Friday September 28, 2012, 7:43 pm
Chris was no teenage stoner; he was a 38-year-old anesthesiologist. But it was not the first time he had used marijuana. He started smoking pot as a teenager, and by the end of his senior year he was using it every day. Over time, his use went down, but the death of his father in 1997 led him to pick it up again.

"I learned how powerful grief was," he said.

The episode in the parking lot led Chris to rehab and a 12-step program that helped him understand the root causes of his addiction. But the experience also led to an understanding of a process more commonly associated with so-called "harder" drugs -- withdrawal.

Chris lost his appetite, had trouble sleeping, and developed body aches.

"At the time, I didn't realize it because you chalk it up to other stuff," he said. "Once I realized it and put two and two together, I talked to other people. Over time, I realized what marijuana withdrawal is."

Please go to site to read the whole article..

Saturday September 29, 2012, 10:37 am
Noted.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 12:30 pm
JUST SAY-NO- TO DRUGS!!!!

Sunday September 30, 2012, 3:24 pm
Dee, I read the whole article. What a load of bullsh** prohibitionist propaganda. "Chris M. -- who requested that his full name not be disclosed ." Makes it kind of hard to verify his bullsh** story, doesn't it?

Cannabis "Withdrawal" Syndrome Short-Lived, Affects Few, Study Says

Symptoms associated with so-called "cannabis withdrawal" among marijuana "dependent" subjects are relatively mild, short-lived, and "may only be expected in a subgroup of ... patients," according to the results of a prospective clinical study to be published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Investigators at four separate German universities assessed the self-reported withdrawal symptoms of 73 subjects diagnosed with "cannabis dependence."

"The intensity of most self-reported symptoms peaked on day one and decreased subsequently," authors reported. "Most symptoms ranged on average between low to moderate intensity. The most frequently mentioned physical symptoms of strong or very strong intensity on the first day were sleeping problems (21 percent), sweating (28 percent), hot flashes (21 percent), and decreased appetite (15 percent). ... Other often highly rated psychological symptoms included restlessness (20 percent), nervousness (20 percent), and sadness (19 percent)."

Overall, less than 50 percent of the trial subjects reported physical or psychological withdrawal symptoms.

"Only a subgroup experienced a cannabis withdrawal syndrome of clinical significance despite the fact that all patients had a diagnosis of cannabis dependence according to DSM-IV criteria," investigators concluded. "Significant associations of personality characteristics with psychological withdrawal symptoms suggest that at least some of the elevated symptoms are related to factors other than cannabis consumption."

The trial is the first study to prospectively investigate cannabis withdrawal symptoms in an inpatient sample of cannabis dependent subjects.

A 1999 review by the US National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine reported that marijuana's withdrawal symptoms, when identified, are typically "mild and subtle" compared to the profound physical and psychological syndromes associated with most other intoxicants, including alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine.

Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances

Most Marijuana Users in Drug Treatment Sent There By Criminal Justice System

'According to SAMHSA's June 24 Drug and Alcohol Services Information System (DASIS) report, 58% of all marijuana treatment referrals came from the criminal justice system.

"These numbers essentially reaffirm what we've been saying for years -- that the purported increase in marijuana treatment admissions is not due to any increased potency or even people checking themselves in voluntarily, but almost exclusively to the increase in the number of people arrested, who are then given the choice of treatment or serving time in jail," said Paul Armentano, senior policy analyst for the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "Naturally, they take treatment."

According to the DASIS Report, they are doing so in huge numbers. Judges sent more than 160,000 marijuana offenders into drug treatment in 2002. That is a little less than one out of four of the nearly 700,000 Americans arrested on marijuana charges that year.

By contrast, only about 47,000, or 17% of people in treatment for marijuana, thought they had a problem bad enough to refer themselves. Another 10% were referred by drug abuse or health care providers and 5% by their school or employer. The final 10% were "other community referral," which in many cases probably means parents.

Interestingly, the DASIS numbers showed that people forced into treatment by the criminal justice system were less likely to show signs of problematic drug use than those who weren't. Criminal justice system referrals were more likely to be employed (43% to 32%). On the other hand, they were less likely to have used marijuana in the last month (60% to 73%) or on a daily basis (23% to 32%), and less likely to report using other drugs (33% to 37%), or daily use of other drugs.

But pot smokers who get busted are getting treatment whether they need it or not -- and many clearly don't. "The average age of those people admitted to marijuana treatment through the criminal justice system is 23," Armentano noted. "That is right in line with the research we did on arrests, where we found that 74% of all persons arrested for possession are under age 30. These younger, first-time offenders are the people being coerced into treatment instead of jail, but they are not the kind of people we think of when we think of people who need or desire treatment."

Sunday September 30, 2012, 3:35 pm
The Prohibitionists have shifted their rhetoric into overdrive. With 3 states voting in 5 weeks from now to legalize the most beneficial plant on the planet, these drug war profiteers will be flooding the media with every lie about cannabis they can conjure up. It's really sad that so many supposedly 'smart' people are helping them to spread their garbage.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 3:40 pm
Kicking caffeine, alcohol or tobacco can lead to withdrawl many times worse than most so called 'illegal' drugs.

Dee, why don't you spread those truths?

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:05 pm
Because I do not believe those are the truth..You take this stuff from a site that is clearly for marijuana and one that is working to reform it .. trying to legalize it..Of course they are going to be bias with anything that doesn't support their claims..

This has nothing to do with other substances that cause addiction/withdrawl..This article is about "marijuana" and that is always the only argument you ever come up with..Can you try sticking to this article only..

I have said before..I don't care if you or anyone else wants to get stoned 24/7..as long as none of you get behind a wheel in a car..and or give it to young kids..Knock yourselves out..

But the absolute truths here.. are.. it is a drug..it is addictive..it does create problems for many..and it does cause withdrawals when one does try to quit..

Even with using marijuana for medical purposes ..it does not work for everyone..and it is being badly abused out there under the guise of "medical purposes"

I am certain it is the stigma of being a pothead that he does not wish his name to be revealed..Nothing wrong or deceitful in that..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:10 pm
I never heard so much BS in my life. I've never heard of someone getting "Stoned" to death, but I've heard of someone "Drinking" themselves to death.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:15 pm
Who ever said "stoned to death"

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:29 pm
I can imagine the possibility of someone who spends every waking moment of every single day for many, many years....experiencing some sort of "withdrawal." I don't know and have never known anyone personally who does this. Most users are "casual" and many do use it purely for medicinal purposes like cancer patients who aren't able to eat, or migraine sufferers, or others in constant pain.
I completely agree with MJ that withdrawal from tobacco, or even caffeine...is much worse.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:31 pm
"NOTHING WRONG OR DECEITFUL IN THAT"?? Dee, get real. If NORML reports on a reputable study, you think it makes the study wrong? Then when some 'guy' that's afraid to tell us his real name spews the same reefer madness lies of John Walters, you lap it up as the gospel. Like I said, get real, and try reading the studies that show this guy is full of crap.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:45 pm
Symptoms associated with so-called "cannabis withdrawal" among marijuana "dependent" subjects are relatively mild, short-lived, and "may only be expected in a subgroup of ... patients," according to the results of a prospective clinical study to be published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Dee, what is your problem with this study, other than it is NORML reporting on it?

Kicking caffeine, alcohol or tobacco can lead to withdrawl many times worse than most so called 'illegal' drugs.

Dee, you say you don't believe that to be the truth. Let's see your evidence. You are sounding like one of those 'science deniers'. You really should educate yourself on this subject before you go making a fool of yourself.

Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances

In Health, Nov/Dec 1990

"To rank today's commonly used drugs by their addictiveness, we asked experts to consider two questions: How easy is it to get hooked on these substances and how hard is it to stop using them? Although a person's vulnerability to drug also depends on individual traits -- physiology, psychology, and social and economic pressures -- these rankings reflect only the addictive potential inherent in the drug. The numbers below are relative rankings, based on the experts' scores for each substance:

100 Nicotine

99 Ice, Glass (Methamphetamine smoked)

98 Crack

93 Crystal Meth (Methamphetamine injected)

85 Valium (Diazepam)

83 Quaalude (Methaqualone)

82 Seconal (Secobarbital)

81 Alcohol

80 Heroin

78 Crank (Amphetamine taken nasally)

72 Cocaine

68 Caffeine

57 PCP (Phencyclidine)

21 Marijuana

20 Ecstasy (MDMA)

18 Psilocybin Mushrooms

18 LSD

18 Mescaline

Sunday September 30, 2012, 4:47 pm
Show me the study that says there is NO WITHDRAW in kicking pot..You can't because there is no study not any real one that would support that lie..

And to say that a website like NORML is a sound one..sorry but you have your opinion and I have mine on it..

There was no reefer madness in his story..now you are exaggerating terribly so..

I am real on this matter..I have seen first hand what smoking pot can do to one..

As for cancer patients..I am one..and can clearly..honestly say it does nothing for pain..It does help you to have more of an appetite..however..does not make you "able to eat..

So maybe instead of repeating things you read or hear others say..you might want to actually have some experience in it..then maybe you both can get real..

I truly mean no disrespect..this is just a disagreement on the subject..No need to get nasty over it..
You are entitled to believe/feel as you do..as am I..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 5:20 pm
Unlike you Dee, the only things I'm repeating are the results of science and unbiased studies and research.

It is YOU Dee C. that is repeating hearsay and the same DEA lies and propaganda made famous by Harry J Anslinger when he said :

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

Dee, this is the history of cannabis prohibition that apparently you have no problem with.

Everyone has a right to their own opinions, but not a right to their own facts.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 5:31 pm
Dee, you say,'..have seen first hand what smoking pot can do to one.. ' Maybe you could elaborate?

Sunday September 30, 2012, 5:37 pm
It seems that you are the one with the biased view.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 5:57 pm
It is YOU Dee C. that is repeating hearsay and the same DEA lies and propaganda made famous by Harry J Anslinger when he said :

"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."

I never said that..

"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death."

Or that..

"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."

Or that..

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

Or that..

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

Lol..certainly not that one either..

Nope never repeated them or ever said any of that..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 5:58 pm
Seriously..instead of continually posting foolishness..Show me the study that says there is NO WITHDRAW in kicking pot..You can't because there is no study not any real one that would support that lie..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:00 pm
I find it very interesting that you would include a picture of an Alcohol-Dependent brain on an article purporting to demonize cannabis as addictive. Quite frankly, if you think the two substances are even remotely identical, you're a fool.

Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol

More and more people are finding themselves able to kick sometimes long-term, damaging and expensive alcohol habits without any of the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal which normally comes with long-term addictions, and they are doing it thanks to cannabis.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:05 pm
Once again..this article is about the facts that when one tries to stop smoking pot..they do indeed have withdrawal symptoms..

Please show me the study that says there are NO WITHDRAWALS in kicking pot..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:13 pm
I'm still waiting for thar 'first hand' experience you touted. Perhaps you were involved with some lowlife that just happened to smoke weed? Where exactly does your bias come from? It sure ain't science.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:25 pm
There are worse withdrawals from video games. Shall we PROHIBIT them?

What don't you understand about the term, ;'RELATIVE ADDICTIVENESS'?

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:27 pm
Wow..such a shame that people cannot just disagree without resorting to saying such disrespectful things..

No..the only lowlife I've had contact with is you talking so horribly now..but seeing as you cannot produce a single sound factual study that says there are no withdrawals from one trying to kick the habit..I guess insults is all you do have..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:41 pm
A Potential Role for Cannabis in Addiction Treatment

'In fact, prescription drug abuse has reached truly epidemic proportions in this country and around the world, and the medical professionals, both doctors and nurses, are well aware of its destructive potential and the difficulties inherent in dealing with prescription drug abusers.

This is why more and more doctors and nurses are now able to "see" that prescription drug abuse is far more dangerous than Cannabis use can ever be, or have a potential to be. There are almost two million opiate addicts in this country, the opiate addiction originating from contact with heroin or prescription opiate pain-killers, such as Morphine, Percoset, Oxycontin and others, with chronic methadone maintenance therapy as a "final common pathway" for these patients in case they seek help for their dependence.


The persisting symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, mood swings and depression are so severe and poorly tolerated by patients that they lead to unrelenting drug-seeking and other risky behaviors, and eventually to a full-blown relapse to dangerous levels of drug use, both legal and illegal.
This is why some authorities, especially those advocating for a "harm reduction" in addiction treatment, are now also looking at Cannabis as a possible solution in a "long-term" management of addictions, both chemical and behavioral. Why would they ever do something like that, especially considering a strong opposition from the DEA and its prohibitionist allies who, despite all the accumulated scientific evidence to the contrary, still consider Cannabis to be a "dangerous drug" with "no medicinal use"?

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:50 pm
Tell you what seeing as you can't produce any factual studies or proof that there are no withdrawals with stopping pot..but all you can do is cop and paste the same old stuff you always do..(repeatedly) You just keep pasting away and have fun..

Sunday September 30, 2012, 6:54 pm
Since you won't elaborate on your 'first hand' experience, all I can do is surmise. Because I have seen some people form their opinions on cannabis because of some jerk's use of it, I have to think you might be in that frame of mind. Sure Dee, that makes me the lowlife. It's still curious that you can't or won't elaborate on this first hand experience.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 7:21 pm
Well, thank you for your blessings, I'll do that. Not to educate you, because obviously you have an unsubstantiated view of reality, but to help others learn the truth about mankind’s medicine.

It's such a shame that you won't read what I copy and paste. You seem to have a predjudice about any infomation that disagrees with you, no matter how it's presented.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 7:42 pm

What is most important about marijuana is not whether it may or may not have some psychological addiction, it may for some. It is not psychically addictive. By arguing these issues we avoid the important issues. Primarily that marijuana produces more then THC, it also produces cannabinoids which do cure cancer and if the US government didn't think that was valid research; why then do they own the patents?

People can become addicted to aspirin, that too is a psychological addiction. Though by the real use of the term addiction, it does not hold water. This is a problem, we have a whole industry devoted to treating addictions so we feed into that industry. We tell people they are addicted and they believe that. I don't just accept the many fairy tales and scary tales of woe from pot, I do believe it has far more to offer then we stop to learn about.

We can turn to marijuana a natural drug that offers many human benefits, it does not need to be smoked to get high, nor does it produce the many health hazards of alcohol, if people want to get high from pot they can do so by "juicing" or they can use the juice for it's many health benefits and not get high. There are also the many uses of hemp, that I suppose is another discussion. I do believe it should be a matter of personal freedom and choice.

Though I do agree that anyone using any substance for the purpose of altering their mental state should not be driving a car. Though marijuana is far safer then alcohol even for drivers.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 8:02 pm

Calling B.S. on the Idea of 'Marijuana Addiction'.

It's laughable that the Feds are pushing the concept of pot addiction when science shows that withdrawal symptoms from caffeine are far worse.

'But what about the claims that ceasing marijuana smoking can trigger withdrawal symptoms similar to those associated with quitting tobacco? Once again, it's a matter of degree. According to the Institute of Medicine, pot's withdrawal symptoms, when identified, are "mild and subtle" compared with the profound physical syndromes associated with ceasing chronic alcohol use -- which can be fatal -- or those abstinence symptoms associated with daily tobacco use, which are typically severe enough to persuade individuals to reinitiate their drug-taking behavior.'

Sunday September 30, 2012, 8:19 pm
So let's review.

Marijuana is widely accepted by the National Academy of Sciences, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs , the British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and others to lack the severe physical and psychological dependence liability associated with most other intoxicants, including alcohol and tobacco. Further, pot lacks the profound abstinence symptoms associated with most legal intoxicants, including caffeine .

That's not to say that some marijuana smokers don't find quitting difficult. Naturally, a handful of folks do, though this subpopulation is hardly large enough to warrant pot's legal classification (along with heroin) as an illicit substance with a "high potential for abuse." Nor does this fact justify the continued arrest of more than 800,000 Americans annually for pot violations any more than such concerns would warrant the criminalization of booze or nicotine.

And it sure as hell doesn't warrant equating weed with alcohol, as does the title of this propaganda piece and it's accompanying photo. For that I think Dee should be quite ashamed.

Sunday September 30, 2012, 10:17 pm
Thanks.

Monday October 1, 2012, 5:54 am
Well, as every habit forms his commodities, so it is with Cannabis.

First of all I used it recreational in my youth, not knowing it is medicine but I have had some insights into the usage as medicine well over mans history, shamans and so on.

Now I'm old and sick to hell, the rx medicine makes all worse so I gave Cannabis the try and you got it ... I'm back to live and I fell better than many years before. Twice daily I ingest my full plant extract and have no problems to drive a car, I drive even better than without.

If I stop it now and then to see if the symptoms of my neuroborreliosis come back, then I do not have any withdrawel at all, I only realize that I doesn't have taken my medicine because of the increase of the pain level in my joints.

Dee C., you should try my oil, this will take the pain and heal you from cancer as well. Peace.

Monday October 1, 2012, 6:52 am
That sounds like great advice Juergen. It's sad that some people have become so brainwashed about this plant that they will choose dangerous and addictive pharmaceuticals over this tremendously safer substance. And when Big Pharma's drugs don't help, they just suffer.

It's the scaremongering tactics of articles like this one that become a roadblock to the true health benefits of this amazing plant. I said it in my first comment...this article is TOTAL BULLSH**!

Monday October 1, 2012, 7:17 am
Damn, what a piece of pseudo-scientific drool! You get exactly the same reactions and symptoms from addiction to computer use, electronic games, cell phone use, coffee,.... There is also the fact that this is a discussion of psychologic/emotional addiction withdrawal not physical addiction withdrawal.

Monday October 1, 2012, 7:56 am
Dee C. regarding your cancer treatment, what about this, have a read, by the way this is from the official page of the "British Journal of Pharmacology".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3165955/

Monday October 1, 2012, 11:12 am
Marijuana Prohibition turns 75.

Happy birthday, marijuana Prohibition. You are now 75 years old—well past retirement age. You have accomplished so much, you must be very proud of yourself. You have largely conquered the world. You’ve spread your policies of persecution and subjugation from nation to nation, perpetuating the expansion of a prison industrial complex that would have made Stalin proud.

Your righteous crusade against a largely benign, natural plant and all who dare to embrace it has been the status quo for an entire human lifetime or better. Ever since you were conceived by the Rockefellers and promoted by their henchman, Harry Anslinger, you have been relentlessly waging a campaign of hate, terror, and brutality on a populace that is almost totally non-threatening.

Using the tactics of yellow journalism, racist bigotry, and outright lies, you have sabotaged and minimized that which makes America great: Constitutional liberty for Americans. You used the United States’ military against its own citizens, on American soil. That is unprecedented.

You have invaded the homes, the cars, the businesses, and the bloodstreams of millions of otherwise decent, law-abiding Americans in order to advance your campaign of misery and suffering. You have seized homes, cars, boats, bank accounts, and property from tens of thousands American citizens, often with no due process or conviction.

You have pitted neighbor against neighbors, parent against child, and teacher against student in an effort to create a nation of simple stool pigeons. You have thrown millions of human lives into the incinerator of injustice while you line the corporate pockets of your benefactors with enough money to purchase the facts straight out of the mouth of the truth. You have co-opted history, bypassed the U.S. Constitution, and favored building prisons over schools. You paved the way for racialized social control resulting in the mass incarceration of Americans, particularly Americans of color. You have effectively created a brilliant tool for voter suppression among minority communities.

You have selectively enforced your madness on people of color, the poor, the infirm, and an entire counterculture. You have strong-armed your way into our homes, pulled Americans out of their beds in the dark night, laid them on the floor in their nightclothes, and brutalized them as if they were terrorists. You have stripped Americans of all dignity and stuck them with a stigma formerly reserved for child molesters and communists; you have treated them worse than common criminals, who do not face the routine sanctions, fines, forced drug classes, and “forfeitures” that people accused of drug “crimes” endure.

You have lied in court, falsified evidence, framed innocents, entrapped citizens, and used people as informants, sometimes at the cost of their lives. You have ruined futures, broken families, and stolen children from their parents.
You have poured enough resources into your campaign of hate to build tens of thousands of schools, daycare centers, hospitals, and food banks. Instead, you have built prisons, privatized them, created incentives to lock up Americans, and then profited greatly from it all. You have enjoyed uncompensated prison labor and a mountain of working people’s taxes, which you then used to lock up millions with impunity. You have helped to jail more citizens per capita than any nation in human history.

You have cooperated and conspired with tyrants, despots and dictators, all in the name of justice. You have promoted stereotypes while you have spread pure, raw, unadulterated hatred. You have divided Americans, and fractured our society.

You have caused murders, suicides, and suffering beyond imagination. You have denied the sick, the elderly, and the terminally ill relief from suffering by denying them access to medical marijuana. Hell, you have even persecuted crippled, broken, and dying men and women and then tossed them into jails and prisons like caged rats. You have denied medical care, treatment, and medicine to prisoners. You have made possible untold prison rapes.

You have ignored presidential commissions, scientists, physicians, and journalists, in order to manufacture the consent of the American public. You have lied, distorted, twisted, fabricated, insinuated, and attacked the truth in a vicious crusade that has been part of the most well-funded domestic government policy ever known. You have declared an internal war against citizens of your own country.

You have undermined a general respect for the rule of law among many of America’s youth, who can clearly see through the hypocrisy of treating cannabis like it is a poison, while allowing poisonous alcohol and tobacco to be legal. You have endangered the lives of law enforcement officers with no just cause and caused animosity between citizens and police that will take years to undo. You have diverted resources from investigating actual crimes, and distracted from them.

Yes, happy birthday, Prohibition. You have done well. You must be so proud. You have spread fear, mistrust, paranoia, shame, embarrassment, and hate all over the globe.

Now it is time for you to retire, old policy. You are ashen and gray, heartless and cold, soulless and unfeeling. You are evil, and it is time for you to go. You cannot have America, and we are going to take her back. She is just now learning of your lies, your hate, and your destruction of liberty, freedom and justice.

It is time to retire, fade into the past, and disappear. Your time is limited, because justice is on the march.

Monday October 1, 2012, 12:51 pm
Has anyone here actually read this article..and if you have why are the comments pertaining about everything else but the article..
Seriously..I am not trying to be a smartass..or rude..or disrespectful here..I just do not understand why some of you have taken this article and made it about everything it is not..

This is about marijuana..the addiction in smoking it..getting high.. and it is about someone coming to his own decision to stop smoking it..Making a choice to become drug free and then finding out there are physical and emotional withdrawals from it..

If everyone here wants to smoke it..grow it..sell it..juice it..rub it all over yourself and try to heal whatever ails you with it..that is your choice..go do it..

I have seen first hand many young people who had started smoking..could not stop,,did not stop and blew very important events in their lives..One of those young men is still sitting in prison..after a fatal car crash that killed another..No alcohol or any other drug except marijuana was found in his system the night of the deadly crash..

I have also seen first hand some of them try to kick the habit..and have a lot of difficulty in trying..And some of course who didn't even try..yet insisted they could kick it any time they felt like it..Two of them dropped out of college..

And I have also seen firsthand some that have smoked it and still maintain a good life..without any issues..

It is a personal choice for all to smoke it or not..to use it for whatever reason or not..Why is that so difficult to understand..

Monday October 1, 2012, 1:05 pm
I have read the article and here are a few points that I would like to suggest:

1."An Australian study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, surveyed nearly 50 marijuana users on their withdrawal symptoms before, during and after a two-week abstinence period." 50 people! I'm sure we can find 50 people addicted to cheese whiz, shoe laces, or any other substance imaginable.

2. The article fails to mention who funded the study. Who profits from spreading disinformation about cannabis this close to an election in which at least one, and possibly several states, WILL legalize this remarkable plant for responsible adult consumption?

3. The article fails to mention who fed Dr. Wong this story, and whether or not, Wong received additional payola to report it.

4. ABC is mainstream corporate media. They have a vested interest in promoting Big Pharma and in spreading disinformation about natural medicines.

5. If Chris M., assuming that is his real name, really cared about this issue, then he would come forward and reveal himself. As it is, he remains a shadowy, anonymous figure who may have been paid quite handsomely to falsify this story.

Ultimately, isn't it about time that we let adults choose what they wish to consume within the privacy of their own homes? Nothing is more addictive on this planet than either alcohol or tobacco. Cannabis has been a healing medicine and a blessing way for at least six thousand years. What are we to believe: a six thousand year track record OR more ONDCP propaganda?

Monday October 1, 2012, 1:10 pm
It is a personal choice to eat bananas or not eat bananas, but trying to sell anyone on a biased point of view will take more than a story with more than a few holes in it.

Monday October 1, 2012, 1:32 pm
I guess that could be applied right back to you Brian..You have your opinion..I have mine..

I will say I like to see both sides of most things..I have clearly said to each their own..I have clearly said through personal experiences it does not work for me as any sort of medical relief..though I have no doubt it does for some..

Why this story would be doubted is beyond me..but again..you have the right to view it and form your own opinion in it..

As do I..

Monday October 1, 2012, 7:08 pm
Thank you Brian for that dose of reality.

Dee, there is no other word for it, you are a LIAR! People don't crash cars with nothing else in their system but cannabis. That statement alone from you tells me you don't have a clue about what you're talking about.
Screw your 'opinion', I'm talking about proven facts. Withdrawal symptoms from cannabis are less than those those from stopping caffeine. This article is a propaganda piece straight from the Prohibitionist's handbook. At total fabrication. Anyone with real experience with this substance knows that.

Dee, have you seen results from any cannabis driving studies? I'd post them for you but you've already demonstrated that you will ignore anything I 'copy and paste'. How many studies are you familiar with?

Monday October 1, 2012, 11:43 pm
Wow..you are calling me a liar..how pathetic is that..To think that anyone would make up something as tragic as that..You really have some serious issues..

There is no sense in even trying to reply a single thing you say here now..As I have said..(which you seem to keep ignoring) This article is not about the stuff you keep copy/pasting here..

You are rude..disrespectful and as ignorant as one can be..

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:11 am
The writer here should be ashamed of herself for posting such garbage. I read comments in the discussion FROM the writer for having had the audacity to disagree or refute what she's said. How sad.

"Chris lost his appetite, had trouble sleeping, and developed body aches"....WOW, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to Chris or anyone else that smoking pot INCREASES one's appetite (that's why it's proven to be medically beneficial for chemo-therapy patients who have cancer), INDUCES a sense of relaxation so helps one sleep if one has sleeping issues (so going without can therefore put one back to a state of insomnia problems), and "body aches" (it's prescribed MEDICALLY to address pain!). That entire statement could be equivalent to saying that when one gives up drinking water, one becomes dehydrated and has digestive upsets or irregularity with the plumbing department. Is that person having "withdrawal" from drinking water then?

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:16 am
BTW, Dee, you keep saying you don't care if anyone wants to "get stoned" just don't get behind the wheel of a car. Has it NOT occurred to you that medical marijuana is not intended to get one "stoned" or even a "high"? They supply edibles in the form of teas, candies and creams. NONE of those gets anyone "stoned" or "high", and just so you know, nobody (well, very few) would ever use medical marijuana anywhere but the privacy of their own home or where they would NOT be driving a car or using machinery........exactly the SAME as one shouldn't drink a martini or a 6-pack of Bud Lite and then drive a car or operate machinery, yet who is calling for prohibition again? That worked well in the '30's, didn't it? Dee, it's called being responsible and using common sense. To write such stuff in Care.2, you might try using both.

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:24 am
"I have seen first hand many young people who had started smoking..could not stop,,did not stop and blew very important events in their lives..One of those young men is still sitting in prison..after a fatal car crash that killed another..No alcohol or any other drug except marijuana was found in his system the night of the deadly crash."........smoking ANYTHING,including cigarettes can be addictive, but that isn't even the point. Young people who smoke pot often use many other substances which are the culprits that cause the addictions...........specifically cocaine, meth and now, the newer psychedelics such as "bath salts" As for "blowing important events", I never smoked pot, yet blew many important events when younger, simply because I wasn't a responsible person then. Please don't tell me somebody is sitting in prison because of a fatal car crashed caused ENTIRELY by smoking pot. If one smokes pot and then drives, that's as illegal as drinking and driving. The biggest difference will be the pot smoker is more likely to be going UNDER the speed limit, not speeding. If this person was tested "the night of the crash", then pot wouldn't even show up immediately in his system. A U.A. takes hours to process and it can show up as a "positive" if THC was consumed as long as 30 days prior.

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:35 am
What's pathetic is that you would use such blatant lies in some desperate attempt to give credibility to this bullcrap article.

"..no sense in even trying to reply a single thing...." ?? Ah, yes, the last bastion of one with no answers.

Another question, just off of the top of my head, you're saying that two people you know dropped out of college because of weed, right? Has anyone ever dropped out of college for other reasons? There seems to be so much missing from your 'stories'.

Your quote : 'I have seen first hand many young people who had started smoking..could not stop,,did not stop and blew very important events in their lives..One of those young men is still sitting in prison..after a fatal car crash that killed another..No alcohol or any other drug except marijuana was found in his system the night of the deadly crash.."

Then, you knew this guy? What was his name? Where did this happen? Where are the blood test results? Why won't you tell me what you know about the studies done about cannabis and driving? All of the test results I know of puncture the hell out of your narrative.


Don't try feeding us

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:37 am
My goodness..once again this article is not about ""MEDICAL MARIJUANA"" or CIGARETTES..BATH SALTS..PROHIBITION..and so on..

Not sure why people cannot stay on topic and address the article and not throw all the other stuff in..Maybe some are trying so hard to prove or push their own agenda's here that they are blinded/sidetracked..

Dianne writes..
The writer here should be ashamed of herself for posting such garbage. I read comments in the discussion FROM the writer for having had the audacity to disagree or refute what she's said. How sad.

"Chris lost his appetite, had trouble sleeping, and developed body aches"....WOW, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to Chris or anyone else that smoking pot INCREASES one's appetite (that's why it's proven to be medically beneficial for chemo-therapy patients who have cancer), INDUCES a sense of relaxation so helps one sleep if one has sleeping issues (so going without can therefore put one back to a state of insomnia problems), and "body aches" (it's prescribed MEDICALLY to address pain!). That entire statement could be equivalent to saying that when one gives up drinking water, one becomes dehydrated and has digestive upsets or irregularity with the plumbing department. Is that person having "withdrawal" from drinking water then? "

What in world would/should I be ashamed of in anything I have written here..Diane..Once again..have YOU read the article..

The guy WANTED to stop smoking pot..so why in heavens name would he go back to smoking it to relax..
And that made sense to you..lol..

Please don't use the CNN news to get personal with me..

I would think people would thoroughly read an article before posting a comment..otherwise it makes you look..well to be blunt..dumb..

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:40 am
...crap, and telling us it's chocolate?

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:54 am
The TOPIC is the lies and propaganda that perpetuate this conspiracy of cannabis prohibition, and one of the worst crimes against humanity in our country's history.

Dee, if you can't see that, then you, my dear, are the dumb one.

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 1:12 am
Dee, I most certainly DID read the article, the ENTIRE article, as well as your own personal "observations". I commented on specific parts of this "article" to refute the noneense implied. Chris wanted to stop smoking and then complained of sleeping problems, loss of appetite and other things which of course, were meant to imply those things resulted from WITHDRAWAL from smoking pot. The facts would probably more accurately be that BY smoking pot, those issues were being addressed and Chris may have had those problems all along. Maybe instead of smoking pot, he could then take vicoden for his pain, AMBIEN for the sleeplessness and let's see, someother prescription medication to address the loss of appetite. Oh yeah, all that stuff sounds like much better to take for one's issues than smoking pot, and again, Dee, one doesn't have to SMOKE pot to get medical benefits. Yes, I'm addressing them because YOU kept harping about people only getting "high" or "stoned" and that Chris' problems resulted FROM stopping smoking pot.

WHAT you should be ashamed of, Dee, is perpetuating the misinformation and untruths about the use of cannabis (THC). I'm most certainly NOT using C2NN to get "personal" with you, Dee. You wrote an article in here, and I, as a member, read it. It's my right as a member to refute what I've read when I don't agree with it and find it so unfactual. I have ZERO against you as a person, Dee, but I find your writing skills to be lacking in the department of addressng facts rather than your personal opinions.

YOU insinuate that I'm "dumb" simply because I don't agree with what you've written, especially when you supposedly quote "some guy named Chris" who doesn't want his last name revealed and then we're all supposed to take what you said as fact? Hmmmm, I think if you asked anyone, any stranger to digest that remark and comment, they'd say, "that's dumb".

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 1:53 am
So then let me understand this..Here is someone who wants to stop smoking pot..he then has withdrawals..and rather than go cold turkey through them..you suggest he smokes a joint to sleep and relax..and or does prescriptions..Hmm..I think the point once again is someone saying YES there are/can be for many some withdrawals when "KICKING POT"..How ironic is that..because that is the name of this news story..

Then you say I should be ashamed because I am posting misinformation and untruths about the use of cannabis (THC)..
Just what are those posts that are lies..

As for this guy not giving his last name or whatever other info you all seem to think he needs to share..
Do you give your last name..does anyone here..He no doubt was protecting his identity to save himself from any consequences from being a POT HEAD..Again what is not to understand in that..

So yes..it is dumb..and ignorant..as are many of the comments here because most of them have nothing to do with this news story..

As for facts you all seem to think I need to produce..Sure I could copy/paste just as MJM does..(Gee no last name there either) but..even if I did..well besides taking up a lot of time and space with the copy/paste stuff..You all can just as easily go research it yourself..Of course one would have to not research websites that are biased..but actually credible medical sites..

In any event..for now I am done here..I have things to do..Hope all has a nice day..relax chill..smoke a joint..whatever floats your boats..

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 2:02 am
Dee, if your comment at 1:07 A.M. was addressed to me, I find it very insulting, and certainly not amusing, smiley icon or not. You are very out of order there. If you read what I posted, NOWHERE did I even say I used anything containing THC, did I? I don't smoke it, never have.

BTW, I am pretty relaxed and certainly don't need to smoke pot to "chill", nor has anything you've stated caused me to NEED to "chill". I almost find somebody so full of themselves as to say something that ridiculous, just amusing.

OR, maybe you were referring your insults to MJ M? You even accused him of being a "drug pusher" because he's refuted your comments. You know, that could easily be a case for a slander lawsuit.

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 2:10 am
Got to love somebody posting a "news story" thru the channels available to all of us here as members, but then goes ballistic because others blow holes in the story. If you can't handle criticism, then don't post such stuff. Remember the old story, "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen"? The kitchen here is the readers who have a right to comment TO and refute what they read.

This was NO "news story" and as was said, if somebody decides to quit smoking pot, that's their right and decision to make, but YOU, Dee, as a writer, ran with it and posted it as some medical story to back up NOT smoking pot, as if the reasons given were medical/scientific facts. The facts have been refuted and reasons given for all his supposed "withdrawal symptoms".

And YES, if I was to author/write some scientific journal or have what I say reprinted for others, I'd supply my entire name. Actually, many people use "pen names", but if Chris M. has nothing to hide, he should be comfortable using his real one. As for the rest of us doing our own research, do you not have a CLUE that we already have? Do YOU want the name of my doctor? How about the names of those who are sponsoring many changes to medical marijuana legislation, or even those who want to legalize "pot" for recreation for the same reasons alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults? Do the rest of us have to do YOUR homework?

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 3:08 am
Dee, you can look me up on Facebook.

MJ Mathisen

Now, what is your friend's name that's doing time for vehicular manslaughter? Where's the police report to back up your accusations that there was no alcohol in his blood?

Tuesday October 2, 2012, 6:09 am
You could say this about any habit! But the fact remains the same, the benifits by far out ways the negatives! Nice try!

Wednesday October 3, 2012, 2:40 am
Well said, April. Okay, here's a few facts for Dee............my entire name is public, and I have nothing to hide, nor reason to not reveal my entire name.............I have a legal medical authorization (prescription) for medical marijuana, signed by my licensed physician. While he doesn't condone FOR or against it's use, he approves of it for those who want to try it. I have a congenital back defect and it's not treatable by any means by radical surgery. Recently, I developed acute CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome) and also have arthritis in my neck, both shoulders, and both knees, with one knee having been completely replaced. He has prescribed vicoden when necessary, but that doesn't TOUCH the pain and throbbing of CTS, which keeps one awake at night and the only thing to address it is to get UP, walk around and shake one's arm and pack it in ice. I got my "script" and got a cream with THC in it. It helped enough to allow me to get some much needed sleep. Now, one month post CTS surgery, the feeling has returned to all my fingers, and the scar is almost 100% gone ...........HEALED, yet the hand surgeon said up to SIX MONTHS and possibly a year before the tingling went away in the middle fingers. I've rubbed the cream with THC on the incision site. The results are amazing and even my surgeon is amazed. I don't get "high" or "stoned" from a topical cream...........I WISH. The tincture allows me to get to sleep and not focus on the throbbing, which still exists if I over-use my hand. I COULD, I suppose drink, or take sleeping pills. Maybe my friend who is undergoing chemo and is so nauseous he can't keep food down should just take more TUMS? He wished he could get "stoned".

Wednesday October 3, 2012, 2:46 am
MJ M, we all know, that is, if we're actually educated and informed on the topic, that the test for presence of THC takes at least a day, if not longer to come back. It's done via U.A., most of the time, not a blood test. Field sobriety tests done by cops at the scene of an accident don't involve EITHER a blood test, nor a U.A. If they arrest someone at the scene of an accident, then the U.A. can be done later at the station, but they won't know the results for some time.........it goes to a lab. IF it comes back positive, that doesn't prove the person smoked or used anything with THC recently, either. The THC stays in the system up to 30 days, depending on the amount of exposure and length of time involved with "use".

It also makes no sense to say because somebody is in jail/prison for vehicular manslaughter and tested positive for THC, that was what caused the accident. The person could have just been an irresponsible driver. In my younger days, I never drank, nor consumed anything in the way of drugs, but yes, got a few speeding tickets. Let's face it, when we're younger, that seems to be the "norm" for many of us. It doesn't require being "high" or "stoned" to be a bad driver!

Monday October 8, 2012, 8:03 am
Oh my goodness..are you two still going on in here..

If you both wish to disclose who you are or where you live..then do so..Not everyone will or should..I do not wish to look you up MJ..so save the info..

This is not about medical marijuana Diane..yet you keep going on about it..But that's okay..knock yourself out..

The blood test done on the man was to determine alcohol..which he passed..there was no alcohol in his system..A urine test was done at the hospital after his arrest..(he as well was injured) and he failed terribly for THC..He was high..and the crash had nothing to do with speed..Also found on him and in the car were 3 dime bags..rolling paper..

But regardless of what I say..you two are set on what you think.,and believe..So on that note again knock yourselves out..

Tuesday October 9, 2012, 12:02 am
Huh, Dee, what on earth are you ranting about? My last comment was almost a week ago. Yes, this is as about medical marijuana as anything else, since it's about the supposed WITHDRAWAL of having used marijuana, period. It's the unfactual and unsupported remarks you've repeated and are spreading that needs to be refuted. Please come up with a new phrase to insult anyone who disagrees with you..........."knock yourself out" is getting boring.

MJ gave all his personal information, including his last name. Mine is right here on Care.2 as well.

BTW, your description of the procedure about "this man" doesn't compute. When someone is involved in an accident and substance abuse is suspected, a FIELD SOBRIETY test is done. If the person refuses, they can be arrested and taken to a police station where a U.A. is done. If this guy was injured and taken to a hospital, yes, a blood sample could have been taken, but cops don't do that. It also takes days for the results of a U.A. to come back, and if you bothered to do your homework, you'd have found out that a U.A. can show the presence of THC that has not been consumed for up to 30 days. A blood test can be less precise as far as time frame. "Dime bags"? OMG, you couldn't buy or have enough to get a housefly "high" on a dime's worth. They don't use rolling papers these days. How many decades ago did this supposed event take place, anyway? Somebody's fed you and you've swallowed the "Koolaid".

Tuesday October 9, 2012, 12:05 am
http://norml.org/legal/drug-testing/item/the-abcs-of-marijuana-and-drug-testing

Tuesday October 9, 2012, 12:19 am
Wasn't sure if the first comment went thru with all the glitches in Care.2 but the link I just posted is to explain how testing for THC is done.........if you read what is explained, a blood test can show up the presence of THC that was from an exposure not recent, and a U.A. can detect minute amounts from even longer ago in "exposure"...........up to 30 days prior. It all depends on the length of one's exposure (time one has consumed) and amount consumed over time. In other words, a long time user who smokes/inhales/ingets regularly for a long time will take a lot longer to test "clean" than someone who goes to a party and smokes a "joint" or takes a couple of "tokes" from a water pipe. There is also very little likelihood of "2nd hand exposure". A U.A. for alcohol can be false negative depending on the size and tolerance of the individual. It also can be affected by the amount of liquid the person consumes prior to being tested. A 100-lb. female who has one beer can test at a higher BAC than a 200-lb. man who has had half a fifth of scotch. If that man drank said scotch 3 hours prior to testing and then drinks a couple of cups of coffee or Gater Aid, he can test "sober" or not under the influence.

Want the particulars of somebody I am personally acquainted with that had to have a U.A. as part of his probation for 6 months on a traffic offense? No, he wasn't convicted of anything to do with using drugs, either. Fact......he did have a medical prescription, DID use THC and had to stop as part of his probation. After SIX MONTHS of not using, he still showed enough THC to test positive with a U.A. Even his probation officer was curious as to why. I also know of people who use regularly, drink a big bottle of cranberry juice and "beat" the test. Lots of variables, and again, when did this person rotting in jail for vehicular manslaughter commit the deed? Is this personal knowledge or a "heresay" story? What actually happened to cause this accident? Maybe this person was just a bad driver and always had been. Lots of questions with no answers yet, isn't there? Again, Dee, get your facts straight and stop trying to spread fear and baseless propaganda.

Tuesday October 9, 2012, 12:14 pm
Dee C - but you really don't C. I smoked it for 35 years, from the time I was 22, until I was 57. I just said no more on Dec.15,09. Cold Turkey, but for over all those years I could never kick the habit of smoking cigarettes. I have been through three, maybe four MRI's. The first one taken in 75 in which three lesions were found on my brain, way before I took my first puff, due to a condition there is no cure for. I went from a healthy young man in Mar. of 75, to a complete vegetable. It took them over three months to diagnose my condition. When everything else was omitted, on July 1st of 75, they called it MS. If I had smoked this wicked weed before then, they would have blame it all on weed, which was legal until prohibition. The U.S, was the biggest supplier of Hemp Products. I started at the end of September when my friend wanted me to come over to his house to play my guitar and sing some of my original work. That is when he said that he wished that he had some pot, now. That is when I told him that all that stuff that he was given me while I was laying in bed , I never smoked it! Never tried it! That nigh I said to myself, "WTF!" That was the first night in six months that I woke up to see the Sun! I was 185lbs before all this and now only 150 with a vision of 140/90. That all began to change! By that December I was 75% my old self. In that few short months I had to relearn how to walk and to watch my step. I had limitations bout was able to overcome them with the aid of wicked plant. I went back to community college in 98 and graduated in 2000 with honors and all the time, I was on the so-called non existing cloud, that movies have made it out to be. I did plenty of driving in all that time and never was in any accident. It is not like alcohol that takes control of you, but, more like a state of hypnosis and you are in command and if you want to come down all you have to do is eat. Over the years that I smoked that brain cell killer weed, will, if it did kill brain cells it never showed up in the other MRI's that I had. If there is any withdrawal, it caused by seeing the world as it really is. What do you thing was in the Peace Pipe that the Native American Chiefs, smoked? Thomas Jefferson, quoting that the best part of his day was the evening when he could go out on his back porch, sit in his chair and lighting his bowl (pipe) of hemp!
I have met a doctor, dentist, some law enforcement that all smoke overpowering weed. Once again, you control it! It don't control you! It helps you to stay focused, just like I stayed focus doing my assignments at 1 AM in the morning and being at class at 8 AM - 3.7 Grade Index > Rocky Start after being away so long!
No Dee's! One C, in Tai Chi, which I took for balance. The class was at my weakest part of my day! It was an easy A for everyone else.

Friday October 12, 2012, 8:59 am
Yes Diane..it was a week ago you posted..however I am not here during the week..so I just saw it recently..I am not being insulting..Saying knock yourselves out may be boring to you..but your posts going on about "medical marihuana are boring to me as it has nothing to do with this story..

I certainly don't mind any at all when others disagree with me or I with them..It is the ones who get disrespectful..or continue to badger the point..(such as you and MJ have done on this thread..

" MJ gave all his personal information, including his last name. Mine is right here on Care.2 as well. "

So..what is your point in that..Are you trying to imply that because you two put it all out there..that means everyone should..Some choose not to..get over it already..again you keep going on and on about it..

""BTW, your description of the procedure about "this man" doesn't compute. ""

And here again you continue to go on and on and on..

In the hours before he killed an innocent human being..it was a fact that he had smoked what would have amounted to at least 3 bowls of pot..He had left his friends house to go home..even though his friend tried to stop him..And yes at the scene of the accident he was immediately charged with being under the influence..The car reeked of it..he reeked of it..and yes rolling paper and more pot.. in spite of you not approving apparently of rolling paper..or dime bags..It is indeed still used..

I am certain most if not all know that normally proving one is just under the influence of THC/or any drug aside from alcohol is very difficult to prove..That's because there's nothing comparable to the 0.08 blood alcohol level when it comes to pot..prescription drugs..cocaine..meth or other drugs..

"You can get a level in their system..but there's nothing to relate that to that proves they're impaired at the time of any accident...The only way is a circumstantial case that proves clearly the are just stoned..

And this was proven not only by tests 1..eliminating any trace of alcohol from within their system..yet seeing first hand they are impaired to a point where they can't function properly..and of course with of all the paraphernalia..odor..and pot itself ..and finally in his own admission which was really not needed but certainly nailed it a slam dunk case..

He got thirty years..not only did he unforgivably take the life of someone..but he ruined his own..And if you think his case is the only one then you are foolishly blind..Thirty years is the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide while under the influence..

People should not be under the influence of ANYTHING while they are driving a motor vehicle..PERIOD..
DUI has become so synonymous with drunken driving that it's easy to forget that "under the influence" covers a multitude of substances..And the laws are changing in that to finally make it easier..

But again this news story is about someone who had their own experience with marijuana..It is not your experience Diane..or MJ's or anyone else here in the comments..Regardless of how any of you feel or think..It is his feeling..thinking..choices and experience..

Yet you all keep trying to to rip him apart..and dispute it..How typical that some cannot see past their own thinking/feeling so much so that this is what they do..Argue..badger..dispute..call names..get disrespectful and change the subject...and just go on and on and on..on

So yes..indeed continue to knock yourselves out..

Friday October 12, 2012, 9:13 am


'But again this news story is about someone who had their own experience with marijuana..It is not your experience Diane..or MJ's or anyone else here in the comments..Regardless of how any of you feel or think..It is his feeling..thinking..choices and experience.. '

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!

Thnx for posting this my friend.

Everyone is different and therefore no 2 people will have the same outcome.

I know some people who can only have '1 toke' and they are stoned while others smoke tons and I'm sure like with anything, the ones who smoke heavily would definetly have some withdrawl symptoms.

Friday October 12, 2012, 9:55 am
You cannot currently send a star to Cher because you have done so within the last week.

Thanks Cher..I am glad to see some sensibility here in the thread..I really appreciate your comment so much..Not just because you agree with me..but because it is the truth what you wrote..
You are very fair and wise to not just lump everyone into such a narrow box..as most have doe here..

Can't send you a star yet but its coming your way as soon as I can..




I also know whether it is consuming alcohol or drugs..some have a higher tolerance..and some have a lower tolerance to it..

Friday October 12, 2012, 9:55 pm
Cannabis science disputes the claims in this article just as it does in Dee’s fairy tale of cannabis only killing someone on the road. It’s not happening. Like I asked before, let’s see the police report.

Cher, what do you actually know about the science of addiction? What cannabis driving studies are you personally aware of?

