The US State Department's 2016 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report says that addiction to shabu ( street name for methamphetamine or meth) is the most significant drug problem of the Philippines, with the narcotic continually growing as the most widely trafficked in the country. A UN World Drug Report also tagged the Philippines as the country having the highest rate of shabu use in the whole of East Asia with even the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) releasing a pastoral letter last year expressing concern about the proliferation of the drug problem in the country and the alleged involvement of government officials. [continues 847 words]
Pot Advocates Decry "Hypocrisy" in Feds' View of Medical Use. It may not have quite the same ring to it as a certain seven-digit phone number made famous by a 1980s pop hit, but 6,630,507 has become internet-famous since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration opted not to reschedule marijuana, leaving it in the category of drugs with no legitimate medical uses. Since then, proponents of legalization have responded with a storm of social-media posts highlighting U.S. Patent No. 6,630,507, granted in 2003 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and covering the potential use of non-psychoactive cannabinoids to protect the brain from damage or degeneration caused by certain diseases, such as cirrhosis. [continues 1254 words]
A Mother Risks Prison and Splits Up Her Family in a Desperate Attempt to Rid Her Son of Cancer. The Rockies unfurled outside Kristen Yeckley's passenger window, but she kept her eyes on the speedometer. No more than 5 mph over the limit, she urged her mother. Hands at 10 and 2. She had stayed up past 3 a.m., sobbing, praying, plotting the route back to Pinellas Park. The drive meant committing a federal crime with her 5-year-old son in the backseat. Kristen kept imagining handcuffs, the fear on Tyler's trusting face. If they were pulled over, she would use his medical records to plead for sympathy. She and her husband, Joe, had saved up for their dream home with a backyard pool. They had comfortable jobs, poker nights, a college fund in their son's name. Then came Tyler's diagnosis. When doctors said he was out of options, Kristen and Joe vowed to do anything, even split up their family, to give Tyler a chance with a treatment Florida doesn't allow. That brought Kristen to the sloping road out of Colorado last summer, 2,000 miles from home - with vials of liquid medical marijuana buried in her mother's suitcase. Worry first tugged at Kristen in the line to see Santa Claus. [continues 4161 words]
Many Glowing Remarks Come From the Same Ip Address, a Software Flaw Shows. Millions of consumers treat Weedmaps like the Yelp for pot, relying on the Irvine company as their definitive guide to marijuana dispensaries, varieties and doctors. But a key feature - user reviews of pot businesses - may be tainted by thousands of potentially fraudulent comments, a flaw in the company's software revealed. Reviews on the site are pseudonymous, and visitors reasonably expect that each is written by a unique customer. But data that Weedmaps mistakenly leaked suggests that a large proportion of glowing remarks come from individual users leaving multiple reviews of a single business. [continues 1094 words]
The DEA announces it will keep marijuana on the list of most dangerous drugs. In the eyes of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is still considered dangerous enough to remain among the likes of heroin, LSD, and ecstasy as a Schedule I drug. Ever since The Controlled Substances Act became law in 1970, marijuana has been deemed to have no medicinal benefits and a high likelihood of abuse. And despite over half the states in the U.S. legalizing medical or recreational marijuana in some form, the DEA announced this month that marijuana wouldn't be declassified. [continues 693 words]
Colorado legalised marijuana sales two years ago. Ben Hoyle reports on the highs and lows of the decision. The "bud tender" had shoulder-length black hair, a deep well of patience and a connoisseur's pride in his wares as he spread tray after tray of marijuana-based products on the glass counter top. There were fruit gums, chocolate caramels, granola packets, medicated sugar to drop in your coffee or tea in the morning, Rosemary Cheddar Crackers for a savoury taste, a bath soak and even sensual oil for the bedroom, Charles Watson explained. [continues 1041 words]
Gage has a rare and incurable neurological disorder, and the drug has proven to help NAPANEE - A Napanee-area marijuana facility is now able to sell its medical product to patients in need, and a mother says her son is benefitting from the development. Six-year-old Gage is able to sit up by himself, playing with a few coloured balls and his iPad while his mother, Kelly, shares their story. Gage has lissencephaly type 1, a rare and incurable neurological disorder, as well as having a severe, rare, yet unnamed, form of epilepsy. [continues 561 words]
A Napanee-area marijuana facility is now able to sell its medical product to patients in need, and a mother says her son is benefitting from the development. Six-year-old Gage is able to sit up by himself, playing with a few coloured balls and his iPad while his mother, Kelly, shares their story. Gage has lissencephaly type 1, a rare and incurable neurological disorder, as well as having a severe, rare, yet unnamed, form of epilepsy. "They can't even give it a name because he has so many characteristics from other syndromes of epilepsy," Kelly, whose last name is not being released to protect Gage's privacy, said. "And he currently takes cannabis." [continues 641 words]
Mice Given Mushed Cannabis Mixed With Milk - They Won't Be Smoking Any Pot Researchers out of the University of B.C. are feeding lab mice pot and comparing the results to standard painkillers to see if cannabis will be more effective than regular medication in treating cancer-related nausea and pain. The project is headed by Dr. Lui Franciosi, Veritas Pharma Inc. CEO and an adjunct professor in pharmacology at UBC, who is funding a team of seven UBC researchers at Cannevert Therapeutics to test different strains of cannabis. [continues 218 words]
Most scientists don't include personal stories in their research reports, but for John Lilly, personal experiences and science experiments were the same thing. His ears, eyes, mouth, and nose were calibrated probes. His mind was the unbiased observer, the ideal model for dispassionate inquiry. Knowledge and experience led him to new sets of questions, not firmly held beliefs. But as anyone who has traveled into the psychedelic spaces knows, soon after arrival, one quickly finds out that the scientist's tool kit-language-is much too small and inadequate for the job. The scientist's reaction to the psychedelic experience is a set of questions that sound more like a seeker's. This is the crux of the enigma of John Lilly. [continues 5334 words]
At least once a week, Steve McDonald drives from his home in Irvine to an industrial stretch of Santa Ana filled with auto shops and home-improvement wholesalers. Inside a beige storefront, McDonald consults with young budtenders about the jars of raw cannabis flowers and rows of infused edibles that fill the shelves at From the Earth medical marijuana dispensary. The 40-year-old said cannabis products help him avoid prescription medications for pain from severe burns he suffered in a fire two years ago, as well as lingering back trouble and anxiety that plague him from his days as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. [continues 1823 words]
Larry Schaeffer has grown marijuana in Sonoma County for more than a decade. His Cherry Kola Farms outside Penngrove supplies award-winning strains of pungent pot to one of Sonoma County's largest medical cannabis collectives, as well as discerning dispensaries around the state. But after years of operating in a quasi-legal status as a nonprofit collective, Schaeffer is ready to go legit. He wants to be an above-board business, in an approved location with proper permits, and pay taxes like any other legitimate enterprise. [continues 2814 words]
Business is booming for local marijuana dispensaries Jordan Chambers dropped in to the Weeds marijuana dispensary on Montreal Road recently and bought a package of cannabis-infused chocolate turtles and two coconut dreamy bars. "I think this is great," she said of the dispensary, whose display cases are stuffed with jars of dried weed and packages of cookies, brownies and candy. Staff warned her not to eat the treats in one sitting, because they are potent. The federal government has warned that the marijuana products sold at illegal dispensaries such as Weeds are unregulated and could be unsafe. [continues 1641 words]
Despite government warnings, people flock to buy from shops Jordan Chambers dropped in to the Weeds marijuana dispensary on Montreal Road recently and bought a package of cannabis-infused chocolate turtles and two coconut dreamy bars. "I think this is great," she said of the dispensary, whose display cases are stuffed with jars of dried weed and packages of cookies, brownies and candy. Staff warned her not to eat the treats in one sitting, because they are potent. The federal government has warned that the marijuana products sold at illegal dispensaries such as Weeds are unregulated and could be unsafe. [continues 1616 words]
Stacey Lock has been working in the harm reduction tent at Shambhala Music Festival for eight years now, but she's never seen the party scene like this before. According to her the province-wide fentanyl emergency has everyone on edge, including the festival's organizers. "It's really affecting the party scene because it's changing the climate. It's getting sketchy. Not too long ago it felt like you could know what you were doing and if you didn't know we could tell you," Lock, who is the festival's harm reduction director, told the Star. [continues 548 words]
The Legal Synthetic 'Weed' That Kills As any republican with truly conservative beliefs will tell you, government intervention leads to negative consequences. In the case of prohibition, it leads to black markets that, without the option of regulation, create more harmful scenarios than their potentially legal analogues. There is perhaps no greater example of this in our current events than that of marijuana prohibition and the consequent market for a dangerous synthetic called "spice." It's the same argument the right often uses to keep their fingers tightly wrapped around the triggers of their beloved assault rifles: "If you make it illegal, then only criminals will have them leaving law-abiding Americans in a dangerous situation." [continues 508 words]
RESTRICTIONS ON TESTING RETAIL MARIJUANA PUT PUBLIC SAFETY AT RISK, SCIENTISTS WARN Health Canada's restrictive approach to marijuana safety testing is putting the public at risk, a growing chorus of scientists and activists warns - saying consumers are potentially being exposed to contamination in products that are widely accessible since the federal Liberals took power promising legalization. A number of laboratories accredited by Health Canada say the regulator has repeatedly discouraged them from analyzing any cannabis that does not come directly from one of the country's 31 licensed medical marijuana producers - even as hundreds of dispensaries have sprouted up in Vancouver and Toronto, flooding the market with products of unknown provenance. Patients' requests to have their federally licensed medical marijuana tested to ensure its safety are also blocked. [continues 968 words]
Ottawa says it's dangerous. Dispensaries say it's safe. The Globe subjected unregulated weed to a battery of tests to find the truth Inside a sterile facility, the lab technician holds up a petri dish to show the intricate pattern of bacteria that are quickly multiplying. "Looks like something is already growing," she says, surprised by how much has amassed in less than a day and a half. In any other context, the dish would be a sight to behold, with an attractive swirl of shapes that resembles an oil painting. But the bacteria growing inside are Citrobacter freundii, a human pathogen that can lead to serious infections, particularly in the elderly and weak. [continues 6688 words]
To a child on the prowl for sweets, that brownie, cookie or bear-shaped candy left on the kitchen counter is just asking to be gobbled up. But in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, notably Colorado, that child may end up with more than a sugar high. A study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics says that in Colorado, the rates of marijuana exposure in young children, many of them toddlers, have increased 150 percent since 2014, when recreational marijuana products, like sweets, went on the market legally. [continues 524 words]
DENVER - To a child on the prowl for sweets, that brownie, cookie or bearshaped candy left on the kitchen counter is just asking to be gobbled up. But in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, notably Colorado, that child may end up with more than a sugar high. New York Times These brownie bites by Spot contain 5 milligrams of THC per serving. A study in JAMA Pediatrics says the rate of marijuana exposure in young children in Colorado has increased 150 percent since recreational use was legalized. [continues 789 words]
