Mod+ 242. OLIVER HOCKENHULL, NEURONS TO NIRVANA

New York State Assembly Passes Comprehensive, Bi-Partisan Medical Marijuana Bill

Today, the New York State Assembly passed (A.6357-B/Gottfried) by a bipartisan vote of 91 – 34. This is the fifth time that the Assembly has passed a medical marijuana bill, and comes just months after the Assembly included the measure in their one-house state budget proposal. The bill, known as the Compassionate Care Act, would provide relief for thousands of New York patients suffering from serious and debilitating conditions – such as cancer, MS, and epilepsy -- by allowing the use of medical marijuana under the supervision of their healthcare provider. Patients, caregivers, and providers watched from the gallery as the Assembly debated and then voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill.

“Once again the Assembly has shown that it understands the needs of seriously ill patients in New York,” said Donna Romano of Syracuse. “As someone who lives with MS and seizures, I know medical marijuana can help alleviate my suffering and that of thousands of other New Yorkers. I hope the Senate will finally do the right thing and pass the Compassionate Care Act now.
 
DEA Asks FDA To Consider Rescheduling Marijuana From Schedule I Drug

NEW YORK ( MainStreet) — In another sign that the 2014 is turning out to be a watershed year for marijuana drug reform, the federal Department of Drug Enforcement (DEA) has sent up the first of what undoubtedly will be the first of many white flags .

After a historic House vote to defund the DEA's operating budget for marijuana enforcement in the states earlier in the month passed (with a similar one now in the Senate), the government agency has now asked the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs as defined by the Controlled Substances Act .
 
Marijuana edibles burgeoning into an industry

The proliferation of marijuana edibles for both medical and recreational purposes is giving rise to a cottage industry of baked goods, candies, infused oils, cookbooks and classes that promises a slow burn as more states legalize the practice and awareness spreads about the best ways to deliver the drug.

Edibles and infused products such as snack bars, olive oils and tinctures popular with medical marijuana users have flourished into a gourmet market of chocolate truffles, whoopie pies and hard candies as Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the past year.

"You're seeing a lot of these types of products like cannabis cookbooks," said Erik Altieri, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "They've always been popular among a subset of marijuana, but with the fact that more and more people from the mainstream are able to consume, there's a lot more interest."

Many pot users turn to edibles because they don't like to inhale or smell the smoke or just want variety. For many people who are sick or in pain, controlled doses of edibles or tinctures can deliver a longer-lasting therapeutic dose that doesn't give them the high.

And there's money to be made.
 
Have to mention the anti tumor effect of THC and CBD's. My thread on it was lost in a forum crash. Researchers are ready for human trials. GW pharmacueticals giloma trials are underway apparently. It has been known since the 70's and is now snowballing around the world. Cannabis oil kills cancer in many cases. Shown in tissue cultures, animal tests in case studies in multiple labs all over the world. On the other side of the coin are hundreds maybe thousands of anecdotal reports of people curing themselves of supposed terminal illness, even stage four lung and brain cancer. Thousands of parents are also using it to save their children from epilepsy. I used it to treat my dog with cancer, yes it worked! The vets were amazed. If does not stop there though, there are hundredes of conditions it can treat.

It saves lives, I am looking to the day when I can produce quality oil legitimately in my country. I will be changing carreer, giving shamanic medicine to those in need. Finally the most medicinal plant on the Earth is getting the recognition it deserves. Who can argue with the parents that are saving their kids lives by breaking the law. I know for a fact that most cops don't. Yeah I think people are starting to wake up a bit.
 
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | David Simon Part 1 of 2 | PBS

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | David Simon Part 2 of 2 | PBS

David Simon on America as a Horror Show

Simon talks about the drug trade, for-profit prisons, poverty, and how politics intersects with the idiotic Drug War.

John Oliver on the broken US prison system and the War on Drugs as a way to funnel profits to corporations that run prisons.

Ties into previously posted stuff that David Simon was talking about, regarding the Ouroboros of incarcerating people for ridiculous sentences for drug possession and the like in order to help feed the for-profit prison system.

The sugar in a c-section as medical treatment was worse than maggots in prison food, but both are pretty horrible.
 
The Drugs Problem

The Drug War is fueled by the fact that at this historic moment . . . our politicians are suffering from enemy deprivation. Faced with the real problems of urban decay, slipping global competitiveness, and a deteriorating educational system, the government has decided instead to turn its energies toward the sixty million Americans who use illegal psychoactive drugs. – Timothy Leary, advocate of psychedelics, 1920–1996

The primary problem with drugs is that they are illegal and/or state-controlled. This counter-evolutionary state control of substances that we ingest for other than nutritional purposes is the root cause of virtually all the problems that people are concerned about in connection with drugs, drug abuse, and drug-related crime. Sure, all drugs have potential problems if abused. But we are human beings and we are able to make judgments about these things, and treat them with respect and caution—just as we must when we drive vehicles, have sex, or buy food from street vendors. Cannabis, magic mushrooms, peyote, opium, coca leaf extracts, and alcohol were all legal at the end of the nineteenth century, when only alcohol was regarded as a major social problem. A century later, we find that alcohol is the only consciousness-altering drug that remains legal, and it remains a major social problem.
 
