Pubdate: Thu, 12 Dec 2013
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Copyright: 2013 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

CAN CANNABIS CURE THESE MEDICAL CONDITIONS?

Dear Stoner: In the song "Legalize It," Peter Tosh says herb is good 
for glaucoma and asthma. Was marijuana being used for those things 
back then, or was he just full of it?

S. K. Eptical

Dear S.K.: Peter Tosh's claim that ganja is the only cure for either 
condition is incorrect, but his lyrics are rooted in reality. He's 
referring to local folk-medicine treatments that Jamaicans have used 
since the 1800s, when ganja likely arrived on the island. And some 
fishermen reported that they could see schools of fish more clearly 
in the currents after puffing a spliff.

Scientists in Kingston took these claims seriously, and soon 
discovered that there was some truth to the anecdotal evidence. By 
the mid-1970s, Jamaican doctors Henry Lowe and Albert Lockhart had 
created Canasol, a cannabis-based eye drop for glaucoma patients that 
helped relieve ocular pressure; by the 1990s, it was selling over the 
counter around the world.

A similar route was taken with asthma. While cigarette smoke can 
inflame airways and constrict breathing, studies show that certain 
cannabinoids in cannabis smoke can relax airways and actually make 
breathing easier. Jamaican scientists helped create Asmasol, an 
inhaler of cannabis-based serum that can drastically reduce airway 
inflammation. It's also been shown to help chemotherapy patients deal 
with nausea.

Dear Stoner: I'm trying to remember the name of a song and the band 
that did it, and would like your help. It was on the radio and is 
about hashish. I think it was a eulogy about it. The only clue I have 
is that it said something like "Hashish I love in the morning."

Carburetor

Dear Carburetor: Congratulations: You've stumped our stoner database 
for the first time! After an exhaustive, three-bowl-long search, we 
still couldn't pinpoint the exact song you described. But you could 
be thinking of "Smoke Two Joints," originally done by the 
Oregon-based Toyes in the '80s and later covered by Sublime. The 
opening line is "I smoke two joints in the morning, I smoke two 
joints at night/I smoke two joints in the afternoon, and it makes me 
feel all right." It was featured in a Billy Bob Thornton movie about 
herb called Homegrown, though I'm not sure it ever got much radio 
play. Also, there's no mention of hash.

However, if by "eulogy" you meant "parody," then it's most likely 
another Toyes song: "Monster Hash," a parody of the 1962 Halloween 
hit "Monster Mash." You can find both songs at YouTube.com. If anyone 
else has a suggestion for Carburetor, shoot us a line.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom