I'll pin this so we can add facts about cannabis here.

I thought it would be best to start this thread with the facts the Government and the DEA use to justify their war. Listening to John Walters, it sounds like they are trying to get away from that word 'war'.

Call it what you want, it all comes down to this...we are locking up, and or fining, for the most part non-violent citizens for smoking a plant.  400,000 people die because of tobacco use each year, NOT one from the use of cannabis. I ask, who is our Government looking after? I know it's not we the people!

Marijuana Facts
By dea.gov
Jan 4, 2006, 19:25

Marijuana

Street terms for marijuana: grass, pot, weed, bud, Mary Jane, dope, indo, hydro1

What does marijuana look like?

* A green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. ("Cannabis" refers to marijuana and other drugs made from the same plant.)

* Other forms, less common in the United States, are hashish and hashish oil.

What are the methods of usage?

* Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette (called a joint) or in a pipe or bong.

What are some consequences of marijuana use?

* May cause frequent respiratory infections, impaired memory and learning, increased heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, tolerance, and physical dependence.2

* Use of marijuana during the first month of breast-feeding can impair infant motor development.3

* Chronic smokers may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers including daily cough and phlegm, chronic bronchitis symptoms, frequent chest colds; chronic abuse can also lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissues.4

* A study of college students has shown that skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours.5

Who uses marijuana?

* Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.

* At least one-third of Americans have used marijuana sometime in their lives.6

How does marijuana get to the United States?

* Marijuana produced in Mexico and smuggled into the U.S. remains the most widely available.

* High-potency marijuana also enters the U.S. drug market from Canada.

* U.S. drug law enforcement reporting suggests increased availability of domestically grown marijuana.7

* The availability of marijuana from Southeast Asia generally is limited to the West Coast.

How much does marijuana cost?

* Prices for commercial-grade marijuana have remained relatively stable over the past decade, ranging from approximately $400 to $1,000 per pound in U.S. Southwest border areas to between $700 to $2000 per pound in the Midwest and northeastern United States.

* The national price range for sinsemilla, a higher quality marijuana usually grown domestically, is between $900 and $6,000 per pound.

Republished from http://www.dea.gov/concern/marijuana.html

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Rhode Island legalizes medicinal marijuana
By James Caverly - foodconsumer.org writer
Jan 4, 2006, 16:45

Rhode Island has become the 11th state to legalize medicinal marijuana.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island became the eleventh state to legalize medicinal marijuana with a 59 to 13 vote in the House against a veto opposing the bill proposed by Republican Governor Donald R. Carcieri, yesterday.

Rhode Island, the Ocean State, was the first state to legalize medicinal marijuana since the Supreme Court’s June 6 ruling that, despite state law, any user can still undergo federal prosecuted for possession of marijuana even if recommended by a doctor.

However, federal authorities have conceded it is unlikely they will prosecute many medicinal marijuana users.

Rhode Island now allows users to possess up to 12 marijuana plants or buy 2.5 ounces at one time to relieve symptoms. Users must register with the state and obtain an identification card.

Carcieri said he is still against the bill and is afraid the state legalization will lead Rhode Islanders to federal prosecution.

Rep. Thomas Slater, who has cancer but does not use marijuana at this time, said it may become a part of his treatment in the future.

"I'm sure everybody in this room knows at least one person who would have benefited from medical marijuana,” Slater said in the bill’s defense.

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Marijuana_-_Q_amp_A.shtml

© 2004-2005 by foodconsumer.org

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Got cannabis, no need for aspirin!

Over 1,000 people die a year in the US from aspirin, none from cannabis.

From: DPA: Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts. Please visit their website for more myths, and facts  

FACT: Marijuana has been shown to be effective in reducing the nausea induced by cancer chemotherapy, stimulating appetite in AIDS patients, and reducing intraocular pressure in people with glaucoma. There is also appreciable evidence that marijuana reduces muscle spasticity in patients with neurological disorders. A synthetic capsule is available by prescription, but it is not as effective as smoked marijuana for many patients. Pure THC may also produce more unpleasant psychoactive side effects than smoked marijuana. Many people use marijuana as a medicine today, despite its illegality. In doing so, they risk arrest and imprisonment.

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This thread is exactly what we needed, Richard, to add up the positive effects of marijuana (the facts).  To counter the DEA's Reefer Madness Scare Tactics, let's start with the medicinal aspects of the plant, cannabis:

A VERY EFFECTIVE MEDICATION FOR THE FOLLOWING DISORDERS:

SOURCE:  Americans For Safe Access

Condition-Based Booklets

We have produced a number of highly informative booklets on the use of cannabis to treat specific conditions. To order booklets, please contact info@safeaccessnow.org.

Click the covers to download the booklets in pdf format.

We have produced a number of highly informative booklets on the use of cannabis to treat specific conditions. To order booklets, please contact info@safeaccessnow.org.

Click the covers to download the booklets in pdf format

http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?list=type&type=135

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This link was sent to me from a new found friend to the north. It's a fact so I thought I would post it here.

http://jeffreysjourney.com/

"This is a remarkable account of one mother’s love for her son and her courage to question conventional thinking in medicine and politics. Readers will take strength and hope from the Jeffries’ story. I certainly did."

- Montel Williams

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The Drug Enforcement Agency’s chief administrative law judge, Francis L. Young ruled that “marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”  He characterized its prohibition as “unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious.” His order to make it available for prescription use was ignored.

In 1883, the Indian Hemp Drug Commission found that “moderate use of hemp drugs produces no injurious effect on the mind” inflicting “no moral injury whatsoever.” 

