Stressed and Depressed Association

Marijuana users no more likely to experience depression, psychosis or asthma, study says

Adam — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 14:56:10 +0000

The findings over the Atlantic come as the UK government faces mounting pressure at home to legalise cannabis Getty Images

No matter how much marijuana you did in your rebellious youth – or how little because you were a good lad – it will not come back to haunt you as an adult much at all.

That is the surprise finding of US researchers in one of the only studies to have tracked teen users of marijuana over two decades.

First surveyed at 14 years old, the 408 young men were followed until their 36th birthdays by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a leading American healthcare provider, and Rutgers University in the US.

Even though 22% of the participants were chronic users of marijuana – smoking the drug regularly every week – they were no more likely than their old schoolmates to experience depression, anxiety, psychosis or asthma by their mid-30s, said the report.

The drug is already legal in four US states, with Oregon following Alaska, Colorado, Washington and the District of Columbia this month in making it no longer criminal to buy or sell the recreational plant.

“What we found was a little surprising,” Jordan Bechtold, the lead researcher of the study, said. “There were no differences in any of the mental or physical health outcomes that we measured, regardless of the amount or frequency of marijuana used during adolescence.”

But the researchers stressed that the research should not be taken as gospel truth, and warned the study only went up to the mid-30s age range and did not include women.

“We wanted to help inform the debate about legalisation of marijuana, but it’s a very complicated issue and one study should not be taken in isolation,” said Dr Bechtold.

The UK petition for legalisation, which was posted on the government’s e-petition site on Tuesday 21 July, called for parliament to “make the production, sale and use of cannabis legal” and has well over the 100,000 signatures needed to make it to the Commons.

Begun by James Richard Owen, an economics student at Aberystwyth University, it also has the backing of campaigners such as CLEAR Cannabis Law Reform, one of the largest pressure groups in the UK.

Peter Reynolds, president of CLEAR, said government and the media repeatedly ignored evidence showing cannabis was not nearly as harmful to health as alcohol.

“This is a remarkable study. It has followed real people in real time,” he said. “But there’s this dreadful stigma surrounding anything to do with cannabis. It’s also about vested interests – the alcohol industry are terrified of a safer alternative to alcohol coming out.”

Campaigners have long pointed out that legalisation of the drug would bring it off the black market and make it safer, increase tax revenue through sales and stop small-time pot smokers filling up the country’s courts.

But health advice on the NHS help page continued to warn: “Your risk of developing a psychotic illness is higher if you start using cannabis in your teens.”

From: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/marijuana-users-no-more-likely-to-experience-depression-psychosis-or-asthma-study-says-10443195.html

Enough With This Silly War On Marijuana

sadass — Tue, 26 May 2015 04:50:52 +0000

By Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald 9:14 a.m. EDT May 25, 2015

In this photo taken Tuesday, May 5, 2015, a marijuana plant grows at a Minnesota Medical Solutions greenhouse in Otsego, Minn. The crop is coming in at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two manufacturers who will be supplying the state’s medical marijuana. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT; ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT; MAGS OUT; TWIN CITIES LOCAL TELEVISION OUT(Photo: Glen Stubbe/(Minneapolis) Star Tribune via Associated Press)

Before he tried marijuana, he thought of trying suicide.

Heavy drinking hadn’t helped. Nor had various pills prescribed by Veterans Affairs doctors. He was still angry, still depressed, still could not sleep.

But he found that marijuana helped. It took the anger and depression away. It took the sleeplessness away. Most of all, it took the 11-year-old boy away.

Pfc. Jared Hunter never knew the boy’s name. He was just some Iraqi kid who liked to hang around the Army base outside Baghdad. “He didn’t really speak English or nothing. He would just kind of follow us around and would point things out or tell us if there was somebody there who shouldn’t have been.”

The soldiers adopted him as a mascot. Hunter bought him a soccer ball.

The boy was with the soldiers when they came under fire while patrolling an alley. When the shooting was over, he was dead.

If combat does nothing else, it hardens you to indiscriminate death. “You just learn to deal with it,” says Hunter. “Something like that happens, at that time you just walk on past it and forget about it. Of course, later on,” he adds softly, “it may come up a little bit or something somewhere.”

It came up with a vengeance on Hunter. He’s a 30-year-old Arkansas native living near Daytona Beach, Fla., who joined the Army in 2003 right out of high school and served two tours. He was discharged with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, a neat, clinical term for night terrors, heart palpitations, rage and the seductive lure of suicide. Hunter was almost seduced. He says he was sitting there with gun in hand when his father found him.

Finally, a friend suggested something he had never tried: marijuana. He says pot worked like magic. “It calmed the anxiety. I wasn’t having near as many anger problems. … The suicide stuff went away. I didn’t really feel that desperate to do anything like that again. I’ve got a bad back and a bad neck; it relieved any kind of pain that I had. It just helped so tremendously that it was unbelievable. Nightmares … I could actually go to sleep. I didn’t have insomnia. I wasn’t scared to go to sleep. I could actually lay down and … get a halfway decent night’s rest.”

Marijuana had saved him. Then, last year, police came to his door. He still has no idea who tipped them off. They arrested him and confiscated marijuana plants he says he was growing for his own use. Hunter found himself facing five years in prison. Prosecutors offered a deal: Plead guilty and accept probation. He refused. He didn’t want to be branded a criminal and stripped of his civil rights.

But last week, he accepted a new offer. It requires him to pay court costs and costs of prosecution, amounting to less than $1,000. His record will show not a conviction, but withhold adjudication — essentially, a judicial get-out-of-jail-free card that leaves his civil rights intact.

One is glad Hunter’s legal travails have come to such a favorable end. But who’s to say the next person in his position will be as fortunate? More to the point, we should be appalled this sort of thing is even possible, that a veteran can be threatened with prison because he used the only effective treatment for a wound incurred in the service of his country.

That scenario is viscerally offensive — and well worth remembering as America continues the torturous process of reforming its drug laws and drug hypocrisies.

Hunter, meantime, is thinking seriously of moving to Colorado or some other marijuana-friendly state. The problem, he says, is that cold weather causes his physical wounds intense pain. In effect, then, he is required to decide between the well-being of his body and that of his mind.

That’s a shameful choice to impose on a man who damaged both body and mind fighting for his country — and for, you know, freedom.

Leonard Pitts Jr. is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Contact him at [email protected].

Source: http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/05/25/medical-marijuana/27786935/

Study points to use of ‘medical marijuana’ to treat depression

sadass — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 02:38:11 +0000

Feb 5, 2015, 07.53 PM IST

Scientists at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) are studying chronic stress and depression, with a focus on endocannabinoids, which are brain chemicals similar to substances in marijuana.

The findings raise the possibility that components of marijuana may be useful in reducing depression that results from chronic stress. “In the animal models we studied, we saw that chronic stress reduced the production of endocannabinoids, leading to depression-like behavior,” says RIA senior research scientist Samir Haj-Dahmane, PhD.

Endocannabinoids are naturally produced chemical compounds in the brain that affect motor control, cognition, emotions and behavior. As the name suggests, they are similar to the chemicals found in marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and its active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). “Chronic stress is one of the major causes of depression,” Haj-Dahmane says. “Using compounds derived from cannabis — marijuana — to restore normal endocannabinoid function could potentially help stabilize moods and ease depression.” He cautions this is preliminary research. “Our research thus far has used animal models; there is still a long way to go before we know whether this can be effective in humans,” he says. “However, we have seen that some people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder have reported relief using marijuana.”

Haj-Dahmane says the next step in the research is to see if using a marijuana extract, cannabidiol (CBD), restores normal behaviours in animals without leading to dependence on the drug. The study appeared in Journal of Neuroscience.

University of Buffalo

The Marijuana Industry’s Newest Customers Are Sick And Elderly Dogs

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:35:41 +0000

Alice Truong

April 13, 2015

Desperate pet owners are seeking alternative treatments for their animals.(Auntie Dolores)

A day before a scheduled vet appointment to euthanize her dog, Wendy Mansfield decided to try one last resort to alleviate the chronic pain of her 15-year-old Labrador mix: cookies from a marijuana dispensary made specifically for ailing dogs.

Kali, a mild-mannered 80-pound rescue, was never much of a complainer. But she often licked her paws—an obvious sign of pain, according to her vet—which was typically accompanied by bouts of coughing because of the shedding fur that got in her throat. One cookie and 20 minutes later, the licking suddenly stopped.

Seeing this, Mansfield, who lives in Fort Bragg, California, gave her dog a second cookie, and then a third. Kali, who had been listless and depressed, got up to drink some water and walked outside—something she hadn’t been able to do recently without groaning or obvious signs of pain.Mansfield then called the vet to cancel her appointment. That was three weeks ago. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have anticipated this,” she tells Quartz. “It brought my dog back.”

With marijuana flourishing into a big business in the US, a new segment of the market catering to aging and ailing pets has been growing under the radar. The legal weed market raked in $2.7 billion in revenue in 2014, and one estimate by the ArcView Group, a network that connects investors with cannabis startups, projects the industry to top $10 billion in sales by 2018.

The pet-pot market is treading on new territory, however. The legal gray area is posing challenges for companies that want to market and distribute cannabis-derived products for animals. There’s also insufficient scientific backing and industry guidelines. Still, that’s not deterring desperate pet owners, like Mansfield, or keeping investors from getting on board.

The FDA is watching

The special cookies given to Kali were produced by Auntie Dolores, an Oakland-based maker of edible marijuana goods, including caramel corn, cheese crackers, and savory pretzels (a bestseller). The seven-year-old company launched its pet treat line, Treatibles, about a year ago.

Unlike its edibles for humans, Treatibles products, which are sold in dispensaries, aren’t made from marijuana but from hemp—the stem of the cannabis plant that’s low in the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which produces that feeling of getting high. Hemp, however, does contain cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical compound that alleviates pain. The US government also defines hemp as cannabis—not necessarily the stem—that measures less than 0.3% in THC, a threshold that allows its movement across state lines.

Most companies making cannabis-derived pet products choose to use hemp because the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance, defined as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws. But as it stands, veterinarians aren’t empowered to prescribe cannabis to pets. That could change soon. Nevada is currently debating a bill that would allow people to obtain medical marijuana for their pets with a vet’s approval.

Though Auntie Dolores CEO Julianna Carella has heard from customers like Mansfield, she’s hesitant to promote the product’s effects, or even market Treatibles at all. “Honestly, we’re hands off with that because we’re not doctors and it’s not our place to prescribe it in that way,” she says. The company’s also wary of attracting the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration, which recently began sending out warning letters to some companies selling cannabis-based products for animals.

One such recipient is Canna Companion, which in February got an ominous letter delivered to its headquarters outside Seattle saying that its product is an “unapproved new animal drug and your marketing of it violates the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic] Act.”

Sarah Brandon, an owner of Canna Companion, had no idea such rules existed. She and her husband have researched the effects of cannabis on pets for the past decade, stemming back to their days in veterinary school. In 2014, they took out a $20,000 loan to build a business selling ground hemp powder that dogs and cats consume orally.

They also used language on Canna Companion’s website and social media accounts that made the product sound like a drug, rather than a supplement, which the FDA noticed. This included phrases as innocuous as “safe and effective” and bolder claims like “reduce cancer-associated symptoms.”

“Being vets, we are required by law to use medical terminology,” Brandon says, explaining the original phrasing. “We don’t say an animal has tummy pains. We say they have gastritis and we use those terms.” But she understood the FDA’s point of view, and the company updated the language on its site and social media accounts.

Peak Pharmaceuticals has an exclusive licensing agreement to sell Canna-Pet products.

Canna-Pet, a Seattle company that sells capsules and biscuits for dogs made with hemp, received a similar letter from the agency. “It’s not an unusual thing for the supplement industry where the marketer is making claims that might be going too far,” admits Soren Mogelsvang, CEO of Peak Pharmaceuticals, which has an exclusive licensing agreement to sell Canna-Pet products. “We’re all a little guilty of that and were reprimanded by the FDA. We responded to the guidelines and adjusted our marketing materials accordingly.”

That said, the letter didn’t negatively impact sales. “If anything, it might have bumped it up a little,” he says. “Any PR is good PR.”

The role of THC

Some companies play it safe by using hemp, but Alison Ettel, CEO of San Francisco-based TreatWell (previously known as SweetLeaf), takes issue with the ingredient. She says companies that make cannabis-derived products for pets often source industrial-grade hemp, which is bred for fiber instead of medicinal properties.

Ettel only started using marijuana after she fell into a coma in 2011 due to complications from meningitis. In 2014, she created TreatWell with a grower in Humboldt County in California. About six months ago, Ettel, a former dog walker and animal shelter volunteer, began custom-making tinctures after desperate pet owners reached out directly to her. She also gave the concoctions to her own cat, who suffered from cancer and lived to be 15 years old before she was put down in January.

(Treatwell)

Industrial- and food-grade hemp is typically low in extractable cannabinoids. Multiple vets interviewed for this story say cannabis is most effective as a medicine when its full spectrum of cannabinoids (at least 85 have been identified) are deployed, even if they’re not as well studied as THC or CBD. Furthermore, Ettel says most industrial hemp is imported from overseas, where farming practices, such as the use of pesticides, might be more lax compared with the US. Though the marijuana industry can’t lay claim to the organic label, which is federally regulated, TreatWell prides itself on using marijuana grown following organic standards, she says.

Currently, there are no guidelines for marijuana’s use in dogs. But TreatWell believes THC shouldn’t be discounted, even if it draws scrutiny from the government. “What I’ll say is we target certain ratios for certain illnesses,” Ettel says. “I can’t make any claims it’ll cure anything.” Though results vary by individual animals, the company suggests a THC-to-CBD ratio of 1:1 for pain relief and appetite stimulation. A THC-to-CBD ratio of 3:1 is recommended for conditions associated with extreme arthritis, for example.

Because it’s operating in a legal gray area, TreatWell has avoided marketing its pet products and has taken extra precautions with distribution, selling directly to patients in California with medical marijuana cards that have joined its collective. The company also requires vet records from its members to prove their pets’ conditions are legitimate.

“There’s always going to be risk involved,” she says. “To be honest, helping these pets and these people is much more important to me.”

Undeterred investors

Despite the risks, investor interest hasn’t subsided. TreatWell hasn’t taken any outside funding to date, but it’s currently in the process of raising money from investors so it can produce tinctures for pets with standardized dosing and sell them in dispensaries. “[Investors] already swallowed that pill,” says Ettel. “They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t comfortable with cannabis.”

That’s the case with Doug Leighton at Dutchess Capital, a marijuana-focused investment firm in Boston. “I’m already in this space anyway,” he says. He’s also not concerned about the challenges of selling the product because “the dog is not going to go to jail,” he adds.

One of the firm’s investments is in Dixie Elixirs and Edibles, which Leighton says is developing a line for pets. The company, which makes cannabis-infused drinks, treats, and lotions, declined to be interviewed for this story. A representative said it was too early to talk about its plans for the pet market.

Because the cannabis market for pets is so new, others are treading lightly. “The potential issues around politics and legislation are always a concern in the cannabis space,” says Emily Paxhia, a partner at Poseidon Asset Management, an investment firm in the marijuana industry. Still, she can’t deny the “massive market potential” since it sits at the intersection of two billion-dollar industries: pot and pets. In total, investors, including Poseidon, have injected $800,000 into Auntie Dolores so far.

Paxhia saw how Treatibles helped her own dog, Sprout, a three-legged terrier mix. She says the treats have helped reduce Sprout’s inflammation, caused by the additional stress put on her front leg, and calmed her anxiety.

Treatibles is still only a small fraction of Auntie Dolores’s business, having sold about 1,100 units thus far. To provide some context, Carella, who declined to disclose revenue figures, says the company “sold almost a quarter of a million units last year with all our products combined.” The edible goods maker is looking to raise an additional $1.25 million to scale its operations, and it’s in the process of spinning off Treatibles as its own entity, so investors can choose to put their money into either or both businesses.

Scientific backing

Veterinarians are only staring to learn about marijuana’s effects on animals. In March, the California Veterinary Medical Association held a conference in Yosemite National Park where one of the major themes was cannabis.

Dawn Boothe, who teaches at Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Alabama, presented on the topic, but admits there’s much that’s unknown. “If you want to back up and have a discussion about the scientific evidence on the use of medical marijuana in dogs, we’re done because there isn’t any,” she says. Prior studies have found, however, that cannabinoid receptors are present in mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

Her department recently submitted a grant application to the Morris Animal Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds scientific studies for animals, to conduct research on cannabinoids’ effects on dogs.

Peak Pharmaceuticals, which has a lab at the University of Colorado in Denver, is also doing its own research. It’s partnered with a vet hospital to conduct clinical studies on the effects of cannabinoids on dogs with epilepsy. The company has also struck an agreement with a university to study the effects of cannabinoids on horses that suffer from joint pain and anxiety.

“If you think about it, universities are still in limbo,” says Mogelsvang, who contractually couldn’t name the company’s research partners yet. “They don’t know if they can research cannabinoids and are worried about losing grant funding. The hemp laws, the farm bills—there’s very little case law that defines what’s right and what’s wrong.

Though Boothe knows the evidence is lacking, she points to past marijuana studies done on lab animals and existing human drugs on the market that contain cannabinoids. One such example is Sativex, a mouth spray prescribed in Europe that controls symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. It lists THC and CBD as active ingredients. “We can’t ignore the therapeutic benefits,” she says.

That said, she’s extremely wary of hemp-based pet products on the market, especially since there’s so little oversight for supplements.

Many players in the marijuana industry are hoping new research will shed light on cannabis’s effectiveness in pets and help the industry set guidelines on quality and dosage. (The companies interviewed for this story offer suggestions based on the animal’s weight, recommending pet owners start with a lower dose and gradually increase the amount as needed.)

Playing doctor

What Boothe is most concerned about is pet owners making health decisions without the guidance of a vet. “I’d like to think that people would think it’s a bad idea to treat children without a physician’s advice,” she says. “I think it’s the same with animals.”

Even Brandon of Canna Companion agrees. “As a business owner, pet parent, and veterinarian, I absolutely understand that desperation people feel,” she says. “They feel this beloved member of their family is suffering and they don’t know how to help them.”

But she strongly urges pet owners to consult their vets before taking their animals off prescribed drugs. Suddenly stopping some anti-convulsive medications could make their dogs seriously ill, she says, as an example.

Wendy Mansfield never consulted a professional before giving Kali those cookies. Her vet, however, was open-minded about the alternative treatment and asked. Mansfield to periodically check in.

Mansfield also reduced the number of drugs Kali takes now. Instead of taking four pills, two of them narcotics, Kali now gets three to four cookies every few hours and a pain blocker to help her sleep at night. “[Vets] are in a strange position, and this is all new,” she says. “The best way to gauge your dog is to watch them. With my involvement with my dog, my vet feels comfortable with my decision.”

Mansfield, who suffers from Bell’s Palsy, chose the same alternative for herself four years ago as she recovered from the effects of meningitis, encephalitis, and a medically-induced coma. Her doctor had prescribed her oxycodone, a narcotic pain killer, but Mansfield was adamant against it, choosing instead to self medicate with marijuana. “I never took one of those pills—never, never, never.” She can’t help but see the parallel between her and Kali’s lives. “I’m a walking miracle, too,” she says.

Source: http://qz.com/377887/the-marijuana-industrys-newest-customers-are-sick-and-elderly-dogs/

Colorado Moving Toward Making PTSD Eligible for Medical Pot

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:29:29 +0000

By KRISTEN WYATT

Associated Press April 13, 2015

DENVER — Colorado may add post-traumatic stress disorder as a condition to be treated with medical marijuana — a dramatic turnaround after years of rejecting appeals to make PTSD the first ailment added to the state’s medical pot program since it was approved by voters in 2000.

The addition of PTSD would be the first mental-health disorder for which Colorado doctors could recommend pot.

Colorado’s chief medical officer, Dr. Larry Wolk, will forward the addition to the full Board of Health for approval this fall. The addition would be a dramatic turnaround for an agency that has rejected PTSD at least three times for inclusion on the marijuana registry.

The change comes after Colorado assembled a panel of doctors and medical marijuana advocates to review studies about the drug’s medical potential. The new Medical Marijuana Scientific Advisory Council made the recommendation Friday.

“It’s momentous,” said Brian Vicente, a longtime marijuana legalization supporter who led efforts for years to add PTSD to Colorado’s medical marijuana registry. “It’s contributing to the legitimization of marijuana.”

If the Board of Health approves the change, Colorado would become the 10th state to consider PTSD a condition eligible for pot.

Colorado last year awarded about $3.4 million to two medical studies of using the drug for treatment of PTSD. Those studies are just getting underway.

Wolk did not immediately respond to questions Monday about the PTSD change. Wolk personally testified last year against a bill in the Legislature to add PTSD to the registry.

Colorado currently has about 114,000 people on the medical marijuana registry. They all have a doctor’s recommendation for using the drug to treat one of eight debilitating conditions, ranging from cancer and AIDS to severe pain and nausea.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment oversees the registry. The department will request a hearing about the PTSD addition in June, with a public hearing on the question expected in September.

Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2015/04/13/3675823/colorado-moving-toward-making.html

Cheryl Shuman, The Queen of Cannabis

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:24:35 +0000

by Diogo Costa @diogocostaw
April 13, 2015

The first time a doctor suggested Cheryl Shuman to smoke a joint in order to overcome depression, this businesswoman thought she was being made fun of. However, almost 20 years later, she manages a millionaire fund that deals with cannabis and is the founder of Beverly Hills Cannabis Club.

When you look at Cheryl Shuman, it is hard to imagine that this 55 year old woman manages a fund worth more than $106 million in marijuana businesses, is the President of the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club and dreams with the day when “marijuana consumption is as common as drinking wine”.

It is easy to realize that, nowadays, cannabis is under the spotlight. Not only the discussion of its legality and benefits is hot, the cannabis-related market is booming – especially for related accessories, like volcano vaporizer, which come in many types, sizes and functions.

Nicknamed ‘Queen of Beverly Hills Cannabis’, the story of Cheryl Shuman is worthy of a Hollywood movie. Born in a poor family in Ohio, she made her fortune selling discount coupons but, a car accident in 1983, threw her back to misery. At the age of 23 she was unemployed, broke and alone with a daughter.

After three weeks living with her daughter in a car, she got a job in Encino, North of Los Angeles, selling glasses. That was when her life changed again, by meeting the person in charge of the accessories in a film starring Shirley MacLaine. Eventually, this lead to the creation of another company, Starry Eyes Optical, that specialized in working with the seventh art.

However, the same art that brought her fortune, also brought disgrace. After years of collaboration with Steven Seagal, in 1995 Shuman sued the actor for alleged sexual harassment, breaking their contract after a consensual sexual relationship and death threats. The whole scandal torn Starry Eyes Optical apart, as well as Shuman.

One year later, when Shuman was close to a depression, a psychologist told her to smoke weed in order to help her overcome that condition. This was the start of Shuman’s cannabis empire, highly boosted by the fact that, in that same year, the State of California approved the use of that drug for medicinal purposes.

Using the same professional contracts from her past job, like Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Justin Timberlake, Paul McCartney who, according to Shuman, love marijuana, she funded the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club, which is a club that provides “the best cannabis in the world, natural and organic”.

Charging over $600 per ounce, the club has now over 1,700 members, of which 100 come from the “showbiz elite”. It regularly hosts dinner parties, where marijuana tasting is king and each plate is combined with the right kind of cannabis.

Ten years after funding the club, Shuman has been diagnosed with ovary cancer, which spread to the colon and bladder. After what has been labeled as a “miraculous cure”, she brought the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club to the spotlight, as well as promoting the benefits of the drug. She also commercializes several other products, like cookies, shakes and others, grossing millions of dollars.

Source: http://tech.co/cheryl-shuman-queen-cannabis-2015-04

State Mulls Expanded Disease List for Marijuana Program

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:07:39 +0000

Illinois residents have petitioned the state to add more than 20 medical conditions to the medical marijuana program, including anxiety, migraines, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Petitioners identifying themselves as veterans of Vietnam and Iraq asked that PTSD be included, making emotional pleas for help, according to 269 pages of petitions obtained by The Associated Press through the state’s Freedom of Information Act. The state blacked out the names of petitioners before releasing the documents to protect patients’ privacy.

“I am a Vietnam Vet and can only imagine how things would have been,” wrote one petitioner for PTSD. “While visiting in Colorado I had the benefit of trying cannabis in candy form … and I felt wonderful. No thoughts of violence, self-deprecation, or hopelessness. My life would be different today.”

Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. California allows doctors to recommend it for a broad range of conditions, including arthritis, migraines and “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief,” according to the language of the 1996 ballot initiative that made the state the first to allow medical marijuana.

Illinois law lists dozens of diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS, that can qualify a patient for use with a doctor’s recommendation and a state ID card, but it is more restrictive than in other states. The marijuana industry wants a broader list to create a bigger market in Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Public Health must approve any additions to the list. An advisory board made up of patients, nurses, doctors and a pharmacist is reviewing the petitions and will make a recommendation after holding a public hearing May 4. People can submit petitions twice annually, in January and July.

The board will be “cautious and conservative” as it considers research, the severity of the illnesses, other remedies available and what other states have done, said Dr. Leslie Mendoza Temple, a suburban Chicago physician and the board’s chair.

“We will not be able to approve all conditions,” she said.

One factor the board will absolutely not consider is the wishes of marijuana business owners, Temple said. Regulations and the board’s bylaws forbid board members from having financial ties with the medical cannabis industry, she noted.

Petitioners made the case for conditions including bipolar disorder, autism, psoriasis, chronic back pain, gout and osteoarthritis. Some said they already use marijuana illegally to find relief or they believe they know how it would help their condition:

• “When I use cannabis, all of my intestinal muscles relax which provides immediate relief,” wrote a person favoring the inclusion of irritable bowel syndrome.

• “Cannabis will help me to sleep better, and it will help alleviate pain naturally,” wrote a person with chronic back pain.

• “Cannabis would cause my mind to stop obsessive thoughts and it could help me conquer my fears,” wrote a person with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Some petitions mention research done in Israel and other countries. U.S. research on marijuana is limited by federal constraints, but more studies are coming. Colorado will spend more than $8 million researching marijuana’s medical potential, awarding grants for studies on treating epilepsy, brain tumors, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of the studies still need federal approval.

The Illinois advisory board is well aware of the limits on research, said Temple, the board chair.

“Where science is lacking we must factor in our compassion more heavily,” Temple said.

Source: http://www.daily-journal.com/news/local/state-mulls-expanded-disease-list-for-marijuana-program/article_12409d66-8aba-58e0-a13d-c69017874772.html

NIAGARA CLOSEUP: Prescription pot

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 23:00:56 +0000

By Karena Walter,
Thursday, April 9, 2015 8:23:22 EDT PM

Zita Brown with her medicilnal cannabis. Wednesday March 18, 2015. Bob Tymczyszyn/St. Catharines Standard/QMI Agency

It’s not a head buzz, Zita Brown explains. It’s a body buzz.

The 31-year-old mom says when she inhales the vapours of medical marijuana, the pain that has racked her body for more than half her life subsides. She can sleep through the night. Finally.

“It’s basically my last resort,” the Beamsville woman says.

“I’ve tried everything else. Why not try this?”

Brown says she was never a pot smoker. After reading about the opening of Canadian Cannabis Clinics last September in The Standard, she decided to weigh her options.

So did many others.

The clinic is the first in Niagara focusing solely on patients who might need medical marijuana. In its first six months, it has attracted 600 patients from across the region and beyond, many of whom, like Brown, were banking on that “last resort.”

“I think all of us, actually, have been quite moved by what kind of impact it’s had on patients,” said Ronan Levy, one of the clinic’s directors.

“The general feedback we’ve received from most is just how life-changing the medical cannabis has been for them.”

The company, which recently opened clinics in Etobicoke, London and Ottawa, got in on the ground floor to fill a niche as more and more people turn to medical marijuana.

Health Canada said 15,000 people in the country are registered with licenced producers. The number of medical marijuana users is projected to rise to more than 430,000 over the next decade. Health Canada says the industry could be worth $1.3 billion by 2024.

The King St. clinic has attracted patients from more than 100 communities as far away as Timmins. Thirty-three percent are from St. Catharines, 15% from Niagara Falls, 9% from Welland and 4% from Thorold.

Most were referred by 130 family doctors who may not have the knowledge, comfort-level or desire to prescribe medical marijuana themselves. The clinic’s own doctor does an assessment of the patient and their medical history to determine if marijuana is right for them.

Chronic pain is the most commonly referenced condition, followed by anxiety, depression and insomnia, Levy said.

There are no drugs on site. Patients who receive a prescription have to order cannabis online from one of 17 licensed producers authorized by Health Canada, like Tweed Inc. in Smith Falls, which is Brown’s go-to company.

Diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder, Brown said she’s been on every medication for pain imaginable, including morphine and percocet.

She has seen doctors and pain specialists in Hamilton and Toronto since the aching began when she was 14.

Two years ago, she took herself off morphine because it made her head feel cloudy and “she was physically there, but not mentally there.”

But being off medication was unbearable. For 21/2 years, the care of the household with three kids fell to her husband.

A family doctor suggested medical marijuana, but Brown said smoking made her cough. When that happens, she pops ribs. She didn’t know marijuana could be vaporized until she read the article.

Now she has a pen-sized metal wand that looks like an e-cigarette. It holds a pinch of chocolate-flavoured marijuana that is heated up by battery to a temperature just before combustion.

The active ingredients are inhaled, without the byproducts of smoke.

The device is discreet enough to use in the backyard without the neighbours wondering what she’s doing. She takes the medicinal marijuana before bed, and it lets her sleep through the night and play with her kids the next day.

“It’s brought me more to a life,” Brown says.

Life-changing is the phrase used by single mom Christina Adkin-Smithers of Brantford.

On Oct. 22, she drove to the St. Catharines clinic with her 15-year-old son. She calls it their “potiversary.”

Her youngest son, one of three siblings with autism, also has epilepsy, developmental delay and aggression issues, which she believes are triggered by seizures.

For six years, she said, he punched holes in walls, broke dishes, didn’t sleep. His outbursts could be triggered by anything, from his mom wearing bangs to a change in routine. Police pulled her car over because he was screaming so loudly.

“There isn’t a knife within arm’s length in this house,” she said.

Her son was sent to various doctors and psychiatrists. At one point, he was on 11 medications a day. She said nothing was helping.

Adkin-Smithers took to the Internet searching for anything that might work and discovered some parents were advocating marijuana. The St. Catharines clinic saw her without a doctor’s referral.

Levy said prescriptions for people under 25 are not common, because there is a potential of long-term psychological harm.

A parent must show the doctor they’ve exhausted every possible avenue before going down that route.

Adkin-Smithers said the possibility of her son hurting himself when he hit his head against the wall outweighed the possible harm from inhaling marijuana.

Since he started inhaling the vapours, she said, his seizures have decreased from 10 to 20 a day to only one since October. He remains on two other medications and a vitamin regimen.

She said he’s calm and he sleeps. The family has been apple picking, Christmas shopping and even sat through a Hamilton Bulldogs game.

“It gave us a quality of life back — all of us, and only one of us was on it,” she said.

The cost of $200 to $300 a month is expensive, but she said they make do, cutting back on groceries and turning the heat down.

She has become a big proponent of medical marijuana and is willing to take any negative pushback.

“I have friends saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this to your kids, see ya,’ and others say ‘tell me more.’”

While patients may believe in the product, debates rage over its use. A negative image is something the medical marijuana industry still has to overcome.

“When you say we’re in this industry, this is what we’re working on, people still are a little bit shocked, think it’s a little bit of a joke,” Levy said.

“Our focus is really trying to change the impression of it being pot smoking hippies just writing prescriptions and really focusing on this being medicine and actually helping people.”

Levy said the clinic is medically focused, and that’s the key message he wants to get out to doctors who tend to be skeptical of the whole area and to patients worried they’ll be perceived as “potheads.”

“That’s not the case. It is medicine. It’s being treated like medicine and it should be looked at as medicine.”

Patient Sonny Friskey said he wishes people would have an open mind.

“It’s hard, because some people who are doing that (negative stereotypes) drink every weekend. I don’t drink alcohol,” he said. “I believe this is helping.”

He said traditional prescribed medications weren’t working for his anxiety, insomnia and depression. He suffered adverse side effects, like a loss of appetite and a rash.

The 30-year-old St. Catharines man had been trying to find a doctor to prescribe medicinal marijuana since 2009.

“There were nights when I would not sleep. Not sleep at all,” said Friskey, who has to get up at 4:30 a.m. to build foundations. “It would be time to get to work and you get down on yourself and depressed.”

Like Brown, he read about the clinic and made an appointment. He now uses a vaporizer at night before bed and said the weight of the world is off his shoulders.

His employers have noticed a change and he’s showing up to work earlier.

There’s no negative side, he said, other than dry mouth and red eye once in a while.

“I’m happy now. I feel like the quality of life is much, much better.”

– – –

[email protected]

Source: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2015/04/09/closeup-prescription-pot

Why I Gave Up Booze in Favor of Weed

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 22:53:17 +0000

It Helps with My Anxiety, It Doesn’t Give Me Hangovers, and Are You Aware of What It Does to Sex?

by Sarah Galvin

The cure for my pot-phobia came in the form of a girlfriend, who instilled in me the ability to curse in Ukrainian and make a poached egg. Image by Mike Force

For a tiny person, I can really drink. I’ve drunk large men under the table multiple times, no problem. It’s not something I set out to do—I’m just not a one- or two-drink person. I like to get hammered. My grandpa did, too. I wouldn’t have been able to recognize him without a glass of brown liquor on the rocks. He was a psychiatrist, and after downing a fifth of brandy every night, he got up at 6 a.m. to see patients. He lived to 86. Legend has it, he was immune to hangovers.

I, however, am not. I get them bad. I’ve hallucinated from hangovers—I remember walking past a purely imaginary man in a trash can one morning, so fried from drinking I thought nothing of it. I don’t puke, I don’t have headaches, I simply lose my mind. I’m overwhelmed with anxiety. I get hangovers like Krusty the Clown on The Simpsons when he sees a poster of himself on Bart’s wall and thinks it’s a mirror: “Hang on, kid, I’ve got a tack in my head.”

Many members of my family, myself included, have generalized anxiety disorder, meaning basically we’re scared shitless every minute of the day. People sometimes say things like “Why don’t you try yoga?” These well-meaning people do not know what they’re talking about. I do every nonchemical thing possible for my anxiety—an hour of exercise a day, therapy every two weeks. It’s not an emotional problem, though; it’s the wiring in my brain. It fascinates me that many people don’t seem to realize there is as much structural variation in human brains as human bodies. For me, and several others who share my genes, it’s like some knob is cranked up too high. Everyday life is a flood, equal parts staggering beauty and horror. Makes you want a brandy or five, extra ice.

I’m happy to say I most often drink because it’s fun, but I’m definitely an anxious person and booze has always helped me there. At one point, I went to a doctor because I thought I had some kind of abdominal cancer, which turned out to be stomach cramps from stress. I was prescribed Xanax, which is glorious, but which you’re not supposed to mix with booze. And according to Harvard Medical School, benzodiazepine use may raise my risk of getting Alzheimer’s.

I would never have expected weed to prove the third-best remedy for my anxiety (after sex and frequent exercise). The first time I smoked weed, I was 13, and the weed was laced with something awful—or perhaps we laced it ourselves by smoking it out of a pipe made from duct tape. While my friends watched, I walked 50 feet without moving my legs and turned into a floating tongue and eyeballs. My field of vision became carpeted with Chinese dragons and sinister versions of that flying glove from Yellow Submarine. I threw up on a merry-go-round in front of a busload of elementary-school children, apparently. I was tormented by unsettling questions about perception for weeks afterward, and for some reason couldn’t listen to Nine Inch Nails anymore. I resolved never to touch marijuana again.

The cure for my pot-phobia came in the form of a brilliant, beautiful girlfriend, who also instilled in me the ability to curse in Ukrainian and make a poached egg. She turned me on to marijuana and the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva. After three hits, I was scared—I thought the heater was blowing cold air on me (the window was open) and I thought her roommate had discovered a conspiracy involving the FDA and synthetic fish oil in vitamins. I awkwardly whispered that I was way too high, and I hid in her room under blankets.

I began to hallucinate, which I realize is not a very common response to marijuana, but don’t forget I used to hallucinate from hangovers. Somehow, in this particular girlfriend’s company, the hallucinations were hilarious. She appeared to have muttonchops (those extra-long, walrus-style sideburns) that continuously changed color and shape like the blobs in a lava lamp. She didn’t know what muttonchops were—I’m not even sure if there’s a Ukrainian word specifically for muttonchops—and when I tried to explain them, I laughed uncontrollably. I tried to kiss her over and over, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I saw undulating blobs of multicolored hair and burst out laughing. You try saying “muttonchops” when you’re high without laughing.

My sideburns hallucinations that night prevented me from experiencing the biggest selling point of marijuana: stoned sex. Somehow I’d heard a lot about weed’s art- and food-enhancing properties, but what it does for sex was perhaps my favorite surprise ever, on par even with the Jolly Roger cake my mom made for my 6th birthday when I was obsessed with pirates.

Weed slows down time, intensifies sensation—especially pleasant sensations—and makes me, at least, hyperaware of my feelings toward the people around me. You can imagine what it did for my feelings toward someone I adore enough to risk a junior-high duct-tape-fumes flashback. Our bodies seemed completely permeable, suspended in time, and when I came, I thought it would never end. I was reminded of a Joe Wenderoth poem describing the pleasure a log feels as it burns.

She smoked exclusively spliffs, this girlfriend, and I came to associate the sight of her mixing weed and tobacco on top of a book with the end of the workday and peaceful Sunday mornings. We often smoked carefully in the shower, ashing the spliff in a film canister. The hallucinations subsided.

I can’t write any better when I’m stoned than I can when I’m drunk, so weed is reserved for the times alcohol used to occupy. I am a complete lightweight—one big hit and I’m done for the evening. I like to work until at least midnight, take one hit, have the world’s most relaxing shower, and then read until bedtime. My sleep is uninterrupted, and there are, of course, no hangovers.

One side effect of my nightly ritual is that if there are any descriptions of food in whatever I’m reading, I have to stop and eat something. A couple of times, I have literally eaten all the food in my apartment. Once, after reading a description of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I was unable to sleep. I had already showered and brushed my teeth, but I just couldn’t take the visions of peanut butter and jelly beckoning like Playboy centerfolds. I finally got up, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, ate it, made another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, ate it, made a third peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and ate that. I was in a trance. Their flavor seemed to inhabit my entire body. I put peanut butter on one finger and jelly on another and licked it off, in complete rapture. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have possessed me” is one of the hundreds of ridiculously stupid thoughts I have restrained myself from posting on Facebook or texting to friends while high. One night, I was convinced my idea for an assortment of fruit-flavored body bags would make me rich. The reasoning behind this was something like “Why are body bags always so black, sad, and inedible?”

The last time I went in for a physical, I was proud to answer all the drinking-related questions on the questionnaire. I drink maybe once a week these days, in moderation, and usually top-shelf. I was alarmed to learn I weighed only 98 pounds (my normal weight is about 110). This was especially shocking considering my possession by sandwiches. I attributed the weight loss to a mixture of working too much and the absence of beer calories. I did not refill my Xanax prescription—I don’t need it now, amazingly—but I happily accepted my doctor’s prescription to eat more cheese.

Source: http://www.thestranger.com/pullout/Green-Guide-Spring-2015/2015/04/08/22033635/why-i-gave-up-booze-in-favor-of-weed

Assembly Plans Vote Rebuking Christie Over Medical Marijuana

sadass — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 22:49:53 +0000

By The Associated Press

Posted: 03/26/15, 9:56 AM EDT

TRENTON The New Jersey Assembly may rebuke the Christie administration’s handling of the state’s medical marijuana program.

Lawmakers are scheduled to vote Thursday on a resolution that says Gov. Chris Christie’s Health Department has placed “arbitrary and unnecessary” restrictions on the program.

The vote comes just a day after Christie criticized the notion of legalizing marijuana in order to gain a tax windfall, calling it “blood money.”

Lawmakers contend administration regulations, like requiring doctors who prescribe marijuana to register on public lists, hurt the program.

Lawmakers are set to vote on two additional marijuana bills. One adds post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of authorized medical conditions for the drug. The other authorizes treatment facilities to transfer medical marijuana in order to meet demand.

Source: http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20150326/assembly-plans-vote-rebuking-christie-over-medical-marijuana