Stick to the pipe, medical marijuana users: that’s the message from Canadian researchers who found that smoking even relatively low doses of cannabis can help reduce chronic pain, ease sleep and reduce anxiety.
The findings were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
For the study, 21 participants experiencing chronic neuropathic pain for at least three months smoked different preparations of marijuana three times a day for five days each, and stayed smoke-free for nine days as a buffer in between treatments. The most potent concentration was 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol (the active ingredient in cannabis), followed by one of 6%, one of 2.5% and one with no THC at all.
Patients who inhaled the highest THC concentration felt pain less intensely and slept better than patients who did not inhale THC-laced smoke. Those taking the highest doze reported a pain level of 5.4 on a scale of 1 to 11 –lower than the 6.1 reported by those taking the THC-free dose.
The study’s authors concede that a 0.7-point reduction in pain is pretty modest compared with the improvements seen from other drugs – but they also point out that the patients they were testing had suffered from pain that had resisted other forms of treatment. Smoking up, then, could provide at least some relief to those who can find none.
As University of Oxford professor Henry McQuay wrote in a commentary accompanying the study, “Existing treatments are far from perfect. In the meantime, the current trial adds to the trickle of evidence that cannabis may help some of the patients who are struggling at present.”
— Amina Khan / Los Angeles Times

A team of Montreal researchers has lent scientific credibility to the view that smoking marijuana can ease chronic neuropathic pain and help patients sleep better.
People suffering from neuropathic pain often turn to opioids, antidepressants and local anesthetics, but those treatments have limitations and the side effects can be punishing. Many physicians and policy-makers, however, are reluctant to advocate the use of cannabis since there has been little scientific research into its effectiveness, even though patients champion its use.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that pain intensity among patients decreased with higher-potency marijuana. It is one of a handful of scientific attempts to determine the medicinal benefits of the drug.
“We’re not saying that this is the final solution for chronic pain management. As with any pain strategy, especially with chronic pain, we know that the best approach is a multidisciplinary one,” said lead author Mark Ware, director of clinical research at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit of the McGill University Health Centre. “All that this does is open the door to the cannabinoid being another tool in the toolbox in treating chronic pain.”
Twenty-one adults with post-traumatic or post-surgical chronic pain took part in the study and were randomly assigned to receive marijuana at three different potencies: with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of 2.5 per cent, 6 per cent and 9.4 per cent, and a placebo. THC is the active ingredient in the cannabis plant. Participants inhaled a single 25-milligram dose through a pipe three times daily for the first five days in each cycle, followed by a nine-day period without marijuana. They continued this over two months, rotating through all four strengths of THC.
The researchers measured pain intensity using a standard scale, with study subjects reporting the highest-strength drug was the most effective at reducing the pain and allowing them to sleep.
The study does not address questions about the long-term efficacy of using the drug to treat chronic pain, the researchers acknowledge. Also, there were some adverse effects among participants, including dizziness, numbness and a burning sensation in areas of neuropathic pain.
Dr. Ware said further research will build upon this study.
“As a cannabis user, it can be really hard to get people to take you seriously,” said Amy Brown, 28, a Toronto woman who was not a subject in the study but uses marijuana to relieve chronic pain and swelling in her wrist, which was injured in a car crash five years ago.
“To me, this study is vindication.”
For her, cannabis has been more effective than chemical painkillers, which had unpleasant side effects. “I wasn’t me any more, I was a drone, I was robot-like,” she said. “[When I started cannabis], I made a complete 180. I know what’s going on now. I have a clear head.”
The federal government has given authorization to almost 5,000 people to possess dried marijuana, and 3,500 people hold personal use production licences, according to Health Canada. A doctor’s authorization is required before a licence is issued. Several court judgments forced Health Canada to get into the marijuana business a few years back, so that patients would not have to rely on the black market for their supplies.
But despite Health Canada’s regulations, Dr. Ware said many in the medical community are not open to the use of marijuana to relieve pain.
“There’s a lot of resistance from physicians, and in fact some of the policy-makers, that there isn’t much evidence to support this. I know some of the Colleges and the CMA want to see evidence behind these claims before they will consider supporting or endorsing the regulations,” he said. “[This study] should provide some support to the fact that there is evidence now out there to support these claims.”
Henry McQuay, a professor at Balliol College at the University of Oxford, said the study adds to three previous investigations of smoked cannabis in coping with neuropathic pain, two of which involved patients with HIV. He noted, however, that the participant size of the study was small, the trial was short and it remains to be seen if marijuana can yield greater analgesia with fewer adverse effects than conventional drugs.
“The current trial adds to the trickle of evidence that cannabis may help some of the patients who are struggling at present,” Prof. McQuay wrote in an accompanying commentary.

West Norfolk engineer Stephen Eyles has developed a high-capacity multi-bladed hemp harvester capable of cutting at high speeds.
His machine has three blades, which cut the crop into three lengths, which makes it easier to handle for baling.
Mr Eyles, who has more than 30 years’ experience as a practical engineer, was encouraged by his farming brothers to tackle the challenge of designing an effective machine.
And, the three-stage cutter bar is powered by a 135hp Massey-Ferguson tractor, which is far more economical than a heavy-duty forage harvester, weighing about 16 tonnes, fitted with a 500hp engine.
Mr Eyles, of Hall Farm, Northwold, has been involved in hemp harvesting for about 12 years. His efforts were given a major funding boost with the enthusiastic support of the InCrops Enterprise Hub at the University of East Anglia.
He has used his practical experience and also his farming background to design and modify machinery to tackle the challenge of harvesting hemp.
Once the crop has been cut, it has to “ret” or start to break down for several weeks in the field before it has to be baled, dry, for delivery for processing at the Hemp Technology factory at Halesworth.
In the current season, Mr Eyles, who is driving the harvester, expects to complete about 200 hectares of hemp, which is being grown by farmers in west Norfolk and across the county at Quidenham and at Easton College.
His machine is able to operate at high speed and in a long working day might be able to cut as much as 20 hectares. “I’m using 100 litres of fuel and on average I’m cutting 2.5 hectares an hour. In a working day, I’m using 100 litres to 120 litres of fuel. A forage harvester would be using 400 litres of fuel and would do half the work.
“A 100hp tractor would operate the cutter because it only needs about 40KW to drive. It is very low in power consumption but enough tractor power is needed to travel at speeds of 16 to 20kph in places, if conditions suit.”
Mr Eyles has fitted hydraulic valves to keep the power constant to the reciprocating knives. “A forage harvester needs continuous power for the chopping effort and then two more operations are needed. Firstly, the crop has to be spread across the field to allow it to ‘ret’ more effectively and then it has to be brought together.
And with short lengths, crop can be lost. “There are disadvantages of this approach both to the grower and to the final product at the factory.”
The prototype hemp harvester was demonstrated to growers earlier this month at Northwold, where his brothers, Roger and David Eyles run the family farm.
It was commissioned by InCrops Enterprise Hub with funding support from East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
The harvester’s cutting bars are designed for quick folding and unfolding for easier transport. And the adjustable bottom bar can more easily follow the ground contour and leave a lower stubble height.
Preliminary trials were carried out on his brothers’ farm.
The project was initiated by InCrops Enterprise Hub, which is a knowledge-transfer project supporting business growth in alternative and non food crops.
Dr John French, managing director, said: “As a result of our field based activity in 2009 and increasing familiarity with the supply chain it has become clear that a major impediment to the utilisation of hemp is the available harvesting technology.
“InCrops is actively engaged in promoting the development and increased uptake of hemp, both as a crop and also as biomaterial in numerous downstream applications.
“We commissioned the prototype hemp harvester to help promote the production and commercialisation of hemp products.’
A low input, fast growing crop, which can be grown on a range of soil types, the fibres are used in industrial applications such as the automotive and construction industries. The harvested crop will be processed by Hemp Technology, of Halesworth.
Mike Duckett, of Hemp Technology, said: “I’m very impressed with the quality of the machine that Stephen Eyles has built. For a prototype machine almost starting from nothing this is a great achievement!
BLOB A demonstration will be held at Easton College on Friday, September 3, starting at 9.30am and finishing about 11.15am. After a briefing, the harvester will be put through its paces. To attend, please contact Julia on 01603 591765 or email j.orourke@uea.ac.uk

Michele Leonhart’s nomination to head the Drug Enforcement Administration has been complicated by a ponzi scheme that has ensnared DEA agents and officials. Leonhart’s nomination is vigorously opposed by drug policy reform groups, which charge that she is stuck in a Drug War-era mindset, focusing too heavily on medical marijuana and small-time crack cocaine violations.
Despite Obama’s pledge during the campaign to cease raids on medical marijuana clubs in states where the drug was legal, Leonhart, as acting director, staged raids after his inauguration. The raids were seen as a signal from the DEA that it didn’t plan to change the way it operated, but a subsequent directive from Attorney General Eric Holder has reduced the frequency of such raids.
But it may not be Leonhart’s policies or leadership that doom her nomination, Amanda J. Crawford, a reporter in Arizona who covers border security issues and drug isses, reported Thursday. Her nomination is stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where no hearing has yet been scheduled more than a year after her nomination. Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) is a strong believer that states should be given the authority to craft their own medical marijuana laws free from federal interference. A Leahy spokeswoman said that the chairman has yet to take a public position on her nomination. Asked about Leonhart earlier this year by HuffPost, Leahy declined to support or oppose her, but reiterated his support for medical marijuana.
In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the estate of Kenneth Wayne McLeod, who had recently taken his own life as authorities closed in on what they say was a long-running ponzi scheme that ensnared 260 investors, many of them law enforcement officers, and stole at least $34 million.
“McLeod victimized law enforcement agents and other government employees who dedicated their lives to the service of this country,” said Eric I. Bustillo, head of the SEC Miami regional office.
A DEA spokesman confirmed that some agents had been caught in the scheme, but referred comment to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Florida Times-Union has been investigating the scandal and uncovering DEA connections.
Leonhart is a career DEA official, meaning that it will be difficult for her to avoid becoming entangled in the affair, which the SEC began in the 1980s. Crawford reported Thursday at CrawfordOnDrugs.comthat a Justice Department official had deemed her a “dead woman walking.” She has been acting director since 2007. A DoJ spokeswoman didn’t immediately return a call.
Story continues below
Beyond the ponzi scheme, President Obama has a number of other reasons to want to avoid a confirmation fight over Leonhart:
* She has been hit for chartering a private plane to Colombia at a cost of123,000, even though the DEA has more than a hundred of its own planes.
* She was a champion of an infamous snitch named Andrew Chambers, who presented false testimony for years and who had Leonhart’s backing even after it surfaced that he was unreliable.
* And she’s tied into the “House of Death” scandal, involving a string of murders that the DEA was aware of but did little to stop until it was too late.
“Given Leonhart’s raids against medical marijuana dispensaries and her alleged role in covering up the House of Death scandal, it would be funny if what sinks her nomination is some retirement Ponzi scheme,” said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance.

According to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers nine Western states including Arizona and California, it’s perfectly fine for the government to send agents onto your property to secretly plant a GPS tracking device on your vehicle and follow your movements — all without a search warrant. That’s because, according to a panel of three judges, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in your driveway, and no reasonable expectation that the government is not tracking you.
Huh?
The January ruling, upheld this month and reported by TIME magazine, pertains to a 2007 investigation of an Oregon resident who was suspected of growing marijuana.

(NECN) – Usually houses full of marijuana plants are getting busted — not being hailed for their energy efficiency.
But in North Carolina, that is the case for a house that was built out of hemp.

It’s reportedly the first ever “hemp house” permitted to be built in the U.S. The owners say last month’s cooling bill for the 3400 square foot home was only about $100.
That’s because of the thermal capabilities of hemp. The couple also says it only cost $133 per square foot to build the house, using industrial ‘hempcrete.’
They say they wanted to use recyclable materials that are healthy and better for the environment.
http://www.necn.com/08/26/10/Hemp-house-built-in-North-Carolina/landing.html?blockID=298014&feedID=4213

Michigan cities and patients explore limits of state’s medical marijuana law

by Lucy Hough

Michigan is one of 14 states, plus Washington, D.C., that permits the use of medical marijuana in some capacity. At the forefront of what appears to be a progressive push, Michigan city councils, caregivers and patients are finding their way through a sometimes unclear law.
The law passed as a way to “permit the use and cultivation of marijuana for specified medical conditions,” the initiative stated. To help with conditions such as migraines, multiple sclerosis, HIV and the chronic pain that comes with a variety of illnesses, many people have sought licenses to purchase and use marijuana but also sell it.
According to Craig Covey, mayor of Ferndale and chief operating officer at the Michigan AIDS Coalition, marijuana has been used for a long time as a way to curb the symptoms of HIV/AIDS. Before it was ever remotely legal, marijuana was used as a way to reduce nausea and improve one’s appetite – to prevent wasting syndrome, which often occurs in people with AIDS. With the new law, HIV/AIDS is included on the list of qualifying conditions for a medical marijuana license.
“Most importantly, (medical marijuana) has at least helped people understand that there is an option available that was not legal before,” Covey said. “Its use has been prevalent (in the past), but now the stigma around its use can be eliminated.
“(Proposal 1, passed by voters in 2008,) took it from the dark alleys and underground and into the light.”
Covey feels that marijuana should be legalized for adults entirely, making marijuana less of underground drug and more of a resource. Feeling that marijuana was criminalized in the first place as a way to stifle racial minorities, Covey hopes that people will start listening to experts about what marijuana really is.
“There are some various, dangerous drugs out there that society has an interest in prohibiting and eliminating: heroin, methamphetamine and similar types of highly addictive narcotics. And to include what most experts believe to be a pretty benign drug, it is pretty, what I think, dumb,” Covey said.
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As mayor of Ferndale, Covey has experienced the problems people are finding in interpreting this new law, especially in what sorts of businesses can benefit. Ferndale is one of many cities in the area, including Ann Arbor and Royal Oak, who have put a temporary moratorium on cannabis-based businesses in order to look into appropriate zoning laws.
At recent meetings, the Ferndale planning commission has discussed making it illegal for residents to smoke or use cannabis in any way outside of their private homes, including in compassion groups or other institutions. Greg Pawlowski, director of the Rainbow Compassion Club, which formerly met at Affirmations in Ferndale, was present at the meeting to speak up for the people who benefit from compassion clubs, or other places where they can smoke away from their homes.
One business, Clinical Relief, has already taken root in Ferndale as a resource for medical marijuana. Located on Hilton Road, Covey said this business was “grandfathered” in because it came along before the city council made a decision on how to handle such businesses.
Covey hopes that the Michigan legislature moves forward with looking at options for marijuana use, but because Proposal 1 was the efforts of grassroots organization, he said that he doubts Michigan will make any progress any time soon.
“If the legislature was able to get their act together,” Covey added, “it would develop policies that are cutting edge and smart and could actually use the marijuana issue for badly needed revenue across the state, much as we tax cigarettes, alcohol and other materials.”
Pawlowski also feels that the legislature needs to reconsider where it stands with medical marijuana. He believes that city governments’ interest in regulating medical marijuana is meddling too much in individuals’ rights and he hopes the state will move toward legalizing marijuana entirely. This, he feels, will only benefit Michigan’s poor economy.
“They could truly, truly save Michigan and I believe it could save Detroit,” Pawlowski said.
Pawlowski encouraged anyone interested in promoting legalized medicinal and general marijuana to attend compassion clubs, which he said most cities have in some form or another. The Rainbow Compassion Club is no longer meeting at Affirmations, and is in the process of finding another location.

facebook may think it’s “inappropriate” to run ads depicting marijuana leaves, but apparently Google doesn’t.

he420times | Comments 2

By DEAN CHRISTOPHER
Since ancient times, people have used drugs — in groups or individually — as part of religious rituals and for personal spiritual quests. Even without specific references to ingesting mind-altering plants, throughout history the link between substance and spirituality has been indirectly described or can be inferred through logical deduction.
That said, the simple belief, however sincere, that cannabis usage constitutes a religious sacrament is not necessarily sufficient to convince legal authorities that possession and use of marijuana is not a crime.
Most of today’s major religions not only do not use cannabis during worship; they specifically forbid their members to use it at all, for perceived moral as well as actual legal reasons. Some go to extremes. Muslim societies, often at governmental levels, strictly prohibit alcohol and other intoxicants. They can impose severe penalties on anyone caught with liquor or drugs. Punishments range from burdensome fines to physical beating to imprisonment to public beheading. Thus their viewpoint is made clear to all.
This does not change the fact that, throughout history, other religious leaders have been — and in many places, continue to be — enthusiastic advocates for the spiritual value of cannabis. Since cannabis is arguably the world’s oldest, most widely cultivated crop, it is unsurprising that it should have been used for religious, as well as medical and social, purposes in virtually every culture on Earth.
Religious groups use cannabinoids (and similar substances) in their rites for many reasons: To commune with gods, nature and one another. As a path to enlightenment. For initiation or anointing new members. As a companion to prayer. To celebrate holidays or special occasions. Some consider cannabis a sacrament akin to Communion. Marijuana has also enhanced certain cults’ “sacred sex” rituals.
Since religions are so closely invested in the physical health of their adherents, cannabis has often been used as medication for members’ well-being.
In the beginning. As noted above, since ancient times, cannabis has been a part of religious rituals all over the world — the spiritual equivalent of its role in physical healing.
But it is important to understand that what we call “religion” today was not so narrowly defined in ancient times. Our distant ancestors made no distinction between medicine and religion. It was all mysterious, divine. Medicine was considered part of the magical arts. Shamans or tribal chiefs were doctors and spiritual leaders — healers of souls as well as bodies. “Medicine men” in the full sense of the word. They could invoke “healing spirits” with the help of nature’s pharmacy — plants whose properties they knew from personal experience. These were seen to produce an altered state, in which good (and sometimes bad!) forces could be invoked.
Far out in the Far East. Ancient Chinese documents — identified as a respected pharmacopeia — refer to cannabis as a magical plant useful for contacting the spirit world. Mummies from about 1000 B.C. exhumed in Northwest China were found next to large sacks of marijuana, from which archeologists surmised that they were shamans or healers (more likely both, as mentioned above). Some Taoists believed that a potion of ginseng and cannabis could help them accurately predict the future.
The Hindu connection. The ritual use of cannabis among Hindus has been noted since 1500 B.C., mentioned in the Rig Veda, Atharva Veda and other sacred texts. Bhang became the favored form of cannabis for Shiva worship, a custom which continues to the present day. Devotees sip a bhang herbal infusion (or tea) of cannabis leaves, flowers and selected flavorings. Sometimes milk is added to the potion. Lest anyone doubt the importance of cannabis to Indian culture, consider that “Bengal” means “Land of bhang,” and “Bangladesh” stands for “People from the bhang country.”
Besides Shiva, the goddess Kali-Ma is closely associated with cannabis. Indeed, these two may enjoy the oldest continuous tradition of worship of any deities, predating even Hebrew, norse and East Asian gods. Devotees of Kali-Ma use marijuana to enhance erotic activities designed to draw kundalini fi re from the base of the spine up into their higher chakras.
The Sikh sect from the Punjabi region of northwest india is known to use bhang mixtures in their religious observances. it is approved by their Holy Scripture, the Adi Granth. is this why the Buddha smiles? it is widely claimed that Gautama Siddartha (known to the West as Buddha, the “wise one”) subsisted on a strict diet of cannabis seeds for several years before reaching his enlightenment. Based on this endorsement of “the holy plant” from their Founder, cannabis is still part of some Buddhist rituals, notably the Tibetan Tantric sect.
Northern light-ups. In north European (Germanic and Scandinavian) cultures, cannabis was often linked to worship of Freya, the norse love goddess, equivalent to the Egyptian isis, roman Venus, Greek Aphrodite and Hindu radha. These cultures believed that she dwelled within the plant’s leaves, and worshippers could partake of her divine love-power by chewing the leaves. Predictably, this ingestion was usually accompanied by erotic rites. Hashish residue found in ancient Celtic ruins suggests that at least some of their tribes also used cannabis in their rituals.
and in Biblical times … rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, in his 1981 book The Living Torah, writes that Kabbalists over the centuries have used mind altering drugs to intensify their mystic experience. This suggests that “burnt offerings” probably does not refer exclusively to barbecued oxen or goats. Kaplan and other scholars claim that the “kaneh bosem” referred to in ancient Hebrew texts was a cannabis-like plant included in anointing oil. in some Biblical accounts, wise men (including King Solomon) and their wives and children enhanced their wisdom with herbal stimulants.
In Part Two, The 420 Times takes a look at cannabis and religion in Ancient Greece, Rome and elsewhere, including early Christianity and Islam. Stay tuned!
http://the420times.com/2010/08/cannabis-religion-part-one/