has to have reports to be consistant with the laws they put people in cages for, I spent 6 months in Europe last year mostly Germany but I went with my Dr to see his mom in the Netherlands, he told me his opinion of weed and said that his views were consistant with most other doctors in Europe, he is 62 and has been a top sergeon for over 30 years, he has done all the ER work, trauma, pathology stuff you name it he has done it and he saidd other than some respertory problem with high levels of use its harmless, i dont smoke so i would never smoke weed, but it should and will never be illegal, imagine how much extra room we would have in jails if they released weed offenders, aint ever gonna happen, but were such a free country, out national song says so, so its gotta be true. right?

 

[bud green]

I know a ton of smokers, both weed and tobacco, and every one of them thinks cigs are far worse for them. None of them has ever had an accident due to being high from weed. I'd bet that 90+ percent have had at least one sketchy incident driving with only a few beers in them.

Most pot heads I know are GREAT drivers. Not because weed makes you a better driver, but because they're worried about getting hassled by the police so they drive extra careful. Drivers with cell phones are far worse, as far as my experience goes.

I personally think that cannabis should be legal. I live in wine country and it seems every square inch of this area that isn't paved will eventually be growing grapes. Alcohol kills 50000 people a year or something like that but this area is revered around the world for its wines. A ton of upscale yuppies who probably wouldn't consider doing a "drug" like weed roll out of tasting rooms buzzed or worse - I got to watch them pass over double yellow lines in their BMW's at 30 over the speed limit on my way home almost every day.

Seems a lot smarter to regulate and tax it ( CA gov Arnold just told us the State is short on dough and might need to cut school funding again) than let Mexican gangs grow acres of it in the forests with armed guards running around and make millions. Add to that their income from meth and its no wonder people see pictures of rooms with 10's of millions of dollars in it after drug busts.

People can argue the evils of THC, but I don't think there is much argument that cannabis is a pretty incredible plant aside from the "high" it gives people. A book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" was published years ago that showed how it was a good source of protein, can be converted to fuel, etc... in addition to being used as hemp.

As far as government reports go, I thought it was common knowledge that anyone who came out with a report that stated marijuana wasn't bad for you lost government funding pretty quick.

 

[ShootingArts]

more light reading for the legalize pot guys

Looking back, offhand I remembered that four of my friends committed suicide. As it happened all four were pretty much daily pot smokers. For grins I did a dogpile search on the words "marijuana" and "suicide" together. Not only did I find a lot of fun facts about pot use and depression, paranoia, and schizophrenia, I found that many of the other myths were false.

The studies reported toward the end of the list are kind of interesting because they used twins for the testing, although I will grant they were aborigines. Some may argue that this skews the test much like Joe's 100 times stronger artificial THC did. Plenty of other tests with similar results however.

Another myth dispelled is that today's marijuana users aren't violent. Actually when compared to nonusers they are more violent towards themselves, others, and property. Users are more inclined to act out period. Users are far more likely to consider suicide and those that consider it are four times more likely to attempt suicide than those that consider it and don't use marijuana.

Highway deaths, suicides, cancer, respiratory diseases, violence towards others and everything around them, how long does the list have to get?

Oh one more myth to dispel, the prisons full of nonviolent pot smokers? Less than two percent and that is including the people who were charged with more serious offenses and pled down to simple possession.

The pro pot people can step forward by the dozen but anybody that ignores the body of evidence concerning the harm pot does to users is kidding themselves. Fortunately for them, smoking pot does help keep them from dwelling on the damage they are doing to themselves and the people who care about them.

Hu




http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/marijuana_myths_facts/marijuana_myths_facts.pdf

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/MJageSMI/MJageSMI.pdf

http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNvol20N2/Twin.html

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/25/1038173680713.html

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~apfdfy/Suicide.html

 

[Sweet Marissa]

Never tried it. Not only does it make me gag on the inside, but I sneeze around it, too lol

 

[cigardave]

This is something I do not get at all, when I think of cigars, I think of old, fat guys. "Cool" is the last thing I would ever think of. I can tell, when I see young guys smoking them, they think they are cool. Not even close.

cuechick - When I smoke my cigars, I do not consider myself "cool"... rather, I simply enjoy the experience for what it is... an oportunity to savor the flavors of a fine cigar... much like a wine connoisseur enjoys sipping a glass poured from a $150 bottle of French wine. Fine cigars are good for the soul.

And while I may be old, I'm not fat.

 

[Joe Rogan]

Looking back, offhand I remembered that four of my friends committed suicide. As it happened all four were pretty much daily pot smokers. For grins I did a dogpile search on the words "marijuana" and "suicide" together. Not only did I find a lot of fun facts about pot use and depression, paranoia, and schizophrenia, I found that many of the other myths were false.

The studies reported toward the end of the list are kind of interesting because they used twins for the testing, although I will grant they were aborigines. Some may argue that this skews the test much like Joe's 100 times stronger artificial THC did. Plenty of other tests with similar results however.

Another myth dispelled is that today's marijuana users aren't violent. Actually when compared to nonusers they are more violent towards themselves, others, and property. Users are more inclined to act out period. Users are far more likely to consider suicide and those that consider it are four times more likely to attempt suicide than those that consider it and don't use marijuana.

Highway deaths, suicides, cancer, respiratory diseases, violence towards others and everything around them, how long does the list have to get?

Oh one more myth to dispel, the prisons full of nonviolent pot smokers? Less than two percent and that is including the people who were charged with more serious offenses and pled down to simple possession.

The pro pot people can step forward by the dozen but anybody that ignores the body of evidence concerning the harm pot does to users is kidding themselves. Fortunately for them, smoking pot does help keep them from dwelling on the damage they are doing to themselves and the people who care about them.

Hu




http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/marijuana.html

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/marijuana_myths_facts/marijuana_myths_facts.pdf

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/MJageSMI/MJageSMI.pdf

http://www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_notes/NNvol20N2/Twin.html

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/25/1038173680713.html

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~apfdfy/Suicide.html

For the last time, dumb dumb, throw out any articles or statements by anything with a .gov on it.
Those are bullshit articles written by government officials with a very strict standard of content where they have to adhere 100% to the current and past propaganda.

You're a silly, sad man. Connecting pot to suicide? You know what I found out about suicide? 100% of people that commit suicide masturbate.
We need to ban masturbation.
See how easy that was? Best part about this argument? You've completely stopped responding to my points, but you still continue this dopey argument because your ego just won't let you not have the last word. Fascinating.
Carry on

 

[9 on the snap]

There's a reason why there's "Medical Marijuana" and not "Medical Whiskey." Marijuana is an amazing plant that has hundreds of uses for the human body. It helps millions of people all over the world every day, with a variety of different issues from anxiety to glaucoma.
It's uninformed fools and fascist governments that get in the way of this amazing plant getting the treatment that it deserves.

This stuff was put here by God and Nature for humans to appreciate, and dopes like you posting retarded propaganda about it do nothing but harm.
Here's some more information on the medical uses of this amazing plant, a plant superior in it's health benefits to every other plant ever observed by science:

Amen brother, but that "Medical Whiskey" sounds good too!

 

[sde]

Nice post here Green Bud...oops I mean bud green.

Steve

I know a ton of smokers, both weed and tobacco, and every one of them thinks cigs are far worse for them. None of them has ever had an accident due to being high from weed. I'd bet that 90+ percent have had at least one sketchy incident driving with only a few beers in them.

Most pot heads I know are GREAT drivers. Not because weed makes you a better driver, but because they're worried about getting hassled by the police so they drive extra careful. Drivers with cell phones are far worse, as far as my experience goes.

I personally think that cannabis should be legal. I live in wine country and it seems every square inch of this area that isn't paved will eventually be growing grapes. Alcohol kills 50000 people a year or something like that but this area is revered around the world for its wines. A ton of upscale yuppies who probably wouldn't consider doing a "drug" like weed roll out of tasting rooms buzzed or worse - I got to watch them pass over double yellow lines in their BMW's at 30 over the speed limit on my way home almost every day.

Seems a lot smarter to regulate and tax it ( CA gov Arnold just told us the State is short on dough and might need to cut school funding again) than let Mexican gangs grow acres of it in the forests with armed guards running around and make millions. Add to that their income from meth and its no wonder people see pictures of rooms with 10's of millions of dollars in it after drug busts.

People can argue the evils of THC, but I don't think there is much argument that cannabis is a pretty incredible plant aside from the "high" it gives people. A book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" was published years ago that showed how it was a good source of protein, can be converted to fuel, etc... in addition to being used as hemp.

As far as government reports go, I thought it was common knowledge that anyone who came out with a report that stated marijuana wasn't bad for you lost government funding pretty quick.