American Voice said:
Down here, as you may have heard, the federal government reached a settlement with the tobacco industry. The government's case was based on evidence indicating that tobacco is a harmful substance that ought to be banned. The industry responded by offering to pay huge sums for cancer research, modify its marketting tactics, and fund anti-smoking campaigns. I am not aware if there is a parallel settlement in Canada. My point is that, as it is in fact the case that regular marijuana use poses an even greater hazard to health, as it has an even more insidious carcinogenic effect, the United States can never legalize its use--it would be such an hypocrisy, in light of the Tobacco Settlement. It would almost certainly provide grounds enabling the tobacco industry to petition for a vacating of the settlement. Thus, hands are tied here.
Up here we are just as concerned about tobacco and it's effects. 213 some odd chemicals (most artificially introduced) but again I reiterate cannabis has not been proven to be harmful unless use becomes (chronic) where studies do support short term memory loss as a sequalie to such consumption. The following post I copied verbatum is an excellant example of how opinions can vary.
Subject: Cannabis not implicated in stroke in adolescents.
Cerebellar Infarction in Adolescent Males Associated With Acute
Marijuana Use. Geller T, Loftis L, Brink DS. Pediatrics (2004)
113;4:365-370
Dear Colleagues,
This item provides no evidence that cannabis causes stroke. The authors
claim it is a possibility but their evidence persuades to the contrary
view on my reading. They even quote the various known 'neuroprotective'
and positive therapeutic effects of cannabis.
In one of the three adolescent stroke cases the authors 'could not get
an adequate history of pattern of use' and this patient had negative THC
findings 3 days after supposedly substantial use of the drug. This is
inconsistent with my experience as THC remains detectable for many days
and sometimes weeks after use. Yet we are quoted a source citing it as a
possibility to have a negative qualitative THC finding 3 days after
exposure (? a small quantity consumed or ? false negative result). They
state that the annual rate of stroke in children is approximately 60 per
million (regardless of cannabis use). Clearly in late teens there will
be a proportion (in fact, an increasing proportion) who happen to be
using cannabis.
In order to test a hypothesis that cannabis leads to stroke, it would be
appropriate to look at the many 'natural experiments' where cannabis use
has gained popularity (eg. Jamaica, Greece, Australia). I am not aware
of any such associations being shown. These authors can only find eight
other literature references to stroke in young cannabis users and they
state that most are isolated case reports with some being 'more
convincing than others'. In addition, it would appear that two of them
are by these same authors reporting one of these exact same cases.
These authors have been conservative and comprehensive in their
descriptions but have jumped to a conclusion that cannabis use can cause
hypotension and 'possibly vasospasm .. resulting in cerebellar
ischemia'. This is despite their stating that 'The neuropharmacologic
literature regarding THC generally describes neuroprotective effects .
as well as therapeutic effects including analgesia, ocular hypotension
and antiemesis. In a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia, synthetic
cannabinoid agonists have been reported to reduce infarct volume'. So it
is even conceivable that cannabis might benefit stroke victims in
certain circumstances.
Thus there is no strong theoretical reason to suppose that cannabis
would cause stroke and these cases do not argue for it in any scientific
way either. Casual or coincident use of cannabis in teenagers with other
rare illnesses can hardly be taken as evidence of causation.
As ever, this item will be used by those opposing rational drug laws to
demand that prohibition is needed more than ever. Yet this very report
comes from the United States (St Louis, Missouri) where cannabis use and
possession are still severely prosecuted, with very little benefit, it
seems, to those intended to be protected such as the tragic cases of the
young men described in this report. A recent report showed little
difference in cannabis use between San Francisco and Amsterdam where
policies are almost opposite.
A report in the Courier Mail (p3, 5/5) stated that "all had apparently
been binge smoking" which was incorrect (two had possibly been 'binge
smoking' while no history was available for the third who may have used
no cannabis at all). It also stated that 'the drug has been found to
trigger "brain attacks" in teenagers'. This is also inconsistent with my
reading of the article and shows that the journalist did not read it
very carefully.
comments by Andrew Byrne ..
Geller T, Loftis L, Brink DS. Cerebellar Infarction in Adolescent Males
Associated With Acute Marijuana Use. Pediatrics (2004) 113;4:365-370
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Andrew Byrne,
Medical Practitioner, Dependency Medicine,
75 Redfern Street, Redfern,
New South Wales, 2016, Australia
Email - ajbyrneATozemail.com.au
Tel (61 - 2) 9319 5524 Fax 9318 0631
PLAYING THE GAME
http://www.oregongreenfree.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1067&hl
http://www.judgejudy.com/
OGF EXCLUSIVE:
One of our members, Rick Buck, was taking his caregiver, Gordon Westfall, to
small claims court.
The Judge Judy show got wind of it and wanted them on the show. They agreed and
the show was taped yesterdy!
The outcome was as we all had hoped.
Judge Judy found in favor of the patient, and awarded him $425.00.
This was the money he had paid Gordon for growing for him for the last 5 months.
During which time Gordon had delivered no usable medication to the patient. And
had severed his services.
Although motivated by the need to satisfy ratings it does none the less show that America has long ago been awakened and is responding whether or not GW Bush likes it. It was in deed Texans that motivated the criminalization of marijuana in an effort to keep the meicans from getting the cowboys high.
Thank You Judge Judy
FYI
Study Debunks Feds' Marijuana Claims
Regulated Sales May Stop "Gateway Effect" Without Increasing Marijuana Use
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new study appearing in the May issue of the American
Journal of Public Health debunks several of the major claims made by the federal
government and other proponents of marijuana prohibition. The study, which
compared patterns of marijuana use in Amsterdam, where possession and purchase
of small amounts of marijuana by adults are allowed under a legally regulated
system, and San Francisco, where such activities are illegal and punishable by
fines or jail, found no significant differences in patterns of marijuana use in
the two cities, and greater use of hard drugs in San Francisco.
Researchers from the University of California and the University of Amsterdam
conducted detailed interviews with hundreds of randomly chosen marijuana users
-- people who had used marijuana at least 25 timesÑin both cities. "Proponents
of criminalization attribute to their preferred drug-control regimen a special
power to affect user behavior," the authors write. "Our findings cast doubt on
such attributions. Despite widespread lawful availability of cannabis
[marijuana] in Amsterdam, there were no differences between the two cities in
age at onset of use, age at first regular use, or age at the start of maximum
use. ... We also found consistent similarities in patterns of use across the
different policy contexts."
One significant difference: Marijuana users in San Francisco were much more
likely to use powder or crack cocaine, opiates, amphetamines or ecstasy than
their Amsterdam counterparts. Lifetime crack cocaine use in the San Francisco
sample was five times that of the Amsterdam group. "Dutch decriminalization does
not appear to be associated with greater use of other drugs," the researchers
report. "Indeed, to judge from the lifetime prevalence of other illicit drug
use, the reverse may be the case."
Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana
Policy Project, commented, "Despite the claims by federal officials like White
House Drug Czar John Walters, the evidence continues to grow that marijuana
prohibition not only doesn't curb marijuana use, it actually contributes to the
so-called 'gateway effect,' by exposing marijuana users to criminal dealers of
hard drugs. A system of responsible regulation can break the link between
marijuana and far more dangerous substances."
The full study can be obtained on the American Journal of Public Health's web
site,
http://www.ajph.org.
Prohibition is Harmful, Failed and Unjust.
Peace
