Cancer, Brain Protection, What Next?

>  Our results suggest that a pre- or post-conditioning treatment with extremely low doses of THC, several days before or after brain injury, may provide safe and effective long-term neuroprotection.

Preconditioning, a phenomenon where a minor noxious stimulus protects from a subsequent more severe insult, and post-conditioning, where the protective intervention is applied following the insult, offer new insight into the neuronal mechanism(s) of neuroprotection and may provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of brain damage. We have previously reported that a single administration of an extremely low dose of ?(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana) to mice induced minor long-lasting cognitive deficits. In the present study we examined the possibility that such a low dose of THC will protect the mice from more severe cognitive deficits induced by the epileptogenic drug pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). THC (0.002mg/kg, a dose that is 3-4 orders of magnitude lower than the doses that induce the conventional effects of THC) was administered 1-7 days before, or 1-3 days after the injection of PTZ (60mg/kg). The consequences of this treatment were studied 3-7 weeks later by various behavioral tests that evaluated different aspects of memory and learning. We found that a single administration of THC either before or after PTZ abolished the PTZ-induced long-lasting cognitive deficits.  

Pre- and post-conditioning treatment with an ultra-low dose of ?(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) protects against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced cognitive damage. /  Assaf Fadi; Fishbein Miriam; Gafni Mikhal; Keren Ora; Sarne Yosef /  Behavioural brain research 2011;220(1):194-201 The Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases and The Mauerberger Chair in Neuropharmacology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.

> The summary cites clinical trials demonstrating the benefit of medical marijuana. Part of it reads:

The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.

Image by Oneras via Flickr
 

Related articles

• Appetite of terminal cancer patients restored by marijuana: study (theglobeandmail.com)
• The Surprising Sex Life of Marijuana (psychologytoday.com)

If You Support Prohibition?

Public Health Specialists At WorkAs Seen On Stuff:

malcolm kyle #11 11:24 pm Feb 14 2011


If you support prohibition then you're either a black market profiteer, a terrorist, a corrupt politician, a sadomoralist, a wing-nut socialist or a fake-conservative.

If you support prohibition then you've helped trigger the worst crime wave in history, raising gang warfare to a level not seen since the days of US alcohol bootlegging.

If you support prohibition you've a helped create a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike.

If you support prohibition you've helped to make these dangerous substances available in schools and prisons.

If you support prohibition you've helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets.

If you support prohibition you've helped to escalate Murder, Theft, Muggings and Burglaries.

If you support prohibition you've helped to divert scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting your fellow citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property.

If you support prohibition you've helped to prevent the sick and dying from obtaining safe and effective medication.

If you support prohibition you've helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent.

If you support prohibition you've helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.

If you support prohibition you've helped escalate the number of people on welfare.

If you support prohibition you're responsible for the horrific racial disparities which have bred generations of incarcerated and disenfranchised minorities.

If you support prohibition you've helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal.

If you support prohibition you're promoting a policy which kills our children, endangers our police force, counteracts our foreign policy and reduces much of the developing world to anarchy.

If you support prohibition then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, and the complete loss of the rule of law.

Neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them; the concept of a "Drug-Free Society" is a neurotic fantasy and Prohibition's ills are a product of this psychotic delusion.

Prohibition is nothing less than a grotesque dystopian nightmare; if you support it you must be either ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, corrupt or criminally insane.

Related articles

• Letter: Futile Drug Prohibition (nytimes.com)
• Can legalizing an illegal drug successfully eliminate the black market for it? (blkmarketecon.wordpress.com)
• Washington state should lead on marijuana legalization (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• When Booze Was Banned But Pot Was Not (alternet.org)
• A Thinking Mans Editor (mildgreens.blogspot.com)

Top UK Officials: UN-Inspired War on Drugs Failed

 "One would like to be charitable and offer up the notion that British political elites have suddenly — because it is rational — discovered that the war on drugs is illegitimate and counterproductive; but, no, the timing is too suspicious.... The sudden reasonableness of the British establishment as regards the war on drugs surely has to do with financial calculations."

Of course, it isn't just the U.K. that is seeking alternative solutions to drug problems. A group of lawmakers in Australia, for example, is also urging the government to end the war on drugs in that country, calling it a failure that is even less likely to work in the future.

Press this -> 

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/europe-mainmenu-35/6827-top-uk-officials-un-inspired-war-on-drugs-failed

Related articles

• British Panel Concludes that the War on Drugs is a Failure (volokh.com)
• War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Anthony Papa: New Directions: Religious and Community Leaders Address the Failed Drug War (huffingtonpost.com)
• http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2011/03/23/live-review-destroyer-with-the-war-on-drugs-and-yuni-in-taxco-crocodile-318/ (kexp.org)
• End the Drug War, Save Black America - Page 1 - John Stossel - Townhall Conservative (gloucestercitynews.net)

Lords say NO to Drug Prohibition?

Image via Wikipedia

Very instructive House of Lords debate on Drug Policy

(extracts from parliamentary transcript)

Opening address:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to establishing a royal commission on the law governing drug use and possession.

First, as I have said in the House before, I believe strongly that we should have evidence-based policy. I am often appalled at how much legislation is brought forward more on the basis of hope than of evidence. Secondly, I recognise that the best way to affect attitudes and behaviour is through education-I do not just mean formal education-and persuasion. The law alone cannot achieve change, and indeed it can be dangerous to rest on the law in place of education. As a Conservative, I do not believe that the purpose of the law is to send signals.

.....

We need a structured means for weighing evidence, not proceeding on the basis of prejudice, with people simply speaking past one another. I would not be averse to a broad-ranging inquiry; drug use, as the Government recognise, can encompass alcohol consumption. There is a case for a holistic examination.- Lord Norton of Louth

Image via Wikipedia I agree with him that policy should be evidence-based, as existing drugs policy is an expensive failure and based on ignorance and prejudice. All evidence points to drugs being a health issue. Only bad policy has turned it into a criminal justice issue, a public safety issue and an economic issue. - Baroness Walmsley

We should not be afraid of ignorant, misleading and downright evil tabloid headlines.  - Baroness Walmsley

I am not making the case for change. I am making the case for a proper, thorough and detached review of the evidence. - Baroness Walmsley

He and all other noble Lords who have spoken are right to point out that the current legal framework controlling drug abuse has been remarkably ineffective and very expensive. Recently, there has been a slight reduction in drug use by young people, but there has been a parallel increase in binge-drinking, with an alarming increase in death from liver disease. Lord Rea

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110309-0002.htm#11030975000244

Looks like the UK needs a dose of Class D.

Blair Anderson 

Related articles

• War on drugs has failed, say former heads of MI5, CPS and BBC (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• So that's two chief science advisors, several top doctors, a Government minister, a chief constable and a few peers of the realm. Can we now discuss decriminalising drugs? (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• British Panel Concludes that the War on Drugs is a Failure (volokh.com)
• It's time to decriminalise drug use, say peers (telegraph.co.uk)
• Anthony Papa: New Directions: Religious and Community Leaders Address the Failed Drug War (huffingtonpost.com)
• Treat drug users not as criminals, but as patients who need care (isiria.wordpress.com)
• Portugal: 10 years of decriminalized drugs (boingboing.net)
• Burning questions - Obama is urged to talk about drugs (politico.com)
• Time for a real shift in U.S. drug policy (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Following Lawful Direction....

Delivering Potable Water....

I could apply discretion!

"I could cite the Misuse of Drugs Act...."

(supposedly as a result of a complaint)


Blair Anderson http://mildgreens.blogspot.com

Cannabis Is Medicine Tour

Sell It' Buy It. Love It.
A very Class D suggestion.

Blair Anderson
http://mildgreens.blogspot.com

Drugs, Social Control and Social Exclusion

'Drugs, Social Control and Social Exclusion',
School of Law, Birkbeck College, UK — 28 June 2011

The International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy will be speaking as part of a public lecture on the topic of 'Drugs, Social Control and Social Exclusion'.

 Image via Wikipedia

This event is part of the Law on Trial seminar series, organised by the School of Law, Birkbeck College, London.

Law on Trial provides a platform on which academics, trade unionists, practitioners and activists can present alternative and progressive thinking about law and its relationship to society and economy. The events are free and open to everyone.

Any one likely to bring up regulating restricted substances ? /Blair

An Abstract for the Elephant?

The elephant in the room with the 'grass ceiling'.

Earleywine Mitch,  Addiction (Abingdon, England) 2011;106(2):245-6; discussion 251-2

University at Albany, Psychology, SS 369, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, USA.

Any help with an Abstract for the Elephant in the Room?

Image via Wikipedia

I noted in the recent literature , "we have ascertained the presence and functionality in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) of members of the endocannabinoid system that have been proposed as possible modulators of the survival and differentiation of various type of stem cells."

Characterization of the endocannabinoid system in mouse embryonic stem cells. Bari Monica; Tedesco Marianna; Battista Natalia; Pasquariello Nicoletta; Pucci Mariangela; Gasperi Valeria; Scaldaferri Maria Lucia; Farini Donatella; De Felici Massimo; Maccarrone Mauro, Stem cells and development 2011;20(1):139-47 Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.

 and

The manifold actions of endocannabinoids on female and male reproductive events.

Epidemiological studies have highlighted the ever growing use of illegal drugs among teenagers. The negative effects of marijuana (a Cannabis sativa extract) on reproductive health are poorly known among young people, although chronic exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive constituent of marijuana, impairs human reproductive potential by disrupting menstrual cycle, suppressing oogenesis and impairing embryo implantation and development, in women, and by increasing ejaculation problems, reducing sperm count and motility, and generating loss of libido and impotence, in men. Endocannabinoids, their metabolic enzymes and target receptors form the so called "endocannabinoid system" and they have been demonstrated to respond to fertility signals. In addition, they interfere with hormones, cytokines and other signalling molecules in both female and male reproductive events. In this review, we shall summarize the current knowledge on the endocannabinoid system, and on the multifaceted roles played by endocannabinoids in reproduction along the evolutionary axis from invertebrates to mammals. Furthermore, we shall discuss the potential use of distinct elements of the endocannabinoid system for the diagnosis and/or treatment of human infertility.

Bari Monica; Battista Natalia; Pirazzi Valentina; Maccarrone Mauro, Frontiers in bioscience : a journal and virtual library 2011;16():498-516 Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

Whoooo.... bring on the vanilloids, much more interesting than pesky alcohol!

(smile!)

Related articles

• Scientific research reveals brain alterations linking omega 3 deficit with depression (eurekalert.org)
• Treadmill Rehab (addiction-dirkh.blogspot.com)
• Cannabis And Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Medicalization And Recreational Use (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Updated NORML Report Reviews Nearly 200 Studies On The Therapeutic Use Of Cannabis (patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com)

Look and Smell Policing

"the appearance and demeanour of the defendant caused him to believe there were reasonable grounds he was in possession of cannabis"  - Judge Stephen O'Driscoll

It might not have occurred to this clown that the Cop had to trip over piles of NORML magazines before he even got to the front door. Further, there are a commensurate sample of the norml visual detritus emblazoned over walls associated with 'th struggle' against what Police believe is an effective policy not the least being a large ALCP campaign poster. Nor might Judge O'Driscoll he observe the human condition we all do: profiling based on subjective evidence before our eyes. It is, 'opportunistic' of Police to use such shallow criteria to determine if the 'suspect' is in breach of any law. The random inquiry associated with Police overt and covert duties [and conduct] while on private property has lead to tragic circumstances in the recent past, some might suggest inexplicably so. 

