Federal Government Considering Medical Benefits Of Marijuana… Again

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It’s A Big Day For Marijuana Science

By Amanda Reiman, Drug Policy Alliance
Today the federal government has an opportunity to agree to review the scientific evidence related to the use of marijuana as a medicine. A lawsuit brought by Americans for Safe Access and other marijuana reform organizations is challenging the government’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug — one for which there are no acceptable medical uses. One of the individual plaintiffs, Michael Krawitz, is a veteran of the Air Force, and uses medical marijuana to combat pain and PTSD. Krawitz’s claims concerning the medical benefits of marijuana have been echoed by physicians such as Donald Abrams from University of California, San Francisco, and Igor Grant from the University of California, San Diego. Both doctors have conducted research into the medical value of marijuana and have concluded that it does in fact exist.

In light of this scientific evidence, it would be assumed that marijuana does have medical value and should therefore not be a Schedule I substance. However, this is not the first time the evidence about marijuana’s effects has been presented to the federal government.
 
Complete article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/federal-government-considering-medical-benefits-of-marijuana-again/

Industrial hemp has many uses

By Sanford Pass
There are two basic kinds of cannabis: marijuana and hemp.  Marijuana is what gives the high and cures disease, and is illegal to grow or use in most of the country.
Hemp is what is used for paper, fuel, food, fiber and literally thousands of other industrial and commercial applications, and is also illegal to grow in most of the country.
This article deals with industrial hemp.
In the February 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics, which you can find at www.hempfarm.org/BillionDollarCrop, there was a feature article entitled “The New Billion Dollar Crop,” referring to hemp.
It was common knowledge that the plant was extremely useful and versatile.
Hemp makes the best cloth because it is the longest and strongest fiber on earth and hemp webbing is what held parachutes together before DuPont became allies with Hearst to demonize the plant that was in the way of their personal fortunes; to hell with the environment, their actions screamed.
Hemp also makes the best paper and is made faster, cheaper and four times as much as what is produced per acre from trees.
It is also made without the use of dioxin and other heavy poisons that end up in our rivers.
Rope, twine and all other grades of cordage work best when made of hemp, again because of its long fiber and strong structure.
The USS Constitution, ‘Old Ironsides’, carried on board more than 60 tons of hemp in the form of rope, including the anchor rope, sails, Bibles, maps, uniforms, flags and pennant.
Just about everything on board, except the wooden ship and the metal cannons and cannonballs, was made of hemp in one form or another.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, most people survived on something known as gruel. Gruel was boiled hemp seeds, with some milk or fruit, if one was lucky.
Hemp seeds could end world hunger in as much time as it would take to get a handful of hemp seeds and some water to every starving human being, for there is enough nutrition in hemp seeds to sustain life, with a little water.
Hemp seeds are an original food, specified by God in Genesis 1:29-30:  “God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the land, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
“To every animal of the land and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the land, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food.’ And it was so.”
 
http://www.asuherald.com/opinion/industrial-hemp-has-many-uses-1.2778704#.UH24um_A-Pu

Brad Pitt Slams Drug War: “It’s an Incredible Failure”


Brad Pitt The House I Live In
 
Seated in a big leather armchair with popcorn and a Stella Artois beer on a Friday night in Los Angeles, Brad Pitt was ready to talk about drugs.
Minutes before, in a small theater downstairs, Pitt introduced director Eugene Jarecki’s documentary “The House I Live In” about the war on drugs with this confession:

My drug days are long since passed but it’s certainly true that I could probably land in any city in any state and get you whatever you wanted. I could find anything you were looking for. Give me 24 hours or so. And yet we still support this charade called the drug war. We have spent a trillion dollars. It’s lasted for over 40 years. A lot of people have lost their lives for it. And yet we still talk about it like it’s this success.

Complete article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/13/brad-pitt-the-house-i-live-in-director-eugene-jarecki-drugs_n_1963247.html

New Alberta processor could make a material difference to hemp farmers

BY BILL MAH, EDMONTON JOURNAL
A hemp field in Leduc County.

A hemp field in Leduc County.

Photograph by: Supplied/Rachel Peterson , Edmonton Journal

 
Alberta’s hemp farmers toil in relative obscurity compared to their better-known grain and oilseed colleagues, but new technology being developed near Edmonton could change that.
The Hart Fibre Trade Company, a hemp-fibre processor based in Leduc County, is introducing the first Canadian scutched hemp processing system — a way of straightening the plant’s fibres so it can be used to make textiles. Hemp is considered an alternative to cotton.
The company accepted funding of $938,000 on Wednesday to speed development. The money comes from the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP), a five-year $163-million program to boost agriculture’s competitiveness and adaptability.
“There is high demand for value-added hemp textiles in overseas markets, and this innovative process will help farmers capture more value from their crop while opening the doors to potential new markets,” said Edmonton-Leduc MP James Rajotte, who announced the funding.
Acreage for hemp production in Canada has nearly doubled over the past year, with a projected target of 100,000 acres by 2015, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
 
Complete article:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/blogs/Alberta+processor+could+make+material+difference+hemp+farmers/7370095/story.html

Ease Their Pain – Legalizing marijuana a matter of compassion

BY ARNOLD HAMILTON
 
Thirty or so years ago, cancer claimed the life of one of my favorite aunts.

Aunt Dorothy was a delightful Oklahoma born and bred woman who migrated in the 1950s to suburban San Francisco, where she and my grocer uncle lived in the coolest little house overlooking the Pacific.
Her death was agonizing. The treatments not only failed to arrest the cancer, but also made her incredibly nauseous. In a desperate quest to improve her quality of life, her family embraced the only thing that provided relief: marijuana.
Aunt Dorothy was a devoted Baptist and a regular church-goer, a full-fledged member of the Greatest Generation — hardly the pot-using, Summer of Love stereotype.
I never asked how her family acquired the contraband. I only know that she didn’t smoke it. Her family would mix the pot in butter and spread it on crackers, about the only thing that calmed her retching.
What Aunt Dorothy and her family did was against the law. It still is today — at least in Oklahoma. And that begs a serious question: Why?
Why is it legal to buy other potentially addictive agents like alcohol and tobacco at the corner market, but not marijuana? Why are doctors prescribing more narcotics than ever, but prevented from deploying marijuana as a treatment?
 
Complete article:
http://www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A52824

Medical marijuana fees put patients on fixed incomes in bind

By Kristina Nelson KVAL News

 
EUGENE, Ore. – Elvy Musikka relies on medical marijuana to get through her day.
The 73-year-old Eugene grandmother joined Oregon’s medical marijuana program in 2005 to treat her glaucoma.
Musikka also receives medical marijuana from the federal government as part of a now discontinued research program created in 1978.
But she said that medicine is so old it’s no good.
“In other words, it probably would have been very nice as hemp for wearing but it obviously was no medicine for glaucoma,” she said. “I cannot work with 11-year old garbage.”
Fresher marijuana under Oregon’s program filled the gap.
“I was getting 3 pounds from the State of Oregon and what I was doing was mixing it up,” said Musikka from her home in South Eugene.
Last October, the state imposed new fees on medical marijuana card holders. The new fees doubled the annual cost of getting a medical marijuana card to $200. It also imposed grower fees of $50 and, if patients switch growers or change the address where it’s grown, the state charges an additional $100.
 
Complete article:
http://www.kpic.com/news/health/I-find-that-very-criminal-Eugene-woman-opposes-high-cost-of-Oregon-medical-marijuana-program-173346171.html?tab=video&c=y

Stop Taking Questionable Fish Oil Supplements – Use Hemp Seed Oil Instead

By Natural News

 
It is well known that omega-3 and 6 fatty acids are essential for human health. The common advice is to get a good supply in your diet, you need to eat oily fish or take fish oil supplements on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the majority of fish oil supplements are slowly killing our society and our environment. Plant-based sources of the omega-3 and 6 fatty acids are a much healthier alternative, and one of the best sources available is hemp seed oil.
 
Complete article:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/392047/20121008/stop-taking-questionable-fish-oil-supplements-use.htm#.UH2z72_A-Pt

A ‘sword in the side of prohibition’

Maxwell Kusi Obodum

Life-changing: Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Clark French shows a note from a US doctor authorising the drug for his condition
 
A HEALTH campaigner who uses cannabis to ease the crippling pains of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) found himself on a national stage this week when he starred in a mini-documentary aired on Channel 4.
Clark French from Lower Earley claims his appearance on 4thought.tv on Tuesday night will prove a “springboard” in his campaign for the drug to be legalised in Britain for medicinal use.
The 26-year-old from Sutcliffe Avenue, who triggered a fierce debate on the Chronicle’s website last month when we exclusively revealed how his campaign was sparked by a three-month trip to California where the drug is available for medicinal use, said after the programme: “It’s really exciting. I hope to use this to get my story out there and use it as a springboard for more media attention. My whole Facebook wall has exploded with comments and with people congratulating me.
“It solidifies my belief that I have a valid argument and I plan to be a sword in the side of prohibition.”
 
Complete article:
http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/reading/articles/2012/09/30/63118-a-sword-in-the-side-of-prohibition/

Kansas – Speakers call for legalization of marijuana at Statehouse rally – Experts, advocates tout benefits of cannabis

By Corey Jones – THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Dr. Jon Hauxwell, a retired family physician who now lives in Hays, speaks Saturday afternoon at a rally on the south steps of the Statehouse in favor of marijuana and its medicinal uses.  COREY JONES/THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Dr. Jon Hauxwell, a retired family physician who now lives in Hays, speaks Saturday afternoon at a rally on the south steps of the Statehouse in favor of marijuana and its medicinal uses.
 
Topeka City Councilman Andrew Gray sees benefits to legalizing cannabis.
For instance, he said, a wonderful revenue source for governments would be created if marijuana were regulated and taxed. Gray also cited potential quality of life gains to be had from medical weed — more diverse treatment and pain management options would be available outside of pharmaceutical drugs.
Gray was among several speakers Saturday afternoon during a rally on the south side of the Statehouse in support of cannabis. Experts and advocates stood behind a lectern in turn to tout marijuana and stump for its legalization.
But the first point the councilman drives home is that he doesn’t feel government should be delving so deep into people’s lives as to ban cannabis.
“I don’t really care what a consenting adult does if they’re not depriving someone else of their property or liberty,” said Gray, a Libertarian. “And somebody at home using marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes is no different than someone having three or four martinis at their home.”
 
Complete article:
http://cjonline.com/news/2012-09-29/speakers-call-legalization-marijuana-statehouse-rally
 

A moment in time Prophetik’s Jeff Garner takes historic influences, gives them a twist, and blends it with eco-friendly methods of production

BY JOANNE LAUCIUS, OTTAWA CITIZEN
Jeff Garner’s equestrian influences are obvious even in Prophetik’s Princess Grace runway show. He headlines Ottawa Fashion Week on Oct. 14.
 
Jeff Garner comes by his fashion influences honestly. He grew up on a horse farm in Franklin, Tennessee, inspired by the dressmaking techniques of the Civil War era, when gowns were taken apart to create new dresses.
And that’s where the sustainability comes in. Garner reimagines the silhouettes of the past and gives them a twist. He works with recycled materials and fabrics like flax and hemp, naturally softened with baking soda. He uses plant and earth-based dyes from a community garden in Nashville.
Complete article:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/Fashion-Beauty/moment+time/7316493/story.html