Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

PIPES AND ORGANS

Hey, I hear the California Legislature is all fired up about 
marijuana regulations. What have you heard?

- -Wanda

"Fired up" may be too strong a phrase. Most of the legislation that 
has been introduced is mostly the same as last year. I don't think 
that anything is going to happen on the regulation front for a while.

However, the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act (AB 258, 
introduced by Assemblyman Marc Levine) is an important bill that 
would allow medical cannabis patients to receive organ transplants. 
As it stands now, people have been denied transplants solely because 
they use medical cannabis. Because marijuana is still listed as a DEA 
Schedule I drug (no acceptable medical use), many hospitals classify 
any cannabis use as "substance abuse" and will deny transplants even 
if a doctor has recommended cannabis as a medicine. More than one 
person has died after being removed from the transplant list because 
they used cannabis.

We all need to call our representatives and tell them to support this 
bill. I admit I have a personal stake in this issue: My good friend 
Yamileth Bolanos (she helped me start the Greater Los Angeles 
Collective Alliance) is a liver transplant recipient and a medical 
cannabis user. She received a liver transplant 18 years ago, but get 
this: The same doctor that told her to use marijuana to help 
alleviate her symptoms also told her that she would be ineligible for 
the transplant list if (God forbid) she ever needed a new liver. This 
sort of ridiculousness is what happens when we let politics get in 
the way of science and common sense. Please write, call and email 
your representatives and tell them to pass this bill. Lives depend on it.

I want to get a nice water pipe, but the only place to smoke it would 
be in my apartment, which isn't really ideal because I have poor 
ventilation and I don't want to give off any smell or leave any 
residue. Are there any truly effective ways to reduce the smoke 
produced by a water pipe, or should I just drop the plan entirely? I 
currently use a pipe with a canvas case and a Smokebuddy for the 
exhale, which seems to be working fine.

- -Antsy

"Water pipe"? You can go ahead and call it a bong. We are all adults 
and I don't work at a head shop. You should probably stick with what 
you have. Bongs create huge clouds of smoke and bong water is stinky. 
And for those that don't know: A "Smokebuddy" is a commercially 
available higher-tech version of the "dryer sheet in the paper-towel 
tube" trick. It's a pretty good product, though I don't understand 
why all of their advertising features half-naked women. I mean, I do 
understand, but still. Anyway, I have seen some bongish (water 
pipe-esque?) attachments for home vaporizers on the Internet. But 
really, a good, clean pipe is the best way to smoke. If you want 
cooler smoke, get a longer pipe.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom