The New York Times has joined the majority of US citizens in the call for a more rational marijuana policy. The White House responded with an attempt to explain why a taxed and regulated market is no “silver bullet solution.” Alluding to The Lone Ranger probably wasn’t a great idea, but I think they mean that this isn’t a panacea for every problem related to cannabis.
Of course, all our other legislation is perfect, so we shouldn’t change this policy until we have a solution with all advantages and no disadvantages.
Our government says that this use of law enforcement and court time targets marijuana users because the plant alters brain development, impedes academic achievement, impairs driving, and creates addiction. The tacit assumption, that prohibition is going to prevent all of these problems, is tenable at best. (We’ve had police officers whip out the handcuffs over 18 million times since 1981. From 1995 until now, we’ve had at least one marijuana arrest per minute. The plant is more available than ever.) But let’s forget about how prohibition isn’t going to help and address the White House’s Furious Four Factors.
The first two (brain development and academic achievement) fall under the “what about the children” category. When all else fails, it’s great to play the baby card. NORML has condemned juvenile consumption for decades now. Of course, the underground market is notoriously bad at carding purchasers. When was the last time a dealer asked for ID? Licensed distributors who could lose their livelihood for underage sales would be markedly more motivated to keep the plant from children. But let’s address the claims.
Brain Development. Regular use early in life could alter brain development. But here’s the point no one is supposed to mention: we don’t really know for sure. It’s likely. It works in animals. But it’s not proven. The niftiest gizmos that take pictures of brains often can find differences between those who’ve used early and those who haven’t. But we don’t have a time machine. We don’t really know if these people had deviant brains before they ever saw the plant.
Investigators who run these expensive studies also have a hell of a time publishing results unless they find some differences. Many would rather leave the data in a drawer than battle editors and reviewers in an attempt to publish a paper that says that marijuana has no impact. What has been found is not always consistent. It’s one brain area showing differences in one study and another in the next. Reports that find nothing, or that the non-users actually have deviant brains (e.g. Block, O’Leary, Ehrhardt, et al., 2000, who found bigger ventricles in non-users), never get mentioned. Big reviews try to tell a coherent story, but effects are small. Binge drinking is markedly worse. (See Lisdahl et al.). Cigarette smoking leads to detectable changes in brain structure, too. I’d joke that we should make alcohol and tobacco illegal following this logic, but I’m afraid some people will actually try to do so.
Academic achievement. If the government genuinely cared about my academic achievement, I think I would have learned more in public school. But that’s another issue. We know that mastering new material immediately after using cannabis is extremely difficult. Going to class high is a dumb waste of time. It would certainly interfere with grades. But what’s the real issue here?
Decades ago, researchers showed that college students who used the plant had better grades than their peers who didn’t (Gergen, Gergen, & Morse, 1972; Goode, 1971). It’s not that marijuana’s a study aid. Students who liked the plant might have taken classes they enjoyed and flourished as a result. Subsequent studies didn’t always confirm these results, and investigators lost interest.
But high school kids who use the plant often bonk their exams. Most heavy users had earned lower grades prior to their marijuana consumption, suggesting cannabis could not have caused the poorer performance (Shedler & Block, 1990). Essentially, cannabis users with bad grades in high school also had low marks when they were in fourth grade. Cannabis might not lead to bad grades, but folks with bad grades often turn to cannabis. In addition, high school students who smoke cannabis heavily also tend to use alcohol and other illicit substances. Once these factors are taken into account, the link between cannabis and academic performance disappears. These results suggest that drugs other than marijuana might lower grades (Hall, Solowij, & Lennon, 1994).
In truth, if the government wants to see better achievement in school, the best answer would require schools with funding. Perhaps we could attract more of the energetic, enthusiastic, well-trained teachers who inspire learning if we offered better salaries. Students might find school more engaging when teachers are delighted and facilities are excellent. Busting teens for possession seems too indirect a strategy for improving education.
Driving. Paul Armentano has done such a superb job of summarizing the relevant data on this topic that I don’t want to belabor it.
A few points are worth emphasizing. NORML has always opposed impaired driving. People who can’t pass appropriate roadside sobriety tests should not operate a motor vehicle. Note that passing a sobriety test has little to do with the content of anyone’s blood or urine.
A recent meta-analytic review suggests that, at most, cannabis is no worse than antihistamines and probably on par with penicillin when it comes to culpability for accidents. If we’re going to make all drugs that impair driving illegal, we’re going to have a lot of runny noses and infections to handle.
Research from The Netherlands shows that folks who use cannabis in the laboratory lose their willingness to drive (source). When the experimenter forced them, they go slower, avoid trying to pass other cars, and start putting on the breaks earlier when they have to stop. These compensatory steps probably explain why a couple of studies have found cannabis users less culpable than drug-free drivers. Surprise surprise! This work never got any press. (Drummer, 1994, Bates & Blakely, 1999).
A study of over 300 drivers involved in fatal crashes in California focused on motorists who tested positive for cannabis but no other drug. Unexpectedly, they were half as likely to be responsible for accidents as those who were free of substances (Williams,,Peat, & Crouch, 1985). Another investigation of over 1,800 fatal crashes in the United States found that drivers who used only cannabis were only 70% as likely to have caused an accident as the drug-free group (Terhune, Ippolito, & Crouch, 1992). These are literally impossible to publish anymore, potentially suggesting the bias alluded to in the Elvik meta-analysis. So don’t drive high, but drive as if you were. Go slowly. Don’t try to pass. Leave room to stop.
Addiction. The new DSM V definition of addiction qualifies me for a caffeine disorder, so I’m obviously biased. Better take what I say with a grain of salt. But be careful, salt allegedly has addictive properties, too.
After five millennia and a series of moving definitions, researchers have finally identified something that they can call marijuana withdrawal and marijuana addiction. I’m guessing that prohibitionists really love this one. it conjures up images of sweaty heroin users snatching purses and plunging needles into infected arms. Have you met people who mug girl scouts to maintain their marijuana money? Neither have I. So what is marijuana addiction supposed to be? Among the most common symptoms are disturbed sleep and, I can barely say this with a straight face, loss of appetite. Anybody who uses every day and then gets irritated on a day without the plant could end up qualifying. If you tell anyone struggling with the opiates that these are the symptoms of your addiction, you’re likely to get a swift kick in the crotch. Expert opinions suggest that only the hallucinogens are less addictive than marijuana.
The most negative thing a government can do to its citizens is punish them. If we want to use punishment, we need outstanding reasons. These four simply do not qualify.
Citations:
Block, R. I., O’Leary, D. S., Ehrhardt, J. C., Augustinack, J. C., Ghoneim, M. M., Arndt, S., et al. (2000). Effects of frequent marijuana use on brain tissue volume and composition. NeuroReport, 11, 491–496.
Drummer, O. H. (1994). Drugs in drivers killed in Australian road traffic accidents. (Report no. 0594). Melbourne, Australia: Monash University, Victorian Institute of Forensic Pathology
Gergen, M. K., Gergen, K. J., & Morse, S. J. (1972). Correlates of marijuana use among college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 1–16.
Goode, E. (1971). Drug use and grades in college. Nature, 239, 225–227.
Hall, W., Solowij, N., & Lennon, J. (1994). The health and psychological consequences of cannabis use. Canberra: Australian Government Publication Services.
Shedler, J., & Block, J. (1990). Adolescent drug use and psychological health: A longitudinal inquiry. American Psychologist, 45, 612–630.
Terhune, K. W., Ippolito, C. A., & Crouch, D. J. (1992). The incidence and role of drugs in fatally injured drivers (DOT HS Report No. 808 065). Washington DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Williams, A. F., Peat, M. A., & Crouch, D. J. (1985). Drugs in fatally injured young male drivers. Public Health Reports, 100, 19–25.
Why does everyone skip this study
U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/25000/25800/25867/DOT-HS-808-078.pdf
“THC’s adverse effects on driving performance appear relatively small.”
You have made the ASSumption that the government works in logic and reason. It only serves as another vessel for a few to take advantage of many. Why would anyone mind their own business when they can profit off of being in others’ business? You work off of a titsucking non-profit. Don’t act like yaw aren’t just as much part of the problem. Why should we support organizations that are only self serving and use destructive business practices?
…
Well said!!!
this reform is so long over due and studies should be done I’ve enjoyed cannibis for 40 years and would like to answer any surveys that could shed light on the effects of cannibis as I am pro legalization I also believe I’m living proof it can be dangerous to use as a teenager it can be habit forming for some personality types how can I submit information about this issue
When will people ever stand up and say they are tired of this bs?? I am so sick of hiding something I have no reason to be ashamed of.
I read the White House’s response and the excellent response by Mitch Earleywine. One thing seems very clear, our Govt does not want to obey the will of the people on this issue and they plan to continue to use our money to prosecute and imprison us.
As an ex-marine, I no longer find this country worth fighting for if that is the way our Govt wants to treat us. It goes against everything this country was founded upon. Many veterans have claimed that marijuana helps them with PTSD and yet our Govt wants to ignore them and continue giving them drugs far more dangerous and less effective.
the state has the supreme right against the individual,whose supreme duty is to be a member of the state,for the right of the world spirit is above all privileges. Even Hegel was full of bullshit! They want mindless obedient workers to keep the money machine going. They want you to be satiated by your flatscreen tv and fastfood! You aren’t even allowed ownership of your own body or consciousness!!! For God’s sake people wake up and get angry!!!!
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accurately describe how much I love the research team at NORML. That’s a big part of why our side is winning; the facts are on our side and now we have these great Web sites and social media to get that information to the voters.
More drivel from outdated dinosaurs. How can we trust these people to lead this country when they are so blatantly wrong. FOLLOW THE MONEY.
As a Chronic Muscle Spasm, Pain, & Migraine sufferer I find it just a little bit disturbing that we supposedly have an opiate medication epidemic in this country, yet still OxyContin is still a $2Billion a year cash cow for Purdue Pharmaceutical. The White House want to say that Cannabis is addictive, but has no problem pumping out $2Billion dollars worth of a truly addictive substance….The time has come to start governing for the people not for the Corporations….Every tired excuse the White House gives is less true about Cannabis and 10x more accurate about most legally prescribed drugs in this country…..Stop supporting the corporate drug dealers while throwing harm reduction cannabis users in jail! We are sick of the bull shit….
Hey You White House
Ha Ha Charade You Are.
“Of course, all our other legislation is perfect, so we shouldn’t change this policy until we have a solution with all advantages and no disadvantages.”
That is exactly the BS being served by the drug testing industry regarding impairment testing. They claim that it has some disadvantages and hasn’t passed peer review, therefore it should be stopped, and until we find something with all advantages and no disadvantages, everyone needs to piss in a cup as their Civic Duty.
Problem? DRUG TESTING NEVER PASSED PEER REVIEW! Drug testing has never passed muster with any unbiased non-industry funded study, has never passed any peer review, has not even been approved by the FDA! They just forced their fraud down our throats by taking advantage of an ignorant and fear-mongered public and are taking advantage of that continuing ignorance and baseless fear to make fraudulent claims about their efficacy–because most stupid people simply assume drug testing “works” due solely to a combination of its near-omnipresence and the fact that it’s been going on for thirty years so SURELY if it wasn’t any good it wouldn’t still be spreading, would it?
Well, I have news. Drug testing would have died in the early nineties if the government hadn’t started paying for it out of our pockets, and paying our employers to accept this “free service” they offer, because drug testing is so useless for catching anyone but MJ users that by 1990 drug testing programs were on the decline! Employers drug test in order to boost profits–that, and the perceived PR from being seen as “doing their part” in the failed Drug War.
If you support drug testing at all, you’re a paid tool or you’re ignorant. And at least you can fix the latter, if you bother to educate yourself beyond what is told to you by people who are invested in the Drug War.
I just stopped reading. They know it’s big bucks on the black market just like Pimpin hoes! They know about that too. They can double dip the the leagle with tax and fees and kickbacks then there is the cash cow black market guns ammunition cars boats money All types of drugs and human slaves.
Mother fuck all of you!!!
Law enforcement private prisons need beds filled and there is the bottom line.we must make profits for the stock holders.
Got that fucked up drug court. Pubic defender asshole in with his old pal the prosecutor he’ll they play golf at the club. So much money to made. Can’t list them all but it goes on and on and on and on
Is this a dream? This can’t be real life?
You know,It wouldn’t surprise me in the least,if those three didn’t habitually smoke marijuana cigarettes
Thank you Dr. Earlywine, that was a fun read. Goes to show that good scientific citation makes good reporting.
I still pick up my old Curtis & Barnes Advanced Placement biology book from 1996 for a laugh; A college level course with some of my classmates going to Harvard and MIT… 4 chapters on homeostasis, 2 on metabolism and not a SINGLE MENTION of the human endocannabinoid system! Thats like teaching a mechanic how to build a car and leaving out the wiring diagram and a bunch of sensors. And then threatening the mechanic with jail time if they so much as MENTION the missing diagram to anyone. Now fix the car. Good luck.
What is the White House doing? Playing dodgeball with Congress? The ball is over HERE everybody! With the VOTERS! It doesnt matter if we miss you with the first shot, we can just GOOGLE another BALL! The TRUTH is on our PHONES! We can SEARCH your LIES as you SPEAK! @$¢*!
(I just had an epiphany; there are now more legal marijuana consumers in Washington and Colorado than there are DEA and NSA agents combined…)
Looking at the bright side… At least D Sen. Booker, NJ and Rep Sen. Paul KY are working together to release nonviolent offenders and cut DEA funding. They were very inspiring to hear on the NewsHour tonight.
I get it that Obama wants Congress to do their job, but responding to the NYTimes with this regurgitated marijuana propoganda is masochistic before midterm elections, and just plain morally wrong. Its about as plum stupid as Debbie Wasserman-Shultz and Marco Rubio voting against marijuana reform in Florida.” Hey Marco! Debbie! Marijuana train coming! Step off the third rail! (zzzzZAP!) Oh well. We warned’m.”
A great example of how this half-@$$ed prohibition dont pan out with voters is in the Kentucky Senate race. Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnel deserves praise for defending hemp in Kentucky… But he went against medicinal or recreational cannabis. Now he’s trailing in the polls behind the Democratic challenger. Coincidence or consequence?
Obama’s DOJ memos were just guidelines anyway. If Jared Polis can get his Act to end Prohibition to the President’s desk, Obama will sign it. The science is out there for everyone to see, but perhaps more obvious (and reckless) is our government’s criminal way of covering up and fabricating the evidence. The social media spotlight is so bright for marijuana right now politicians are visibly robbing tax payers in broad daylight when they lie about the herb. It makes you wanna yell out, “Hey! … We can SEE you!!!? …can you PUT our TAX dollars BACK?… (jerk…)”
academic achievement? I pretty much sailed through grad school. I took the GRE stoned and was accepted because my scores were so high. Not that I didn’t smoke as an undergrad, but in grad school, at least my program, it was less of reading texts and taking tests and more of doing research and writing papers, and in that regard, nothing helps break up writer’s block like some good bud. I dunno, I smoked my way through grad school and ended up with the best gpa of my life.
right on, Bill, and I’m tired of being stigmatized and sometimes shunned when people find out that I partake. As if I’m going to a) steal from your medicine cabinet b) bring a bunch of thugs around or c) corrupt your children. I don’t tolerate alcohol well, so I don’t go to happy hour and so miss out on building those social connections. but because of pot’s illegality, stoners tend to be secretive so not as likely to have the same opportunity for camaraderie as those who drink alcohol to be social. Not fair 🙁
could it be that the reason behind the decreased liability of pot smokers is that smoking pot tends to reduce aggression? Not so much in the sense of road rage, but in the sense that one feels less pressured to rush, less competitive, and is content to cruise at a steady pace, and so less likely to run right up on someone’s bumper or try to pass in too big of a hurry. that’s why a pot head is safer behind the wheel than even a nun.