In 1925, a government study commissioned in response to concerns about its use by U.S. troops in Panama found “no evidence that marihuana…has any appreciably deleterious influence on the individual using it.”

Richard Nixon wanted someone with a zealous anti-drug history to chair a commission on marijuana.  He picked former Pennsylvania governor Ray Shafer.  Nixon was astonished, when, in 1972, the commission recommended decriminalizing pot.

Over 400,000 people die in the U.S. each year from tobacco use; 120,000 from alcohol.  There is virtually no lethal dose of cannabis, so the federal Drug Abuse Warning Network scans medical examiners’ reports in which the lethal behavior of the deceased may well have been influenced by drugs.  In 1999, there were 664 cases involving marijuana, in 187 of which it was the only drug.

We’re spending $35 billion per year on a drug war, yet supply and potency continue to increase.

The Cannabis (Hemp) plant can be used to produce more than 25,000 products, ranging from automotive plastics to cellophane, displacing imports of raw material and manufactured products and providing thousands of jobs to Americans.  Cannabis seed oil is an almost perfect ratio of polyunsaturated fats.  Paper made from the plant’s fiber would require one-fifth the energy costs of wood pulp, while saving forests.

Because hundreds of thousands of nonviolent Americans are locked up for having the bad judgment to possess it.  Because we are spending billions on incarceration, while ruining the lives of otherwise decent people.

From: The Somerville News

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I had some information saved on my computer but they are temporarily inactive or something, I do not quite understand my computer, but there were a ton on sites on health "risks" and falacies and things - I did a ton of research once when I did a paper on why Marijuana is not actually as bad as everybody says that it is.  Anyway, as soon as I can access it, I will add all of the sites and information.

Love

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More Facts On The Medical Use Of Cannabis, from Americans For Safe Access:

Kevin B. Zeese is President of Common Sense for Drug Policy, an organization dedicated to increasing public information about drug policy. He has worked on a wide array of drug related issues since he graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1980. He is a nationally recognized expert in a variety of drug policy issues.

Regarding the medical use of marijuana, he was lead counsel on a challenge brought against the DEA to the scheduling of marijuana under federal law. He has assisted counsel throughout the nation in defending individuals charged with criminal offenses for their use of marijuana as a medicine or for providing marijuana to the seriously ill through buyer's clubs.

He is the author of Drug Testing Legal Manual, Drug Testing Legal Manual and Practice Aids and co- author of Drug Law: Strategies and Tactics, which he wrote with his sister Eve Zeese, all three published by Clark Boardman Callaghan. He also serves as editor of Drug Law Report for Clark Boardman Callaghan. In addition, he is the author of Drug Prohibition and the Conscience of Nations; Friedman and Szasz On Liberty and Drugs and the editor of numerous books on drug policy and manuals on criminal defense.

Zeese has written for newspapers and journals on a range of drug issues and has appeared on every major television network as a commentator. He served as a consultant to Walter Cronkite for the Discovery Channel special: The Drug Dilemma: War or Peace? He has litigated drug policy issues including the use of the military in drug enforcement, the use of herbicides in marijuana eradication, the medical use of marijuana and urine testing of government employees. He has spoken at nationally recognized legal seminars and testified before Congress on drug related issues.

Mr. Zeese is a member of the executive committee of the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers and a board member of the Media Awareness Project, the Foundation on Drug Policy and Human Rights and the Harm Reduction Coalition. Mr. Zeese is a co-founder of Drug Policy Foundation where he served as Vice President and Counsel and a former Executive Director and Chief Counsel of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Bob Randall and Alice O'Leary of the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics for their assistance with this project. The foundation of this project was laid in their work before the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

(c) Kevin B. Zeese, January 1997 (Top)

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Sorry, folks, just hit the link above that says TOP.

Thought a little bit of history (facts) from those with knowledge would add to the forum here.

Peace!!!!

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Hey, Richard, some more awesome material that you've come up with on the effects of cannabis in health issues.  Here's more that I thought might be helpful, particularly to the ladies, who might be prone to osteoporosis, especially if they have had a hysterectomy.  It's news from NORML:

Endocannabinoid System Prevents Osteoporosis

Jerusalem, Israel: The endocannabinoid system appears to play a major role in preserving bone density and preventing the onset of osteoporosis, according to preclinical trail data published in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Endocannabinoids are marijuana-like chemicals produced naturally in humans and animals that bind to the same receptors as do plant-derived cannabinoids such as THC.

Researchers at the Bone Laboratory of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem found a high number of cannabis receptors present in the bones of mice. Mice that lacked these receptors developed severe osteoporosis as they aged. Researchers reported that the administration of the synthetic cannabinoid HU-308 slowed the development of osteoporosis, stimulated bone building and reduced bone loss.

"These results demonstrate that the endocannabinoid system is essential for the maintenance of normal bone mass, . [and that the cannabinoid receptor] offers a molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis," researchers concluded.

Osteoporosis is a degenerative skeletal disease characterized by a deterioration of bone tissue. Patients with osteoporosis are at risk for suffering multiple fractures and other serious disabilities.

Previous research on endocannabinoids and the endocannabinoid receptor system indicates that cannabinoids may play a role in maintaining homeostasis (metabolic equilibrium) in humans and other living organisms. Biological functions regulated by endocannabinoids include appetite, body temperature, blood pressure, reproductive activity, learning capacity, and motor coordination.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Peripheral cannabinoid receptor, CB2, regulates bone mass," is available in the January 10, 2006 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Abstracts of the study are available online at:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0504187103

 SOURCE:  NORML

http://www.norml.org/

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