Californnia Medical Marijuana… Not all are so lucky!

As emotions over medical marijuana and the locations, and numbers of the dispensaries allowed heats up in every city across the state of California… There is still no greater place to live. In one afternoon a properly documented marijuana patients can visit a marijuana doctor, be evaluated, and with 30 min be on his or her way looking for their new favorite medical cannabis club. Of which there are more than a few to choose from.

Medical Cannabis: Edibles vs. Inhalation – Why is it so different?

Cannabis experts now discourage smoking the plant as the only real downside to its use is the damage of the smoke to the lining of your lungs. Both methods of inhalation put the active compounds in cannabis directly into your bloodstream, which carries them to your brain where they attach to receptors and cause the well known effects.

You can also eat cannabis in the form of what is called edibles: cookies, brownies, and other food products. When you ingest cannabis, it goes into your intestines, then passes through your liver. Your liver processes THC into a by product called 11-hydroxy-THC, which then travels to the bloodstream and then to your brain.

Actually, hemp, and hemp seed in particular, has been used as a highly nutritious food source for thousands of years. Food source hemp comes from the plant Cannabis, the same plant species as marijuana. Hemp is used in making clothing, is a premium source for paper products. The finished product can be worn, written on, and you can eat it. Hemp is a high quality source of protein.

Edible hemp comes from a special variety of cannabis that contains only small trace amounts of the chemical THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) that causes marijuana's intoxicating effects. So don't need to worry about it giving you a high any more than a poppy seed muffin will. Poppy seeds contain trace amounts of opiates.

The Chinese have been cultivating hemp as a high quality and nutritional, food source for more than 6,000 years. Hemp seeds were used as food even before soy foods. The seed eventually found its way to Europe and India. In India it's called “bhang,” and the dried leaves are used to treat colds, fevers, diarrhea and used in religious ceremonies. Hemp seed is high in quality protein, essential amino acids, vitamin E, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, and calcium. Hemp seed tastes like pine nuts or sunflower seeds. A tablespoon of hemp seed contains about three grams of protein, no cholesterol, one gram of fiber, only fifty-six calories, four grams of omega-6 and some omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Five decades of scientific research have shown that insufficient essential fatty acids raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. Essential fatty acids, in a healthful balance, affect brain function, immune system responses, and infant development. Most people who eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) consume a highly disproportionate amount of Omega-6s, usually 11 to 30 times more omega-6s than omega-3s. Optimum balance is between 3 to 1 and 6 to 1, depending on age and sex.

Omega-3 EFA's help reduce inflammation and omega-6s increase it. Both are essential for proper immune system response. When there are too many omega-6s, we're more likely to develop diseases which are related to inflammation, like heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. The main culprit is baked goods and highly processed foods that are made with refined vegetable oils, particularly hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.

Medical Marijuana and Back Pain

Medical marijuana is increasingly becoming the treatment of choice for many chronic back pain patients. Cannabis is much safer than conventional treatment therapies such as over the counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications – NSAIDS – (such as ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, or aspirin) can be helpful but can cause side effects such as stomach upset, nausea, gastric bleeding, and ulcers.

In the United States, approximately 300-500 women die every year from giving birth, 11% of infants are born too early, 7.4% have low birth weight, and 7 of every 1000 live births die within the first year of life. These are stunning statistics; however, there are many things an expectant mother can do to reduce these statistics. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Expectant Mother's Weight

During the 40 weeks the mother carries the fetus, the fetus receives all the nutrients and nourishment from the mother via the placenta; so in essence, the mother is eating for two: she is eating for her own nutritional health, and the health of the child she carries. During pregnancy, a woman's body undergoes significant changes that cause weight gain: blood volume increases 50%, vital organs (heart, kidneys, and lungs) must work harder to eliminate waste and deliver oxygen and nutrients, body fat increases to sustain energy during later pregnancy, the uterus grows, and muscles and ligaments relax to allow growth of the fetus; all these changes require different nutrients. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

The weight a woman gains during pregnancy is vitally important, too much or too little can negatively alter the mother and child's health; too little weight gain raises the risk of a low-birth-weight, and gaining too much weight raises the risk of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, difficult delivery, cesarean section, and a larger-for-gestational-age baby. A healthy woman of normal weight are recommended to gain 25 to 35 pounds; an underweight woman is recommended to gain up to 40 pounds; and an overweight woman is recommended to gain only 15 to 25 pounds during pregnancy. This 25 to 35 pound weight gain is not all body fat; it amounts to roughly a seven to eight pound fetus, two pounds of amniotic fluid, one to two pound placenta, two pound increase in uterine weight, three to four pounds increase in blood volume, two pounds increase of breast tissue, four pounds of extracellular fluids, and four to eleven pounds of body fat. Most of this weight gains is lost during the first year following pregnancy. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Dieting

Dieting is not recommended during pregnancy (not even for obese mothers), and regular exercise may usually be continued through pregnancy with the obstetrician's approval, since exercise during pregnancy reduces stress; improves fitness, mood, body image, digestion, back pain, constipation, and recovery time following birth; and reduces the risk of developing gestational diabetes.

Morning Sickness

Morning sickness may require frequent snacking on small amounts of foods such as crackers and bread. Heartburn and constipation are frequent complaints due to organ crowding and uterine muscle relaxation also affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Heartburn can be controlled through limiting chocolate, caffeine, high fat foods, or other known causes of heartburn, along with small meals spread throughout the day, and staying upright following eating; constipation can be addressed through adequate fluid intake and a diet high in fiber. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Nutritional Needs

A pregnant woman's nutrition needs do increase, but she is not consuming calories for two. The first trimester does not see a significant increase in calorie expenditure, but the second and third trimester energy and nutrition needs would be met by eating a second lunch or breakfast daily. During the second trimester, calories should be increased by an additional 340 calories per day; during the third trimester, calories should be increased by an additional 452 calories per day. Protein is responsible for new cell building, so pregnant woman need an additional 25 grams of protein daily during the second and third trimesters. According to the Food Guide Pyramid, pregnant women need one additional serving of milk, vegetables, meat, and bread, with no increase in fruit servings for a 25 year old woman. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Water Needs

Due to the increase in blood volume, the creation of amniotic fluid, and prevention of constipation, which equals around six to nine liters of water, water needs increase from 2.7 liters to 3 liters a day (including the water received from food). Vitamin and mineral needs increase during pregnancy; needs are usually met through increases in dietary consumption and supplementation. Folate is responsible for cell formation of the placenta and increased intake is needed prior to conception, since cells divide rapidly within the first weeks of pregnancy (usually before the mother is even aware she is pregnant). A deficiency in folate can result in megaloblastic anemia for the mother and nural tube defect (such as spina bifida), premature birth, low-birth weight, and mental retardation for the infant. To prevent deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, prenatal supplements are typically prescribed, along with a sensible, healthy diet. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Food Cravings

Many pregnant women experience food cravings or aversions which are generally not harmful; however, some women crave nonfood items such as clay, dirt, laundry starch, ashes, baking soda, and many other substances, including toilet paper; this condition is referred to as pica (derived from the Latin word for magpie, a bird noted for eating anything). Pica can reduce nutrient absorption, reduce intake of nutritious foods, cause consumption of toxins, intestinal obstructions, iron-deficiency anemia, lead poisoning, and parasite infections. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Smoking

Smoking and exposure to second hand smoke during pregnancy can affect the infant prior to birth and throughout life. Cigarette smoke constricts arteries, limits blood flow, reduces oxygen and nutrient delivery to fetus, and increases the risk of low birth weight, stillbirth, miscarriage, premature births, sudden infant death syndrome (a.k.a SIDS and crib death), respiratory problems, colds, and lung problems. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol consumption is one of the major causes of preventable birth defects. Alcohol is classified as a teratogen (any chemical, physical, or biological agent that causes birth defects) that significantly damages the developing central nervous system of the fetus and also affects fetal growth, development, oxygen supply, and nutrition supply.

Exposure to alcohol causes a variety of disorders depending on the duration, time, and dose of alcohol, the most severe being fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS causes growth retardation, permanent brain damage, heart defects, urinary tract defects, impaired vision, impaired hearing, delayed language development, and facial deformities. Infants born with FAS have poor muscle tone and may be shaky, irritable, and experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also cause alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorders (ARND) characterized by mental and functioning impairments and alcohol related birth defects (ARBD) characterized by skeletal or major organ malformations. ARND and ARBD are less severe that FAS, but are three times more likely to occur. No level of alcohol consumption is safe during pregnancy; abnormalities are associated with alcohol consumption during each trimester. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Substance Abuse

Substance abuse (use of cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, marijuana, and cocaine) during pregnancy affects up to 11% of babies born each year and if alcohol and nicotine were included, this number would be much higher. These substances cross the placenta and enter the blood of the fetus causing behavioral and learning problems during childhood, increases the risk of complications to the mother, significantly increases the number of miscarriages and spontaneous abortions, retards intrauterine growth, premature labor and delivery, low-birth-weight, abnormal arousal, abnormal attention, abnormal neurological functioning, and reduces oxygen and nutrients delivered to fetus. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy that typically disappears after the baby is born) is more common in overweight and obese women, and it occurs in 2-6% of all pregnancies. Gestational diabetes puts the mother at a greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. Diabetes increases the risk to the mother and the fetus. When the mother's blood glucose levels are high, the fetus receives extra calories, usually resulting in infants who are large for gestational age and an increased health risk. Gestational diabetes is treated through a healthy diet, exercise (moderate), and insulin in some cases. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Pregnancy Induced Hypertension

Pregnancy induced hypertension consist of several conditions that cause high blood pressure, occurs in 6-8% of pregnancies, and significantly increases the fetus and mother's risk of illness and death (approximately 25% of pregnancy-related-maternal deaths are because of hypertension). Risk factors for developing pregnancy induced hypertension include mothers under the age of 20 or over the age of 35, low-income, and mothers with chronic hypertension or kidney disease.

Gestational hypertension is the mildest form and is characterized by a rise in blood pressure after the 20th week of pregnancy. If accompanied by protein in the urine and edema (excessive swelling of extremities), the condition is referred to as preeclampsia; preeclampsia is typically preceded by a gain of several pounds within only a couple days; it can progress to the more serious form of pregnancy induced hypertension referred to as eclampsia which causes life-threatening seizures. Treatment involves close medical monitoring and bed rest, but typically the condition resolves following delivery. What causes pregnancy induced hypertension remains a mystery. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancies and pregnancies in women over the age of 35 carry additional risks to the fetus and the mother. Teen girls continue to grow for 4-7 years following the start of menstruation, because of this, pregnant teens generally have higher nutrition and nutrient needs. Teens are more apt to deliver low birth weight and preterm babies and are at a greater risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension.

Older Mothers

Older mothers tend to begin pregnancy with pre-existing conditions like cardiovascular disease, kidney problems, obesity, and diabetes and are at a higher risk of developing pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, among other complications. These pre-existing conditions may require medications that alter nutrition, fertility, and the outcome of pregnancies. Older mothers also are at a higher risk of delivering low birth weight babies or babies with chromosomal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome. Because of these issues, the older mother and teen mother both require additional and closer medical monitoring. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

Nutritional Needs During Lactation

Nutrition needs for lactating women are higher than during pregnancy because the mother must produce milk that will meet the nutritional needs of her rapidly growing infant. During the first 6 months of breastfeeding the mother produces approximately 2.5-3.75 cups of milk a day; containing about 160 calories per cup, three cups of milk would uses an additional 500 calories from the mother, increasing the mother's need for energy and protein. The mother is recommended to consume 330 calories a day over her pre-pregnancy need for the first six months of lactation, 400 calories a day following the first six months. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

According to the Food Guide Pyramid, lactating women need one additional serving of milk and vegetables, two additional servings of meat (an addition of approximately 25 grams of protein), and three additional servings from the bread group, with no increase in fruit servings for a 25 year old woman. During lactation, the mother needs approximately 1 liter (total 3.8 liters) of additional liquids daily to prevent dehydration. An increase in the consumption of vitamins and minerals during lactation is recommended, but can be achieved through a healthy diet. (Grosvenor & Smolin, 2006)

References

Grosvenor, M. B., & Smolin, L. A. (2006). Nutrition: Everyday choices. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Topical Application of Marijuana

Marijuana can be used topically (on the skin) to relieve pain from certain conditions. The medication can be a balm, lotion, ointment or rubbing alcohol solution. This is not a new use for marijuana. In fact prior to the time when most many patients became available and people only had plants to use for medication, many patients would soak marijuana leaves in alcohol and apply them as a poultice to an arthritic or swollen joint. It is not known how the topical treatment works as researchers have not fully studied how the medication passes through the skin.

It's Monday and that means it's time for Mystifying Monday! Mystifying Monday means that it's time for me to present some of the oddest news stories or happenings that just may mystify you! I know they can mystify me!

A Dream Come True?

A boy in Shoreline, Washington crashed his parents' car into his school and then he continued driving it for another 75 yards! He only stopped when the car hit an administrative office. He was taken for a mental evaluation and authorities do not believe drugs are alcohol were involved. From all the things students said they would do to the schools I attended, I think he may have just been trying to destroy the school.

Speaking of Gas . .

So, I wasn't really speaking of gas, but cars do require gas to move. People in Defiance, Ohio are constantly calling the nearest fire station to let them know that they are worried about a gas leak. The fire station knows that the gas is odorless, but they go out for the hour long investigation every time, knowing that the smell is coming from the rotting oilseed radishes that were planted as a cover crop to give nutrients to the soil.

Then Don't Eat the Radishes, the Daisies, or the . . . Grass?

A policeman stopped a man in Benton, Louisiana for having an excessively loud muffler. When the policeman stopped the man, he smelled marijuana. He did find two very small bags. That was a crime in itself, but not usual for people who have marijuana. However, it was a dead give away when the policeman looked at the man's mouth and saw marijuana on his lips. The man had stuffed an undetermined amount of marijuana in his mouth and ate it just as he was stopped for the loud muffler.

Cows Eat Grass and Get Revenge - People Tipping!

A man that works with livestock at University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The cow tipped the man over and then stepped on his chest! Maybe it was getting back for all the alleged stories of cow tipping, though it is widely
ieve to be an urban legend (with some people still claiming it can be done). The man was taken to the University of Tennessee medical center and was joking the entire time about a cow stepping on his chest.

Need Some Lotion for that Injury?

If the cow tipping and stomping on a man's chest didn't hurt him, maybe it chafed his skin a little so he needs some lotion. Just don't try to borrow any from a man in Springfield, Massachusetts who tried to sneak 75 bottles of lotion out of a Bath and Body Works store by stuffing them all into his pants! The bottles of lotion were 8oz each, so the man had over 23 lbs of lotion in his pants! He found it too hard to run from police and could not bend over to get into the police cruiser until some of the bottles of lotion were removed!

Medical Cannabis and Insomnia

Medical marijuana patients usually find that sleep is a wonderful benefit of cannabis. Many chronic pain patients experience insomnia due to their pain and find excellent relief and sleep when using cannabis.

In my life I have had firsthand experience with a number of psychoactive substances and for better or worse they truly are what you make of them. Every few years the news will cover a story of a teenager who jumps off a building under the influence of a psychoactive drug. For the purposes of this article I am only referring to the more powerful drugs in phenethylamine and tryptamine families and not the more common drugs such as marijuana, nicotine, and caffeine.

Drugs have a certain negative stigma today that did not exist as recently as a few hundred years ago and because of this those who use them are often lumped together and labeled drug addicts. Like automobiles, all drugs are not created equal and it's unfortunate that society today has lumped phenethylamine's and tryptamine's into the same categories as harmful and addicting drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. With the United States government placing LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline in the highest level of the controlled substance act its not possible for even legitimate medical research to be done with these substances on US soil and following suite nearly every country in the world has similar laws in place. Experiment at your peril and at the risk of your freedom for the next 20 years.

So we've established that the general public has little working knowledge of psychedelics and that law enforcement deals with them in the same way as they do those which cause addiction and lead to crime and death. The government's stand on all controlled substances is to punish harshly in the hopes that lengthy prison sentences will dissuade the public from trying them. As history has now proven, this policy has failed and hundreds of thousands of people are right now unable to read this because they are sitting in a jail cell for what our bodies tell us is a biologically satisfying activity.

Now, let's talk about psychedelics. They don't fit the mold that most 'hard drugs' fit into. They are by and large the most powerful of all drugs produced on or by this planet and they are nothing less than profound. Let's examine the one that everyone knows right off the bat, LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide. In terms of potency its one of the single most potent chemicals on the planet, it's so powerful that if it was table salt, 1 teaspoon would be 60 thousand doses. Its production is difficult and outside the realm of the kitchen chemist, but 50 years ago a lab could produce millions of doses in a single batch. Today the precursor chemicals in its production are watched with the same scrutiny as uranium. Where did this substance go so wrong? I'm going to tell you.

If someone asks you what LSD is like the best answer you could give is magical. The walls jiggle and dance, sound ripples the air, the depth of music is dramatic and engulfing, words jump out of grass, colors change, you become highly empathetic to those around you, and its easy to discover the most fascinating things about the simplest objects such as rocks and trees. If this was all LSD did it might very well be legal today but its got one side effect which doomed its existence. LSD can and would absolutely destroy capitalism as we know it. For about 1-2 weeks after a strong acid trip its typical to see the relative stupidity of our current government, its petty laws, and usually capitalism in general. The empathy after a trip is wonderful but lsd seriously makes you question the United States in general. I'm confident this is the sole reason this substance is at the highest levels of prohibition. I never lived in the 60's but I wished I had a movement to stand behind, it was empowering and I'm sure that LSD fueled most of that movement.

Aside from civil unrest, LSD is otherwise harmless. Its dose vs. lethal dose is one of the highest of any substances on earth where by comparison, aspirin can destroy your liver and kill you at as low as 5 times the normal dose. LSD has a number of other benefits outside of its recreational value. Prior to its prohibition it was demonstrated to treat other drug addiction with great effectiveness and it itself has no risk of addiction. For that matter, no psychedelic tryptamines have addiction potential due to the powerful nature of the experience and the extremely rapid building tolerance after taking them. LSD has been referred to as the reset button for what ails you and I would generally agree. LSD is only a very recent invention of man and as such its nothing but a drug, there can be no recorded history of it as a sacrament or being used therapeutically but let's talk about a close relative that exist in nature.

Psilocybe species of mushrooms are mushrooms which contain psilocybin (and psilocin). The psychoactive compound psilocybin is about 1/4000th as potent as LSD but the experience is no less breathtaking. Psychoactive mushrooms have a history which dates to the earliest records of man. They have been used for thousands of years in Mexico to help shamans heal the sick. The effectiveness of their treatments has never been disputed, especially by those who get treated, but in the United States treatments of this sort in which the doctor and patient take psychedelics and work through their problems receives the same reception as voodoo. They work on most of the same receptors in your brain and the effects are similar.

The mushroom experience is similar to the LSD experience with some important differences. Mushrooms cause much the same hallucinations, off color walls, patterns form out of nowhere, your perspective of objects is distorted, sounds are received different, and the true beauty of nature is something only seen behind a trippers eyes. Mushrooms something that LSD doesn't though and that's the fractal. I've been lost in never ending fractals before that were just fascinating beyond believe, LSD doesn't do this, there's some patterning with your eyes shut but the fractals seem to be specific to psilocybin. Mushrooms do have a very important difference when compared to LSD though, mushrooms do not cause empathy, they do not cause you to sit around questioning capitalism and the government, and they don't cause you to spend day's afterword pondering how to implement a trade society and disband the US Government. To put an analogy to the mushroom experience, I would say Keep it Simple Stupid. Mushrooms cause you to enjoy the simpler things and not waste time trying to figure out what's wrong with society. It's as if someone shut off the judgmental part of your brain and replaced it with flower power.

As a medical tool psilocybin has a unique property, it has a nearly perfect track record for the prevention and treatment of cluster headaches. While my research on this subject is limited, what I know is that for the time psilocybin is present in the body the receptors in the brain which get out of sync and cause cluster headaches are either not receptive to the same headache signals, or simply the synaptic chain of events is set askew for weeks at a time after a psilocybin trip. The end result is that there have been some clinical trials of psilocybin therapy for cluster headache treatments. It's one of the oldest psychoactive substances we know about and despite it being completely illegal. It's therapeutic and fun all at the same time and I myself have used it to treat my insomnia and it works fantastic.

There's many left to talk about but this editorial is becoming quite long so I'll cover just 1 more substance which I know will be gaining more and more coverage in the news as more and more young people create YouTube videos using it. I'm talking about the little sage Salvia Divinorum related to the mint plant. This little plant produces salvinorin A, a substance that is nearly as potent as LSD and when smoked can completely dissolve your perception of reality in as few as 15 seconds.

It is my opinion that this plant has a great deal to teach us but not in the smoked form. When smoked it overpowers you and drags you off to a place where gravity has no apparent meaning and the scenarios that play are too weird to be worth describing. In most people this amounts to them sitting in a lump on the couch for 10 minutes and then having little or no memory of the experience. This is what is bombarding YouTube right now. A small percentage of users do not detach from their body during the experience but rather run around hurting themselves and bumping into things. These are the users most likely to lead to salvia's ultimate prohibition as its only a matter of time till someone jumps off a building and is found with salvinorin A in their blood. It's the eventual fate of all psychedelics whether deserved or not.

The story doesn't end there though, Salvia, the divine sage has an extremely long history as a healing tool too, it's been used by Mazatec shamans for visionary healing sessions. The Mazatec shamans would produce a quid of even pairs of leaves which would be rolled and chewed in order to let the juice be absorbed by the glands in the mouth. This produces a very gradual and controllable come up and a real meaningful and controllable experience that lasts for several hours. There's a lot to learn from this little sage but not as a recreational drug and certainly not as the subject of thousands of YouTube videos, that can only end badly.

That covers the scope of my topic today. There are a great number of other equally powerful psychoactive compounds that have thousands of years of history behind them. The peyote cactus contains mescaline, a psychoactive phenethylamine which is characterized with vivid hallucinations including the sky changing colors and seeing people who aren't there. Peyote itself has a history of use with man that predates Christ by over 3500 years and was a very necessary part of the rite of passage of manhood for the Native Americans and for this reason its use by them is protected by law.

DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) is the most powerful psychoactive on earth today. Its use is characterized with a complete detachment from reality and a lengthy visit to a magical land where nearly anything is possible. Not a great deal has been done to study the therapeutic value of DMT but nobody will argue that its effect on the human psyche is anything less than profound. Its described as a trip to your dreams, and in fact when a human does dream its speculated this is caused by the release of natural DMT reserves in our brain. DMT is produced in many plants on earth and has been used by the indigenous people of Peru with the b. caapi vine to produce Ayahuasca, a mix of the MAOI properties of the vine and the DMT in the plant Psychotria Viridis to produce one of the most profound spiritual experiences known to mankind. The shaman provides a bowl of the Ayahuasca brew to the patient and after a short time it upsets the stomach and the subject purges and his trip begins. Western medicine does not acknowledge the therapeutic value of Ayahuasca but its users predate 'the west' and the way things are looking, may outlive us.

I hope this article helps the uninitiated understand psychoactive drugs a little better and change the bad stigma that users receive. There are no psychedelic drug addicts, the nature of psychedelics themselves make sure of that, just people who enjoy a trip from the normal way of thinking for a short period of time. There are a great number of powerful substance I did not cover in this article and if I've sparked your interest I encourage you to pick up the book The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications by Christian Ratsch. It covers nearly every psychoactive planet we know of today and it's a great read.

I am not encouraging drug use, but drug education and as importantly, the proper treatment of users. If a police officer read this and decided just once not to call in the Drug Recognition Expert to prosecute someone tripping in the park that was not hurting anyone I would be satisfied. Your body should be your temple, but it's not, so be smart out there.

Thanks for reading.

Medical Marijuana Tinctures

Drops of the tincture are placed under the tongue (sublingually) and the medication passes through the blood vessels and enters the bloodstream. You will feel the onset of effects in about 5 – 15 minutes with the peak effect at about 30 minutes after taking the medication. For many patients, the effects are similar to inhaled cannabis.

After nearly a decade of training and work in the ER, Dr. Craig S. Cohen was ready for something new. “I have followed the Medical Cannabis movement from the sidelines,” he says. “I now joined those physicians who make it a practice to discuss Medical Cannabis with their patients.”

Many people are not aware that although Medical Marijuana or Medical Cannabis is not legal in many states, it is fully legal in some counties in California, despite the efforts of the federal government trying to stop it. Medical Marijuana became legal in California in 1996 when a Bill known as The Compassionate Use Act was passed. It is also known as Proposition 215.

Dr. Cohen says that many people with Cancer have trouble eating because of the medication that they are taking. “Drugs taken for Cancer or Aids,” he says, “can cause nausea or anorexia, and some drugs can make a patient constipated.” Some, with Aids, lose their appetite and lose a tremendous amount of weight.

Because of the negative after effects from drugs or chemotherapy, Dr. Cohen feels very strongly about the use of Medical Marijuana. He tells his patients that there are many ways that they can use marijuana besides smoking it. He suggests to them to add it to their butter or put it into their tea. They can even mix it in a batter when making cookies. “It's a delicious combination,” Dr. Cohen said. He then continued, ” Patients with serious medical problems come to see me, including HIV, AIDS, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Pain, and Glaucoma.” Although he does not recommend the use of cannabis for recreational use, he does not form any personal judgment if individuals do use it for such a reason.

Dr. Cohen related that he strictly adheres to the guidelines set forth by the Medical Board of California. Each of his patients can expect a thorough medical history and a physical exam before making a recommendation. “I discuss the gargantuan health risk smoking presents to everyone, and recommend use of tinctures, teas, edibles and vaporization,” he stated

Victoria Pellikka, a retired school teacher, after having breast cancer, went for her first chemotherapy treatment. She became so sick after this treatment. “My oncologist ordered a very expensive pill,” she said, “and it didn't help.” Her friend, who tried to help her, made a recipe with marijuana mixed with butter, and cooked it in a tub. She spread it on her toast and it made her feel better. Pellikka went for her chemotherapy once a week for a month. “I took one piece of toast with the butter after my chemo and it helped,” she said.

A patient of Dr. Cohen said that the recipe works well for him. “It has more of an impact than smoking it,” he remarked. At the dispensary, he pays approximately $50 - $100 a month for this product. He said that California State gives each county the right to decide whether they want the drug to be legal or not.

Dr. Cohen said he gets great satisfaction helping his patients feel better. For anyone who is contemplating going through chemotherapy, or is suffering from severe pain and other symptoms, you will want to know about Medical Marijuana.

Medical Marijuana and Cancer

The big question about marijuana smoke has always been, “Will it cause cancer?” A review of the scientific literature still does not give a definitive answer but it appears that a leading and well known pulmonologist (lung specialist) from UCLA has found that medical marijuana is unlikely to cause cancer. He has also determined that COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is unlikely as well..

Medicinal marijuana is legal in eleven states now; in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The purpose for the cannabinoid drugs in patients include appetite stimulation, control of vomiting and nausea, and pain relief.

However, in a recently published study, marijuana might have other surprising benefits to health; fighting lung cancer.

Sure, doctors want to be clear that smoking marijuana is not good for the lungs, but, it has now been shown that the active ingredient in marijuana, delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cuts tumor growth in half in common lung cancer while obstructing the cancer's ability to spread.

Harvard University researchers conducted the study using laboratory and mouse studies.

The way that THC fights lung cancer, according to the researchers, is that it curbs epidermal growth factor (EGF), a molecule that stimulates the growth and spread of particularly aggressive non-small cell lung cancers.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, did not participate in the study but did comment; he says that the compound “seems to have a suppressive effect on certain lines of cancer cells…it seems to go to (EGF) receptor sites on cells and inhibit growth.”

Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, says that the study is interesting, but “you have to have enough additional animal studies to make sure the effect is reproducible and to make sure that there are no overt toxic effects… It's a little more than tantalizing because it's a compound that we know has been in humans and has not caused major problems.”

Though THC has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in cancer, how it affects lung cancer has been previously unknown.

Some lung cancer is exceptionally aggressive and not treatable via chemotherapy, because some lung tumors over-produce the EGF receptor.

The mice in the study, after having been injected with human lung cancer cells, experienced 50% tumor shrinkage within three weeks of being treated with THC.

Horovitz commented further that a previous, perplexing question of his might now be answered; why there had not been a spike of lung cancer among the generation that smoked a lot of marijuana in the 1960s.

Other recent studies of cancer have found different possibilities. A viral based therapy could, while not affecting healthy cells, target distant and primary tumors. Fifteen mice were injected with prostate cancer, and the therapy, called “smart-bomb” cured them all, eliminating all signs of cancer.

Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20070418/hl_hsn/marijuanacompoundmayfightlungcancer;_ylt=Aqn57fio9ukAJUxMWkqCxRDVJRIF

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/medicalm.htm

Medical Cannabis Vs. Un-united States

As California gets ready to address the outright legalization of Cannabis in November 2010. L.A.'s D.A. Steve Cooley has decided to take a slightly different approach regarding the medical marijuana clubs. Mr. Cooley would like to close down every and all legal medical marijuana collectives in the greater L.A. county area. Despite the fact that 74% of the voting public are fine with the current system.

Cannabis is a plant that has a recorded history of medical use that can be dated back to 4,000 years ago. It has been used for its various medicinal exercises all over the world, in places such as China, the Middle East, and India. People in China used cannabis to treat ailments like malaria (a disease that kills more than a million people a year (WHO)). Not a single case of overdosing on marijuana has occurred since its noted history, making it one of the safest known drugs. However, back in the 1930s, the U.S. government saw marijuana as a major national threat, and made it illegal. Even with its criminalization, almost half of America has tried marijuana at least once. The outlawing of marijuana was a process that was driven by yellow journalism, ignorance, and bigotry, and it's obvious that these laws need to change.

The two main people that drove marijuana to its criminalization were Harry Anslinger and William Randolph Hearst. Anslinger was the first Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics back in 1930. Hearst was a corporate tycoon who owned newspapers all over the country. Anslinger knew that the department he just became head of wouldn't survive on the seizures of opium and cocaine alone, so he started rallying against marijuana, a drug that he knew came from Indians, blacks, and Hispanics. William Hearst helped him in his campaigns, because hemp (which is commonly associated with marijuana) was a major competitor to paper mills, a big part of Hearst's newspapers. Harry Anslinger approached Congress several times, where he made such statements as, “reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men,” and, “there are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others”. William Hearst's statements were no better, as he launched nationwide ads in his papers, making statements like, “marijuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice”. These statements of racism, along with countless other lies helped make marijuana illegal in 1937, despite its vast medical uses.

One primary reason marijuana should be at least nationally decriminalized is the fact that there is a long list of diseases and health problems that could be treated through cannabis, and the list grows larger every day. Cannabis can be used to prevent blindness for glaucoma patients. It is a very utilizable drug for muscle relaxation. Many studies show that people with rheumatism could benefit from taking marijuana. Another role for cannabis as a medicine is its use for cancer and AIDS patients. Chronic loss of appetite associated with chemotherapy and AIDS have been proven to be successfully countered by marijuana use. Nausea, which is also associated as a side effect with chemotherapy, has also been proven to be offset due to taking cannabis medicinally. Marijuana is the best known bronchial dilator, helping asthma patients (cannabis has been recorded to even completely stop asthma attacks). These are just a few examples of cannabis' countless medicinal purposes.

Another reason marijuana laws needs to change is the fact that they are one of, if not the most commonly broken laws in the United States. This might sound like a somewhat outlandish reason, but the Office of National Drug Control Policy says that almost 95 percent of American ages 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once of their lifetime. This accounts for 40 percent of America's total population. It doesn't need to be said that 40 percent of America isn't criminal. Neither is the 64 percent of people ages 19-28 who say they smoke marijuana on a regular basis. For the most part marijuana users are good, upstanding citizens. Still, more than 829,000 people were arrested for marijuana related crimes in 2006 (NORML), which exceeded the number of people that went to jail for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. People who get their driver's licenses taken away for marijuana related crimes are far less likely to receive a workers license (saying you can drive for working purposes) than those convicted of DUIs (even if a motor vehicle wasn't involved when caught with cannabis).

Marijuana has been around for a long time, and it has only been illegal for less than one percent of it's tenure of use. It's a drug that can be used for a variety of ailments, and it is even safer to use than all the drugs approved by the FDA. These laws that were established on racism and corporate greed seventy years ago are still affecting the lives of good people today, who are forced into prisons with murderers and rapists. The consequences of being caught with marijuana are far worse than the consequences of actually taking the drug, and that is why marijuana laws need some serious revising.

Works Cited

The Office of National Drug Control Policy:

Drug War Rant:

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws:

Jack Herer.com

Medical Marijuana … Controversial ?

Are you one of the millions of Americans that is suffering from sleeplessness or insomnia? It is estimated that one-third of all adults have insomnia.

Medical marijuana patients usually find that sleep is a wonderful benefit of cannabis. Many chronic pain patients experience insomnia due to their pain and find excellent relief and sleep when using cannabis.

As one of the provisions of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, marijuana was placed into the category of a Schedule I substance. What does that mean? It means that the potential for abuse of marijuana was considered to be prohibitively elevated while affording little evidence of having any useful medicinal properties. It was this categorization that resulted in marijuana in becoming even more restricted than such “harder” drugs as cocaine or morphine. While it is certainly true that both cocaine and morphine have been equally criminalized, it is also true that both are regularly prescribed by doctors and used by patients in one form or another. In the 1980s part of Reagan's “Just Say No” approach to the massive drug problem in America was the passage of more stringent legislation and penalties for growing or possessing marijuana. Since then, there has been a boiling controversy-some might even describe it as a frying controversy-over whether marijuana does or does not actually have any legitimate medicinal properties. As a result, support is more widespread than ever for a refashioning of the laws that prohibit the use of marijuana so that its medical benefits can be of use for those with no other outlet. Proponents often point to a reactionary government and a not so stealthy campaign against them as the biggest obstacles to their goal. In fact, the proponents of medical marijuana legalization should probably look in the mirror to find the biggest hindrance to their plans.

Marijuana as a medicine has been used for in the U.S. since at least the 19th century. Perfectly legal for much of America's existence, marijuana was incredibly popular as a management for pain ranging form headaches to menstrual cramps. That is not to imply, of course, that simply because a drug has been used to treat pain that is the same thing as evidence that it actually accomplishes that task. Those supporting the legalization of marijuana for medical use point to evidence that marijuana has been effective in the treatment of nearly every ailment from glaucoma to cancer. Marijuana has also been touted as a substance that can prolong the life of an Aids patient. The problem with these claims isn't that they aren't necessarily valid, but rather that they are too subject scrutiny. It is far too easy to point the finger at medical marijuana proponents and make the claim they are trying to slip one past you.

For instance, take Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard. Grinspoon is like the Moses of the medical marijuana movement, trying to get to the promised land of getting marijuana reclassified so that it can be treated like a medicine. Grinspoon affectionately uses 1990 survey of oncologists in which 44% of the doctors admitted that they have at one time or another advised a patient to smoke marijuana in order to bring some relief to post-chemotherapy nausea. His conclusion: “if marijuana were actually unsafe for use under medical supervision, as its Schedule I status explicitly affirms, this recommendation would be unthinkable.” Grinspoon is all too keen to ignore the historical record in which an actual majority-rather than the minority he relies upon-has occasionally been fully committed to the belief that one crackpot cure after another held promise. Indeed, the very fact that Grinspoon would hang his legacy on the fact that a minority view strengthens his case would cause the average person to question the very validity of the idea he forwards. If 44% said they would recommend marijuana treatment, doesn't that by definition mean that 56% of doctors would advise against it? What would be Grinspoon's view if 44% said that they had recommended bathing in elephant urine?

The credibility of the pro-medicinal marijuana movement, as you can see, is a primary issue in what actually is a rather argumentative debate. Opponents to legalizing medical marijuana are fond of arguing that the movement only exists as the first step in a plan to decriminalize marijuana entirely. Proponents point to this as more evidence of a reactionary agenda, but the sad fact is that it does ring true. Keith Stroup, former director of Director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), addressed the issue of the push to legalize marijuana for medicinal use as far back as 1979 during a speech at Emory University in which-probably while under the influence of weed-he said “medicinal marijuana would be used as a red herring to give marijuana a good name”. Richard Cowan, a writer for the pro-marijuana High Times Magazine, was even more explicit, suggesting he may have been on more than marijuana when he wrote how the pro-legalization movement has used the “medical model as spearheading a strategy for the legalization of marijuana by 1997″.

The medical marijuana drive suffered a dramatic setback in that year that pot was suppose to be legal for all when it failed to get a ballot initiative passed in Washington. This loss was made all the more distressing to proponents coming as it did directly on the on the heels of promising victories in both California and Arizona. The Washington initiative, known as I-685 was roundly defeated by a 60-40 margin in part because its backers-apparently under the influence-for some bizarre reason attempted to legalize not just marijuana but also harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin. In contrast, the victorious California referendum of a year earlier was successful mostly due to the fact that it focused on the specific contention that marijuana is helpful in easing symptoms of various medical conditions. This contention was based primarily not on scientific studies, but on anecdotal evidence courtesy of patients who suggest that marijuana is effective in everything from restoring the appetite of cancer patients to relieving nausea, and cancer patients who have smoked it to combat nausea. Proposition 215 in California was touted as legislation designed expressly to legalize marijuana for the sick or dying when in fact it called for the legalization of marijuana under exceptionally vague descriptions of alleged medical relief.

The biggest obstacle in place of legalizing medicinal marijuana seems to be not that the evidence in favor of it is particularly lacking-though, in fact, it does tend to rely far too much on anecdotal evidence-but rather that the brains behind it have been so fried on habitual pot use that they have no idea how to handle such a delicate issue. It's kind of like putting the syphilis-ravaged brain of George W. Bush in charge of handling such delicate issues as…anything. The best thing the proponents of medical marijuana could do would to utilize the talents of people like me who've never used any illegal drug, but who recognize that the continued criminalization of illegal substances is as pointless as trying to battle fundamentalist Islam with guns and bombs.

Medical Cannabis Vs. Western Medicine

Marijuana Medicine has a long history of helping. Marijuana is not physically addictive despite what many anti-marijuana people want us to believe|Marijuana users can use it regularly, even multiple times daily, without any problem giving it up} A very small minority of people who use marijuana can find that they have developed a psychological addiction.| Since most people who use marijuana are not heavy chronic users statistically speaking very unlikely If you are concerned about any possibility of psychological addiction it is very easily avoided by taking time off from regular use. For instance, if you use medical Cannabis every day, you should take one day off per week or take one week off every three months.

Marinol is a synthetically-produced medication to mimic the effects of marijuana in cancer and glaucoma patients. The drug has been marketed as a safe alternative to medical marijuana, and is completely legal to purchase. However, the question remains whether or not Marinol is up to par with medical marijuana in terms of health benefits.

Why would a drug be synthetically produced in order to create the same effects of something that occurs naturally in nature and can be taken just as easily? Well, in this particular case since it is illegal to sell, possess, or use marijuana in the United States, a country that has seen marijuana used medically, then it seems obvious that to avoid decriminalizing marijuana a viable alternative should be created. In order for a synthetically-produced substance to be superior to a naturally-occurring substance, it has to pass certain tests. The first test is that it has to pose less side-and adverse effects when compared to the naturally-occurring substance. The second is that it has to produce comparable beneficial effects compared to the naturally-occurring substance. And finally, it has to be cost-effective for the consumer. In this particular case the final test is quite important because both Marinol and medical marijuana are used by patients with a terminal illness whose medical bills are already very high.

Hard data has been hard to come by for comparing medical marijuana with Marinol in terms of their use within the patient community. The legality of marijuana in California and wholesale production of Marinol are both relatively recent phenomena. Therefore I have provided several sources of estimates for the forthcoming figures.

First, we will examine whether or not Marinol poses fewer side-effects than medical marijuana. According to Rxlist.com and Drugs.com, Marinol produces few side effects that are not experienced by medical marijuana users. Shared side-effects include tachycardia, giddiness, and trouble walking. Since adverse reactions have been documented only in 1% of the population, Marinol appears to be relatively safe to take as an alternative to medical marijuana. The biggest problem with using medical marijuana is that harmful substances can be absorbed into the lungs when smoked. Since Marinol is taken in capsule form and does not contain many of the problematic compounds found in marijuana smoke, it has been deemed a safer alternative. However, since THC in marijuana can also be released in the digestive tract when it is prepared in baked goods and fats, the damaging respiratory effects are bypassed. Therefore, Marinol's superiority in terms of potential side effects is contingent on the way in which medical marijuana is consumed.

The second test concerns whether or not Marinol has comparable benefits to medical marijuana. Marijuana contains nearly sixty cannabinoids, some of which have potential in killing pain and reducing inflammation. Marinol contains only one active cannabinoid, dronabinol, which is responsible for its pain-killing, nausea-reducing, and appetite-regaining effects. More research has to be done into the viability of medical marijuana's numerous cannabinoids, yet there has been a markedly mixed reaction within the patient community concerning the preferred substance. In terms of the amount of time it takes to feel the effects, Marinol takes markedly longer than smoked medical marijuana. Since it requires absorption in the digestive tract, Marinol capsules take around an hour to take effect. Conversely, users of smoked medical marijuana feel the effects within five to ten minutes. Of course, if patients wish to smoke the medical marijuana instead of ingesting it (which takes a comparable amount of time to Marinol), they run the risk of respiratory damage.

The final test involves a cost comparison of Marinol and medical marijuana. According to a comparison on medicalmarijuanaprocon.org, an average yearly use of medical marijuana of 336 grams would cost the patient $3,964.80. Using an estimated ratio of comparable use, the yearly cost of 4,562.5 mg of Marinol would cost the patient $8,258.13. If these figures are accurate, then a patient would be paying over twice as much for a comparable yearly dose of Marinol than for medical marijuana. Medicalmarijuanaprocon.org used data from 2002 for its findings, but it is safe to say that price inflation and availability has not significantly altered these price figures over the past four years. In terms of cost, marijuana takes less resources and energy to produce than synthetic drugs, which require petroleum products, refining, and use of many more inactive ingredients.

So, which is preferable to use? It's hard to say. Marinol does not contain many active cannabinoids that medical marijuana does, so it might not offer the same benefits. However, Marinol does not need to be smoked and thus does not pose the same kinds of risks to the lungs as smoked marijuana. But, as has been discussed, medical marijuana can also be consumed orally, which reduces its damaging effects on the respiratory system. But once again, this comes at a price. If consumed orally, medical marijuana takes as long as Marinol to take effect in comparison to smoked marijuana's much quicker absorption rate. Finally, medical marijuana is much cheaper to both produce and to purchase than synthetically-produced Marinol.