Rolling Cannabis Politics Thread

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/05/study-the-gateway-drug-is-alcohol-not-marijuana/

http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2012/07/05/Health-Canada-Drop-Medical-Marijuana-Grow-op-Licenses

health canada says it hasn't inspected any medical growers
health canada says it will move to stop allowing medical users to grow their own:
1) safety concerns, 2) organized crime using medical grow licenses as covers for CRIME

2 is such bullshit

right... and the first issue could be helped if health canada did inspections

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/07/should-health-canada-centralize-medical-marijuana-production.html

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the program is in need of reform, and that the department is considering a system of mail-order medical pot, to be produced by industrial growers.

"We are moving to eliminate personal grow-ops which will not require inspection," she said. "We are moving forward in looking at medical marijuana in terms of how any other prescription drug is accessed."

So anyone into growing their own? The Netherlands demand a weedpass so foreigners can't buy any anymore. :-(((

well it's a lot of work and - perhaps more importantly - it requires a big up-front investment so it's more expensive than a dispensary

supposedly the cooperative model is "you're growing your own by proxy" but it becomes too hard to cross-check where the money goes

there's some news in chicago on this front
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-to-ticket-for-marijuana-possession/Content?oid=6861353

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/07/11/marijuana_and_weight_loss_the_pot_you_smoke_isn_t_going_to_make_you_skinny.html

Ironically, the chemicals in question calm a major cannabinoid receptor, rather than stimulate it. Marijuana, as you may have heard, tends to increase appetite. Researchers hope that a drug that dampens cannabinoid signaling could have the opposite effect.

As you may have heard.

haven't read the article so i'm spitballing here but i'd think that a drug that demonstrates, in profile, that marijuana stimulates appetite would tend to serve the ends of ppl that want it legalized for medical reasons

Just heard on the news that that in Belgium there seem to be a lot more weed growing due to restriction of weed sale in Netherlands. lol. We're jumping on the bandwagon I guess.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/07/how_much_would_legal_marijuana_cost_a_new_book_says_it_would_be_nearly_free_.html

w00t

so good article in the times today (good meaning necessary for the conversation i guess) that gets at least one thing right

But authorities rarely seem to address the real issue about marijuana in California: Is it good medicine?

i think we can all agree to be on one side of this issue, yes this is the most important and primary question we're all interested in

the writer goes over the basics of the issue which are all reasonable like 1) being natural isn't a gold star 2) being no worse than other drugs and substances does not mean good (but isn't that how the fda works?) and 3) we all know people are gonna get high but let's focus on the legitimate users

then they throw in a good curveball

But the situation is different with chronic marijuana use.

Marijuana acts on cannabinoid receptors in the brain. These receptors, which are the most prevalent in the nervous system, influence just about every bodily function, including memory, attention, disposition, arousal, motivation, perception, appetite and sleep.

which sounds scary but (really? cannabis smoking receptors are the most prevalent in the nervous system) but really just means hey this is a psychoactive substance like an ssri or l-dopa or thyroid medication or HEY alcohol cigarettes and coffee

yes it has a strong effect on short term memory

but then unfortunately it's kind of a rotation of talking heads. ok, glaucoma foundation. are they the only opthamology institute? do several agree? ok, the v/a dude says it's linked to psychosis. but miami zombie aside, are there statistics? there must be, they have been forthcoming about ptsd statistics.

i believe the v/a has statistics and probably other neutral organizations do too. the pro-cannabis lobby in the comments box doesn't seem interested in statistics and/or can't make better arguments than "the feds don't want you to have it, QED" and "legalize and tax like drunk driving" and "the cigarette, cotton and nylon industry lobby".

Dr. David Sack is a psychiatrist and addiction specialist. He is chief executive of Promises Treatment Centers

anyway this is not a surprise since it seems like we only hear voices (on both sides of the spectrum) from people w/ a political or professional stake in this specific issue rather than an actual professional association of mental and public health practitioners

so ... NIH? APA? the only credible advice i've heard from actual doctors not involved in the industry is along the lines of not more than x amoung, not outside the house, take breaks, not in the morning, etc

can't jerry brown authorize an advisory panel or something?

like FFS if you GIVE A SHIT instead of trying to use prohibition scare tactics please describe signs and symptoms of addiction rather than play hide the chicken behind the egg

the catch-22 is that research cant be done because its a schedule one substance, deemed harmful, so research would be a violation of ethics. At least that's my impression

like a "first do no harm" thing?

that would seem to rule out leeches and bee stings

it IS a real catch-22 huh

did you read the article gbx i am curious to know what more health workers think

there's also the good outweighs the harm aspect of things (cf chemo), but I think the legality of weed makes things problematic. allowing research to discover (perhaps) that weed has some beneficial effects that outweigh the harm would be egg all over the govts face.

they're doing lsd and mdma and psilocybin trials according to the nyt

link?