Friday October 12, 2012, 10:02 pm
Is accepting these bogas claims, with no proof or evidence, the real brain disease?

Friday October 12, 2012, 10:05 pm
Excuse me, *bogus* claims. I wouldn't want to be misunderstood.

Monday October 15, 2012, 11:59 am
I think most know that driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can indeed and does cause accidents..Only an idiot would think otherwise..

Monday October 15, 2012, 12:46 pm
Marijuana: Study Finds Minimal Changes in Driving Performance After Smoking

'According to clinical trial data published in the March issue of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, subjects tested both before and after smoking marijuana exhibited virtually identical driving skills in a battery of driving simulator tests. Researchers in the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested 85 subjects -- 50 men and 35 women -- on simulated driving performance. The subjects had to respond to simulations of various events associated with vehicle crash risk, such as deciding whether to stop or go through a changing traffic light, avoiding a driver entering an intersection illegally, and responding to the presence of emergency vehicles. Subjects were tested sober and again a half hour after having smoked a single medium-potency (2.9% THC) joint or a placebo.

The investigators found that the subjects' performance before and after getting stoned was virtually identical. "No differences were found during the baseline driving segment (and the) collision avoidance scenarios," the authors reported. Nor were there any differences between the way men and women responded.'

It seems to me that anyone refusing to look at the evidence are the real idiots.

Marijuana Users Are Safer Drivers Than Non-Marijuana Users, New Study Shows

A new study released by United States auto insurance quote provider 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org shows that statistically speaking, marijuana users are safer drivers than non-marijuana users.

Why Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Traffic Deaths

'States that legalize medical marijuana see fewer fatal car accidents, according to a new study, in part because people may be substituting marijuana smoking for drinking alcohol.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, have legalized medical marijuana since the mid-1990s. For the new study, economists looked at 1990-2009 government data on marijuana use and traffic deaths in the 13 states that had passed legalization laws during that time period. The data were from the National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.'

Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Latest Scientific Evidence

Dee, why don't you educate yourself on this subject if you are going to attempt any discussion? Stop spewing the same reefer madness scare tactics of the last 75 years. The truth is there for anyone that cares about truth. Have you been so brainwashed that you won't even consider reality any more?

Cannabis is nothing like alcohol or the 'drugs' you insist on equating it with. What is it about that you don't understand? Driving while tired or on cold medicine is more dangerous.

Monday October 15, 2012, 12:55 pm
How much do ONDCP trolls get paid to post "reefer madness" hysteria on this site?

Monday October 15, 2012, 1:05 pm
Good question Brian.
.

Monday October 15, 2012, 1:18 pm
DR. JULIELYNN WONG, ABC News Medical Unit, was the author of this propaganda piece. ABC accepts millions from Big Pharma to advertise their poisons. Do you think ABC might just have an incentive to lie about cannabis?

Monday October 15, 2012, 1:43 pm
Dee, you've been taken if you believe any part of that article to be true.

How the White House secretly hooked network TV on its anti-drug message: A Salon special report.

In late 1997, Congress approved an immense, five-year, $1 billion ad buy for anti-drug advertising as long as the networks sold ad time to the government at half price — a two-for-one deal that provided over $2 billion worth of ads for a $1 billion allocation.

But the five participating networks weren’t crazy about the deal from the start. And when, soon after, they were deluged with the fruits of a booming economy, most particularly an unexpected wave of dot-com ads, they liked it even less.

So the drug czar’s office, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), presented the networks with a compromise: The office would give up some of that precious ad time it had bought — in return for getting anti-drug motifs incorporated within specific prime-time shows. That created a new, more potent strain of the anti-drug social engineering the government wanted. And it allowed the TV networks to resell the ad time at the going rate to IBM, Microsoft or Yahoo.

Alan Levitt, the drug-policy official running the campaign, estimates that the networks have benefited to the tune of nearly $25 million thus far.


With this deal in place, government officials and their contractors began approving, and in some cases altering, the scripts of shows before they were aired to conform with the government’s anti-drug messages. “Script changes would be discussed between ONDCP and the show — negotiated,” says one participant.

Rick Mater, the WB network’s senior vice president for broadcast standards, acknowledges: “The White House did view scripts. They did sign off on them — they read scripts, yes.”

The arrangement, uncovered by a six-month Salon News investigation, is known to only a few insiders in Hollywood, New York and Washington. Almost none of the producers and writers crafting the anti-drug episodes knew of the deal. And top officials from the five networks involved last season — NBC, ABC, CBS, the WB and Fox — for the most part refused to discuss it. The sixth network, UPN, failed to attract the government’s interest the first year of the program; it joined the flock this current TV season.

The arrangement may violate payola laws that require networks to disclose, during a show’s broadcast, arrangements with any party providing financial or other considerations, however direct or indirect. (We’ll explore that issue in a separate article Friday.)

Legal or not, the plan raises a host of questions. “It sounds to me like a form of propaganda that is, in effect, for sale,” says media watchdog Bill Kovach, curator of the Nieman Foundation. Terming it a “venal practice” and “a form of mind control,” he adds, “It’s breathtaking to me that any [network's] sense of obligation to the viewing audience has a dollar sign attached to it.”

Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm, says, “This is the most craven thing I’ve heard of yet. To turn over content control to the federal government for a modest price is an outrageous abandonment of the First Amendment … The broadcasters scream about the First Amendment until McCaffrey opens his checkbook.”

read more..

Monday October 15, 2012, 2:03 pm
Why isn't ABC and the other major networks reporting on all of the scientific studies that are showing cannabis could be a cure for cancer? Or any of the studies showing the benefits of this miracle plant?

Are you getting a clue, Dee? Sorry if I seem irritated, but it's people like you that help spread the lies that keep this devastating and destructive policy of prohibition in place. SEEK THE TRUTH, damn it, and stop spreading their lies!

Monday October 15, 2012, 10:54 pm
So, it's a "story" (NOT a "news" story) about somebody who apparently had side-effects after quitting smoking pot...........and for how long and how heavy a user was this man? If this is news, then why not post a story about the person who "kicked" their alcohol "habit" and/or quit smoking cigarettes? Face it, Dee (and Cher), this is to shock people into thinking there is a medical reason to never use pot in the first place........geez, if you start usingi it, you'll never be able to quit without serious WITHDRAWAL.

As for the "why isn't ABC and other major networks reporting on the scientific studies", they have. If Dee and Cher don't want to accept the results of THOSE studies, that's their right to not do so. There have been COUNTLESS studies about benefits of using THC (not just by smoking it) in many ways, including medicinal for cancer treatment and many other ailments.

"I think most know that driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can indeed and does cause accidents"........Dee, you want to insult me (and yes, you insulted me) about this not being about MEDICAL marijuana use, it's also got ZERO to do with driving while under the influence of anything. Yes, of course we all know that driving under the influence of drugs (any drugs) or alcohol is not acceptable and causes accidents, but it's still legal to stop at the neighborhood bar for a drink and then drive home. How many people take pain meds and drive? How many people take COLD MEDICINE and drive? Fact is, few smoke "pot" and then drive a car because frankly, they smoke it to ease severe pain or to relax and they do that AT HOME. If they did anything behind the while after "smoking" or "using", it might be driving far too slow (way UNDER the speed limit) or misjudge how far away from the curb they were when they parked.

Monday October 15, 2012, 11:10 pm
MJ M, Montel Williams openly admits to using cannabis to address his MS,and has been open on such TV shows as "The Doctors" (ABC). I believe Al Gore also is a supporter, and many public figures are because they are smart enough t realize that prohibiting such a beneficial drug is hurting far more people by keeping something of use to them, than they are possibly doing by keeping it off the streets, which they most certainly are not doing in the first place. All they're doing is making cartels rich and street cops busy arresting some "pot head" for possession when they COULD be actually out there being "officers of the PEACE".

Tuesday October 16, 2012, 9:35 am
Five Scientific Conclusions About Cannabis That The Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You To Know

Tuesday October 16, 2012, 9:42 am
Montel Williams appearance on 'The Doctors' does nothing to diminish ABC's collusion with the ONDCP.

Tuesday October 16, 2012, 9:57 am
the Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie

Most people know that the “drug czar” — the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) — is an advocate for the government position regarding the drug war. But not everyone knows that he and his office are mandated to tell lies as part of their Congressional authorization.

There’s something horribly, treasonously wrong in a country of the people, by the people and for the people, where the government functions by lying to the people.

Does anyone not agree with that statement? Dee? Cher?

Wednesday October 17, 2012, 5:26 am
MJ M, we're on the same side here, so don't nit-pik what I said, please. In my opinion, it does have relevance..........IF ABC was so anti-marijuana, as you stated, then they wouldn't have allowed the program of "The Doctors" to air. They have the right to do that and would have.

Wednesday October 17, 2012, 10:48 am
U.S. Government Stopped Research After Finding That Marijuana Slowed Cancer Growth

New Study Says Marijuana Could Stop Cancer from Spreading

What if Cannabis Cured Cancer?

Regular cannabis use grows new brain cells.

Cannabinoids for Cancer Treatment: Progress and Promise

Top 10 Cannabis Studies the Government Wished it Had Never Funded

SCIENTISTS ARE HIGH ON IDEA THAT MARIJUANA REDUCES MEMORY IMPAIRMENT

Medical Marijuana for PTSD

Cannabis Use, Effect And Potential Therapy For Alzheimer's, MS and Parkinson's

Marijuana better than pharmaceuticals at treating chronic pain, improving mood

'Marijuana' Diet Pill May Be Possible, Endocannabinoid Study Suggests

Marijuana Ingredients Slow Invasion by Cervical and Lung Cancer Cells

Cannabinoids may halt the progression of certain Neurodegenerative Diseases, such as Alzheimer's, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, and Parkinson's

Study Finds Marijuana Anti-Depressant.

The Blunt Truth: Drug Increases Brain Cell Growth

Increased Access To Therapeutic Cannabis Likely To Reduce Patients' Use Of Opiates, Other Addictive Drugs

Cannabis smokers show greater lung capacity and lower cancer levels than non-smokers.

Another Massive Study Shows Marijuana Helpful For Various Medical Conditions

I must have missed the mainstream media's, and ABC's, coverage of all of the above.

Thursday October 18, 2012, 3:08 am
"I certainly don't mind any at all when others disagree with me or I with them..It is the ones who get disrespectful..or continue to badger the point..(such as you and MJ have done on this thread".........Dee, glad to know you are at least not so closed-minded you can't understand being disagreed with, but the facts are still the facts.............YOU made a point out of hurling "stuff" my way and at MJ because WE disagree with you, and made a big issue out of the two of us CONTINUING with arguing with you. You admit to not even coming into the discussion during the week, so at least comprehend it is you, YOURSELF who are keeping this going. You and Cher seem to be the ONLY ones sharing your P.O.V. It's not just me, nor is it just MJ M. You have your facts screwed up, and your "example" just doesn't compute to anyone who knows anything at all on the topic. This is NOT a "news STORY", it's a fantasy based on your opinion, based on a story about somebody who doesn't want their name known, and about HIS addiction withdrawal. ..

Thursday October 18, 2012, 3:51 am
So, Dee, re-reading what I've posted and what MJ has stated, the only disrespect may have been from MJ when he, admittedly, got frustrated with your ignoring of facts. I've never been disrespectful, nor rude, just disagree 100% with you. The only "badgerng the point is from YOU because you can't accept the fact your opinions are in the minority and very few agree with you. I "get it" that it annoys someone when they've posted what they believe (personally) is a news event/story or something worth sharing. I've been "there" & "done that" myself in Care.2 and the last time I "shared" a news story (one that was 100% factual, just reposted from my neighborhood news paper, I was accused of being a "paid advertiser". It hurts to be disagreed with by anyone, and when you become emotionally involved with something (as I'd done by reposting a news story about exterminating an entire pack of wolves in my State) I got accused of making it all up. Uh, huh!

However, in this discussion, you claim to be merely telling the "story" of one person's individual demons and withdrawal from who knows how many years of substance abuse and we don't know the amount, nor the frequency of use. The entire premise was to shock people about "using" a substance that has been increasingly the subject of health BENEFITS.

