Anslinger lives on

Kansas lawmaker makes racist comments about African Americans, marijuana

Republican Rep. Steve Alford of Ulysses:

“What you really need to do is go back in the ’30s when they outlawed all types of drugs in Kansas (and) across the United States, what was the reason they did that?” Alford said at the event. “One of the reasons why, I hate to say it, the African-Americans, they were basically users and they basically responded the worst off those drugs just because (of) their character makeup, their genetics, and that.”

Alford later said: “I’m about as far from being a racist as I can get.”

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48 Responses to Anslinger lives on

  1. Freeman says:

    Alford later said: “I’m about as far from being a racist as I can get.”

    Well, he did respectfully refer to them as African-Americans and claimed to “hate to say” the things he said about them. Among fellow racists-in-denial, this completely covers for the unjustifiable and demeaning comments about race that followed. It’s just a shame that this ridiculously transparent cover-up is as far from being racist as he feels he can get. I would hope that with a little introspection and self-honesty he could do better.

  2. Servetus says:

    Some people don’t know they’re racist because they don’t know what racism is. Racism Today wasn’t on the list of courses in my high school. Another course, Fascism Today, was also conspicuously missing from the social studies curriculum. Why was that? Could it be that if people understood these concepts, as experts understand them, they might think more effectively, and thereby avoid some problems like racism, or electing fascist leaders?

    I once encountered a family business owner and operator in LA who blamed Mexican Americans and undocumented workers in his unsafe sweatshop for the awful working conditions in his company. He didn’t have a college degree. He also exhibited short man syndrome. He thought I would believe his shtick, that I would buy the idea his company is screwed up because of its workers, and not management. He also said that anyone calling him a racist was using “fightin’ words”.

    Five years later he was out of business.

  3. I want to give AOC all my monies says:

    Back in the 70s I was on an escalator outside of Candlestick Park headed to the upper deck to watch the S.F. Giants play. I was with a buddy and there were two large white guys (same with me and my friend) just below a black dude in the middle of us. A reverse Oreo.

    One of the white guys gives me this knowing look and started saying some racist bullshit I don’t remember. I didn’t say a word as I reached past the black dude and took a ball cap off the racist’s head and tossed it off the escalator.

  4. DdC says:

    I went to school during the 60s in a segregated tax paid public school long after the Civil Rights Act. Solely due to Real Estate Agencies refusing to sell to people of color. The first black person I met was after graduation. Then I moved to Florida mid 70s and the town and only factory was also segregated. Except this time my ponytail got me placed in the not white section. Thanks to the fact most working in that area smoked pot, it all worked out. I had a “Ghetto” pass to the jukes in the quarters. I’ve seen riots in Pittsburgh after MLK and the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. Now in Santa Cruz it doesn’t seem to be an issue. I know white guys who married blacks and blacks guys who married whites. Racism is such a waste of good anger with a bonafide idiot in the WH.

    As I’ve mentioned a time or two. mho, Racism is a tool of Fascism. Trump uses it to divide the same as Hitler. Slavery was not stopped by do gooder Abolitionists and certainly not by racist Lincoln. It was the Industrial Revolution that made it cheaper to plow a field with a tractor than housing a dozen slaves. The “Great Migration” wasn’t about helping newly freed blacks. It was about less than minimum wage labor building the skyscrapers and fancy bridges. “Feelings/emotions” usually have little say in most profit situations. Marital rape wasn’t outlawed federally until Reagan. The churches in all denominations have perverts still walking free. Schools still teach subjects coinciding with the local business needs.

    Check the inmate population and it’s not surprising that people of color make up most of the arrests. As the Ganjawar is no different from Jim Crow or lynchings and Jury Nullifications. A way to keep nonwhites from power. Now with maxcap contracts private profit prisons the poor are worth more tax and capital in a cage than flipping burgers. Look at the differences in Dispensaries. Fascism is once again rearing its ugly face with Ganja and Hemp over taxing, over regulating and over packaging. Yes Virginia, It Can Happen Here.

    Burnt Cannabis Odor Not Grounds For Search, Vermont Supreme Court Rules

    The Word Ganja: Origins and Meaning

    Ro Khanna @RoKhanna Jan 7
    https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1082328763076100098
    What is the point of legalization if Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested for use? Legal marijuana should mean that people are no longer arrested, prior convictions are expunged, and communities of color are able to take part in the legal marijuana industry.

  5. DdC says:

    Former Drug Czar Walters:
    Wall Will Discourage People With Drugs From Entering U.S.
    https://t.co/w2pCQ7m84k

    Magnificent men and their flying machines doneed no stinkin wall.
    http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/532
    Marijuana cannon
    Pot Catapult
    Drug Smuggling Submarines
    drug-smuggling tunnels
    self-propelled semi-submersible

    FREE MEXICAN AIRFORCE
    https://youtu.be/5HCdgAqicDU

    Legal marijuana is finally doing what the drug war couldn’t
    https://t.co/B4NWG9zdmb
    The latest data from the U.S. Border Patrol shows that last year, marijuana seizures along the southwest border tumbled to their lowest level in at least a decade.

    Is legal pot putting Mexico out of business?
    https://cnb.cx/2VMDIDR

  6. I believe the idea of “character makeup” and it’s relationship to genetics has already been thoroughly investigated as the subject of “racial hygiene”.
    https://tinyurl.com/h72nax2

    The whole war on drugs slants that way if you ask me.

  7. Servetus says:

    Border walls as recently endorsed by former Drug Czar John Walters are a metaphor for us-versus-them policies, ‘them’ being those stuck with a drug war foisted upon them by their northern neighbor. It’s a long range international strategy. With drug wars, the United States enjoys a radical but effective type of gunboat diplomacy against its southern neighbors. Its impact in Mexico has been overwhelming.

    Racism precipitates drug wars. Drug wars precipitate racism. And racists such as John Walters thrive on it all.

    However, a wall won’t stop the intrepid journalist Anabel Hernández from exposing the political and economic conditions in Mexico prompting the current border bastion frenzy. Her recent book, A Massacre in Mexico, reveals the events and politics of the drug war as it relates to the execution deaths of 43 innocent Mexican students in 2014.

    In a book review by Angus Macqueen, A Massacre in Mexico by Anabel Hernández – the truth on the ‘disappeared’?, he notes:

    Anabel Hernández’s book (first published in Spanish in 2016) rates as one of the most difficult I have encountered in a very long time. Difficult at every level: to believe, to take in the implications, to process the appalling violence and, sadly, in parts, simply to read.

    On the surface, it is basically an investigation into another Mexican atrocity. But this is as important a book about the state of a nation as any you will find. If Hernández is right – and her evidence is formidable – for four years the government of president Enrique Peña Nieto has been openly, indeed aggressively, lying about the fate of 43 students who disappeared one evening in the town of Iguala. It has not just lied, but actively covered up a crime, using a level of brutality and torture that rivals any drug cartel. And while the newly elected president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has promised an independent inquiry, we should perhaps not hold our breath: the most disturbing part of Hernández’s message is that the years of corruption by drug cartels has left a stuttering democracy, ruled by complicit politicians, where the military operates completely according to its own rules. This resembles the Colombia of the 1990s, when the state and cartels had virtually merged. […]

    The gangsters in the mountains are tightly bound to the criminals in suits who are driven in smart black cars to work. […]

    And from a review by Ed Vulliamy, ‘Mexico’s war on drugs is one big lie’:

    Anabel Hernández, journalist and author, accuses the Mexican state of complicity with the cartels, and says the ‘war on drugs’ is a sham. She’s had headless animals left at her door and her family have been threatened by gunmen. Now her courageous bestseller…is to be published in the UK

    Courageous indeed. Drug war journalism in Mexico is categorically hazardous. One of Ms Hernández’s sources was recently disappeared.

  8. Plata O Plomo? says:

    “Mr. Guzmán paid a bribe of $100 million to President Peña Nieto?” Jeffrey Lichtman, one of Mr. Guzmán’s lawyers, asked Mr. Cifuentes during cross-examination.

    “Yes,” Mr. Cifuentes said.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html

  9. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    Well now, we have another “study” of a small number (46) of teens making headlines which claim that even a single use of cannabis alters teens brain morphology. The headlines don’t mention that the change is an increase in gray matter nor do they note that there aren’t before and after images…the “increase” is imputed from what’s expected and a “control” group of teens who swore they never got high. But I guess this one is rather worrisome. Adolescents already think they know everything, do we really want them to have bigger brains?
    Teens’ brains can be altered after using marijuana just one time, “study” finds
    Grey Matter Volume Differences Associated with Extremely Low Levels of Cannabis Use in Adolescence

  10. DdC says:

    Barr signals support for ending marijuana legalization https://t.co/5krcaQRxcY
    Attorney general nominee William P. Barr said Tuesday afternoon that he would support a federal law prohibiting the recreational use of marijuana by in all 50 states — even those that have legalized it at the state level.

    Cannabis in Congress: https://t.co/10AKimnp1a
    Why Federally Legal Weed Could Soon Be a Reality

    Pro-marijuana bills introduced to congress used to be largely symbolic — now they have a chance to actually reach the floor if the House and come to a vote

  11. NCN says:

    Alford later said: “I’m about as far from being a racist as I can get.”

    Is it possible to suck on the crack pipe of White Privilege and not be racist?

  12. Servetus says:

    The drug war in Mexico is obstructing scientific research into new medicines derived from the venom of the vampire bat.

    University of Queensland researcher Bryan Fry and Monash University PhD student Rahini Kakumanu can no longer access their former field site due to the area being affected by the US’s drug war:

    15-Jan-2019 — An international team led by The University of Queensland has found a new class of blood pressure-regulating peptides in the venom of the common vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata).

    UQ School of Biological Sciences researcher Associate Professor Bryan Fry said the peptides could help revolutionise treatments for a wide range of conditions, including hypertension, heart failure, kidney diseases and burns, but the research had been hampered by criminal activity at a Mexican field site. […] “We can’t access our original field site in Mexico anymore, because we’re told that region has been taken over by drug traffickers,” he said. “It’s now too dangerous for even my Mexican colleagues to go there, let alone a gringo like me.

    “We’ll have to find new field sites that are safe to work in, but once we do that we’ll be on track to find new peptide variations and potential wonder drugs, helping improve and save lives.” […]

    Bryan Fry describes the significance of the new discovery:

    “The peptides are mutated forms of the Calcitonin Gene Related Peptide (CGRP), used by our bodies to relax blood vessels,” he said.

    “The peptides from the bats are unusually selective in their mode of action, making them even more therapeutically useful than the CGRP, as they have fewer side-effects.

    “This could potentially help doctors in the treatment of a range of disorders featuring heightened pressure in small blood vessels, or may be able to improve blood flow to damaged or transplanted tissue such as skin grafts.”

    Associate Professor Fry said there was much more to be learned than feared from the unique but much maligned vampire bats.

    “This discovery is another example of why it’s so important to broadly protect nature, since we can’t predict where the next great biologically sourced drug discovery is going to come from,” he said.

    “Venomous animals around the world are under threat, even more so than most other threatened or endangered species, due to deliberate persecution driven by fear or misunderstanding.”

    AAAS Public Release: Vampire bat venom could hold key to new medical treatments

    Fear, loathing, and misunderstanding are also what keeps marijuana maligned while not thoroughly researched for medicinal benefits. That and a drug testing vampire named Robert DuPont whose ghoulish minions drain body fluids to detect cannabis consumers and turn them into criminals, if not vampires.

  13. Servetus says:

    Joe Biden, the modern era’s Anslinger, colluded with the notorious racist Senator Strom Thurmond to create anti-drug legislation ultimately aimed at decimating black American communities. Branko Marcetic writes in Jacobin Magazine “Joe Biden: Mass Incarceration Zealot”:

    …every time Republicans put forward a measure that escalated the carceral state beyond sense and reason, Biden would look to one-up it.

    Biden was already a tough-on-crime evangelist before this speech, of course. In the 1980s, Biden worked with his “old buddy,” arch-segregationist Strom Thurmond, to pass several bills that fundamentally reshaped the American criminal justice system in the direction of more incarceration. […]

    Biden would later brag in the Senate that it was under his and Thurmond’s leadership that Congress passed a law sending anyone caught with a rock of cocaine the size of a quarter to jail for a minimum of five years. In the same speech Biden went on to take credit for a legislative change allowing the government to effectively rob anyone caught dealing drugs, through the policy of civil asset forfeiture, and demanded to know why the Bush administration hadn’t sentenced more drug dealers to life in prison or death once Congress had given him that power. […]

    “It’s not as if Biden didn’t know what he was doing. He had criticized Reagan in 1981 for insisting on harsher sentences, arguing that prisons were already overcrowded and calling for alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders. He just didn’t care. Biden had made a calculated decision that the elections he would win were worth the damage he inflicted.” […]

    …the epitome of Drug War craziness, the RAVE Act — or the Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act of 2002 that Biden pushed hard…held concert promoters responsible for any drug use at events and treated objects like water bottles and glow sticks as drug paraphernalia. To get the bill passed, Biden re-introduced it numerous times, including once by slipping it into an unrelated bill that created the Amber Alert system. The years that followed saw heavily armed SWAT teams storming raves filled with bewildered, dancing kids — or sometimes DEA agents simply shutting down events that were neither raves nor involved any drug use.” (As a parenthetical note, like marijuana, studies have shown that ecstasy can be effective with combat soldiers wracked with PTSD.) […]

    https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/biden-crime-mass-incarceration-police-prisons

  14. Mr_Alex says:

    @DdC, Servetus, Kaptinemo, Strayan and etc

    I recently sent the following shows from Corrie Yelland who runs Cannabis Health Radio documenting people who use Cannabis on Cancer to Kevin Sabet and Alex Berenson and their reply was that Cannabis Oil or Rick Simpson Oil curing any type of cancer including Lung, Prostate and etc is ‘Snake Oil’.

    Episode 11: Lung Cancer Cleared in 10 Weeks with Cannabis Paste
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9f20DWgEZk

    Episode 14: Breast Cancer Cleared with Cannabis Oil (no chemo or radiation)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_AAfvNVuSc

    Episode 218: Pregnant And Diagnosed With Stage 4 Breast Cancer, Metastasized To Her Bones.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6R796JVBig

    Episode 35: Cannabis Oil Saves Woman with Brain, Lung & Bone Cancer Given 4 – 6 Weeks
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hIWHT76ljM

    Episode 169: Chemo and Radiation Weren’t Working For His Colon Cancer, But Cannabis Is
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6IZS8ImDCU

    Episode 165: She Was Sent Home To Die With Inoperable Thyroid Cancer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4S4N_1rUik

    Episode 26: A Nurse Cleared Herself of Breast Cancer with Cannabis Oil and Other Natural Treatments
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW7X7o4GbRc

    Episode 199: He Was Given A Death Sentence But Cannabis Helped Clear His Lung Cancer In 6 Months
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rDlWoMN5g

    Episode 157: Chemo For Her Thyroid Cancer Gave Her Throat Cancer. Now She’s Cancer Free
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO0rGk8PdIo

    Episode 200: Brain Cancer Was A Death Sentence But Cannabis Is Keeping Her Daughter Alive And Well
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WqMXbS0qXY

    Episode 67: Her Husband had Lung Cancer from an Extremely Rare Autoimmune Disease
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN9-qo83-IM

    Episode 95: Diagnosed With Lung Cancer and Given 3 Months to Live
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTkNzIXmeDc

    Episode 120: He’s Cancer Free Today After Testicular Cancer That Metastasized To His Lung
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTBL0M73sJo

    Episode 102: Cancer In His Family. His Wife Was Given 3 Months to Live; His Father-In-Law 6 Months
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB6srTO5LKI

    Episode 10: Two Interviews: Eradication of Colon Cancer/MAMMA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYvN7kgc0EU

    Episode 60: Cannabis Oil and Intravenous Vitamin C Cleared Her Endometrial Cancer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtniZLcEZVQ

    Episode 107: 3 Years Ago She Was Given 6 – 18 Months To Live With Brain Cancer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCZQxZ_ltYc

    Episode 49: Her Daughter Cleared Herself of Cervical Cancer Using Cannabis Oil
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loqRmLEMqH8

    Episode 91: Cannabis Cleared Her “Incurable” Cancer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xdqU2XmbTQ

  15. kaptinemo says:

    If this has already been posted, my apolgies in advance. But Reason TV has had John Stossel reviewing the dire predictions made by prohibs of the consequences of legalization. Needless to say, he interviews one of the false prophets of prohibition, one Paul Chabot: Stossel: Legal Weed So Far

    Chabot provides an insight into the psychology of your average DrugWarrior; while watching, notice Chabot’s body language:

    Stossel: “Prohibition hasn’t worked!”

    Chabot: “Just because something doesn’t work, doesn’t mean that we end it.”

    and later:

    Stossel: At some point, when it (prohibition) is doing more harm than good, shouldn’t we quit?

    Chabot; “No, because then we give up. And that’s not American.”

    Stossel: “Once I’m an adult, it’s my body, shouldn’t it be my choice if I want to ‘poison’ myself?”

    Chabot: “No… (Chabot was about to expand upon his answer, but it was edited out. But he says it all with one word.)

    Like I said, notice the body language. The rearing back with lowered eyes, looking down at Stossel, denotes a presumption of superiority. The unconscious attitude of the authoritarian mind that believes itself to be a priori qualified to judge others on the basis of his own (cocksure) sense of moral rectitude. Typical prohib, and the sort of person who would ‘sacrifice the village in order to save it’. People like that are why history books are written with human blood for ink.

    • primus says:

      You beat me to it. I just discovered and watched that video. It looked to me as if Stossel set Chabot up; what he says makes no sense, he shows his intolerance and ultra-narrow point of view, and comes off very badly. By comparison, the info Stossel supplies presents the outcomes of legalisation in a positive light, and directly contradicts what Chabot says.

      • kaptinemo says:

        As to Stossel ‘setting up’ Chabot, I believe that it was more like Stossel editing out the morass of prohib propaganda and saving the juiciest parts. Like picking the meat out of a heavily starchy stew.

        Anyone who’s ever watched videos of prohibs speaking when they think no members of the reform movement are watching learn very quickly just how batshite crazy they sound. The really loony ones will tell you, straight-up, stone-cold sober that alcohol Prohibition was working and only needed a few more years before it triumphed. That kind of crazy, the really dangerous, clear-eyed, madness-staring-back-at-you kind of crazy.

        All you have to do is wind them up, set them on the floor, and off they go, skittering away, heedless of the facts they bump into, pinball-style, while they rant and rave their favorite canards. That’s all Stossel did, just gave Chabot an opportunity to express his own Inner Crazy Uncle. And Chabot accommodated him.

    • Kafka's larva says:

      Chabot: a narcissist hiding behind Christian Rectitude.

  16. DdC says:

    Science Says Smoking Weed
    Might Be Drying Up Your Vagina
    https://t.co/4bfJ46qWUs

    Exactly like dry mouth…
    It’s the drying of the mucus membranes.

    In general the thing that makes women dry is the pill. Because there’s all this different mucus that happens throughout your cervical cycle. As Mother Nature designs it, when you’re fertile, you’re wet. But if you’re on the pill, you don’t ovulate; you don’t get that mid-cycle wetness.

    Natural Arousal Lube with THC
    https://foriapleasure.com/
    Formulated specifically for women, Pleasure enhances tactile sensations while decreasing tension, discomfort and dryness. Clients report enhanced access to orgasm and deeper orgasms.

    Get Wet:
    6 Cannabis Products That Can Help with Vaginal Lubrication
    https://t.co/Iuodgyu2Vv
    Cannabis can enhance sex. A lot. But if you’re a cannabis user who suffers from cotton-pussy, check out these helpful products:

  17. Servetus says:

    Harry Anslinger’s pot paranoia and his eugenics nonsense is still being felt and acted upon by parents and citizens. One example is a recent report from the American Society of Anesthesiologists that says most parents believe opioids and not cannabinoids are the most effective pain remedy for children and young adults:

    27-Jan-2019 — … “The survey results shed light on the country’s conflicted relationship with and understanding of opioids. While most parents said they were concerned about side effects and risks such as addiction, improper or recreational use and overdose, they still thought opioids work best to manage pain,” said ASA President Linda J. Mason, M.D., FASA. “Opioids may not always be the best option. It really depends on the type of surgery and how long they are required. It is, however, important for parents to know that there are many alternatives available that are as – or more – safe and effective for pain management. But only about a third of parents whose children were prescribed opioids even asked their doctor about pain management alternatives.”

    Although short-term use of opioids can be effective when managed safely and the risks minimized, more than 2 million Americans abuse them and more than 90 people die of an opioid overdose every day. Opioid-related deaths among children and adolescents nearly tripled between 1999 and 2016, driven mostly by prescription opioids.* During Physician Anesthesiologists Week (Jan. 27 – Feb. 2), ASA wants parents to know that a physician anesthesiologist or other pain management specialist can create an individualized plan to best address patients’ pain based on the condition or type of surgery and decrease the risk of opioid misuse and addiction. […]

    Parents aren’t asking about effective alternatives

    While opioids can help with pain management for a few days after surgery or injury, there are effective alternatives that do not have the side effects and risks of opioids, including non-opioid medications and non-drug therapies. But the survey results suggest parents often don’t ask about alternatives, or aren’t aware of the range of options.

    • 59 percent said they would talk to their physician about pain management options, but only 37 percent of those whose children were prescribed opioids actually did.

    • 88 percent recognized non-opioid, over-the-counter medications, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) and aspirin, are used to effectively help treat pain. However, few were aware the same applies to other non-opioid options, including steroids (23 percent), antidepressants (9 percent), and anti-seizure medications (7 percent).

    • 15 percent incorrectly said antibiotics are an effective pain reliever.

    Beyond medications, a number of non-drug therapies can help with ongoing pain, including nerve blocks, physical therapy, biofeedback, meditation, virtual reality, massage and acupuncture. […]

    AAAS Public Release: Parents worried about risks, still think opioids are best for kids’ pain relief

    As long as spy novelists such as Alex Berenson ignore gene morphology while continuing to incite hysteria about marijuana and psychotic episodes in children, a majority of parents and others will refrain from using cannabinoids to treat pain in people under the age of 26, the age at which the brain is said to be fully developed, and the minimum age set by Berenson as being safe to consume cannabis.

    Meanwhile, the prohib’s gateway theory about marijuana is unlikely to concede that opioids are acting as a gateway to opioids—good news for Big Pharma. In the end, Alex Berenson may want to tell the little children that he did far more harm than good with his Anslinger inspired paranoid episode.

    • DdC says:

      Study: Legal Risks Stop New Mothers
      from Asking About Marijuana Safety

      https://twitter.com/DendeCannabist/status/1089683736885485568

      The meta-analysis, “Women’s Perspectives About Cannabis Use During Pregnancy and The Postpartum Period: An Integrative Review,” by researchers Hamideh Bayrampour, Mike Zahradnik, Sarka Lisonkova, and Patti Janssen concluded that a lack of information on the risk of cannabis use during pregnancy affected how women perceived that risk and contributed to use.

      “This research topic has not been investigated much yet,” El Marroun said. “The literature that is out there is scarce, but it’s also inconsistent because it’s complicated to do research on cannabis use in pregnancy, as there is bias in studies.”

      Pregnancy and Pot
      https://t.co/Z6Bs6C2Yl4
      Another aspect of marijuana is its effect on appetite and feeding. In one study, Esther Fride of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem injected newborn mouse pups with a chemical that blocks the body’s receptor sites for its endogenous cannabinoid, anandamide. The pups had problems feeding. Some of the mice died and the survivors grew slower. Pups that were given the blocker and a supplemental dose of THC fed normally. This suggests that a baby fed by a lactating marijuana user might be more likely to have a healthy, well-regulated appetite.

      Breathe, Push, Puff?
      Pot Use and Pregnancy: A Review of the Literature

      https://t.co/HiHay0exfR
      Historic references regarding the use of therapeutic cannabis for a variety of female medical conditions, including difficult childbirth, date back to the 7th century BC.

      Ganja Mothers, Ganja Babies
      https://t.co/socO211dLQ

      Prenatal Marijuana Exposure
      and Neonatal Outcomes in Jamaica:

      https://t.co/cLBtL5G623
      Although no positive or negative neurobehavioral effects of prenatal exposure were found at 3 days of life using the Brazelton examination, there were significant differences between the exposed and nonexposed neonates at the end of the first month. Comparing the two groups, the neonates of mothers who used marijuana showed better physiological stability at 1 month and required less examiner facilitation to reach an organized state and become available for social stimulation.

      Denver Doctor Could Lose License
      for Recommending Marijuana

      https://t.co/JNuMaXLWug

  18. Servetus says:

    David Grelotti, MD, UC San Diego (La Jolla), and coauthors, created a computer simulation to compare the cost of usual first-, second-, and third-line care with those supplemented with smoked cannabis used to counter neuropathic pain:

    January 24, 2019 — A Cost-Effectiveness Model for Adjunctive Smoked Cannabis in the Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain ; Abstract:

    Background: A recent meta-analysis affirmed the benefit of medicinal cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain, a disabling and difficult-to-treat condition. As medicinal cannabis use is becoming increasingly prevalent among Americans, an exploration of its economic feasibility is warranted. We present this cost-effectiveness analysis of adjunctive cannabis pharmacotherapy for chronic peripheral neuropathy.

    Materials and Methods: A published Markov model comparing conventional therapies for painful diabetic neuropathy was modified to include arms for augmenting first-line, second-line (if first-line failed), or third-line (if first- and second-line failed) therapies with smoked cannabis. Microsimulation of 1,000,000 patients compared the cost (2017 U.S. dollars) and effectiveness (quality-adjusted life years [QALYs]) of usual care with and without adjunctive cannabis using a composite of third-party and out-of-pocket costs. Model efficacy inputs for cannabis were adapted from clinical trial data. Adverse event rates were derived from a prospective study of cannabis for chronic non-cancer pain and applied to probability inputs for conventional therapies. Cannabis cost was derived from retail market pricing. Parameter uncertainty was addressed with one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis.

    Results: Adding cannabis to first-line therapy was incrementally less effective and costlier than adding cannabis to second-line and third-line therapies. Third-line adjunctive cannabis was subject to extended dominance, that is, the second-line strategy was more effective with a more favorable incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $48,594 per QALY gained, and therefore, third-line adjunctive cannabis was not as cost-effective. At a modest willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000/QALY gained, second-line adjunctive cannabis was the strategy most likely to be cost-effective.

    Conclusion: As recently proposed willingness-to-pay thresholds for the United States health marketplace range from $110,000 to $300,000 per QALY, cannabis appears cost-effective when augmenting second-line treatment for painful neuropathy. Further research is warranted to explore the long-term benefit of smoked cannabis and standardization of its dosing for chronic neuropathic pain.

    Full Text Article: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/can.2018.0027

  19. strayan says:

    Holy. Shit.

    I just discovered that cannabis prohibitionist Stuart Gitlow last year received a dose of his own medicine (it appears he was raided by the FBI as part of the drug war): https://www.behavioral.net/article/policy/raids-cause-larger-concern-mat-prescribers

    It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person

    • kaptinemo says:

      Oh, the schadenfreude. The sweet, sweet schadenfreude. Those who wanted The State to use the Sword of Justice on cannabists are themselves slashed by it. Pardon me while I LMFAO.

      For some perspective, I offer Top 20 Anti-Marijuana Crusaders Fighting Against Pot Legalization

      Losers, all of them. Damned by demographics, doomed to irrelevancy. When they finally pass from this world, their bodies should be stuffed and placed in a museum, somewhere. Future citizens will gaze in awe at how Homo Prohibitus managed to masquerade as Homo Sapiens for as long as they did.

  20. Servetus says:

    In a blast from the past, it was just little over a year ago that Donald Trump fired Steve Bannon and accused him of being addicted to marijuana. According to Fox News, and airing on January 3, 2018:

    As reports of crime, unemployment, and homosexuality drastically increasing after California’s legalization of recreational marijuana this week, President Trump announced the controversial narcotic may have claimed another victim. His one time friend and confidant, Steve Bannon.

    And from Tsar Trump:

    Steve Bannon was a very good man until he got addicted to marijuana. He used to look nice, speak nice. He started snorting that stuff and you see what happened. He just lost his mind. Very sad.

    According to Fox News, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “a long time opponent to the legalization of marijuana, was indignant when asked why the accusations of marijuana abuse were not announced when Bannon was fired as White House Chief Strategist in August.”

    “Well, we didn’t want to ruin the poor man”, Sessions said, “Everybody knows that today’s marijuana is 70,000 times stronger then it used to be in the hippy days. It makes people be lazy, do crimes, hate God, turn Gay, and masturbate themselves until they go blind. Everybody knows that. it’s a scientific fact. That’s why the best way to cure these poor souls of their illness is to throw them all in prison until they get better.”

    Times change, but Anslinger’s reefer madness doesn’t.

  21. Mr_Alex says:

    @DdC, Servetus and etc

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-u5tzCTi0k

    I appear around 1:43:00 in that video, last year I tried to get autism spectrum as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis in New Zealand, instead it was ignored and medical cannabis in New Zealand is for people who are close to death or are on their death bed.

    • NorCalNative says:

      Mr_Alex, you rock dude.

    • Servetus says:

      Mr_Alex, new research cited in a press release from American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, mentions improvement in autistic symptoms with the use of cannabis:

      31-Jan-2019 – In a new study of patients with autism who are 18 years old and under, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Soroka University Medical Center report that cannabis as a treatment for autism spectrum disorders appears to be a well-tolerated, safe and effective option to relieve symptoms including seizures, tics, depression, restlessness, and rage attacks.

      In the study published in Scientific Reports, “Overall, more than 80 percent of the parents reported significant or moderate improvement in their child,” according to Lihi Bar-Lev Schleider, of the BGU-Soroka Clinical Cannabis Research Institute. […]

      Overall, after six months of treatment, 30 percent of patients reported a significant improvement, 53.7 percent reported moderate improvement, and only 15 percent had slight or no change.

      Quality of life, mood and ability to perform activities of daily living were assessed prior to treatment and at six months. Good quality of life was reported by 31.3 percent of patients prior to treatment initiation. At six months, good quality of life more than doubled to 66.8 percent. Positive mood was reported as 42 percent before treatment and 63.5 after six months.

      The ability to dress and shower independently improved significantly from cannabis treatment. Only a quarter (26.4 percent) reported no difficulty prior to the treatment while 42.9 percent improved their ability to dress and shower independently at six months.

      Cannabis oil medication also significantly improved sleep and concentration. Good sleep and concentration were reported by 3.3 percent and zero percent respectively at the outset vs. 24.7 percent and 14 percent during an active treatment.

      “While this study suggest that cannabis treatment is safe and can improve ASD symptoms and improve ASD patients’ quality of life, we believe that double blind placebo-controlled trials are crucial for a better understanding of the cannabis effect on ASD patients,” says Dr. Victor Novack, of the BGU-Soroka Clinical Cannabis Research Institute.

      AAAS Public Release: Medical cannabis relieves symptoms in children with autism

    • DdC says:

      Mr Alex, your statement was moving to many people. Like those here and elsewhere are having their tiny voices conglomerated into a loud fucking roar. That politikan’s had better realize and get out of the doorways and stop blocking the halls. For its about damn time the times are changin’. Yet we are still a ways from Victory, and complacency is to the prohibbies advantage. Keep on Truckin’ dude. Well Done.

      Rights https://norml.org.nz/rights/
      Statement for Police – keep it handy!

      Seen these?
      https://twitter.com/DendeCannabist/status/1091212651919663106

  22. CJ says:

    Hi guys. Just dropping by to let you all know I am still alive although in very poor health. The last time I posted here I vowed to post again I was in a desperate situation… ugh…. long story short my father as long time friends here know, saved my life. But before that even, as a kid he was my best friend without a doubt. But when the heroin came and him being 30 years plus hardcore 12 step AA he went the tough love route. I was homeless many years. One day he decided TOUGH love doesnt work it kills and he saved my life. Long story short and maybe I can get into details some other time but last time I posted here was a day or two after going to the dr. With him and them telling him he had 6 months to live. Stage 4 metastatic cancer etc etc. It was a death sentence. I was suicidal. A friend had told me about the miracles of cannabis oils and that’s what I had come here to ask about at that point.. my dad is taking a cannabis oil now and he has had a miracle happen. He went with immuno therapy despite the low odds and he hit lotto because hes alive well passed 6 months now and recently returned to work. I am Skipping over loads and loads of details though. Unfortunately guys my health has taken a turn for the worse. We dont know why. I swear to u all I’m being very literal when I tell u because I have shot out all of my veins its next to impossible to take my blood or do anything injection related. Well I swear they took 20 TWENTY 2 0 vials of blood from my THUMB! It was insane. The issue is everything came back negative. They thought it could be some rare thing like hep E even. There was major concern about it being HIV and when I asked the doctor IN MY OPINION responded weirdly so I got slightly aggressive with him and was like I never to know! I need to know! Because my white and red blood cell counts ridiculously low I have developed lots of scars for no apparent reason. Having bizarre skin issues… but the doctor did definitively say it’s not HIV. so thank gos. But that was around when my dad got sick and when he got sick I just stopped pursuing treatment and fell off the deep end for awhile. Anyway it’s a long story and hopefully I’ll get around to the details at some point. Just wanted to show my face here and say hello and that I’m still alive and that I hope everyone had s nice holiday. Keep fighting the good fight !

    • darkcycle says:

      Hope your condition is improving, CJ. Glad your dad is cancer free. Hang in there, buddy. Always good to see you here and on FB.

    • DdC says:

      CJ if you’re still in “The City”, hope ya got your long johns on if the weather reports are what I’m seeing. I’d suggest 2 TBS of Hemp Oil daily with the Ganja Oil. Any skin problems too. It seems to have helped clients I’ve had, going on 30 years of Cannabis Caregiving. A faster way to get fuel nutrition to the Immune with the EFA’s Omega 3, 6 & 9 in balance. I’d add some CBD for good measure. Hemp Oil is legal and online. Stay warm CJ, Good hearing from ya.

      Still keeping your posts archived except the yuku’s sold out to tapatalk and they have less space so the post’ are squished together. Be Well.

  23. WalStMonky says:

    .
    .

    Well finally! Finally something productive has come from the prohibitionists obsession with our urine and other bodily fluids. It’s not just productive but its also conductive!

    Scientists Used Marijuana Consumers’ Urine To Produce Electricity

    Don’t ask me what but this will certainly do something to our carbon footprint!

    • kaptinemo says:

      “Piss power!” Even when it comes to the patently absurd, cannabis is still a plus.

      I’m a big believer in energy saving and green, sustainable systems, but this kind of ‘co-generation’ is just too damn laughable. LOL!

      • WalStMonky says:

        .
        .

        Well kap, you know that I have a vivid imagination but try as hard as I might I still can’t even begin to imagine the career path that led these people to try to produce electricity from pothead pee. So far my best guess is that the refrigerator in the employee break room got co-opted to store the overflow of samples from the employee urinary loyalty oath division and they wanted to clear it out so they’d have room for their lunch. Pretty lame huh?

        • kaptinemo says:

          (Shuddering) Uhgh! Well, WSM, being an engineer myself, I know that some truly whacked out inventions can spring from bored minds. Inspired creations, perhaps, but the sources of that inspiration can come from thoughts like “Hey, let’s see if this shit will burn” or something equally crazy.

          But then again, sometimes such crazy thoughts can turn out to be goldmines: Energy-Storing Nanomaterial Made From Hemp Electronics: Researchers turn agricultural waste into a carbon nanomaterial for high-power supercapacitors

          Much better than ‘piss power’, any day. I’ve said over and over for decades that hemp might as well be the mythical ‘alkahest’ that alchemists searched for, Nature’s botanical Swiss Army knife, with which we can make anything, literally. And I suspect that, just as petroleum, we will learn to make even more novel and useful things from it.

  24. DdC says:

    The Amazing Hemp Battery
    https://t.co/rnBq0P0evk
    Dr. David Mitlin, the head researcher of a group working on supercapacitors at the University of Alberta in Canada says that their project turning hemp fibers into a graphene substitute is about one thousand times cheaper than making graphene.

    World Health Organization Recommends
    Reclassifying Marijuana Under International Treaties

    https://t.co/wzYzpCaAUU

    Patients Are Substituting Marijuana
    For Addictive Pharmaceutical Drugs, Two New Studies Show

    https://t.co/1FtW3arLN1

    Medical Marijuana Faces Acceptance Barrier
    by Hesitant Medical Schools

    https://t.co/XtnRozg1aJ

    Philadelphia University Creates
    Master’s Course for Cannabis Education

    https://t.co/X454YOX8Aq

    History Of Alcohol Prohibition Suggests
    Advantage For States That Legalize Marijuana Early

    https://t.co/mhSWOqgNC3

  25. DdC says:

    POWER from Urine
    https://t.co/DZn3AdJYTc
    Urine consists of approximately 98 per cent water and 2 per cent urea, which is made up of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms. Human urine has been turned into all sorts of things over the centuries, ranging from phosphorous to gunpowder. It has also served as the basis of myriad chemical substances, including the first types of plastics.

    It is already well-known that manure or poop can be recycled for making products, such as paper as well as creating biogas power from methane gas. This readily available ‘resource’, whether from animal or human origin, is now being experimented to actually generate electricity by using its basic ingredients to create enough hydrogen to provide electricity for both homes and businesses. Today, over seven billion people populate our planet, which means on an average, around 10.5 billion litres (2.8 billion gallons) of human urine is produced and wasted each day.

    However, scientists are now hopeful that they can use this to generate power—for homes, cities, and vehicles. The process of electrolysis uses a jolt of electricity to split the urea into hydrogen and oxygen atoms and then captures the hydrogen to produce energy. The nitrogen can be used for artificial fertilizers. Researchers have also built a urinal that converts urine directly into electricity. The urinal prototype uses fuel cells to generate a steady stream of electricity.

    Students in Nigeria have come up with a power generator that runs on human urine. Their creation uses the process of electrolysis to isolate hydrogen gas from urine which is then used to power a generator. They earn a whopping six hours of power from one litre of urine, which does not seem like much until we consider that a normal person pees out roughly two litres per day. The model (Picture 1) was created by four students and the system developed works as follows:ƒ

    * Urine is put into an electrolytic cell, which separates out the hydrogenƒ

    * The hydrogen enters a water filter for purification, which then gets pushed into a gas cylinder

    * Power from UrineƒThe gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax, which is used to remove moisture from the hydrogenƒ

    * This purified hydrogen gas is pushed into the generator

    • Servetus says:

      Urine power, or you’re in power?

      Never has a personal choice meant as much to environmental remediation.

  26. Servetus says:

    Rutgers University researchers have provided another justification for those who choose marijuana to get high instead of OTC opioids.

    A diarrhea drug called loperamide is an opioid analogue that takes advantage of opioids’ tendency to cause constipation. It is being used recreationally in some instances, with some of the usual, expected negative results:

    4-Feb-2019 — …Overdoses of loperamide, an over-the-counter diarrhea medication, have been steadily increasing in number and severity nationwide over five years.

    Misuse of the drug is particularly alarming because non-prescription drugs like loperamide are inexpensive, readily available online and in retail stores, undetectable on routine drug tests and can be bought in large quantities at one time.

    “When used appropriately, loperamide is a safe and effective treatment for diarrhea – but when misused in large doses, it is more toxic to the heart than other opioids which are classified under federal policy as controlled dangerous substances,” said senior author Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Control Center at Rutgers University Medical School. “Overdose deaths occur not because patients stop breathing, as with other opioids, but due to irregular heartbeat and cardiac arrest.”

    The study, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology, found increasing instances in which patients with opioid use disorder misused loperamide to prevent or self-treat withdrawal symptoms. To a lesser extent, some took massive doses to get a high similar to heroin, fentanyl or oxycodone.

    The researchers reviewed cases of patients with loperamide exposure reported by medical toxicologists to a national registry, the Toxicology Investigators’ Consortium, from January 2010 to December 2016, reporting a growing number of cases over that time frame. The Poison Control Center database (National Poison Data System) also reported a 91 percent increase during that time period, which in 2015 included 916 exposures and two deaths.

    The patients reporting misuse in the Rutgers study were predominantly young Caucasian men and women. The majority used extremely high doses of loperamide, the equivalent of 50 to 100 two-milligram pills per day. […]

    AAAS Public Release: Rutgers study finds rise in overdoses from opioids in diarrhea drug: Misuse of over-the-counter drugs with the ingredient loperamide can result in cardiac failure

    A community that pre-medicates with cannabis can expect to see recreationally-based opioid use decrease.

  27. Servetus says:

    Cannabinoids (not THC or CBD) inhibit colorectal cancer cells in vitro testing:

    5-Feb-2019 — Medical marijuana has gained attention in recent years for its potential to relieve pain and short-term anxiety and depression. Now, Penn State College of Medicine researchers say some cannabinoid compounds may actually inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells in the lab.

    The researchers tested the effects of synthetic cannabinoid compounds on colon cancer cells in an experiment in test tubes. While the compounds most commonly associated with cannabis — THC and CBD — showed little to no effect, 10 other compounds were effective at inhibiting cancer cell growth.

    Kent Vrana, chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine, said the study — recently published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research — helped identify compounds that could be tested further to understand their anti-cancer properties.

    “Now that we’ve identified the compounds that we think have this activity, we can take these compounds and start trying to alter them to make them more potent against cancer cells,” Vrana said. “And then eventually, we can explore the potential for using these compounds to develop drugs for treating cancer.”

    Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute, with an estimated 140,250 newly diagnosed cases and 50,630 deaths in 2018. While medical cannabis has largely been used in recent years for palliative care, the researchers said some previous studies suggested that certain cannabinoid compounds may have the potential to inhibit or prevent the growth of tumors. […]

    “The 10 compounds we found to be effective fall into three classes, so they’re similar to each other but with small changes,” Vrana said. “We know how one of them works, which is by inhibiting the division of cells in general. We also found that the most potent and effective compounds don’t seem to work through traditional marijuana receptors, although we’re not sure of the exact mechanism yet.”

    Vrana said certain types of cells, like skin and colon cells, are more susceptible to cancers because they divide very frequently

    “Every time a cell divides, there’s the chance that it will mutate and keep dividing when it shouldn’t, which is how cancers can start. So if we block that signal that’s telling cancer cells to continue to divide, that could be a way to stop that cancer.” […]

    AAAS Public Release: Cannabinoid compounds may inhibit growth of colon cancer cells

    • DdC says:

      Antibacterial cannabinoids from Cannabis sativa:
      a structure-activity study.
      https://t.co/ZjDiacEKsj
      Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) has long been known to contain antibacterial cannabinoids, whose potential to address antibiotic resistance has not yet been investigated. All five major cannabinoids (cannabidiol (1b), cannabichromene (2), cannabigerol (3b), Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (4b), and cannabinol (5)) showed potent activity against a variety of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains of current clinical relevance.

      Endocannabinoids
      https://t.co/QT0CHoZBw1

    • NorCalNative says:

      …While the compounds most commonly associated with cannabis — THC and CBD — showed little to no effect.

      Here are the synthetic cannabinoids that in vitro testing found reduced colorectal cancer cell viability. HU-331 (synthetic CBD). Molecular variations of CP 55, 940 (mimics THC). Molecular variations of CP 47, 497 (mimics THC called Spice or K2). PTI-1 and PTI-2 are CB1 receptor agonists like THC.

      Also, important to note is that THC did reduce cell viability but at higher concentrations.

      So, the mystery cannabinoid compounds are either CBD or THC-like. Imagine if your doctor told you to smoke some Spice for your cancer (CP 47, 497).

      My question is that if it’s simply more potent synthetic versions of CBD and THC, then perhaps as the study noted, they’re not using a sufficient quantity of either single molecule CBD or THC to get results.

      In vitro testing reduces medical marijuana to single molecules and this inherent bias is extremely problematic for the evaluation of whole-plant cannabis versus cancer.

  28. Servetus says:

    Researchers at Universitat Pompeu Fabra – Barcelona have discovered CB1 cannabinoid receptors in mice are implicated in Down syndrome:

    6-Feb-2019 — A study by the Neuropharmacology Laboratory-NeuroPhar of the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) at UPF reveals the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in cognitive disorders in mouse models of Down syndrome. The work, led by Andrés Ozaita and Rafael Maldonado, which has been published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, also identifies cannabinoid receptor type-1 (CB1) as a potential treatment target.

    Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause of mental disability. It is caused by the total or partial trisomy of chromosome 21 and affects one in every 700-1000 live births.

    “The endocannabinoid system is involved in many functions, including learning and memory processes. However, until now, the role of the system in the cognitive deficits of Down syndrome had not been explored”, explains Alba Navarro-Romero, first author of the paper.[…]

    …the inhibition of CB1 receptors both via genetic blockade techniques and via pharmacological approaches, improved the memory problems observed in model mice of Down syndrome for both sexes. This combination of beneficial effects reaffirms the role of CB1 receptors as a potential target for exploring.

    “In addition, we noted that the pharmacological approaches normalized both the synaptic plasticity that is altered in models of Down syndrome and cell proliferation processes in areas of the brain responsible for creating new neurons”, Anna Vazquez-Oliver points out. […]

    AAAS Public Release: Endocannabinoid system, a target to improve cognitive disorders in models of Down syndrome: In a new study in mouse models of Down syndrome, cannabinoid receptor type-1 has been identified as a possible target for improving cognitive disorders

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