unfortunately it's prone to the same "well if you're DYING then okay you can chase the dragon" make-a-wish feelgood definition of "legitimate patients" that plagues the discourse

if only young people at college-age - nothing to be anxious about! prime of life! - could get xanax prescriptions as easily as suburban professionals and soccer moms ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-psychedelic-drugs-can-help-patients-face-death.html?pagewanted=all

but yeah it's such a hot-button issue and i doubt there being any forward progress on it until psychiatrists and psychologists can actually deal w/ the issue of medical marijuana on a professional basis w/ health care and gov't agencies w/o fear of reprisal

only half through it but I'd wager that the end-of-life aspect may have played into how they got approval?

you talking about cannabis or mdma ;-)

maybe people argue they're about to commit suicide if their hookup doesn't call back

For me, the benefit-vs.-risks of marijuana (or other illegal drugs) far secondary argument for their legalization compared to the truly catastrophic problems that have arisen due to their criminalization - street gangs, violence, criminal enterprises that have more wealth and power than some national governments, etc.

anyway everyone knows drug use (like cigarettes and alcohol) is slow suicide in exchange for short term relief anyway and on a long enough time scale we're all terrminally ill

lee OTM quality of life

i imagine they could compare cannabis use vs emergency room visits but there are a million other factors to filter out

xp I have an old friend whose mother was a drug addict, and as a result of drug prohibition, prices on the black market are much higher than they would be then if they were legal, making them unaffordable to many addicts. Addicts will often do anything to obtain the drug(s) of their choice, and for my friend's mom this meant selling out her 5 year old daughter to what turned out to be a child pornography ring, ostensibly to help her mother get money to pay the rent. Words simply cannot do justice to describe the living hell she was put through. One of millions of casualties in the "war on drugs" that doesn't make the news often, a life irrevocably fucked up that would never have happened had drugs been decriminalized and affordable.

well according to one op ed i read (no joke) adults (moms and dads) are often required to juggle complex schedules of piano, mandarin lessons and soccer games, pick up their kids from these things and drive them home, and cook for the family, all of which are much more difficult and dangerous when you're high

would you trust your baby with a POTHEAD?!?

i'm going to assume the lady in lee626 story wasn't just buying weed

She wasn't, it was an assortment of harder stuff, coke, heroin, PCP, lord knows what else.

Babies and children don't get to choose whether their parents are druggies or not.

i can understand w hy ppl wouldn't want to legalize all drugs, and i can envision a compassionate drug policy that gave medical aid to serious drug addicts, diacetylmorphine prescriptions to heroin users, etc. ie one much better than the one we have now. weed tho has the added absurdity of being as safe or safer than other legalized (and controlled) substances, like tobacco which kills you and alcohol which can cause liver dmg, drunk driving serious society concern, etc. i think even more than concerns over failed drug war it is the perceived safety of marijuana which is causing ppl to favor legalization more and more every year. i also think that medicinal marijuana is just a convenient by step to full legalization and it's just a way for ppl to start to get comfortable w/ the idea on a legislative level. decriminalization is an important indicator too that policy is slowly changing.

OTOH i know a medical user who is getting about as skeptical about MM as he is about big pharma products and about as grossed out w/ the industry

For the information of ilx, Oregon qualified an initiative on the ballot for November's general election that would regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol and legalize hemp production. More info here.

God only knows what the feds would do if this passes. I plan to vote in favor.

punitive tax on nike shoes and dave's killer bread

washington has a similar initiative on the ballot, it's looking like the medical marijuana providers here are marshalling their forces against it. According to them it "throws patients under the bus" but it sure seems like they're trying to protect their bottom line.

is it replacing an mmj law on the ballot or is there already one?

mmj is legal here, this would make possession of an ounce legal, and set up a 5-nanogram standard for DUI arrests. There are various arguments back and forth about whether a regular mmj user would meet that standard while driving sober. But really, it's not like they have any protection at all from DUI arrests under the current law.

dui arrests should be based on playing mario kart

From what I understand, it's difficult to test for whether someone is currently high on cannaboids (compared to alcohol, where you can readily test for current intoxication for purposes of DUI/DWI arrests). It's easy to administer drug tests that will detect if someone has blazed in the last week or two, but smoking weed a week earlier won't impair your driving today.

Alcohol is water-soluble and THC is fat-soluble. Water-soluble drugs exit the body quickly while fat-soluble drugs linger in the body long after their pharmacological effect has worn off.

smoking weed a week earlier won't impair your driving today

it might if you got BIN LADEN WEED

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/05/osama-bin-laden-marijuana-crop_n_858301.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/17/economists-marijuana-legalization_n_1431840.html

http://www.avclub.com/articles/martin-a-lee-smoke-signals-a-social-history-of-mar,84488/

When he plants his feet firmly and reels off a list of italicized “slang words for marijuana in English”—“grass, reefer, tea, pot, dope, weed, bud, skunk, butt, blunt, Mary Jane”—he sounds just like Jack Webb on Dragnet

<3 it