What good does it do to make a huge deal out of a somewhat "rare" occurrence, or to even suggest that it's something to be deathly afraid of in the first place? Okay, so we should warn heroin users that "in the end", if they want to stop using heroin, they're going to go thru horrific "withdrawal". That's a given. Heroin has no known medical uses, nor any benefits or reasons for using other than to escape reality (get high). People don't start "shooting up" to address a genuine medical issue, nor to even "relax" or "chill out". They use heroin for other reasons. Same reason people use cocaine. Cocaine is of the same family as where pain "meds" such as codeine come from, but the use is completely different. However, there is a similar likelihood of withdrawal symptoms IF one becomes addicted to the product. Cocaine and all associated medications are highly ADDICTIVE. THC, in and of itself, is not addictive...........well, not anymore than eating candy, drinking soda, or yes, taking any OTC pain medicatin even such as Excedrin can be. Ask somebody who is a heavy coffee drinker what they go thru when they decide to stop drinking caffineated coffee? I've had a co-worker put herself in the E.R. because she was so sick! Okay, let's warn all coffee drinkers. BTW, you won't encounter anyone nastier than one member of my family if he can't get his daily "fix" of Pepsi!

Thursday October 18, 2012, 5:16 am
This fake ‘news’ article comes straight from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The ONDCP’s connection with the major media is undeniable. These bullshit ‘news’ stories have been coming out of that office since the day it was created. Cannabis is going to be legal everywhere, and very soon. With a mandate from Congress telling the drug czar that he has to lie to keep weed illegal, what do you think that office is doing, sitting arond with their thumbs up their....?

This BS article flies in the face of cannabis science. But then, that’s been the drug Czars’ MO from the beginning.

Calling B.S. on the Idea of 'Marijuana Addiction'

Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances

Thursday October 18, 2012, 5:41 am
I believe I asked you before Dee, why would you use a graphic of an ALCOHOL-Dependent Brain, on a story about marijuana, where the subject of the story wants to hide in the shadows? These are tactics of the far rightwing, confuse an issue to create doubt. That photo graphic didn't come on the ABC article, so it was your choice to use it. Why? The BS article alone wasn't enough for you? Obviously you couldn't find anything showing brain damage from cannabis. Why do you suppose that is?

Thursday October 18, 2012, 6:14 am

The Feds Are Addicted to Pot -- Even If You Aren't.

The government keeps pushing the BS that pot is addictive and has serious health consequences. And no wonder -- lying about pot is a lucrative business.

Friday October 19, 2012, 1:02 pm
Wow 18 new posts from you guys..Funny but sad too..

Friday October 19, 2012, 1:18 pm
Dee, are you saying that spreading the truth is a sad thing? That sure says a lot about you.

What is sad is that you aren't able to answer any of the questions I've posed. It makes you come off as kinda troly... trolly?

Friday October 19, 2012, 2:41 pm
The only troll I see here is you MJ..Just look at all the crap you have posted..You are spamming this news story with your own agenda..

It is your right to disagree..as it is anyone's right..Unfortunately people like you have to badger others to think as you do..

I don't care how many links you post..aside from most..if not all of them have nothing to do with this story..But more importantly none of it is going to make me think or feel like you do..So get over yourself already..

What makes you think I need to or choose to answer anything you have asked..Seriously..ypu are pig headed and rude..and personally quite obnoxious..

Friday October 19, 2012, 3:42 pm
Please be specific Dee. What 'crap' that I've posted is inaccurate? I've pointed out that your propaganda piece is riddled with inaccuracies. If you can't accept that, that's your problem.

Seriously Dee, you are the pig headed one. It's your pigheadedness that perpetuates all of the harms of prohibition. For that you should be quite ashamed.

Friday October 19, 2012, 4:17 pm
"...nothing to do with this story". ?? Isn't this fairy tale 'story' about Marijuana? What did I post that has nothing to do with that? If it's the articles about the ONDCP's connection to the major media, that was to show the motive for the lies in the media about marijuana. This 'story' is posted on ABC.com. "..nothing to do with the story"?? It IS the freakin' story!

You, Dee, are the one that is guilty of posting a 'story' that has nothing to do with the truth!

Saturday October 20, 2012, 1:17 pm
To be quite frank here..I am stunned at just how ignorant some can be..First of all this is a a news story..(ABC NEWS) based on a man who appeared on Good Morning America..It is not my story..There is nothing vague about it..Nothing untrue about it..It certainly was explained as to the duration and amount..So again I can only assume you DID NOT read the article..

How ignorant to suggest he did not have any withdrawal from smoking it as long as he did..Really..do you determine what everyone feels/does or goes through..And to say it is hardly a news story because you are too ignorant to understand that someone indeed can be addicted to marijuana and or have withdrawals from it..whether smoking a joint to get high or to use it medically for long durations..is truly sad..

No one has discredited this story..Just because you and MJ say its not true..that doesn't discredit it..I see two ignorant people based on their own beliefs..trying their damnedest to track this story and both get on their soapboxes and instead of simply disagreeing with it.. You both have been rude..disrespectful and it is both of you who can't seem to understand not everyone is going to agree with you..and you don't like it..
Read you very first comment..
Those who have noted it seem to agree..I am sure those who sent me the many stars for this story agree..

Not sure why you or MJ cannot get it through your heads..that this story is NOT ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA..It isn't..yet you both keep going on and on about it..

No matter what either of you comment here..or post here..and or continue to say it is untrue..it doesn't matter..it is true..

Maybe if either of you re-read the article and then re-read what your comments are..maybe then you will see how foolish you both look..Until then..Knock yourselves out..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 2:36 pm
Why can't you accept the science of addiction, Dee? You seem to relish in your ignorance. Like I said before, your story flies in the face of cannabis science. It's made up! It's a lie! It's BS!
Doctors and scientists all say the same thing. Cannabis is less addictive than caffeine!

Normally I wouldn't care how stupid you want to be on this subject. It's when you attempt to spread your ignorance that I have to call you out. Show me the science that backs up any of your garbage propaganda.

'According to the Institute of Medicine, pot's withdrawal symptoms, when identified, are "mild and subtle" compared with the profound physical syndromes associated with ceasing chronic alcohol use -- which can be fatal -- or those abstinence symptoms associated with daily tobacco use, which are typically severe enough to persuade individuals to reinitiate their drug-taking behavior.'

Dee, why do you equate cannabis with alcohol when the Institute of Medicine tells you that you are full of crap?

Saturday October 20, 2012, 2:57 pm
Because I don't accept what is not true..Let me educate you here a bit..Not all Doctors..nor all scientists say or think the same way ..

Ahh there is the bullshiit in your statements..
"pot's withdrawal symptoms, when identified, are "mild and subtle" compared with the profound physical syndromes associated with ceasing chronic alcohol use -- which can be fatal -- or those abstinence symptoms associated with daily tobacco use, which are typically severe enough to persuade individuals to reinitiate their drug-taking behavior.' "

But no one here myself above all is not "COMPARING ANYTHING" but I am indeed saying there is much truth to this story..because no matter how small or big the addition..the FACT IS..there indeed can be and certainly is in many cases..

""Dee, why do you equate cannabis with alcohol when the Institute of Medicine tells you that you are full of crap? ""

I don't stupid..where in this entire news story..or in any of my comments did I equate the two..

You MJ are a babbling idiot..lol..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 3:20 pm
Why the graphic of an ALCOHOL-Dependent brain? YES, you do stupid.

You're a real piece of work Dee. and no, it's not funny.

Saturday October 20, 2012, 3:44 pm
The combination of the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article, with the misleading and deceptive graphic, points to a clear agenda to hide the truth. Tell me Dee, how do you benefit from this deception?

Saturday October 20, 2012, 3:47 pm
UMM..no I don't idiot..its about ADDICTIVE BRAIN..its just a freaking graphic loser..don't get all uptight there..maybe smoke a joint and relax a little there..

No.. you are the piece of work..you have really just trashed this thread with you obsessive..ignorant rude..disrespectful ranting..Just because you don't AGREE..

And yes it is sad..really sad.. that there are losers like you that cannot respectfully agree to disagree..And that you think you can intimidate and bully others into shutting up and seeing it your way..
Well I don't..and there are many who don't..

So as I said before why don't you light one up and go chill..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 3:51 pm
No deception..no benefit..

Tell me exactly what you think are the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article..And please do it without copy/pasting..lol if you can..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 4:04 pm
How does that further your case by pointing out that there are other victims of the same brainwashing as yourself? They are the reason I do what I do to erase the brainwashing. Your marijuana addition lies will not stand the light of day.

Saturday October 20, 2012, 4:25 pm
Tell me exactly what you think are the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article..And please do it without copy/pasting..or changing the subject..lol if you can..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 4:55 pm
Relative Addictiveness of Various Substances

In Health, Nov/Dec 1990

"To rank today's commonly used drugs by their addictiveness, we asked experts to consider two questions: How easy is it to get hooked on these substances and how hard is it to stop using them? Although a person's vulnerability to drug also depends on individual traits -- physiology, psychology, and social and economic pressures -- these rankings reflect only the addictive potential inherent in the drug. The numbers below are relative rankings, based on the experts' scores for each substance:

100 Nicotine

99 Ice, Glass (Methamphetamine smoked)

98 Crack

93 Crystal Meth (Methamphetamine injected)

85 Valium (Diazepam)

83 Quaalude (Methaqualone)

82 Seconal (Secobarbital)

81 Alcohol

80 Heroin

78 Crank (Amphetamine taken nasally)

72 Cocaine

68 Caffeine

57 PCP (Phencyclidine)

21 Marijuana

20 Ecstasy (MDMA)

18 Psilocybin Mushrooms

18 LSD

18 Mescaline

Marijuana treats addiction

From TIME magazine – 1931:

“…in spite of the legends, no case of physical, mental or moral degeneration has ever been traced exclusively to marijuana… Because of its non-habit-forming character, doctors have recently been experimenting with the drug as an aid in curing opium addiction.”

In December 2009 new findings emerged as to the benefit of cannabis as a treatment for alcoholism:

'Substituting cannabis in place of more harmful drugs may be a winning strategy in the fight against substance misuse. Research published in BioMed Central’ open access Harm Reduction Journal features a poll of 350 cannabis users, finding that 40% used cannabis to control their alcohol cravings, 66% as a replacement for prescription drugs and 26% for other, more potent, illegal drugs.'



A ground-breaking study of 4117 marijuana smokers in California reveals that the ‘Gateway Theory’ probably had it backwards. Instead of enticing young people to use other drugs, this study suggests that marijuana may have the opposite effect.

This first-ever clinical examination of a large number of medical marijuana applicants depicts a population that is remarkably normal. The percentages earning bachelors’ degrees and doctorates are nearly identical to the national numbers. They are, in the main, productive citizens with jobs, homes and families who smoke marijuana weekly or daily – and have in some cases for decades.

For the vast majority of these applicants, their use of cannabis ultimately led to a decrease in the use of tobacco, alcohol, and hard drugs. Asked to compare their current alcohol consumption with their lifetime peak, over 10% claimed to be abstinent and nearly 90% claimed to have cut their drinking in half.

They also report using cannabis as self medication for stress and anxiety – with fewer side effects than the legal pharmaceutical alternatives.

As children, a significant percentage of the male applicants had been treated for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Today their routine morning use of minimal amounts of cannabis strongly suggests that it enhances their ability to concentrate by allowing them to focus on one problem at a time.


Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol

Why don't you use that ALCOHOL-Dependent Brain graphic on a news story where it would be relevant?

Alcohol kills 2.5 million a year

Saturday October 20, 2012, 5:06 pm
Tell me exactly what you think are the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article..And please do it without copy/pasting..or changing the subject..lol if you can..

Guess you can't..lol..

Oh and you might want to at least have something more updated if you can only copy & paste..and not something that is well over a decade ago..lol..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 7:27 pm

Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You're 'Marijuana Deficient'

Scientists have begun speculating that the root cause of disease conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may be endocannabinoid deficiency.

'In recent years scientists have discovered that the production of endocannabinoids (and their interaction with the cannabinoid receptors located throughout the body) play a key role in the regulation of proper appetite, anxiety control , blood pressure , bone mass , reproduction, and motor coordination , among other biological functions.