Image via WikipediaIs it too simplistic to resolve that these 'deviancy amplified' incidences would not have occurred at all under Ministry of Health soft drug 'restricted substances regulations' - Helen Clark's partial prohibition royally assented for its third year without critique from either side of the house, media, OR Police.

Meanwhile Police arbitrate who enters the criminal gateway...

(see legislation.govt.nz and be prepared to be amazed).

As Judge Jerry Paradis said on many occasions when speaking of 'justice and pot' - "boxed in the paradigm"

DUNEDINImage via Wikipedia

- ALCP President in Court Battle with Anti-Pot Cop

"I SUSPECT nothing I say or do is going to change your views on cannabis," Judge Stephen O'Driscoll told a man who supports the legalisation of cannabis. - ODT

(A man who is the current serving President of the duly Registered Political Party, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party)

Related articles

• Cannabis use 'leads to psychotic symptoms in teens, young adults' (news.bioscholar.com)
• Cannabis use precedes the onset of psychotic symptoms in young people (eurekalert.org)

According to the epidemiology science (of small numbers) the Police and Judge Driscoll would have to STOP 10,000 people from ever smoking the herb, ever, to 'save just one' from subclinical symptoms [only detectable under laboratory conditions] of, and I speculate, contentious claim by many parents that ALL teens are spychotic.

 [yet 4:5 <33yr old kiwis of both sexes have indulged 5 or more times according to our world class CHDS ] 

I am seriously questioning who has the psychosis here..

A Thinking Mans Editor

Image via Wikipediathe Seattle Times reiterated their editorial support for legalization, stating “the costs of prohibition in police, courts, jails, gang warfare, civil liberties and blighted lives are too high, especially for a product that lends itself so well to be handled like alcohol.”

How timely that our Sister City does a bit of self examination. Pity our Health doyens don't do the same and tell theese former Police Officers where to get off.


Blair Anderson http://mildgreens.blogspot.com

Related articles

• Marijuna-legalization bill deserves a hearing (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Another meeting I'd like to attend (drugwarrant.com)
• State lawmakers propose legalization of marijuana (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Legalized, Regulated and Taxed (horsesass.org)
• Seattle Times Editorial Board Says "Legalize It" (mjperry.blogspot.com)

Alcohol vs Cannabis

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe harmful use of alcohol is a global problem which compromises both individual and social development. It results in 2.5 million deaths each year. It also causes harm far beyond the physical and psychological health of the drinker. It harms the well-being and health of people around the drinker. An intoxicated person can harm others or put them at risk of traffic accidents or violent behaviour, or negatively affect co-workers, relatives, friends or strangers. Thus, the impact of the harmful use of alcohol reaches deep into society. Harmful drinking is a major determinant for neuropsychiatric disorders, such as alcohol use disorders and epilepsy and other noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis of the liver and various cancers. The harmful use of alcohol is also associated with several infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This is because alcohol consumption weakens the immune system and has a negative effect on patients’ adherence to antiretroviral treatment. A significant proportion of the disease burden attributable to harmful drinking arises from unintentional and intentional injuries, including those due to road traffic accidents, violence, and suicides. Fatal injuries attributable to alcohol consumption tend to occur in relatively younger age groups. (taken from WHO Alcohol Fact Sheet http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs349/en/index.html)

Remind me again why Cannabis is illegal!

Blair Anderson http://mildgreens.blogspot.com

Related articles

• Alcohol kills more than AIDS, TB or violence: WHO (renata158.wordpress.com)
• Response: To label us as disease-spreading mosquitoes is scaremongering | Jeremy Beadles (guardian.co.uk)
• Official: Booze prevents senile dementia (go.theregister.com)
• Alcohol 'can be good for heart' (bbc.co.uk)
• Alcohol drink or 2 helps heart (cbc.ca)
• Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol (jflahiff.wordpress.com)