Pubdate: Thu, 17 Oct 2013
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

HOW MARIJUANA CAN HELP YOU DRINK LESS ALCOHOL

I gotta give you an update, man. Weed has worked wonders for my 
girlfriend (she's been diagnosed with bipolar II disorder). We've 
stuck to pure indica, and it relaxes and calms her. She was 
developing a pretty severe drinking problem before, and now, she'll 
just have a few puffs instead, and be happy for the evening. Thank 
you so much man, it really, really helped us.

- -Jay

Don't thank me. Thank cannabis. But seriously, I am glad it's working 
out for you guys. Keep in mind that I am not a medical professional, 
and your girlfriend should keep her doctor informed.

That being said, I want to talk about the part in your letter where 
you mention that marijuana has helped her not drink so much. I think 
that's cool. There have been a few studies (here's one of them: 
http://pages.uoregon.edu/bchansen/MML_Alcohol_Consumption.pdf) that 
show that states with medical-marijuana laws have fewer suicides and 
traffic-accident deaths. Correlation isn't causation, but scientists 
speculate that, when given the choice, many people will use cannabis 
instead of alcohol.

This could be why the liquor lobby is against cannabis legalization. 
And why wouldn't it be against weed? Since when are fewer suicides 
and traffic deaths better than the millions of dollars to be made 
from the sale of alcoholic beverages? Exactly. In fact, many people 
use marijuana instead of more harmful drugs.

There was a study done in Canada last year with the long-ass title of 
"Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs: A 
dispensary-based survey of substitution effect in Canadian medical 
cannabis patients." It surveyed 404 cannabis patients and found that 
41 percent used marijuana as a substitute for liquor, 36.1 percent 
for "illicit substances" and 67.8 percent "as a substitute for 
prescription drugs."

It says, "The three main reasons cited for cannabis-related 
substitution are 'less withdrawal' (67.7%), 'fewer side-effects' 
(60.4%), and 'better symptom management' suggesting that 'patients 
may have already identified cannabis as an effective and potentially 
safer adjunct or alternative to their prescription drug regimen."

Who knew? Apparently, weed is more like an "exit" drug than a "gateway" drug.

Hey, Ngaio, has there been any fallout from the Oaksterdam University 
raid last year? Anyone ever get arrested?

- -The Oakland Blaze

The one person arrested at the fed's raid on Oaksterdam was Jose 
Gutierrez. During the frenzy that occurred as the Drug Enforcement 
Administration tried to leave the Blue Sky Coffee Shop and the crowd 
of protesters tried to block the feds from leaving, Gutierrez was 
grabbed and beaten by federal agents, who then arrested him and 
charged him with assault on a federal officer. His defense team 
argued that Gutierrez was targeted by the feds to create diversion 
using a riot-control tactic known as a "snatch squad." Gutierrez was 
found guilty and faces up to eight years in federal prison. He is 
going to appeal, and he needs your help. Check out 
http://green-aid.com/cases/jose-gutierrez for more information.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom