Home again

The end of an epic road trip that lasted close to 6 weeks. We drove an astounding 7,487 miles. Other than Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan (which were just pass-through states) the states and provinces we explored included New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Québec, and Ontario. We rode two passenger ferries, two car ferries, and two funiculars. And we drove across an 8-mile-long bridge. For the most part, we avoided shops and tourists and found some incredible beauty. We camped 11 of the 38 nights (in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Nova Scotia, and Ontario) and stayed in a variety of inexpensive motels and hotels the rest of the time. We spent time on the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and more rivers, bays, waterfalls and lakes than we can count. We crossed international borders 4 times (and they let me!). We drove to the top of Mount Washington (6,288 feet) and many other mountains. We hiked on everything from easy boardwalks to challenging trails. We saw lots of wildlife and took thousands of photos. We also enjoyed the local culinary specialties as we ate pastrami and bagels in New York, whole belly clams in Rhode Island, chowder in Massachusetts, maple syrup and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in Vermont, lobsters and wild blueberries in Maine, dulse in New Brunswick, single malt whiskey in Nova Scotia, mussels, potatoes, and black currants on Prince Edward Island, poutine in Québec, peameal bacon in Ontario, and much more.
We managed to mostly avoid watching or reading the news the entire time.

Consider this another open thread until I have time to catch up and post something drug-war-related.

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52 Responses to Home again

  1. primus says:

    Welcome home. Glad you could enjoy Ontario and Quebec in the autumn. I hear the colours are glorious. We missed you, and the thread was getting a bit long, so again welcome.

    • strayan says:

      It just goes on and on:

      https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/780233489832480768
      https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/777870402768863236
      https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/777533586144530432
      https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/777363157605949441
      https://twitter.com/teddyboylocsin/status/777361846202269696

      …and that’s not even the worst of his twitter feed.

      Duterte’s methods may be bloodier than those typically employed by American prohibitionists, but his logic is similar, casting peaceful transactions—the exchange of money for psychoactive substances—as acts of aggression that pose an existential threat to the nation. This is war, after all, so there is no room for legal niceties.

      As far as William J. Bennett is concerned, that’s a shame. Back in 1989, when he was running the Office of National Drug Control Policy under Clinton’s predecessor, Bennett said “there’s no moral problem” with beheading drug dealers—the preferred method in Saudi Arabia. Although beheading might be legally problematic, he said on Larry King Live, it would be “morally proportional to the nature of the offense.” And Bennett ought to know, since he has a Ph.D. in philosophy. “I used to teach ethics,” he told Larry King. “Trust me.” The following year, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates took Bennett’s logic a step further, telling a Senate committee that casual drug users “ought to be taken out and shot” as traitors in the war on drugs.

      Although Rodrigo Duterte is sometimes compared to Donald Trump, he could be taking his cues from Bennett, Gates, and other American drug warriors who heartily endorsed lethal responses to nonviolent actions. Duterte’s portrayal of meth addicts as subhuman and unworthy of life also has parallels in American propaganda. His main distinction is that he follows through on the murderous implications of his mindless anti-drug rhetoric—something voters apparently admire. The New York Times NYT -0.31% reports that “Mr. Duterte’s crackdown has been hugely popular.”

      http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2016/08/25/rodrigo-dutertes-murderous-war-on-drugs-follows-american-logic/#6483a45f42b0

    • Hope says:

      I will never look at any Filipino the same again. What viciousness and evil! I had no idea of the depth of depravity possible among them. Live and learn.

      • Hope says:

        And yes… all the people that would take another’s life because of what substance they choose to consume are true monsters. They are without conscience, bloodthirsty and depraved… most certainly including “Virtuous” Bill Bennett, himself.

  2. darkcycle says:

    Welcome back. About that new stain on the rug next to the couch. IT WAS NCN!

  3. DonDig says:

    .
    .
    Welcome back Pete. It sounds like you had the trip of a lifetime. Very cool. Good for you!

  4. Hope says:

    We love you! Glad you had an epic good time and are home safe and sound.

  5. Congress Calls Out DEA For Unilateral Move To Expand The War On Drugs
    http://tinyurl.com/zo5jznx

    I like that description: an expansion of the war on drugs. Its going to take a commitment on the part of the congress to move away from the war on drugs, and to engineer a new direction and plan.

    That plan should be harm reduction. It should include removal of cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. In an ideal situation, the CSA should be removed entirely in favor of a new plan. One that respects human rights and provides for help instead of imprisonments, punishments, or asset forfeitures.

    Scheduling kratom as a schedule one drug is definitely a step in the wrong direction.

  6. Istanbul HashCake says:

    Euthanasia NO LONGER NEEDED.

    Part of the Medical Cannabis Institute course work is a case history of a 75-year-old woman living in Amsterdam.

    She has Lewy Body Disease which leaves her stiff as a board, crying and moaning most of the day. Her kids were upset and grieving over her poor quality of life and were considering euthanasia.

    Then the daughter-in-law gave the woman some Istanbul Hashcake. She was up sitting in bed, able to communicate and comfortable.

    One dose of a cannabis-based edible and she had significantly improved quality-of-life.

    Euthanasia NO LONGER NEEDED.

      • DdC says:

        “The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain,” written for Neurology (via The Hollywood Reporter), also details Williams’ private struggle against Lewy Body Disease (LBD), a form of dementia.

        It was later determined that, in addition to LBD, the comedian was also suffering from the beginning stages of Parkinson’s disease.
        Robin Williams’ Widow Pens Essay
        Detailing Comedian’s Dementia Struggle
        1 October 2016

        • Trichome ammo says:

          Was the real terrorist of Robin William’s brain Western Medicine and Schedule I?

          Here’s a key part of his wife’s letter in Neurology…”Throughout all of this, Robin was CLEAN and SOBER.”

          Cannabis is NO panacea, and it will not cure Parkinson’s Disease. However, what it CAN do is slow it down and offer better quality of life.

          It appears that Robin’s Lewy Bodies had a heavy concentration of the part of the brain that processes fear, the amygdala.

          I can’t find any evidence that Robin’s doctors mentioned cannabis for his condition. THC is superior to the FDA-approved drugs for memory loss and it could have helped Robin with early tremors, anxiety, depression, and SLEEP.

          I’m willing to say that Schedule I TERRORISTS are responsible for the miserable last days of Robin Williams. Grieving family members looking for answers need to question the motivations of their physicians and care-givers.

          BTW, if you look at the list of Big Pharma meds they throw at dementia? Who’d want to KILL that CASH COW?

          Sobriety from cannabis killed Robin Williams before his time.

    • Will says:

      It’s important to revisit thelbert’s comment in Pete’s previous blog post ‘Another Open Thread’;

      “got alzheimer’s? this might help: http://tinyurl.com/jf8vlfu

      The link is to an article from June 27, 2016;

      CANNABINOIDS REMOVE PLAQUE-FORMING ALZHEIMER’S PROTEINS FROM BRAIN CELLS

      This key paragraph;

      The researchers found that high levels of amyloid beta were associated with cellular inflammation and higher rates of neuron death. They demonstrated that exposing the cells to THC reduced amyloid beta protein levels and eliminated the inflammatory response from the nerve cells caused by the protein, thereby allowing the nerve cells to survive.[emphasis added]
      ——————————————————-

      Dr. Gary Wenk has discussed his view as to why he believes even small doses of cannabis might be all that’s needed to reduce inflammation in the brain and stave off Alzheimer’s disease in this video from 2010;

      Marijuana and Coffee are Good for the Brain

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uVXs6CY2ps

      Note that Dr. Wenk does not mention amyloid beta protein buildup (plagues) as leading to the inflammation he describes. But, again, this video is from 2010 and I’m sure Dr. Wenk knows now (if he didn’t then) that excess amyloid beta protein is the cause of the inflammation that results in neuron death leading to cognitive issues associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

      —————————————————–

      With respect to Lewy Body Demetia, from this article;

      Dementia with Lewy Bodies

      http://www.alz.org/dementia/dementia-with-lewy-bodies-symptoms.asp

      This;

      Lewy bodies are also found in other brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia. Many people with Parkinson’s eventually develop problems with thinking and reasoning, and many people with DLB experience movement symptoms, such as hunched posture, rigid muscles, a shuffling walk and trouble initiating movement.

      This overlap in symptoms and other evidence suggest that DLB, Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia may be linked to the same underlying abnormalities in how the brain processes the protein alpha-synuclein. Many people with both DLB and Parkinson’s dementia also have plaques(!!!)and tangles — hallmark brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.[emphasis added]

      ———————–

      I’m not waiting for THC to be de-stigmatized (never have). With one family member who died last year from Alzheimer’s, another who died earlier this year from (suspected) Lewy Body Dementia, another currently in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s, and yet another who was just diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s (in their 50’s) earlier this year, I’m going with to where I think the mounting evidence is headed. So should the first wave of baby boomers who turn 70 this year (and the subsequent boomers right behind them). And, of course, everyone else…

      • DdC says:

        In its 2012 annual report, the Alzheimer’s Association (AA) estimates that 5.4 million people in the US have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Alzheimer’s Association estimates that the cost of providing care for AD patients is $200 billion per year, as of 2012. Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed in the US each year, and the total number of cases in the US is at least 500,000. NINDS estimates that the economic cost of Parkinson’s disease in the US exceeds $6 billion per year. Huse et al (2005) estimated a cost to the US economy of $23 billion per year (in 2002 dollars)

        Big Pharma ain’t given up profits for affordable health care home grown in the herb garden.

        ☛ Alzheimer: Resveratrol v Cannabis

        Early deficits in Alzheimer’s may be caused by blockage of the brain’s cannabinoids, according to research out of Stanford University.

        ☛ Alzheimer’s Caused By Loss of Cannabinoids, Study Shows

        September 26, 2002

        ☛ A Day in the Life of A Dementia Sufferer
        ☛High Times for Alzheimers
        ☛Pot Joins The Fight Against Alzheimer’s, Memory Loss
        ☛MARIJUANA SLOWS ALZHEIMER’S DECLINE
        ☛Marijuana may block Alzheimer’s
        ☛Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology by Cannabinoids
        ☛Marijuana’s Active Ingredient Shown to Inhibit Primary Marker of Alzheimer’s Disease
        ☛MARIJUANA SLOWS ALZHEIMER’S DECLINE
        ☛Marijuana may block Alzheimer’s
        ☛Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology by Cannabinoids
        ☛Marijuana’s Active Ingredient Shown to Inhibit Primary Marker of Alzheimer’s Disease
        ☛Dronabinol in the treatment of agitation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease with anorexia
        ☛Dronabinol in the treatment of refractory agitation in Alzheimer’s disease
        ☛Effects of dronabinol on anorexia and disturbed behavior in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
        ☛Cannabinoids reduce the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in animals
        ☛Molecular Link between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology
        ☛THC inhibits primary marker of Alzheimer’s disease
        ☛Alzheimer’s disease; taking the edge off with cannabinoids?

        ☛ Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency

        ☛ Conservatives Have Larger ‘Fear Centers’ in Their Brains

      • NorCalNative says:

        Will, you are absolutely on the right track with your comment and thinking. I’m sorry to hear that you have family with neurodegenerative diseases.

        darkcycle recently linked to a video of a song titled “The dirty fucking hippies were right.” Baby Boomers with a history of continued cannabis use will be okay. Our “straight” peers? Not so much.

        Endocannabinoid receptors are DENSE in the nervous system. This is an evolutionary invitation to good health and balance (i.e. homeostasis) through the use of cannabinoids.

        Will’s family members are suffering because Western Medicine HATES herbs (see 1910’s Flexner Report). Single-molecules are easy to study and mixtures (e.g. something with 60-to-100 cannabinoids like cannabis) is hard. So science, who is the lazy stoner here? I’d say it’s Western allopathic medicine and their single-molecule (think THC as Marinol) fixation.

        The body-count of allopathic medicine is a human rights issue.

        On a personal note. My endocannabinoid system isn’t in as good as shape as it could be. Why? Tolerance. The cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) are kind of particular about not being bothered on a regular basis. Too much external cannabis equals a down-regulated endocannabinoid system. The receptors sink into the cell away from the cell membrane where they’re no longer available to be tickled with weed. They sink into clatherin-coated pits within the cell.

        Here’s the good news for long-time stoner’s.

        Here’s Dr. Kerr from the Medical Cannabis Institute. “The neuroprotection observed with CBD and THC was unaffected by cannabinoid receptor antagonists, indicating it to be receptor independent.”

        That means, even hard-core hippies who love to toke and have down-regulated their ECS a bit can still benefit from the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-excitotoxic effects of cannabis. Those three actions are what’s keeping us from developing Alzheimer’s and/or other neurodegenerative diseases.

        It’s better to desensitize now and then for better ECS function (i.e., quit for a period) but even for regular users there is a protective benefit.

        Hoping for all the best in Texas.

        BTW, thelbert might not say much, but he’s a reader with open-eyes and good instincts. Hope his “trichome production efforts are off-the-charts!!!

        • thelbert says:

          i’m feeling the love, NCN. and i’ve got a bunch of seeds growing for next year.

        • Will says:

          .
          .
          “Hoping for all the best in Texas.”

          Thanks a lot NCN. After giving it some thought, I think I should expand on part of my previous comment. The family member I mentioned who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease is my younger sister. After the unfortunate news of her diagnosis became more known among family members and friends, I received quite a number of emails and phone calls expressing sympathy and concern for my sister. But, invariably, many of those who contacted me asked a similar question, “Will, your sister is younger than you and has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, what do you think this means for you?” While I appreciate the question and concern, currently there are no concrete familial genetic links that lead to members of a family to get Alzheimer’s because one family member comes down with the disease.

          Gender aside, there are two specific differences between my sister and my self relative to her unfortunate diagnosis; 1). my sister suffered a severe concussion at the age of nine (her neurologist has suggested that might be, among other things, a precursor to her diagnosis at a relatively young age). I’ve never had a concussion. And 2). my sister was the ‘straight’ one in our family and never experimented with cannabis, even though she went through the wild cannabis days in the 70’s as I did. I, on the other hand, have enjoyed the cannabis plant off and on for 40+ years. Of course, there’s no way I can claim that I won’t get some form of dementia down the road. But with prior and increasing reports coming out linking certain cannabinoids with suppressed amyloid beta protein buildup and strong anti-inflammatory properties, I just might die from an old age malady other than Alzheimer’s disease. Only time will tell. While my cannabis consumption is probably rather light compared to others who imbibe, I’m amazed at sources describing how low a dose is needed for protective effects.

          Here’s a link to an interview with Dr. Gary Wenk from 2014. Amazingly he suggests that the propensity for Alzheimer’s might be able to be diagnosed in people as young as 30(!);

          How Smoking Marijuana Might Be The Best Way To Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease

          http://tinyurl.com/m4r69rd

          (yeah, from 2014, probably already read by the couch dwellers and included in DdC’s link collection. But I’ll put it here anyway).

  7. Swooper says:

    Welcome home, Pete. I’m very happy that you had a great trip with all the wonderful memories you made. You were missed, but we all kept a stiff upper lip and kept on keeping on.

    Now that you’re back I suppose we’re gonna have to mind our manners again. No more food fights here in the living room. The spot on the carpet? Just slide the end of the couch over to cover it. 😉

  8. jean valjean says:

    An alternative to the throw-down gun— marijuana:

    “The fact that police continue to reference drugs as a contributing factor in their decisions to execute people (as was done just last week in the case of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma), means they are either really misinformed about drug use and public safety (scary) or blatantly using drugs to cover their asses when they behave in racist ways, abuse their power and kill someone (even scarier).”

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/charlotte-police-try-justify-keith-lamont-scott-killing

  9. DdC says:

    Feinstein views on kratom

    I understand that you feel that kratom should not be temporarily controlled as a Schedule I drug. I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to monitor the situation. Continued
    Dianne Feinstein
    United States Senator

  10. Servetus says:

    Welcome back, Pete, to new research results from Ruhr-University Bochum that recognize a newly discovered role of the endocannabinoid system, that of activating sperm during the acrosome reaction:

    30-AUG-2016 — During fertilization, a sperm must first fuse with the plasma membrane and then penetrate the female egg in order to penetrate it. To this end, sperm cells go through a process known as the acrosome reaction which is the reaction that occurs in the acrosome of the sperm as it approaches the egg. In the lab, this so-called acrosome reaction is considered a test for analysing the ability of semen to accomplish fertilisation. A receptor for an endogenous cannabinoid plays a crucial role in this process. A team of biologists from Bochum and Bonn, headed by Prof Dr Hanns Hatt, have been the first one to provide a proof of the so-called G protein-coupled receptors 18 (GPR18) in spermatozoa, following a comprehensive analysis. They published their findings in Scientific Reports.[…]

    “The receptor reacts to the herbal cannabis agent THC as well as to the endogenous fatty acid NAGly, which is associated with the cannabinoid system,” says Hatt. “It is much more sensitive to NAGly than the classical, long-known cannabinoid receptors.” Activating the receptor, which is situated in the centre of spermatozoa, can trigger the so-called acrosome reaction. In the course of this process, the spermatozoon’s surface is altered as it approaches the egg. Without this reaction, the spermatozoon cannot penetrate the egg cell.[…]

    Scientists know that endocannabinoids occur in both the male and the female genital tract. Studies suggest that in women their concentration increases during the fertile days. “The endocannabinoid activates the spermatozoa for fertilization” concludes Hanns Hatt. The GPR18 receptor also occurs in other tissues in the human body, for example in the brain and in the heart. However, its function was not known until now.

    AAAS Public Release: Cannabinoid receptor activates spermatozoa

    • primus says:

      Makes me wonder if there is any effect on the male during cunnilingus. If the female’s vagina is full of endocannabinoids, could they entice the male with the promise of a high? It would probably be a very mild high, but that might be enough to do the trick.

      • Servetus says:

        Timing is everything. If a research survey were to reveal that cunnilingus takes place more frequently when women experience their highest endocannabinoid levels, then we might be able to induce that a cannabinoid biological cycle influences courtship rituals. Women may need to get used to the idea that not only do they menstruate, they cannabinate.

      • Duncan20903 says:

        .
        .

        Mom has already taken care of that. In the first few days after giving birth her milk is teeming with endo-cannabinoids. I think that this might be the reason so many men have a penchant for extraordinarily large titties.

        • primus says:

          I think that the reason so many of us appreciate large breasts is that when we were nursing as infants, the only thing in our entire field of view was a huge breast. We seek to replicate that in our adult lives.

        • Servetus says:

          I was a bottle-fed infant, and yet I still seek to replicate huge breasts in my life. I think women’s boobs are wired into the male brain, like the propensity to learn a language, we seek to fill voids of experience, learning, or consumption. Even women find nice boobs attractive.

          It’s not just cannabinoids. Morphine is provided by mom whose milk concentrates the morphine found in the leafy green vegetables or salads she consumes. Morphine is also a ubiquitous constituent of all plant derived foods, such as cow’s milk. As humans, we have receptors that are specific to morphine, which means we probably require it in trace amounts for some as-yet-unknown reason.

          All this leads to mom being a walking, talking, drug factory. Officer, arrest that woman, she’s lactating.

      • The opposite of cannabilicious says:

        Here’s a vag I wouldn’t touch or get near in a million fucking years.

        Julie Schauer, a retired community-college art teacher from Pennsylvania has contributed the bulk of the money to SAM in opposition to legalization efforts.

        An art teacher that hates cannabis has given more than 1.35 million according to an article at Cannabis Now.

        Sabet probably had to ask her for the cash to replace his gummy bears that got stolen.

        • Servetus says:

          SAM is in trouble with the Fair Political Practices Commission of California:

          SEPT. 26, 2016 — The state campaign watchdog agency will investigate allegations that a Washington, D.C., group failed to properly disclose how it is funding a campaign against Proposition 64, which would legalize recreational use of marijuana in California, according to a letter released Monday.

          The Fair Political Practices Commission sent the letter to attorneys for the pro-ballot measure campaign who had filed a complaint that the group SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) Action Inc. was late in disclosing contributions it received and failed to account for spending at least $149,850.

          “Failure to act could result in voters being denied critical information in advance of the election,” the Proposition 64 campaign said in its complaint.

          Galena West, chief of the FPPC’s enforcement division, wrote that it “will investigate the allegation(s) under the jurisdiction of the commission” and noted that her office has not made any determination on the validity of the allegations.[…]

          http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-sac-essential-politics-updates-state-watchdog-agency-to-investigate-1474912591-htmlstory.html

        • Uncle Albert's Nephew says:

          I’ll bet dollars to donuts that she’s laundering Mel Sembler’s money. If Sembler donates openly Sabet and Kennedy have to spend all their time distancing themselves from Straight, Inc.

  11. The FBI is launching a new database to track how often police use deadly force
    https://t.co/NBSKHxnBiF

    About time.

  12. Servetus says:

    As the police state closes in on everyone’s drug stashes, it pays to know the latest surveillance tricks being brought to us by Big Brother, Inc. From a BBC piece on surveillance practices in Oakland, CA; some of the listed devices are familiar to everyone, some may not be:

    Stingray fake phone masts
    About the size of a suitcase, Stingrays work by pretending to be a phone tower in order to strip data from nearby devices, enabling police to track suspects without a warrant. They are also capable of accessing the content of calls and texts. The next generation of the device, Hailstorm, is now on the market.
    Licence plate readers
    Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers are thought to be in use in many US cities, gathering data on the location and movements of drivers. Research in Oakland found black neighbourhoods were being disproportionally targeted.
    Crime prediction software
    Software is being used by police in the US and UK that analyses crime statistics to predict where it will happen next. Microsoft, IBM and Hitachi are among the big players moving in to this market. The latest Hitachi “crime visualisation” software – effectively a Domain Awareness Centre on your computer desktop – is being trialled in Washington DC and is demonstrated in this YouTube video. There is also growing concern about the use of social media analysis software, which monitors hashtags such as BlackLivesMatter and PoliceBrutality to identify “threats to public safety”.
    Surveillance enabled light bulbs
    LED light bulbs marketed as energy-efficient upgrades to existing light bulbs on city streets that can contain tiny cameras and microphones linked to a central monitoring station.
    Through the wall sensors
    These use radar to peer through the walls of buildings – currently precise enough to show how many people are in a particular room.
    X-Ray, or ‘backscatter” vans
    Mobile units that use X-ray radiation to see underneath clothing and car exteriors.
    Aerial surveillance
    The use of light aircraft to record continuous high definition footage of a city – recently discovered, and stopped, in Baltimore, following a public outcry. Police departments across the US, and in cities around the world, are also buying drones for surveillance.
    Listening devices
    Shotspotter microphones have been around for more than a decade and are thought to be in use in at least 90 US cities. They are designed to improve police response times but there are concerns they could be used to listen in to conversations.

  13. MissAppleSeedRocks says:

    Today this newspaper does something it has never done in its 143-year history: endorse someone other than the Republican candidate in a presidential contest.

    Since its founding in 1873, The Detroit News has backed a Republican every time it has made a presidential endorsement (three times we have sat on the sidelines — twice during the Franklin Roosevelt elections and in the 2004 Bush/Kerry

    http://preview.tinyurl.com/IngridLetItRipAt8mins39

  14. ThreeHorses says:

    When the ‘War on Drugs’ got literal, how it could end, and aspiring bad boys of the moment:

    https://soundcloud.com/war_college/when-the-war-on-drugs-got

  15. Will says:

    .
    .
    Of course…

    Congress Just Gave Up Its Chance To Slightly Roll Back The Drug War

    http://tinyurl.com/gv4tb5r

  16. jean valjean says:

    Britain sees the latest attempt to keep the drug war alive using a new twist on the old “What About the Chilluns!” meme. Apparently armies of children are being “groomed” by drug gangs to operate the nation wide distribution of illegal drugs. No mention of course that this is exactly what you’re bound to get when distribution of drugs is handed over exclusively to criminals. The article and video contain gems like this:
    “It’s a growing problem, in just one small area of Essex around Clacton on Sea, police say there are as many as 19 ‘county lines’ running from Liverpool, London and Manchester.”

    http://www.itv.com/news/2016-09-29/going-country-itv-news-reveals-the-scale-of-children-being-exploited-and-sent-around-britain-to-carry-drugs/

    • Frank W. says:

      The stink won’t get really savoury until we see ITV headlines like “HOT TEENS RUN DOPE AND FORNICATE ON BRITAIN”S LEY-LINES FOR WHITE SLAVERS”.

  17. DdC says:

    The FDA’s Rule on E-Cigarettes Will Hurt Public Health
    http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/daren-bakst/fdas-rule-e-cigarettes-will-hurt-public-health
    vaping product manufacturers will have to complete many applications because even minor product variations such as different flavors or bottle sizes will constitute a “new tobacco product.”

    California Governor Signs New Criminal Conviction Requirement For Civil Forfeiture
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/b7461e05-56e6-3e2b-bf1a-b8b840dd6def/ss_california-governor-signs-new.html

  18. Servetus says:

    Meanwhile, in sunny Mexico, a new piece by Dawn Paley in the Nation shows a grassroots movement is forming to end the “US-backed drug war”:

    Sept. 29, 2016 — …It takes some measure of imagination to comprehend the reach and intensity of drug-war violence in Mexico. In 2014, Mexico ranked as the country with the third-most civilians killed in internal conflict, after Syria and Iraq. Bodies have been buried, burned, displayed in public places, hung from bridges and overpasses, or beheaded and left at city hall. The lifespan of Mexican men has fallen due to the increase in homicides since the war on drugs began in December 2006. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because of violence, from urban areas and rural ranches alike.

    Much of the violence and terror is state directed. Drug cartels, which operate more like paramilitary groups, are often indistinguishable from local and state police, and form networks dedicated to extortion, kidnapping, and killing, all of which increases social control and helps to suppress dissent. Militarized federal police carry out offensives, supposedly against drug traffickers; where they do so, overall homicide rates have tended to rise. The army has been deployed to fight drug trafficking, in what Dr. Richard Downie of the National Defense University in Washington, DC, says has led to “the best US/Mexican military-to-military and defense relations in decades.” The New York Times reported in May that Mexican soldiers kill eight people for every one they injure; the kill rate for the Mexico’s Marines is 30 to 1.

    When it comes to disappearances, official numbers are staggering—but they represent a fraction of the total. According to the Mexican government, as cited by Amnesty International, 27,638 people have been registered as disappeared or missing since 2006. Nearly half of the disappearances have taken place since December 2012, during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.

    Informally, it is known that the number of disappeared is much higher. The official number only counts Mexicans who have been disappeared. Advocates for Central American migrants have said tens of thousands have been disappeared in transit through Mexico, but there is no centralized record keeping. In Iguala, Vergara Hernández said his group includes over 500 families with at least one disappearance. Of those, he says, only 215 cases have been reported to police.

    The situation is similar in Coahuila, whose southern border is about 700 miles north of Guerrero, where another group of searchers in the city of Torreón say state officials are underreporting the number of people disappeared by a factor of six. “They insist that there are 579 people disappeared,” said Silvia Ortíz, who leads Grupo VIDA, a search group made up of family members of people disappeared in Torreón. “But that doesn’t include those who didn’t make a complaint. There’s around 3,500, more or less, people disappeared.” […]

    In 2014 Mexico ranked as the country with the third-most civilians killed in internal conflict, after Syria and Iraq

  19. DdC says:

    continued from “another open thread” (now closed)

    GWPH – GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR (NASDAQ)

    September 28, 2016 at 1:15 pm
    129.79 +4.88 (3.91%)

    Sep 30, 2:34 PM 134.22 +4.25 (3.27%)

    up from 84.20 first week of Sept. + 50.02

  20. New Study Determines if Maternal Cannabis Use During Pregnancy Affects Babies
    http://ireadculture.com/cannabis-use-pregnancy-affects-babies/

    … “Maternal marijuana use during pregnancy is not an independent risk factor for adverse neonatal outcomes after adjusting for the cofounding factors. Thus, the association between maternal marijuana use and adverse outcomes appears attributable to concomitant tobacco use and other cofounding factors.”

    ” To clarify further, the study found that when cannabis is used by itself and sparingly, it poses no threat to the health of a baby.”

    • DdC says:

      I love the smell of Science catching up to Stoners…

      Ganja Mothers, Ganja Babies
      http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1648

      ☛ Prenatal Marijuana Exposure and Neonatal Outcomes in Jamaica:
      An Ethnographic Study

      From the Schools of Nursing, Education, and Public Health,
      the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
      Received for publication Sep 21, 1992; accepted Jun 30, 1993
      At 1 month, the exposed neonates showed better physiological stability and required less examiner facilitation to reach organized states. The neonates of heavy-marijuana-using mothers had better scores on autonomic stability, quality of alertness, irritability, and self-regulation and were judged to be more rewarding for caregivers.

      Those who have consumed marijuana for a period of years showed no mental or physical deterioration which may be attributed to the drug.”
      US Jamaican Study 1974

      ☛ Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists…
      Wall Street’s Spontaneous Abortionists
      Tobacco and alcohol use by pregnant women has adverse effects on the fetus. Tobacco use causes an increase in SIDS and miscarriages. It is estimated that 3700 children die by the age of one month because of complications from the mother’s smoking cigarettes during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a leading cause of mental retardation.

      Strong evidence that a woman’s exposure to pesticides in the three months prior to conception or in the month of conception significantly increased her risk of spontaneous abortion.

      According to the U.S. EPA, MSMA “can reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer in humans” and is converted in the environment to inorganic arsenic, a known human carcinogen. About 4 million pounds of MSMA is applied every year to golf courses and cotton fields in the United States

      ☛ Hemplastic or Fossil Fools Crud
      Switching cotton fields to hemp fields would improve: the quality of our soil, the durability of our clothes, the safety of our ground source water, the quality of our air, and the preservation of forests cut for paper (not to mention saving hundreds of thousands of lives prematurely ended by disease caused by pollution) 90 Million pounds of pesticides were used to grow cotton in the U.S.

  21. ThreeHorses says:

    Time to declare war on Ed Feulner.

    http://tinyurl.com/DieYouCompleteWanker

    • Servetus says:

      CNSNews.com that publishes Ed Feulner’s quackery was founded by “L. Brent Bozell III on June 16, 1998, under the name Conservative News Service and the domain name http://www.conservativenews.org.[3] According to Bozell, the website would “report news …not touched by traditional television news outlets” and “fill the growing news void left by the establishment media in their chase for the sensational.”[3] On its first day of operation the website had 61,000 hits.[3] The name “CNSNews.com” was first used on June 15, 2000.[4]” — wiki

      Typical firebrand content: O’Reilly on America’s Race Problem: “The culture that we have in this nation does lead to criminal profiling, because so many young black men are involved in crime.” — Bill O’Reilly

    • DdC says:

      Save your time reading the gossip hype.
      Scroll down to “To quote William J. Bennett.”
      that just about says it all in a wingnut shell.

      Ed Feulner is the former president of The Heritage Foundation,
      a Washington-based public policy research institute.

      in other words…
      Prohibitionist Profiteers
      Persecuting Americans since 1937

      More Feulner gossip spreading…

      The Double Standard on Tobacco vs. Marijuana
      It’s not because we’ve learned that the health risks were overstated. Advocates have insisted for decades that pot is no more harmful than tobacco and alcohol. Indeed, many go so far as to claim it’s safer. Unfortunately for them, the medical research does not back them up.

      An article by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

      ONDCP with the DEA and NIDA statutory responsibilities, which include taking such actions as necessary to oppose efforts to legalize certain controlled substances such as marijuana.

      Drug Czar is Required by Law to Lie

      Damn, they thought they had something.

      Polluted air affects 92% of global population, says WHO
      http://www.bbc.com/news/health-37483616

      ☛ CANNABIS LUNG CLEANER AND EXPECTORANT
      Cannabis is the best natural expectorant to clear the human lungs of smog, dust and the phlegm associated with tobacco use. Marijuana smoke effectively dilates the airways of the lungs, the bronchi, opening them to allow more oxygen into the lungs. It is also the best natural dilator of the tiny airways of the lungs, the bronchial tubes – making cannabis the best overall bronchial dilator for 80% of the population
      ~ UCLA Tashkin studies, 1969-97
      ~ U.S. Costa Rican, 1980-82
      ~ Jamaican studies 1969-74, 76.)

      Now you have to clean the stain on the couch.
      Bringing that filth into a decent clean establishment. tsktsk

  22. thelbert says:

    here’s a thing about trolls: http://tinyurl.com/zovzdd6

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