Tom Angell has been consistently ahead of the pack on all things related to marijuana news and politics – he’s had a great connection with lawmakers as well. Now he has a new email newsletter, currently titled “Generic Marijuana Newsletter.”
You can view it here and, if you wish, hit subscribe in the upper left corner (requires confirming a valid email address).
Obviously, everyone’s thinking and talking about what’s going to happen with drug policy with President Trump. It appears to me, that it’s going to take a bit of time to know for sure – things are so chaotic right now, with a lot of upheaval.
It’s interesting, though, seeing people try to predict. Check out this article in Business Insider: Don’t expect nationwide marijuana legalization under the Trump administration. Once you read the article, you realize that the author has no clue what will happen.
Of course, this is all up for change. If Trump’s attorney general appointee, Senator Jeff Sessions, is appointed, he could direct the DEA to take a more hardline stance. And if President Trump himself decides to take a more hardline stance, that would also impact how the DEA operates when it comes to federal marijuana policy. To be clear, neither Sessions nor Trump have indicated as much.
There’s been a lot of talk about “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids,†a report by the National Academy of Sciences that reviewed 10,000 scientific abstracts to actually get some consensus on the science of marijuana rather than the usual cherry-picking to prove a point. Coverage in Forbes.
Nick Jikomes at Leafly gives a fairly detailed overview of the report. Here’s What the National Academy’s Medical Cannabis Report Actually Says
If you want to read it yourself, you can download theentire pdf file here (simply log-in as a guest).
Personal note: I apologize if you’ve tried to reach me and haven’t gotten a response. I’m about 800 emails behind right now and working to get caught up.
Thanks so much for the newsletter shoutout, Pete! I learned from the best (you) over a decade ago.
Hey Tom. After tossing “It’s the End of the World as we know it report,” as a sub for your generic model, how about “The Daily Dose,” or Angell’s Daily Dose?”
In keeping with your group’s preference for alliteration (and for the “M” word), I propose “Marijuana Matters.”
The double meaning is a free bonus…
I’m more inclined to compare- it with The Zone (post-war Germany) in “Gravity’s Rainbow” with Schnorp in his hot air balloon crowing about the Ur-Markt. But that’s more likely an old Pynchon-lovin’ hippie trying to make sense of a fascist coup with shiny TV network logos on it.
“We’re doomed!”
(“Shut up, brain!”)
It’s a great idea having a daily newsletter from you Tom. I know I can trust the info, no small matter in fighting to end the war on drugs.
The Central Intelligence Agency has published nearly 13 million pages of declassified files online, documents which previously were physically accessible only from four computer terminals at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
☛ CIA Releases 13 Million Pages Of Declassified Documents:
Include Psychic Experiments, UFO Research
The record include info on Nazi war crimes, the Cuban Missile Crisis, UFO sightings, human telepathy (“Project Stargate”) and much more. The release has been a long time coming: Bill Clinton first ordered all documents at least 25 years old with “historical value” to be declassified in 1995. The agency complied, however anyone who wanted access had to trek all the way to the US National Archives in Washington DC to get a peak.
☛ Legal Marijuana’s Biggest Foes:
CIA, DEA, & Big Pharma;
Why They Love Prohibition And Why We Will End It Anyway
☛ CIA’s “Family Jewels”–All 702 Pages of Them – Mother Jones 2007
Poison pills, mafiosos, casinos, and Cuba—sound like the plot of a mobster flick? Nope. How about the elements of the CIA’s plot to assassinate Fidel Castro that began in 1960? Shady dealings carried out by the U.S. intelligence agency surfaced decades ago through leaks and disclosures made to the Church Committee, but today we get the full 702-page story.
☛ The Real Story of “Marijuana Truth Serumâ€
and the CIA’s Sordid History of Drug Use
By Jon Gettman January 22, 2016
The use of the drug on human subjects continued at least through 1947, but after years of experimentation, the marijuana failed to be a consistently reliable truth serum—at least in terms of how it was being used by White.
However, another promising drug emerged during the war years in the lab of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland.
☛ The Counterculture Colonel
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1624
If we cannot trust NIDA funded researchers to come up with useful and candid research on marijuana, who can we trust? Perhaps the University of Montreal?
Erring on the side of caution is okay as long as the government doesn’t arrest anybody for it, thereby villainizing themselves and society for quelling youthful rebellion. Problem is they always do.
Depression kills brain cells
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002174/
Self medication of cannabis at a young age might be an IQ saver.
Medical research identified cannabis as an anti-depressant in 1898. Dr. Tod Mikurya, M.D. discussed it in his book, Marijuana, Medical Papers, 1839—1972.