Just how important is this system in maintaining our health? Here’s a clue: In studies of mice genetically bred to lack a proper endocannabinoid system the most common result is premature death .

Armed with these findings, a handful of scientists have speculated that the root cause of certain disease conditions — including migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and other functional conditions alleviated by clinical cannabis — may be an underlying endocannabinoid deficiency.


Maybe you can tell me Dee, how the science in this article Im 'submitting, lends any credibility to your propaganda piece, or what you believe to be true? Are you aware of any cannabis science at all, or is it just marijuana myth you would rather cling to?

Saturday October 20, 2012, 8:23 pm
Tell me exactly what you think are the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article..And please do it without copy/pasting..or changing the subject..

Saturday October 20, 2012, 8:59 pm
The Great Marijuana Rehab Scam

Sunday October 21, 2012, 9:58 am
MJ..once again..
Tell me exactly what you think are the blatant falsehoods and misrepresentations in the article..And please do it without copy/pasting..or changing the subject..

Sunday October 21, 2012, 10:17 am
Diane..
It is a news story..regardless of what you think..
It is not my views..or interpretation of his story..it is HIS..The fact that you do not believe his story is your personal opinion..and that does not make it a blatant falsehood..
Because this man did not wish to disclose his full name does not mean it is not true..
What part of that do you not understand..Anyone else..(aside from you or MJ) would understand that due to the nature of what he has disclosed in this article..referring to marijuana..it is clear to most that he does not want perhaps his job..friends..co-workers to know..And there is nothing wrong or untrue because of that..

You both have indeed changed the subject..You need to scroll back up and read all of the comments from both you and MJ on Medical marijuana..Which has nothing to do with this news story..

This was your first comment..

(((Tuesday October 2, 2012, 12:11 am
"The writer here should be ashamed of herself for posting such garbage. I read comments in the discussion FROM the writer for having had the audacity to disagree or refute what she's said. How sad.

"Chris lost his appetite, had trouble sleeping, and developed body aches"....WOW, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to Chris or anyone else that smoking pot INCREASES one's appetite (that's why it's proven to be medically beneficial for chemo-therapy patients who have cancer), INDUCES a sense of relaxation so helps one sleep if one has sleeping issues (so going without can therefore put one back to a state of insomnia problems), and "body aches" (it's prescribed MEDICALLY to address pain!). That entire statement could be equivalent to saying that when one gives up drinking water, one becomes dehydrated and has digestive upsets or irregularity with the plumbing department. Is that person having "withdrawal" from drinking water then? "))))

Oh and what a stupid reply that was where you said..
(("WOW, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to Chris or anyone else that smoking pot INCREASES one's appetite (that's why it's proven to be medically beneficial for chemo-therapy patients who have cancer), INDUCES a sense of relaxation so helps one sleep if one has sleeping issues (so going without can therefore put one back to a state of insomnia problems), and "body aches" (it's prescribed MEDICALLY to address pain!). ")))

Did you not get that he wanted to STOP smoking marijuana and there you are suggest that he should smoke it to stop the withdrawals..That is laughable and sad that you sad something so stupid..

Once again..you or anyone does not have to agree with this article..that is your given right..but to call me a liar..and make it so personal right from the start..is just sad..
It is unbelievable how so many here cannot just agree to respectfully disagree..Without attacking personally or the name calling..or the constant badgering..
But that is what some do..no matter how wrong or pathetic it is..

Sunday October 21, 2012, 10:56 am
Why would they be using cannabis to help drug and alcohol addicts break their addictions if there was any danger of a cannabis addiction? You're not really that ignorant Dee. Are you?

This article is a complete fabrication, just as much as Dee's story of a driver killing someone with nothing but weed in his system. The lies in this article are one thing, Your lies are another. Science and reality expose both.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 3:05 pm
Mj..you are the ignorant one..If you think getting into a car and driving with the influence of ANYTHING is okay..you truly are an idiot..
And if you think that stoned driver have not had accidents..and fatal crashes..you are even more ignorant than I first perceived you to be..

Do some serious CURRENT research on web sites other than NORML....Don’t tell me that marijuana doesn’t change you..or that it doesn't alter driving..You don’t see the change because you live in a euphoric state of mind..If you have been using for a long time..it’s still in your system even when you’re not high..You want freedom..You got it..Freedom to attach your life to a substance that you can no longer feel good..relax and have fun without..
That's really pretty freaking sad.. And just stay off the ROADS..

Sunday October 21, 2012, 3:19 pm
"..If you think getting into a car and driving with the influence of ANYTHING is okay..you truly are an idiot.. "

Advil? Tylenol? Viagra? Cheesburgers? I would think that people that go through life with their heads up their arses would be the worst road hazards. Maybe your driving privileges should be revoked?

Sunday October 21, 2012, 3:31 pm
You won't accept the results of reputable scientific studies because it's NORML that reports them?? You really are a biased bonehead. Your ulterior motives are sickly evident.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 4:07 pm
I find it interesting that the majority of comments posted defending marijuana use are written by people who are current users..therefore..have affected thinking processes..Of course you’ll defend it’s euphoric effect on your life..who wouldn’t want to fight for the right to “feel good” and can only feel good if they are stoned..Perhaps you’d be better off renaming your fight “the right to be stupid”.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 4:34 pm
Marijuana Users Are Safer Drivers Than Non-Marijuana Users, New Study Shows

A new study released by United States auto insurance quote provider 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org shows that statistically speaking, marijuana users are safer drivers than non-marijuana users.

Marijuana: Study Finds Minimal Changes in Driving Performance After Smoking

According to clinical trial data published in the March issue of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, subjects tested both before and after smoking marijuana exhibited virtually identical driving skills in a battery of driving simulator tests. Researchers in the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial tested 85 subjects -- 50 men and 35 women -- on simulated driving performance. The subjects had to respond to simulations of various events associated with vehicle crash risk, such as deciding whether to stop or go through a changing traffic light, avoiding a driver entering an intersection illegally, and responding to the presence of emergency vehicles. Subjects were tested sober and again a half hour after having smoked a single medium-potency (2.9% THC) joint or a placebo.

The investigators found that the subjects' performance before and after getting stoned was virtually identical. "No differences were found during the baseline driving segment (and the) collision avoidance scenarios," the authors reported. Nor were there any differences between the way men and women responded.

NHTSA Accident Study Finds Drugs Not Big Danger on the Road, the Main Danger is Alcohol. Marijuana By Itself Not an Apparent Driving Hazard

Reasons Why Marijuana Users Are Safe Drivers

Why Medical Marijuana Laws Reduce Traffic Deaths

CANNABIS AND DRIVING

STUDIES had found it impossible to prove cannabis adversely affected driving, an Adelaide University researcher said yesterday.

Professor Jack Maclean, director of the road accident research unit, said, while there was no doubt alcohol affected driving adversely, that was not the case with marijuana.

"It has been impossible to prove marijuana affects driving adversely," he told the Australian Driver Fatigue Conference in Sydney.

"There is no doubt marijuana affects performance but it may be it affects it in a favourable way by reducing risk-taking."

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

DOT HS 808 078 NOVEMBER 1993

MARIJUANA AND ACTUAL DRIVING PERFORMANCE

EFFECTS OF THC ON DRIVING PERFORMANCE

The major conclusions from the present program are summarized as follows:

* Current users of marijuana prefer THC doses of about 300 ug/kg to achieve their desired "high".

* It is possible to safely study the effects of marijuana on driving on highways or city streets in the presence of other traffic.

* Marijuana smoking impairs fundamental road tracking ability with the degree if impairment increasing as a function of the consumed THC dose.

* Marijuana smoking which delivers THC up to a 300 ug/kg dose slightly impairs the ability to maintain a constant headway while following another car.

* A low THC dose (100 ug/kg) does not impair driving ability in urban traffic to the same extent as a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04g%.

* Drivers under the influence of marijuana tend to over-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and compensate when they can; e.g. by increasing effort to accomplish the task, increasing headway or slowing down, or a combination of these.

* Drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to under-estimate the adverse effects of the drug on their driving quality and do not invest compensatory effort.

* The maximum road tracking impairment after the highest THC dose (300 ug/kg) was within a range of effects produced by many commonly used medicinal drugs and less than that associated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08g% in previous studies employing the same test.

* It is not possible to conclude anything about a driver's impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.

And just for you Dee, from your friends at NORML, Cannabis and Driving: A Scientific and Rational Review

Marijuana and Driving: A Review of the Latest Scientific Evidence

Dee, you are going to have to come up with a different 'reefer madness' line than the driving one. Because basically, you are full of it.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 4:49 pm
" I find it interesting that the majority of comments posted defending marijuana use are written by people who are current users..'

50 million satisfied users can't be wrong.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 4:59 pm
Twice as Likely to crash
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/bellingham-wa/TVHNL5GFSEG24IBPR

Charged with DUI..Bus crash..
http://buckslocalnews.com/articles/2012/05/12/yardley_news/news/doc4fae82d90f988467384707.txt

Driver Jailed in Fatal crash
http://old.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2002/01/21/crash.html

Drugged Driving
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/drugged-driving

Drug Facts
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana

Marijuana raises risk of driving
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20051201/marijuana-raises-risk-of-fatal-car-crash

Sunday October 21, 2012, 4:59 pm
New Bill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/driving-while-stoned-mari_n_1470641.html

Sunday October 21, 2012, 5:00 pm
Crash kills 8 yr old..
http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/12720981-418/driver-charged-with-dui-in-crash-that-killed-8-year-old-in-skokie.html

Sunday October 21, 2012, 5:01 pm
I figured I would post a few while you out there looking for more links to copy/paste..

Sunday October 21, 2012, 5:09 pm
.gov ?? Get real, fool.

Sunday October 21, 2012, 5:12 pm
Now see there's that ignorance again..Poor MJ..just can't see to grasp the gist of THIS article..or the fact that I am referring to potheads getting stoned ..just to get high and driving a car..endangering the lives of others let alone themselves..

THIS IS NOT ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA..

It is really sad that you cannot get that through your stupid head..Seriously what is wrong with you..

And then you get nasty on top of your own lack of ability to get what THIS article is about..

Wow..

Sunday October 21, 2012, 5:19 pm
oh yeah..and the government is ALWAYS a target..They..of course..are to blame for you not being able to indulge in your illegal little habit..This would be the same government that protects your right to whine..complain..be disrespectful..name calling..and pretend like you know what you are talking about while you post it in cyberspace..That government right..

LOL

Monday October 22, 2012, 8:35 am
Diane wrote..
".true, but so is anything else after time. Get a blood draw within 36 hours of having taken any pain meds containing a codeine deriviative. It will show up positive for cocaine. Even eating a poppy seed muffin will affect a drug test."

But this story is not about poppy seed..cocaine..codeine..Oh wait..yes that's write you both go off topic to defend what you both are saying..
lol

Monday October 22, 2012, 8:38 am
Diane wrote..

"And just stay off the ROADS.."......NOBODY except you is harping on "feeling good" or driving under the influence. Those that use THC products to address pain know very well to not drive and with few exceptions, don't. Watch the documentaries showing how much one is affected by taking a COLD medicine such as Sudafed. I've seen them. The driver was AS impaired as if she had had 3 drinks of hard liquor, yet didn't think she was having any problem, since after all, it was just cold medicine."

Again..not about Medical Mariujana..or cold medicine..or Tinkerbell or anything else you want to throw in there..lol

Monday October 22, 2012, 10:37 am
And the 'story' has NOTHING to do with the TRUTH!

Monday October 22, 2012, 10:45 am
Dee C, you really should get a life. Trying to defend 'reefer madness' propaganda is only making you look like a fool.

Here, pay close attention...CANNABIS IS LESS ADDICTIVE THAN CAFFEINE! The claims in your 'story' are bullsh**!

Monday October 22, 2012, 11:02 am
MJ..writes..
"And the 'story' has NOTHING to do with the TRUTH!"

If you choose to deny that there are some who do get addicted and certainly do abuse marijuana,,and that there are some that when stopping do indeed have withdrawals that is your right..no matter how stupid and ignorant it may be..
But in your ignorance and denial ..does not make it a lie..

Monday October 22, 2012, 11:28 am
MJ writes..
"Dee C, you really should get a life. Trying to defend 'reefer madness' propaganda is only making you look like a fool.

Here, pay close attention...CANNABIS IS LESS ADDICTIVE THAN CAFFEINE! The claims in your 'story' are bullsh**!

What are you talking about "reefer madness" My goodness who said that..That was an old film made in the 30's for crying out loud..No one here most of all me has said anything about anyone smoking pot and descending into madness you idiot..
Clearly the only fools here are you and Diane..going on and on and on..with such stupid stuff..It is laughable if not sad..

How about YOU pay close attention..to say that one drug is less addictive than another..(again such a stupid defense) does NOT make the drug not additive..perhaps less but still addictive..

Coffee may make one a bit jittery..but it does not alter the mind such as pot does..

No claims in this story are untrue..It is one persons experience..Its so pathetic that while you try so hard to defend your garbage that you do not allow any reasonable tolerance with another persons experience or opinions..

Monday October 22, 2012, 12:05 pm
Also to make my self very clear..

I have nothing against anyone who smokes pot..Nothing against anyone who uses it for real medical purposes as long as it is and does help them..

What I am against is a "pothead" and or anyone who does smoke it and gets behind the wheel of a car and drives..

And in saying "pothead" the urban dictionary describes it best..

pot head

"A Habitual user of Marijuana, usually to the point where it interferes with work, family, and school. Pot heads are known for their laid-back attitude, bad memory, encyclopedic knowledge of junkfood, and facination with shiny objects.

Pot heads should not be confused with occasional smokers who are still able to function and fulfill their responsibilities and obligations"

Friday October 26, 2012, 12:17 pm
Why Was a "Pot Doesn't Cause Cancer" Study Ignored?

‘The startling implication was that something in marijuana stops damaged cells from becoming malignant: Tashkin theorized an anti-proliferative effect of THC, which has been previously observed in cell-culture systems and animal models of brain, breast, prostate, and lung cancer. THC has been shown to promote known apoptosis (damaged cells die instead of reproducing) and to counter angiogenesis (the process of blood-vessel formation, which is a requirement of tumor growth). Tashkin thought other antioxidants in cannabis may also help counter malignancy.

It’s no surprise that a pro-prohibition institution like NIDA chose not to publicize this report. But why did mainstream media look the other way when Tashkin’s findings emerged in 2005? They did the same in 2009, when Tashkin went public to counter a New Zealand study, claiming that marijuana increases the risk of lung cancer, which he called “statistical sleight of hand.” A very small sample size didn't stop it receiving far wider publicity at the time than Taskin's study. It seems that marijuana scare stories simply sell.

@ Dee C., Your propaganda only distracts from the cannabis ‘stories’ we should all be talking about. You, my dear, are a distraction and disturbingly on the wrong side of history.

Friday November 2, 2012, 4:04 pm
MJ..that is only your opinion..And opinions do not make facts..I am not on the wrong side..or right side of anything..And you have no tolerance for anyone who disagrees with you..You can post all of the links you like..It does NOT change a single thing in this man's experience..

There is no propaganda..No hysteria..No distractions..This story is about the facts of a man who wanted to kick the habit of smoking pot..Nothing more..nothing less..Period..

Friday November 2, 2012, 4:53 pm
The story is a fairytale that you obviously have no problem with, swallowing hook, line and sinker. It's your aversion to truth that makes you so repugnant, and more dangerous to our society than cannabis has ever been in over five milennia.

Friday November 2, 2012, 5:03 pm
No fairy tales here..Just the facts of someone's personal experience..and the fact that I believe this man and his story..certainly does not make me dangerous to society at all..LOL..

Friday November 2, 2012, 7:48 pm
There is nothing false about this story..And once again no reefer madness..You both continue to come back and repeat the same foolishness over and over and over again..

And where did I say I know nothing about about the topic..

Diane you might try really hard to stick to the topic and stop getting so personal and so foolish in your comments..Which by the way is exactly why most of them have been deleted..The same for MJ as well..

All opinions have been spoken..so why do you both continue to track this and keep coming back here to repeat yourself..
Sort of like beating a dead horse..No..

Friday November 2, 2012, 8:33 pm
Diane wrote..
"Actually, Dee, not ONCE did I say the "story" was false. I said it was not a NEWS story, and the facts as "suggested" are not true."

Definition of false..(from dictionary.com
1.
not true or correct; erroneous: a false statement.
2.
uttering or declaring what is untrue: a false witness.
3.
not faithful or loyal; treacherous: a false friend.
4.
tending to deceive or mislead; deceptive: a false impression.
5.
not genuine; counterfeit

LOL..

Friday November 2, 2012, 9:48 pm
Dee, you keep having others censored and your comments look even more ridiculous than when you first utter them. Leaves the impression you're talking to yourself.

Now that's really LOL.. Too bad there's nothing funny about spreading fabricated stories around as if they were true. From climate change to the drug war, to America's military interventions, this country has been taken in by lies for far too long. Yes Dee, when you are shown clear evidence that what you tout is crap, but then still cling to these falsehoods, you are truely a danger to a society that longs for truth.

Calling B.S. on the Idea of 'Marijuana Addiction'

No Dee, it's not LOL.

Saturday November 3, 2012, 1:09 pm
Dee, I would suggest that you limit yourself to topics you have a clue about. Sadly, this aint one of them.

Saturday November 3, 2012, 3:41 pm
And you base that on what.. the fact that you are so ignorant that you can't believe or except that someone can't be addicted. to it..LOL

Seriously MJ..Just stick to the Internet and pick and choose what you wish to believe and go away already..

Saturday November 3, 2012, 4:48 pm
No, seriously Dee, you go away.....a long, long away.

Saturday November 3, 2012, 6:07 pm
What are you 12 years old..

Saturday November 3, 2012, 7:21 pm
That's funny, I repeat what Dee says and she asks if I'm 12.That must make her only 10?

Here's some information that everyone might find of interest. At least those that want to educate themselves about cannabis. Dee, you can go sit in the corner.

Medical marijuana uses - 700 medical marijuana clinical studies and papers

Sunday November 4, 2012, 8:23 am
"That's funny, I repeat what Dee says and she asks if I'm 12.That must make her only 10? "

MJ..Wow..that went right over your head..(Not surprised at all) Okay let me explain it to you..It's the fact that you did REPEAT me..that is what children do..Or Pee wee Herman..lol....

Again you are posting links that have NOTHING to do with this news story..Good grief..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 8:46 am
Diane..I sincerely cannot even read through your comments anymore..They are so repetitious..as are MJ's..

I do not need to disclose my schedule to you..however let me say..it is not stuck in stone it can and does change here and there..Not that it is any of your business..or has anything to do with this story..

Many of your comment as well as MJ's were really off topic and so inappropriate..and yes they were flagged..However when Care2 comes to check it they determine if it is inappropriate or not..They have the final say..

Giving one's opinion is a far cry from being so personal and off topic..

I do not care who agrees or disagrees with me..It does not change my opinion..and certainly does not matter to me..
But getting so personal does..So I suggest if you so badly feel the need to return time after time to this news story..that 1..you might try staying on topic..and 2..that you not get so damn personal and inappropriate..

Any one can come here and comment..regardless of agreeing or disagreeing..But no one has the right to just post and blab things that can be flagged..because they are so offensive or off topic..

Is that too hard for you both to grasp..Take responsibility for your own actions..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 8:48 am
What does this have to do with this news story MJ

Medical marijuana uses - 700 medical marijuana clinical studies and papers

NOTHING at all..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 10:45 am
It’s so clear now why you are so lacking in knowledge of cannabis. Off topic??? The topic is MARIJUANA! You want to narrow it down to only your twisted understanding of the subject. Try investigating the entire subject, not just the fake news stories that are put out to appeal to the low information fools that are content with BS rather than the truth.

Try expanding your knowledge of the entire subject, you'll look so much more intelligent than you presently do..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 10:52 am
The news story is NOT about MEDICAL MARIJUANA..and if you could stick to the topic..or had half a brain..perhaps you would not have posted all of those ridiculous links..That have NOTHING to do with this news story..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 11:10 am
Is the 'story' about alcohol? Obviously not, so why do YOU put the picture of the ALCOHOL-dependent brain right under the title of this propaganda piece?? It looks to me like I'm more on topic than you are.

Try educating yourself Dee. In the meantime your statements show your wish to stay uninformed. Is this something you are proud of?

Sunday November 4, 2012, 11:17 am
Its a picture..showing the addictive brain..perhaps if you had one you would understand..
No propaganda here..
My statements are educational as to the FACTS that one can indeed be addicted to marihuana..

lol..give it a rest MJ..or at least say something new..You have done nothing but repeat yourself over and over..again and again..You really look foolish..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 11:21 am
The 'story' isn't about Industrial Hemp either, but it's the lies that are pushed by crap articles like yours that keep all forms of cannabis from being utilized it this country. That makes it very much on topic.

Sunday November 4, 2012, 11:26 am
Not a crap article at all..Just because you say it is does not make it so..And no that doesn't make anything you have said throughout this thread "on topic"
None of the links from you here have ANYTHING to do with this news article..The sooner you realize that..the sooner you won't loon so ignorant..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 11:27 am
" you won't look so ignorant..

Sunday November 4, 2012, 7:47 pm
"
"I do not need to disclose my schedule to you..however let me say..it is not stuck in stone it can and does change here and there..Not that it is any of your business..or has anything to do with this story."...........true, and the only reason it was brought up was because YOU made it the topic of YOUR comment when I asked you why it took you a week to respond to a previous comment of mine. Therefore, it becomes part of the discussion and in this context, you did not tell the truth. .

"Many of your comment as well as MJ's were really off topic and so inappropriate..and yes they were flagged..However when Care2 comes to check it they determine if it is inappropriate or not..They have the final say.."...........A HA! So you admit you flagged said comments! Nobody else would have, since everyone else who has posted agrees with what MJ M and I have said............that THIS article is bogus, NOT a "news" story and the facts as stated by you are skewed (one sided and taken to imply a meaning "other than" factual"). Customer Support does not come in to check randomly, and in the case of a C2NN article, if the writer is the one who flags, the comments are automatically removed, and I know this from having flagged comments that were inappropriate in articles which I, myself "hosted". None of the comments I've made which have disappeared were inappropriate or worthy of deletiion...............they merely countered remarks you made or refuted the article, itself.

Sunday November 4, 2012, 7:48 pm
"I do not need to disclose my schedule to you..however let me say..it is not stuck in stone it can and does change here and there..Not that it is any of your business..or has anything to do with this story."...........true, and the only reason it was brought up was because YOU made it the topic of YOUR comment when I asked you why it took you a week to respond to a previous comment of mine. Therefore, it becomes part of the discussion and in this context, you did not tell the truth. .

"Many of your comment as well as MJ's were really off topic and so inappropriate..and yes they were flagged..However when Care2 comes to check it they determine if it is inappropriate or not..They have the final say.."...........A HA! So you admit you flagged said comments! Nobody else would have, since everyone else who has posted agrees with what MJ M and I have said............that THIS article is bogus, NOT a "news" story and the facts as stated by you are skewed (one sided and taken to imply a meaning "other than" factual"). Customer Support does not come in to check randomly, and in the case of a C2NN article, if the writer is the one who flags, the comments are automatically removed, and I know this from having flagged comments that were inappropriate in articles which I, myself "hosted". None of the comments I've made which have disappeared were inappropriate or worthy of deletiion...............they merely countered remarks you made or refuted the article, itself.

Sunday November 4, 2012, 7:52 pm
Sorry about the "double" comment............I had the "compatibility" icon checked and the first attempt didn't seem to post so I unchecked it and hit "submit" again.

MJ M, thank you for noticing the photo as being of an "alchol addicted" brain. I hadn't noticed that and now that you have, it DOES make it important to note and that indeed, does bring a lack of credibility to everything associated with this "article", doesn't it? If I noted a story in here about abusing a cat, for example, and posted a photo of a dog or a spider, wouldn't members wonder what on EARTH I was thinking of?

Monday November 5, 2012, 9:34 am
You both have nothing better to say or contribute to THIS NEWS STORY..Its all petty stuff and you both are seriously just trolling now..

Sad that you have nothing better to do..or contribute..