@ kane ansley,
Jeez, you sound like a real douche bag. Clearly you havnt found a tit worth sucking. What a shame.
F.Y.I. While NORML is a non for profit required to remain politically ambiguous to accept donations, NORML PAC is a for profit lobby that regularly endorses pro marijuana reforming campaigns and only one of the many different income streams at the disposal of the organization. If you want proceeds from Amazon to go to marijuana legalization, say, the next time you purchase some inflatable breasts, use Amazon Smile and choose NORML Foundation.
So you see Justin, you cant get so angry at one little shriveled up tit while NORML gets all the big cup sizes… It’s not NORML’s fault; Weed consuming women are just healthier in all the right places:-) What I’m saying is, You gotta shop around in life and invest in the tits that make you happy. Get outta the house, eat healthy and search for a healthy pair before you stay up late, smoke too much, gain weight, complain all the time and grow your own breasts! Otherwise you’ll get all cranky, and blog misdirected profanities at generous doctors and end up as useless to society as tits on a boar hog. And nobody likes a boobie trap.
Cannabis is vegetation, and not a drug. Who in their right mind would ban vegetation? The addiction is non-existent and less than that of coffee or tea. The most fundamental difference in the effects is between sativa and indica: one can drive on sativa, and for some the driving and reaction times actually improve. Are the studies based on pure cannabis or that from the streets? Street cannabis may be laced with pesticides, and herbicides. The herbicides and other poison come from the crop dusting done by the protectors of the American people, our very own US Army, in the name of the war on drugs. It’s a war against the people and especially people of color, this everyone should realize. I am frustrated to the point of outrage when I first of all commit a crime, then the weed I would buy is laced with chemicals (I can taste them), then the quality of the flowers is bad, then I don’t have a choice in the strain of cannabis that suits me. Just because our stupid government made of racist, drunkard, white supremacists, have passed a law (much like the turd they need to pass on the law books that have this law) to ban a plant that does not incapacitate a human even when he/she lights it up on fire and inhales its smoke, causes one to be more law abiding (ironically), and gives a positive outlook on life. I am against ingesting a plant that would make me stupid or drunk, but pure cannabis does not. It’s when you burn pesticides and herbicides and PCP that makes one stupid. Even then, the right strain will not do this. In the underground market I do not have a choice. I have to take whatever the cartels or other criminal gangs supply the market. I want to grow my own organic cannabis but am terrified that the current laws will allow the DEA or other public servants to terrorize me – break into my house at night yelling, and possibly shooting me or my child in the process. Damaging property and killing people with impunity, then seizing their houses. Scum. Now I am forced to buy in a market that sells a plant for 10 times what it should. In another section of society, women and girls are being beaten, raped, and murdered because the man drank too much alcohol. Hundreds of thousands die because of tobacco. Yet I am not free to use or even possess the tiniest piece of a plant. The laws have banned what occurs in nature and until less than a century was part of the American Pharmacopia, used for centuries by hundreds of peoples around the world and across time. Mushrooms and vines, and frogs have also been banned. Lift the ban on nature and instead control your alcoholic self from drinking and destroying lives through alcohol. Scum.
So, a taxed and regulated market is no silver bulit? Guess what. The War-O-Drugs couldn’t qualify as the casing.
This source: [2] Meier et al., “Adolescent-onset cannabis and neuropsychological health.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Was debunked within four months of it’s release.
Basing policy on bad science is failure in Government.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-teenage-mind/201303/marijuana-and-intelligence
The concern for children is disingenuous at best. If the White House was truly concerned about the psychotropic effects of chemicals in adolescence. They would not reward pharmaceutical companies special rewards for testing children with SSRIs and opiates.
Thank you for another great article, Dr. Earleywine. However, I must take issue with your comment:
“We know that mastering new material immediately after using cannabis is extremely difficult.”
Can you qualify this statement? I have scoured the literature and cannot find any means to support the statement…unless you are referring to young or new, inexperienced users?
As a heavy, daily marijuana user for more than 25 years, I have attended college and been on the Dean’s list, I mastered the skills necessary to become a certified PPC marketer, which requires tight understanding of complex data sets, I learned to speak German, Russian and Spanish, achieved a Black Belt in a rigorous martial art, and have achieved many other goals that were “new materials” at the time.
All of this was done while I was high.
Let me clarify; I’m not saying all of this was done during a time period in my life where I happened to use cannabis. All of this was done while ACTIVELY high on marijuana. Studies, practice, application, mastery; I was high for all of it, and many of my colleagues were too.
So I’d like to ask where you got the information that mastering new material after using cannabis is extremely difficult so that I can review it and see for myself…because my direct experience and level of success tells me otherwise.
In fact, if you consider that mankind and marijuana likely co-evolved, then you could just as easily argue that marijuana can aid in learning, considering the biological adaptations that humans have undergone as a result of our relationship with cannabis and the vast mystery that is the endocannabinoid system:
http://marijuanagames.org/the-co-evolution-of-man-and-mary-jane/
Add to that the meditative state one can achieve on cannabis for learning purposes and your statement becomes even less credible.
I’m not saying that your statement is completely wrong, but it doesn’t apply to most of the cannabis users that I associate with, so it can only be partially correct; although you said it in a rather “universal” way that myself and many others like me take exception to.
But otherwise an excellent article and I thank you for your efforts on behalf of all cannabis supporters.
Russ Hudson
Editor, MarijuanaGames.org
I’m just disgusted that The White House’s, no doubt written by the Drug Czar, continues to ignore the damage caused by prohibition; i.e. not the plant itself or it’s usage thereof. Because of the fact the Drug Czar is, by law, required to lie and to do everything possible to keep marijuana illegal, the Govt continues to ignore the will of the people, and continues to cling to half truths and to spout outright propaganda.
The best way to change this is to get rid of the Drug Czar position altogether, and to remove marijuana from schedule 1. Sadly, I just don’t see that happening with our Do-Nothing congress led by John (Bonehead) Boehner… He is much more interested in doing everything in his power to stop President Obama from accomplishing anything of value for our country.
@Miles – Our country is worth fighting for, we just have to get the right people into power. Of course, that is much easier said than done since the rich get richer and more powerful every day.
Can we at least keep the new flag?
Well done blog!
The first semester I used marijuana in college, I was taking four advanced physics courses. I got a 4.0 grade point average. I was about 20 so started later than some partakers. A few years ago when spam was ubiquitous in email, I took 6-7 IQ tests online. An average revealed the exact same number I had scored in kindergarden. Rarely am I able to corroborate government info on marijuana with my experience. Here’s one more time. I wonder if they’re lying to me!?
The introduction of political bias into scientific studies described here infuriates me. It’s contrary to the goals of the scientific method and reminiscent of the old Soviet Union.
@Fireweed
I agree about writer’s block. I write songs and the noble weed enables me to break the dam with a flood of good ideas every time.
Here’s one result: https://soundcloud.com/freewilljenkins/mymothersnamewasmaryjane
Re: Teens and lowered grades/IQs– beware of causality. It is far more likely that a poor student– whether getting poor grades because of lack of motivation, lower IQ, or poor study habits– seeks escapes like getting high or consuming spare time with video games and other distrations. It is the lower IQ that is more likely the causal factor of using marijuana, than the marijuana is of lowering IQs.
While I agree that it is ill advised of youngsters to use ANY drugs, it should be obvious to anyone with a multi-digit IQ, that prohibition is NOT the answer, and may even contribute to youngsters’ drug abuse.
Bob, chain smoking cigarettes can be a symptom of a personality disorder or even a psychotic mental disorder.
I believe nicotine is directly very harmful to the nervous system. Also, the way cigarettes are rolled to keep burning !even when you are not dragging on it! seems designed to produce as much carbon monoxide as possible. The government really needs to regulate cigarette production and remove all the adulterates.
“Rarely am I able to corroborate government info on marijuana with my experience. Here’s one more time. I wonder if they’re lying to me!?”
The government or its agents can’t be sued in normal circumstance, however, we they egregiously violate the law they can be. However is lying to people day in and out for years not an egregious violation of their duties and the law? For the purpose of taking people’s money with no regard to society at large. Promoting crime by pretending noncrimes are crimes is an egregious (willfully done, they went out of their way to do it!) action.
President Obama should just stop hatin’!
I would pay good money….like PPV money….to see you guys at NORML debate the feds on live national TV.
If you think about it, voting is a great idea in its essence, but then you have to also accept the idea that some states/places are never going to be able to vote out the problem due to the lack of knowledgeable people in certain areas.
Cannabis Prohibition happened because a group of guys constantly clamored for the government to change the nation’s laws regarding cannabis, so I wouldn’t rule out a few good debates and clamoring from you guys and others on national TV to hastily advance the end of cannabis prohibition.
I know some probably think this is wishful thinking, and that it’s not THAT easy. But sometimes we as humans make things harder than they have to be.
“It’s not that marijuana’s a study aid.”
Well, I can’t see how smoking a joint could cause to become aware of some testable knowledge they didn’t actually study… However, I went from a 2.7 grade average to 3.8 average after starting to use marijuana. So no, it is not a “study aid”, it is a “brain aid”. And the courses were not any “easier” as suggested by everyone I tell this to. I took harder subjects the required more work to complete and while I was working full time and part time jobs. I can now remember things much better than when I was school age–my mind couldn’t stay focused until after I started using marijuana. And no, I do not have ADD or ADHD.
Ok, its time to settle the score between short term and long term memory and marijuana and non marijuana consumers.
The duration of THC in the bloodstream is about two hours, tops. The ratio of CBD to THC and what strain of marijuana is being consumed is relative to compare in both quantity and quality to the endocannabidic homeostasis of the individual. In other words, whats good for me may not be whats good for you.
If you are primed for curiosity and learning, marijuana will increase your capacity to produce long term memory skills. If you are an asshole, prepare to learn how to be an asshole while under the influence.
You’re welcome.
People are just going to have to figure out what their own limits are. I dont recommend intense marijuana use until the age of 18, but supervised marijuana use with your children is highly recommended. Give a young adult a little wine and herb at an apropriate, family oriented gathering, and the result will be less abuse in their adult life when you release them to the world we live in.
Well said.
What is NORML stance on GMO hemp? If approved will you take a stand?
As always thanks for your hard work.
Government needs to justify this 70 year farce by acting like they are big saviors of children. This policy of arresting and ruining the lives of young Americans with an arrest record. After all our currant president would not be in the white house if he had gotten caught smoking. These people want to win elections with law enforcement behind their campaign. All this protecting and serving must go on to accomplish what? Every minute people are being arrested and often have their property seized by police. This police enriching their operation with your money. Americans should ask do I REALLY HAVE ANY FREEDOM or am i a victim of CASH REGISTER GOVERNMENT. More Americans are in jail for nonsense. As risky as it is we need new friends in Washington so vote these old dogs out. Many politicians have moved over to a sensible approach to legalization and should be commended for doing so. But the old drug warriors once identified do not deserve your vote. VOTE IN THE MID TERMS ! VOTE THE LIARS OUT!
While most believe the United States is a democracy. It’s really a Republic. Majority rules in a democracy at the cost of the minority. While a Republic protects to rights of the minority at the cost of the majority. Now when they passed it they did as a democratic measure vote. But they will fight tooth and nail for the small percentage that don’t want to change. Other wise I feel the best ways to sum it up.
Mister President Tear Down Those Marijuana Laws
How is the govt measuring the addiction rates? It’s a fact that when people are charged with cannabis possession, they are given a choice of either spending time in jail or in a rehab. Guess what most people choose?
Secondly, the cannabis bought on the black market is not necessarily free of addictive substances like PCP. Labeling a plant as addictive based on what’s available in the black market is dishonest.
Lastly, what are the addiction rates of coffee and tea, may I ask?
As a safer alternative to the most dangerous actual drugs in the world – alcohol and tobacco – the ban on this plant needs to be lifted
*new poll* (please vote “no”):
USA TODAY Opinion wants to know …
Do you think federal laws on pot should be enforced in states where the drug is legal?
here’s the URL to the poll:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/07/31/marijuana-pot-your-say-medical/13429177/
@ Truth, be careful with “gmo”… Where the concern is with genetically engineered crops… Not “modified.” Modified includes hybridization, which would make cannabis the most genetically modified crop in existence. Monsantos loves such subtle legal terminology.
As for hemp, dont worry. Monsantos has been indirectly paying the DEA to eradicate wild American hemp for 45 years and they still couldnt do it! Hemp has grown freely across the U.S. Since the Hemp for Victory campaign of WWII. Hemp is a weed of many varieties.
What Monsantos has done to corn is engineered the common feed corn to be resistant to their herbicide, Round Up. However, the bugs have modified to resist, requiring more Round Up, which requires more fresh water. All this irrigation flushes precious water, top soil fertilizer and pesticides into our rivers, estuaries and out to sea.
The solution? Hemp produces twice the fiber and protein than corn or hemp while using half the water, no pesticides or herbicides and very little fertilizer by comparison. In fact, hemp is so productive it MAKES top soil rather than depletes it. Hemp is naturally drought resistant.
Conservative states in the southwest that are facing the most drought and fracking are picking up on this conservative quality of cannabis sativa. Perhaps the conservative and liberal agendas will agree to be sustainable?
Now all of you who claim that the Democratic party is pro MJ should hit themselves in the head several times feel better!
The system is broken in neither party is right.
In the name of human survival, remember that the greatest protection is FOREST. “Since the beginning, trees have created the heavens (oxygen O2) and the earth (topsoil) without which we humanity don’t exist.” Trees are the principal custodians of fresh water (drought states take note)! Reforestation is the number one necessity on the planet today.
(Semantics: kinda raises questions about playing into the prohib propaganda goal of demonizing the word “reefer” by constantly pairing it with “mad”, “madness” etc., even titles count. Au contraire, “Reefer refers to furthering reforestation!”)
As Julian observes above, “reefer” (like trees) actually makes topsoil, in fact it makes topsoil TREES can use, it is just about the best PRECURSOR CROP for trees. The reforestation that will save our human and friend species actually STARTS with hemp legalization and planting programs.
1. INVITE children, adults, students, teachers, volunteers, ex-offenders, foreigners of all ages to visit drought-affected areas, participate in Deadwood Abatement Brigades, gather all dead trunks and branches and litter and haul what can not be logged and exported to town for manufacturing use to dry creekbeds, gorges, gullies, ravines.
2. Lay a continuous mound of (lowest) fine and (uppermost) coarse material, weedstalk bundles etc. This will trap stormwater runoff, keep it in uplands where it evaporates and feeds local rainfall.
3. Seed densely with hemp– long roots will reach down and hold the biomass together preventing erosion.
4. After a season or two of hemp-residue buildup, plant fast-growing tree species– willow, cottonwood, eucalyptus etc.
5. After a decade, seed with permanent forest: pines, hardwoods etc.
Have I indicated the central importance of HEMP adequately?
Pointing the finger at drug use as an excuse for why so many kids don’t do well in our socialized public school system has been a prohibitionist tactic for a long time.
The system talks active, imaginative, kids and from kindergarten on its sit down, shut up as the system shoves information down their throats. Maybe now that forced attendance is no longer the law things will improve.
Sounds like a duck,can’t understand them either! Outlaw stupidity not Marijuana!!!
My best friend was placed in special education since kindergarten, given Ritalin to combat ADHD to no avail. We smoked some hairy red stuff in his attic one summer before our freshman year at high school, and he never slowed down, lol… needless to say he moved into regular classes, made honor society and is among the brightest persons I know, he attributes his success to pot; go figure!
Example comments from NYT’s from prohibitionists that think they are so much better and smarter than use potheads!
————-
SHJ Against Legalization Providence, RI
Gee, it all sounds so wonderful! No problems at all! Some overdoses, some psychotic episodes–just minor kinks! Rhode Island has enough problems without improving access to a drug that kills motivation and increase incoherence (have you guys actually listened to the nonsense that comes out of the mouths of potheads? Another question: Who will do the work that needs to get done?
Burnie Burner Against Legalization Burnsville, TN
The reason that marijuana is suddenly legal is that the corporate powers that truly run the country (through their puppet representatives) have determined that the more baked and distracted they can make the next generation, the more oblivious they will be to income inequality and lack of opportunity. “1% has all the money? Whatevs, bro, now pass me the bong, and let’s play some video games…Bro, my phone has 4-G’s, and I’m gonna update my Facebook now…Is Kardashian’s coming on now? Oh, bro, this weed is awesome…”
Anonymous Against Legalization
We would become a Nation of useless pot-heads gradually descending back into primitivism.
Is there a case for lawsuit against the federal government for “why” they made marijuana illegal to begin with?
“When I was a young man…”
Obama and His Pot-Smoking ‘Choom Gang’
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By Jonathan Karl
@jonkarl
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May 25, 2012 12:54pm
Young Barack Obama
Unlike Bill Clinton, Barack Obama never tried to say he didn’t inhale.
In his 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father,” Obama writes about smoking pot almost like Dr. Seuss wrote about eating green eggs and ham. As a high school kid, Obama wrote, he would smoke “in a white classmate’s sparkling new van,” he would smoke “in the dorm room of some brother” and he would smoke “on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids.”
He would smoke it here and there. He would smoke it anywhere.
Now a soon-to-be published biography by David Maraniss entitled “Barack Obama: The Story” gives more detail on Obama’s pot-smoking days, complete with testimonials from young Barry Obama’s high school buddies, a group that went by the name “the Choom Gang.” Choom was slang for smoking marijuana.
Maraniss portrays the teenage Obama as not just a pot smoker, but a pot-smoking innovator.
“As a member of the Choom Gang,” Maraniss writes, “Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends.”
The first Obama-inspired trend: “Total Absorption” or “TA”.
“TA was the opposite of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled,” explains Maraniss. Here’s how it worked: If you exhaled prematurely when you were with the Choom Gang, “you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around.”
As one of Obama’s old high school buddies tells Maraniss: “Wasting good bud smoke was not tolerated.”
Another Obama innovation: “Roof Hits.”
“When they were chooming in a car all the windows had to be rolled up so no smoke blew out and went to waste; when the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling.”
Maraniss also says Obama was known for his “Interceptions”: “When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted ‘Intercepted!,’ and took an extra hit.”
Although Obama himself wrote that he and his pot smoking buddies were a “club of disaffection,” Maraniss says that’s not really true.
“In fact, most members of the Choom Gang were decent students and athletes who went on to successful and productive lawyers, writers and businessmen,” Maraniss writes. One notable exception was Ray, the group’s pot dealer who, known for his ability “to score quality bud,” would years later be killed by a scorned gay lover armed with a ball-peen hammer.
Obama himself managed to be a pretty good student despite all the pot smoking and unconventional study habits.
“He told his Choom Gang mates that the trick was if you put the textbook under your pillow the night before you would perform better on an exam,” Maraniss writes. No way, dude!
Back to the pot smoking.
Hawaii of the early 1970s was something of a pot-smoking Mecca.
“It was sold and smoked right there in front of your nose; Maui Wowie, Kauai Electric, Puna Bud, Kona Gold, and other local variations of pakalolo were readily available,” writes Maraniss.
Obama’s pal Mark Bendix had a Volkswagen microbus known as “the Choomwagon.” They would often drive up Honolulu’s Mount Tantalus where they parked “turned up their stereos playing Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult and Stevie Wonder, lit up some ‘sweet-sticky Hawaiian buds’ and washed it down with ‘green bottled beer’ (the Choom Gang preferred Heineken, Becks, and St. Pauli Girl). No shouting, no violence, no fights; they even cleaned up their beer bottles.”
Of course, smoking, drinking and driving on mountain roads could also be a little dangerous. Especially the night they tried drag racing.
The race to the top of Mount Tantalus pitted the “Choomwagon” against another friend’s Toyota. Obama was in the Toyota. The Choomwagon made it to the top first. When the other car didn’t show up, those in the Choomwagon drove back down to find them. Here’s how Maraniss describes what happened next:
“On the way down, they saw a figure who appeared to be staggering up the road. It was Barry Obama. What was going on? As they drew closer, they noticed that he was laughing so hard he could barely stand up.”
His friend had rolled the car. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. And, amazingly, they avoided trouble by leaving the driver alone to deal with the police by claiming it was just an unfortunate “mishap.”
Maraniss concludes his chapter on Obama’s high school years by looking at a note Obama had written in his high school yearbook in a section reserved for students to give a line or two giving thanks to those who helped along the way.
Obama had written this: “Thanks Tut [his grandmother], Gramps, Choom Gang, and Ray for all the good times.”
Maraniss notes: “Ray was the older guy who hung around the Choom Gang, selling them pot. A hippie drug dealer made his acknowledgements; his mother did not.”
The White House told ABC News that it has no comment.
Introduction to the Endocannabinoid System
Dustin Sulak, DO
Maine Integrative Healthcare
As you read this review of the scientific literature regarding the therapeutic effects of cannabis and cannabinoids, one thing will become quickly evident: cannabis has a profound influence on the human body. This one herb and its variety of therapeutic compounds seem to affect every aspect of our bodies and minds. How is this possible?
In my integrative medicine clinic in central Maine, we treat over a thousand patients with a huge diversity of diseases and symptoms. In one day I might see cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, insomnia, Tourette’s syndrome and eczema, just to name a few. All of these conditions have different causes, different physiologic states, and vastly different symptoms. The patients are old and young. Some are undergoing conventional therapy. Others are on a decidedly alternative path. Yet despite their differences, almost all of my patients would agree on one point: cannabis helps their condition.
As a physician, I am naturally wary of any medicine that purports to cure-all. Panaceas, snake-oil remedies, and expensive fads often come and go, with big claims but little scientific or clinical evidence to support their efficacy. As I explore the therapeutic potential of cannabis, however, I find no lack of evidence. In fact, I find an explosion of scientific research on the therapeutic potential of cannabis, more evidence than one can find on some of the most widely used therapies of conventional medicine.
At the time of writing, a PubMed search for scientific journal articles published in the last 20 years containing the word “cannabis” revealed 7,704 results. Add the word “cannabinoid,” and the results increase to 15,899 articles. That’s an average of more than two scientific publications per day over the last 20 years! These numbers not only illustrate the present scientific interest and financial investment in understanding more about cannabis and its components, but they also emphasize the need for high quality reviews and summaries such as the document you are about to read.
How can one herb help so many different conditions? How can it provide both palliative and curative actions? How can it be so safe while offering such powerful effects? The search to answer these questions has led scientists to the discovery of a previously unknown physiologic system, a central component of the health and healing of every human and almost every animal: the endocannabinoid system.
What Is The Endocannabinoid System?
The endogenous cannabinoid system, named after the plant that led to its discovery, is perhaps the most important physiologic system involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Endocannabinoids and their receptors are found throughout the body: in the brain, organs, connective tissues, glands, and immune cells. In each tissue, the cannabinoid system performs different tasks, but the goal is always the same: homeostasis, the maintenance of a stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment.
Cannabinoids promote homeostasis at every level of biological life, from the sub-cellular, to the organism, and perhaps to the community and beyond. Here’s one example: autophagy, a process in which a cell sequesters part of its contents to be self-digested and recycled, is mediated by the cannabinoid system. While this process keeps normal cells alive, allowing them to maintain a balance between the synthesis, degradation, and subsequent recycling of cellular products, it has a deadly effect on malignant tumor cells, causing them to consume themselves in a programmed cellular suicide. The death of cancer cells, of course, promotes homeostasis and survival at the level of the entire organism.
Endocannabinoids and cannabinoids are also found at the intersection of the body’s various systems, allowing communication and coordination between different cell types. At the site of an injury, for example, cannabinoids can be found decreasing the release of activators and sensitizers from the injured tissue, stabilizing the nerve cell to prevent excessive firing, and calming nearby immune cells to prevent release of pro-inflammatory substances. Three different mechanisms of action on three different cell types for a single purpose: minimize the pain and damage caused by the injury.
The endocannabinoid system, with its complex actions in our immune system, nervous system, and all of the body’s organs, is literally a bridge between body and mind. By understanding this system we begin to see a mechanism that explains how states of consciousness can promote health or disease.
In addition to regulating our internal and cellular homeostasis, cannabinoids influence a person’s relationship with the external environment. Socially, the administration of cannabinoids clearly alters human behavior, often promoting sharing, humor, and creativity. By mediating neurogenesis, neuronal plasticity, and learning, cannabinoids may directly influence a person’s open-mindedness and ability to move beyond limiting patterns of thought and behavior from past situations. Reformatting these old patterns is an essential part of health in our quickly changing environment.
What Are Cannabinoid Receptors?
Sea squirts, tiny nematodes, and all vertebrate species share the endocannabinoid system as an essential part of life and adaptation to environmental changes. By comparing the genetics of cannabinoid receptors in different species, scientists estimate that the endocannabinoid system evolved in primitive animals over 600 million years ago.
While it may seem we know a lot about cannabinoids, the estimated twenty thousand scientific articles have just begun to shed light on the subject. Large gaps likely exist in our current understanding, and the complexity of interactions between various cannabinoids, cell types, systems and individual organisms challenges scientists to think about physiology and health in new ways. The following brief overview summarizes what we do know.
Cannabinoid receptors are present throughout the body, embedded in cell membranes, and are believed to be more numerous than any other receptor system. When cannabinoid receptors are stimulated, a variety of physiologic processes ensue. Researchers have identified two cannabinoid receptors: CB1, predominantly present in the nervous system, connective tissues, gonads, glands, and organs; and CB2, predominantly found in the immune system and its associated structures. Many tissues contain both CB1 and CB2 receptors, each linked to a different action. Researchers speculate there may be a third cannabinoid receptor waiting to be discovered.
Endocannabinoids are the substances our bodies naturally make to stimulate these receptors. The two most well understood of these molecules are called anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). They are synthesized on-demand from cell membrane arachidonic acid derivatives, have a local effect and short half-life before being degraded by the enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL).
Phytocannabinoids are plant substances that stimulate cannabinoid receptors. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the most psychoactive and certainly the most famous of these substances, but other cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) are gaining the interest of researchers due to a variety of healing properties. Most phytocannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis sativa, but other medical herbs, such as echinacea purpura, have been found to contain non-psychoactive cannabinoids as well.
Interestingly, the marijuana plant also uses THC and other cannabinoids to promote its own health and prevent disease. Cannabinoids have antioxidant properties that protect the leaves and flowering structures from ultraviolet radiation – cannabinoids neutralize the harmful free radicals generated by UV rays, protecting the cells. In humans, free radicals cause aging, cancer, and impaired healing. Antioxidants found in plants have long been promoted as natural supplements to prevent free radical harm.
Laboratories can also produce cannabinoids. Synthetic THC, marketed as dronabinol (Marinol), and nabilone (Cesamet), a THC analog, are both FDA approved drugs for the treatment of severe nausea and wasting syndrome. Some clinicians have found them helpful in the off-label treatment of chronic pain, migraine, and other serious conditions. Many other synthetic cannabinoids are used in animal research, and some have potency up to 600 times that of THC.
Cannabis, The Endocannabinoid System, And Good Health
As we continue to sort through the emerging science of cannabis and cannabinoids, one thing remains clear: a functional cannabinoid system is essential for health. From embryonic implantation on the wall of our mother’s uterus, to nursing and growth, to responding to injuries, endocannabinoids help us survive in a quickly changing and increasingly hostile environment. As I realized this, I began to wonder: can an individual enhance his/her cannabinoid system by taking supplemental cannabis? Beyond treating symptoms, beyond even curing disease, can cannabis help us prevent disease and promote health by stimulating an ancient system that is hard-wired into all of us?
I now believe the answer is yes. Research has shown that small doses of cannabinoids from marijuana can signal the body to make more endocannabinoids and build more cannabinoid receptors. This is why many first-time marijuana users don’t feel an effect, but by their second or third time using the herb they have built more cannabinoid receptors and are ready to respond. More receptors increase a person’s sensitivity to cannabinoids; smaller doses have larger effects, and the individual has an enhanced baseline of endocannabinoid activity. I believe that small, regular doses of marijuana might act as a tonic to our most central physiologic healing system.
Many physicians cringe at the thought of recommending a botanical substance, and are outright mortified by the idea of smoking a medicine. Our medical system is more comfortable with single, isolated substances that can be swallowed or injected. Unfortunately, this model significantly limits the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids.
Unlike synthetic derivatives, herbal marijuana may contain over one hundred different cannabinoids, including THC, which all work synergistically to produce better medical effects and less side effects than THC alone. While marijuana is safe and works well when smoked, many patients prefer to use a vaporizer or cannabis tincture. Scientific inquiry and patient testimonials both indicate that herbal marijuana has superior medical qualities to synthetic cannabinoids.
In 1902 Thomas Edison said, “There were never so many able, active minds at work on the problems of disease as now, and all their discoveries are tending toward the simple truth that you can’t improve on nature.” Cannabinoid research has proven this statement is still valid.
So, is it possible that medical marijuana could be the most useful remedy to treat the widest variety of human diseases and conditions, a component of preventative healthcare, and an adaptive support in our increasingly toxic, carcinogenic environment? Yes. This was well known to the indigenous medical systems of ancient India, China, and Tibet, and as you will find in this report, is becoming increasingly well known by Western science. Of course, we need more human-based research studying the effectiveness of marijuana, but the evidence base is already large and growing constantly, despite the DEA’s best efforts to discourage cannabis-related research.
Does your doctor understand the benefit of medical cannabis? Can he or she advise you in the proper indications, dosage, and route of administration? Likely not. Despite the two largest physician associations (American Medical Association and American College of Physicians) calling for more research, the Obama administration promising not to arrest patients protected under state medical cannabis laws, a 5,000 year history of safe therapeutic use, and a huge amount of published research, most doctors know little or nothing about medical cannabis.
This is changing, in part because the public is demanding it. People want safe, natural and inexpensive treatments that stimulate our bodies’ ability to self-heal and help our population improve its quality of life. Medical cannabis is one such solution. This summary is an excellent tool for spreading the knowledge and helping to educate patients and healthcare providers on the scientific evidence behind the medical use of cannabis and cannabinoids.
There may be a basis for a lawsuit against the government for making cannabis illegal, however; it would be met by all the underhanded and unethical ploys that make up our government. You have to remember — the lawsuit would be going up against the entity that is best versed on how to breach the writings of our Constitution.
Many times, it is the very entity that is responsible for making the rules that will ultimately break those rules…
@ llion article says: arachidonic acid derivates are endocannibinoid . I read Arachidonic acid is found in Natural Seed and Nut Oils such as Safflower Seed Oils and Sunflower Seed oils. The article also says;
echinacea purpura, have been found to contain non-psychoactive cannabinoids as well. my comment: Echinaces purpura (Purple Cone Flower)is known to enhance Immune system
perhaps this is the Endocanninoids “at work”.
Article: Endocannabinoids are the substances our bodies naturally make to stimulate these receptors. The two most well understood of these molecules are called anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). They are synthesized on-demand from cell membrane arachidonic acid derivatives, have a local effect and short half-life before being degraded by the enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). Phytocannabinoids are plant substances that stimulate cannabinoid receptors. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the most psychoactive and certainly the most famous of these substances, but other cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN) are gaining the interest of researchers due to a variety of healing properties. Most phytocannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis sativa, but other medical herbs, such as echinacea purpura, have been found to contain non-psychoactive cannabinoids as well. Interestingly, the marijuana plant also uses THC and other cannabinoids to promote its own health and prevent disease. Cannabinoids have antioxidant properties that protect the leaves and flowering structures from ultraviolet radiation – cannabinoids neutralize the harmful free radicals generated by UV rays, protecting the cells. –
Arachidonic acid (AA, sometimes ARA) is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid 20:4(?-6). It is the counterpart to the saturated arachidic acid found in peanut oil, (L. arachis – peanut.)[2]
Chocolate also “uptakes endocannibinoids”.
Mangos Can Drastically Improve Your High If Consumed 90 Minutes Prior To Medicating
Posted by Dankston Hughes on 07/10/2014 in Medical Marijuana News
Although it hasn’t been proven by scientific fact, recent trends have discovered that there’s a fruit that might unlock marijuana’s true untapped potential — mangos. Again, while there hasn’t been any studies conducted regarding mangos and marijuana use, marijuana smokers have recently been consuming a mango just about an hour before lighting up in hopes of boosting their high.
While I reiterate that this is not set in stone, apparently eating fresh mangos or even drinking a fresh mango smoothie one hour prior to smoking will have a dramatic effect on your high. This is because a chemical compound known as myrcene terpenes – which is most often used for fragrances as an essential oil – can be found within cannabis as well other plants such as lemon grass, hops and, of course, mangos. This compound is responsible for dramatically increasing the euphoric feelings felt by marijuana and could even play a beneficial role in allowing medical marijuana patients to ease their pain even more than they did before.
Cannabis is known to already contain more than 100 terpene molecules, all of which are responsible for affecting THC’s effect on the brain. However most interesting is that marijuana contains the myrcene terpenes more than any other kind of molecule. So in turn, it does make sense that if you were to eat a mango that is rich in myrcenes, you would have the ability to potentially improve the high associated with low-quality buds or even enhance the high-quality bud that you already have with an extra kick.
Note: I experienced this eating ripe Mango!!
Thanks @Ilion for Dustin Sulak’s Introduction to the Endocannabinoid System clarifying that mystery why the first day I felt nothing and the second day it took three years to walk a city block.
Thanks @Russ Hudson for your piece on co-evolution– some more thoughts on that can be found at http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Ethnobotany.
I am just starting to read this, but I wanted to point out for the author that the silver bullet has nothing to do with the Lone Ranger. The silver bullet there is referring to using the silver bullet on the werewolf problem.
Mexweed you made me lmao. 3yrs to walk around the block!
I find the White House’s statement interesting for two reasons:
1) The drug warriors are moving goalposts because they realize that they are on the losing side of this debate. Since when have they ever been concerned about “alternatives to incarceration?” They have only been concerned with throwing people in jail. Because of the changing in public opinion, they are changing their position in hopes of maintaining the status quo. It won’t work. Even Obama himself said that with public opinion on your side, there’s so much more you can do. Unfortunately, with the drug warriors firmly entrenched in DC, there will still be resistance. MJ arrests have gone up in many states because of this same resistance.
If you want to get serious about treating addiction then end the Drug War. Stop advocating laws based on the minority of citizens who are addicts. Especially since these laws do every little to actually help addicts. Drug addiction is a public health issue, not a criminal justice one. And despite the tone of the White House’s statement, the federal government, for the most part, still doesn’t get this.
2) Legalization is not wishful thinking. Believing that marijuana should be completely unregulated is wishful thinking. This latter view has very little support not just among the general public, but also among mj advocates. Marijuana may be less harmful than alcohol, but it can still cause problems if there is no regulation in place. The irony of the White House’s position is that thanks it marijuana’s illegality, it is in fact, unregulated. And so what if illegal sales would continue? Illegal sales of prescription drugs and even alcohol go on and the government isn’t advocating that these substances be illegal altogether. It’s been proven that legalization will never eliminate illegal sales, but it can greatly reduce them.
Despite my support for Obama, I disagree wholeheartedly here and well continue to make that known though my financial support and my vote. I have never been a one issue voter and see no reason to become one now. And for those who think voting doesn’t work, think again. We would have never gotten this far without it. Progress is always slow, but it does happen. And anyway, despite this WH statement, the final irony is that it’s under this current Administration that some of the biggest strives have been made. If we had to deal with a Republican administration, things would be more difficult. Yes, my politically apathetic friends, on this particular issue of marijuana, the two major parties are NOT the same. They are not the same on most issues, but here, with weed, the differences are at their most glaring.
So, we keep fighting. Our opponents’ position is simply unsustainable and they know it. They are losing. It’s clear in this pathetic statement released by the White House which everybody knows was written by the drug czar (whose job is becoming more and more useless as the days go by, especially if the efforts to pursue “alternatives to incarceration” are sincere). Since when does any society that that claims to hold democratic values need a position as autocratic by its very nature as a “czar?” Even Russia (which is still a repressive regime long after the regime of its last czar, Nicholas II) found them to be useless so why do we need them here in America?
Excellent posts. So far we have covered phtyocannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system, water and soil conservation using industrial hemp and Ray, President Obama’s hippy drug dealer from high school who was the only member of the Choom Gang not only to fail at his pursuit of a professional legal career but was murdered by his scorned gay lover with a ball-peen hammer.
Well, that about covers it. I mean, how do you top that act?
All ive got left is some old brownie recipe. Oh well.
I would like to respond to a couple of points Lion brings up;
1). Thank you for bringing up phytocannabinoids: If there’s a law suit floating around out there, it must be directed at the Department of Health and Human services patent 6630507 for cannabinoids as neuroprotectants. If owning this patent while simultaneously taking children into state custody for alleged parental marijuana consumption wasnt enough cause for legal action, the archaic, hypocritical patent itself defines ownership of the cannabinoids we require in our body to sustain ourselves. It would be a class action lawsuit represented by all humanity ( signed with petition) for the immoral patent and prohibition of vital cannabinoids required by the human body. Filed in a Federal Court with support from NORML, the ACLU and covered by the NYTimes prior to elections?
2). Naturally, the Controlled Substances Act needs to be repealed by Congress and the President, the same institutions that created the unjust law. However, prohibitionists that own drug testing facilities, timber and petrochemical patents and pharmacuetical patents would love to see more watered down versions of legalization that create more of a “swiss cheese” semi prohibition that has the growing pro marijuana movement up in arms. Perhaps a largely publicized class action law suit against the major patents and permits of prohibition is just what our country needs?
If Marinol is synthetic THC; and if Marinol is approved by the FDA as a “prescription”; this proves “THC has medicinal value.” imho.
@ Julian; “Maybe we should file a class action lawsuit concerning “rescheduling MJ” demanding the IND begin the MMJ program again we the weed people have no time to lose
Curious as to know if any of the states will be able to “use Medicaid; Medicare or private medical insurance to purchase M MJ ?
Private grow co-ops would save a lot of money
The Gov could begin to sell some decent herb.
@Reefer Mango Madness, thanks for the reminder about terpenes which should be on everyone’s mind now. Check Ethan B. Russo’s pioneering 2011 article on “Taming THC: entourage effect” where he mentions that myrcene and two others, pinene and caryophyllene, all present in cannabis, can reduce nicotine craving. With 6,000,000 deaths a year from $igarette p$ycho$i$ that could mean a Nobel Prize to some cannabis researcher.
@notfooled, thanks for challenging comments on regulation. This is where a DIY remedy exists: regulate your own use by eliminating HBOM (hot burning overdose monoxide) rolling papers and using only one or more 25-mg servings of sifted dry particulate budflower in a flexible drawtube one-hitter made from $1.29 worth of parts (wikiHow.com: 12 Ways to Make Pipes from Everyday Objects).
@Julian, we can honor Ray the Choom supplier by applying the name “CHOOMETTE” to a flexible drawtube one-hitter which has a bored (holey) decorated wood handlestick (about size and shape of a traditional CHILLUM) between the socket wrench or hose nipple craterpiece and the long flexible drawtube (see the wikiHow.com article). Jamaica needs a domestic/export VAPE TOKE UTENSIL INDUSTRY and so do numerous other nations considering “regulated” cannabis use.
Addiction does not have to be horrific or lead to stealing from Girl Scouts to be addiction. As someone who knows from personal experience, for some people pot can be extremely hard to control. I had problems with it, stayed away from it for 30 years, then recently tried it again. It didn’t take too long before I was smoking it every day, unable to stop. That’s addiction.
That said, I still believe prohibition is harmful and, of course, doesn’t work. Soon (5-10 years) it will be as legal as alcohol in America, and I will need to learn how to control my use of it. I have the same problem with alcohol, so it’s nothing new, really.
My point is that the truth (pot is addictive for some people) does not mean it should remain illegal. Your arguments for legalization should stick to the facts.
[Editor’s note: The word ‘addictive’ is far too fungible to have serious meaning. For many the word invokes deep cravings (i.e., “I’m a chocolaholic!”), for others it is a scientific term.
From a pharmacological viewpoint, cannabis, unlike nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, opiates (and even caffeine) does not appear to come close to a classic definition of a drug that causes ‘addiction’ (with a pronounced period of mental and physical cravings for the drug, physical withdrawals [symptoms often include vomiting, sweating, shaking, disruptive bowel movements; difficulty sleeping, eating, concentrating] after the drug use suddenly abates).
Heavy cannabis users who suddenly stop using the herbal drug do not often exhibit these tell tale signs of ‘drug addiction’.
Is cell phone use addictive? Apparently so as some of the symptoms listed above have now been reported among regular cell phone users (any partner or parent has probably experienced the pain of cell phone ‘addiction’ when separating their loved ones from these…’addictive’ devices).
Like any drug that causes a psychotropic state cannabis can be misused and abused, and the population, notably young people, should be educated about such. But, some anti-cannabis public health officials and uninformed parents do young people no good by claiming that cannabis is ‘addictive like heroin, cocaine, meth, oxycontin, tobacco, etc…’ because it simply is not from a physiological and anatomical response, certainly compared to other licit and illicit drugs.]
Anyone that thinks that Cannabis is addictive, has clearly never experienced opiate withdrawals, and that is exactly why it is dangerous to tell people Cannabis is just as addictive as heroin. Here is a simple example of what I’m trying to say… Some cannabis user smokes pot for a year and then stops without much trouble, and now they think, “Gee, if that is the same as heroin, maybe I will try heroin…I don’t see why they say addiction is soo bad…..” This is why having Cannabis listed in Schedule 1 is so far from reality, and actually can cause more harm making people believe that these drugs are actually equally as dangerous, let alone to say Methamphetamine and Cocaine are actually less dangerous than cannabis is just outrageous…
Tony and Editor –
The word “addictive” is an emotional trigger, and I can see why NORML would want to make sure the public knows it’s not in the same class as heroin and other opiates. It should not be a Category I drug, no question. And I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that many people, myself included, become dependent on it emotionally and physically. When it runs out, anxiety and depression set in. Whether it’s similar to cocaine withdrawal is not the point. It doesn’t have to be as bad as heroin withdrawal to be withdrawal. I gave up smoking cigarettes 30 years ago, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Former heroin users have stated cigarettes are more addictive. I’m familiar with withdrawal from a narcotic (nicotine), so I know whereof I speak. Marijuana withdrawal is not like that, but it’s no cakewalk either.
To say that pot is harmless is misleading: that’s my point. It’s not. For MOST people, it’s benign. For some, it can lead to abuse, dependence, and needs to be handled with caution, if at all.
I understand the need for NORML and others in the anti-prohibition movement to dress pot up and make it wear a suit and tie, so it fits in with the rest of consumer society. Good plan. But I think it would be more honest to say it has potential for harm. I don’t believe the government should be telling me what I can put into my body. But I want to be well-informed and not misled. Make sense?
[Editor’s note: “To say that pot is harmless is misleading” This is true…and no where in NORML’s 44 year history of public advocacy are you going to find the words ‘harmless’ and ‘marijuana’ in the same sentence. In 1970 NORML began with a pretty simple mantra: marijuana can be abused, but prohibition is worse.
You maybe confusing NORML with anyone of a dozen other pro-cannabis law reform organizations (most of whose work NORML’s familiar with also do not claim cannabis is harmless…ACLU, DPA, MPP, LEAP, etc…).
“I don’t believe the government should be telling me what I can put into my body. But I want to be well-informed and not misled. Make sense?”
Sure…makes very good sense from a consumer’s point of view. Self evidently prohibition will NEVER inform the consumer of what they’re consuming. That comes about through consumer expectations, government regulation and the plaintiffs bar (ie, someone markets and sells something they claim is ‘harmless’, and plaintiff lawyers can convince judge and/or jury otherwise, wins big monetary damages, this checks reckless marketing/distribution and helps establish industry standards).
Some of the last straw man arguments advance by prohibitionists groups to justify the continued prohibition is that reformers claim cannabis is harmless, when they don’t.
In conclusion, again, cannabis can be misused like all psychotropic drugs, and people can abuse the substance. But, as the Merck Manual used to conclude, in effect, ‘of all the known health problems associated with cannabis use, none are unhealthier and damaging to the individual than the effect of cannabis prohibition law enforcement itself.’]
Should I give up my morning hot tea and hemp milk because if I do not have my Tea I feel irritable ? No of course not: Tea makes the day ! Sure Tea is addictive; so what? Weedlady
Vitamin B12 is not addictive; however; if you do not get adequate Vitamin B12 you will have “symptoms(irritability; nervous prob.).
I think you confuse the word addictive with “essential”; such as “essential vitamins”; essential Cannabinoids etc. my 2c !
I use MMJ basically to “improve mood/appetite.” MMJ is an herbal medicine.
I have been doing beautifully for over 30 y.
“sober clean tobacco free for 15 yrs. Thank-u!
ps Marinol helps wonderfully w/MJ withdrawal.”
having said all that: I will do go through a lot to make sure I have my personal supply !@@
I do better in life way better when I have MJ.
🙂
@Bob, just sticking to the facts here, when you say “It didn’t take too long before I was smoking it every day, unable to stop. That’s addiction” you are admitting that the $moking (aside from the cannabis) had something to do with the addiction problem.
Here’s a guess: the carbon monoxide and 4221 combustion toxins in $moke dumbs down the brain, erases the ability to perceive certain anxieties, the cannabis then enables the brain to embroider this relief experience with pleasant thoughts (“I feel mellowed out” etc.).
Try non-CO vaporizing (and prepare yourself to face down and work on the roots of the anxiety problem, with an eventual solution as your objective– this may mean writing paper or keyboard work).
Mexweed –
Boy have things changed in 30 years! So much to learn. Vaping is something I have to look into, I suppose. I am journaling, trying to work through the issues, as you suggest. After a few days away, things are back to normal, but still. I guess what prompted me to comment was my experience as a n00b (which is what I am in this new age) has been that its not as simple and carefree as the proponents of legalization sometimes make it sound. I need to do my homework, in more ways than one. Thanks for the info.
thank you