Latest research shows that chronic stress reduces the production of endocannabinoids. Major depression is precipitated by stress, which leads to more depression, which leads to more stress, and so forth. Marijuana is a stress reducer.
Cannabis affects the hypothalamus, as well as the hippocampus, linking it to alleviating depression, as it results in the neurogenesis of brain cells.
Also see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/marijauna-depression_n_6622126.html
The Daily Globe and Mail ran an article on this study with this headline:
Why it is SO dangerous for pre-teens to smoke pot: Study reveals weed’s crippling damage on brains of under-17s
Teens who smoked pot by age 14 performed worse by age 20 on cognitive tests
They also had poor short-term memory and were likely to drop out of school
But teens holding off until age 17 performed as well as those who didn’t smoke
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4162142/Study-reveals-marijuana-s-damage-brains-17s.html#ixzz4Xr4TGdxP
I’ve bolded the headline for contrast with the passage from the study summary excerpted above: clearly, the study comes to an entirely different conclusion than the headline in the Globe and Mail. Something which I also pointed out in their story comments.
Also, while the Globe & Mail run a lot of articles on cannabis and marijuana, the ones written by someone named ‘Mia de Graaf’ are always negative, replete with misleading spin and hyperbole. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?offset=0&size=50&sel=site&searchPhrase=marijuana+study&sort=relevant&type=article&type=video&days=all&authornamef=Mia+De+Graaf+For+Dailymail.com
checking out the journalist I mentioned in my previous post, Mia de Graaf, apparently an authentic freelancer for outlets like the Globe & Mail and the Guardian:
https://twitter.com/miadegraaf?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
judging from her Twitter feed, Mia’s a young NY liberal career girl with a predilection for Health Science topics. The sort of person who tends to be overawed by Studies. She may have a sincere animus against marijuana, although she doesn’t seem like a hardline Drug Warrior, so I suspect that at least some of the spurious or problematic aspects of the cannabis-related articles under her byline could instead be the work of Globe & Mail story editors and headline editors.
To judge from the photo attached to her Twitter feed, Mia’s a party girl, so some of you young sports over at the NYC station may want to look into that…
The Mia de insect is swarming over several sites leaving a trail of dung for readers. They should haver a warning sign. Another claim in the headlines disputed in the first paragraph. I assume that is for their regular readers short attention span. I put her in the same tabloid space as reports on UFO’s, Trump utterings and other Alternative Fact Tinfoil Hat productions.
Marijuana DOES cause schizophrenia and triggers heart attacks, experts say in landmark study that slams most of the drug’s medical benefits as ‘unproven’
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
http://www.google.com/search?q=Mia+de+Graaf
Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com
Mia de Graaf | The Huffington Post
Mia de Graaf | The Guardian
Mia de Graaf | Twitter
Journalists who write similar articles
* Madlen Davies (MailOnline)
* Kate Pickles (MailOnline)
* Anna Hodgekiss (MailOnline)
* Lizzie Parry (MailOnline)
* Jessica Glenza (The Guardian)
Using Pot To Save Brains!
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/601
Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia
http://tinyurl.com/DrugWorrierLies-Schizophrenia
NFL’s Hypicritical Buzzkill Cannabis and Concussions
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1672
Unofficial Self-Appointed Cannabist for the NFL MBA & NBA.
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1958
If this passes (not likely), it could be a big blow to the drug testing industry in OR. Hopefully, it will pass and other states follow suit.
Drug testing bill filed in Salem
No doubt Kevvie is already teeing up the Big Marijuana, Son of Big Tobacco sequel. Wait til he gets to the bit about Joe Camel (save the chilluns!).
Why acid trips last so long:
“Research is first to demonstrate precisely how the compound lysergic acid diethylamide attaches to serotonin receptors in the brain.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/26/lsd-study-reveals-why-acid-trips-last-so-long-lysergic-acid-diethylamide-serotonin
WTF.
“This week, when progressive champions Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) voted in a Senate committee to approve the thoroughly unqualified Ben Carson to head the Housing and Urban Development Department, there was little criticism from established liberal organizations in Washington. But the grassroots lit up ― blasting them on Twitter, Facebook, in calls to their offices, and in countless emails to Huffington Post reporters, asking us what on earth their one-time heroes were doing.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/womens-march-democrats-base_us_588a490ce4b061cf898d7e98?
“Carson has said he’s a fan of the war on drugs, and he told “The Blaze” he would “intensify it.” He also supports medical marijuana “in compassionate cases.” At a June campaign event in Colorado, he noted that “regular exposure to marijuana in the developing brain has been proven to result in a decreased IQ. The last thing we need is a bunch of people running around with decreased IQ.” Therefore, he says, he’d enforce federal drug laws in which the use of marijuana is considered a crime.”
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ben_Carson_Drugs.htm
Ben Carson, Christian Bigot:
http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/09/ben-carson-bigot/406390/
Wall St Neocons Umbilical Cord is attached to the RNC and DNC. I heard a dem from Hawaii excusing his vote on the grounds of saving a no vote for the special inept lined up. Bargain shopping swapping with reps, Gutless Wonders. Last Friday was the beginning of the new Gong Show.
@realDonaldTrump
☛ Donald Trump, “Duerte Harry†and the Drug War Death Squads
~ Trump’s Choice: Create American Jobs or Enrich Mexican Cartels
☛ Jeff Sessions’s Dangerous and Dishonest Marijuana Double-Speak
Dishonest or just more alternative facts?
☛ Forget the Feds: Across the Country, State Lawmakers Are Delaying Marijuana
~ Americans and Canadians Spent $53.3 Billion on Weed Last Year
☛ Wait Until… When?
California Latest to Beg Recreational Marijuana Delay
Weasel politicians stalling for what? Oh.
☛ Marijuana and Labor Shortages Are Giving the Wine Industry a Headache
~ Report: Marijuana Industry Stealing Wine’s Labor
~ Marijuana and Labor Shortages Are Giving the Wine Industry a Headache
~ WikiLeaks Emails Expose Alcohol Industry’s
Paid Campaign to Stifle Pot Legalization
Good Lord. Believe it or not, I worked on “The Gong Show”….I cut lettered and held cue cards for Chuckie and the Regulars. Chuck Barris was an insufferable ass, but the talent and the crew on that TV aberration were first rate. Sorry, DdC, that’s an insult to good, hard working cannabis enthusiasts.
The Gong Show would have been a better vote than Trump…that I can assure you. 🙁
OK DC fess up/
as Chuck Barris a CIA Spook?
Only in his delusions. Funny thing is, CIA actually violated their own policy as concerns public admissions after he wrote that POS book….for the only time in history, they openly disavowed Chuckie.
I laughed and laughed. (Never liked the guy, and he fired me after I broke up with his daughter….yep…I dated Della. I was only a couple of years older than her)
Prophetic description of the modern prohibitionist:
I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means — except by getting off his back. — Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
Tolstoy was a pretty Hip Dude…
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.â€
– Tolstoy
Holy horrors. Prior to the 2016 election during which marijuana was legalized for recreational use in several states, Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Catholic diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, condemned its recreational use in a column:
Addiction to electronics? Oblivion? Really? So now the Internet is off limits, along with a decent high. This insanity was predicted:
Holy horrors or maybe non Holy Whores.
I read the early church had a problem with young novice’s smelling the hashish incense and then going off trying to find God without a man showing them the way. Uppity, and now one can see the problem has returned to the church.
Now the Priest’ are helping Trump build a wall they can sit upon.
Catholic Church on Cannabis
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1074
Pope calls for more killing.
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1738
Ancient Temple Hashish Incense! Did Jesus Inhale?
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1090/
☛ O.N.D.C.Pope CC archives
Mark his word, Might be too late. Especially if the RNC get rid of Trump and leave us with “Pro Life My Ass” Pence.
“Georgia eases draconian law on cannabis use”
I was some way into this article and feeling things were really changing in the US (Georgia, dammit!) before I realized it was the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Georgia, USA is still imposing draconian punishments for cannabis use, needless to say.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/24/georgia-eases-draconian-law-cannabis-landmark-ruling
It’s a puzzler why its so draconian in the land of Underground Atlanta, The Almond Brothers, Little Richard and Jimmy Carter.
SYDNEY’S senior law enforcement agency has made the astonishing admission that they have lost the war on drugs.
“There is no way of sugar-Âcoating it. Organised crime in this state and the rest of the country is out of control and cannot be stopped without a radical change.â€
The shocking white flag follows a series of brazen public murders in Sydney in which gangsters have been gunned down in public, and there are warnings more murders will follow as the multibillion-dollar drugs turf war escalates.
http://tinyurl.com/TelegraphAustralia
Bufo toad lickers beware. Amphibians of the world are in decline, with roughly 30-percent of total species facing extinction by disease and adverse environmental factors. Conservation efforts are under way in Panama so that the unique chemical compounds produced by the toads and frogs can eventually be studied for their medicinal value:
Lethal frogs and mushrooms get studied for their potential pharmaceutical importance, while non-toxic-based studies of non-toxic marijuana, or its compounds, remain taboo in the U.S., largely due to marijuana’s use by governments as an ethnocidal weapon targeting minorities and non-conformists.