The Legal Cannabis Business: A Talk with Mike "Zappy" Zapolin

How do people who want to start small independent cannabis business get one in motion?

The most important thing is to get educated. It’s so early right now that a little bit of knowledge can put you at the forefront of the industry. My advice is to simply get involved — now. It’s like getting into the oil, automobile, or the computer industries early. It didn’t really matter what you were doing, or what part of the industry you were in. If you were early, you did really well.

How challenging are the legal hoops that a potential cannabis business has to leap through?


The business challenges are really not very significant. It’s important to comply with the laws of the individual state that you’re in. But as long as you’re doing that, setting up a business, getting rolling is not difficult at all. The question is simply whether you want to handle the actual product, or if you want to support the industry. If you’re not growing product and handling product, there’s little barrier to your business being successful, if you want to handle product, grow or process it, there’s some minor hoops to jump through related to legal, but they’re well worth the effort.
 
Have to mention the anti tumor effect of THC and CBD's. My thread on it was lost in a forum crash. Researchers are ready for human trials. GW pharmacueticals giloma trials are underway apparently. It has been known since the 70's and is now snowballing around the world. Cannabis oil kills cancer in many cases. Shown in tissue cultures, animal tests in case studies in multiple labs all over the world. On the other side of the coin are hundreds maybe thousands of anecdotal reports of people curing themselves of supposed terminal illness, even stage four lung and brain cancer. Thousands of parents are also using it to save their children from epilepsy. I used it to treat my dog with cancer, yes it worked! The vets were amazed. If does not stop there though, there are hundredes of conditions it can treat.

It saves lives, I am looking to the day when I can produce quality oil legitimately in my country. I will be changing carreer, giving shamanic medicine to those in need. Finally the most medicinal plant on the Earth is getting the recognition it deserves. Who can argue with the parents that are saving their kids lives by breaking the law. I know for a fact that most cops don't. Yeah I think people are starting to wake up a bit.

LS, Cannabis Oil is the same as Hemp Oil, correct?
 
LS, Cannabis Oil is the same as Hemp Oil, correct?

Hey Ethan, been busy of late. Have begun studying chemistry officially! I have cannabinoids in my sites.

Strictly speaking no it's not the same. There is a rise in the use of hemp oil because it is rich in CBD's, not THC though. Lots of good applications still.
Strains are being grown rich in CBD and weak in THC like the now famous Charlotte's web strain. Hugely successful in treating epilepsy. Growers are infusing the CBD's back into the strains by crossing hemp somewhere in the lineage. The CBD's have been bred to a minimum in many strains over the years. Guys like CBD crew are producing new powerful medicine with CBD rich strains.

Part of the confusion probably has to do with Rick Simpson calling his oil hemp oil. No it is not hemp oil.

The recent advances show that a synergy between cannabanoids has the most healing power. The combination of THC and CBD's and even the terpinoids all contribute in different ways. The plant has hundreds of medicinal molecules you could say. And why it can treat such a wide range of conditions as it directly interfaces with the endo cannabinoid system.
 
Hey Ethan, been busy of late. Have begun studying chemistry officially! I have cannabinoids in my sites.

Strictly speaking no it's not the same. There is a rise in the use of hemp oil because it is rich in CBD's, not THC though. Lots of good applications still.
Strains are being grown rich in CBD and weak in THC like the now famous Charlotte's web strain. Hugely successful in treating epilepsy. Growers are infusing the CBD's back into the strains by crossing hemp somewhere in the lineage. The CBD's have been bred to a minimum in many strains over the years. Guys like CBD crew are producing new powerful medicine with CBD rich strains.

Part of the confusion probably has to do with Rick Simpson calling his oil hemp oil. No it is not hemp oil.

The recent advances show that a synergy between cannabanoids has the most healing power. The combination of THC and CBD's and even the terpinoids all contribute in different ways. The plant has hundreds of medicinal molecules you could say. And why it can treat such a wide range of conditions as it directly interfaces with the endo cannabinoid system.

Thanks LS! I guess I should have known they were different since I knew the buds (with THC) and hemp (no THC) came from different parts of the plant. It all sounds promising!

Good luck and have fun with the Chemistry! (Although I am a little disappointed you didn't choose physics, a much cooler major, hehe j/k!)
 
How Neuroscience Reinforces Racist Drug Policy

Brain scans do not speak for themselves. The seemingly objective science of neuroimaging can be used to justify a moral argument for or against legal marijuana—to show it as a legitimate medicine, or as a danger to your health.

Researchers did not make any claims about how marijuana affected actual emotions, cognition, or behavior in these groups; instead; the study merely tried to establish that the aggregated brain scans of the two groups look different. So, who cares?


Different-looking brains tell us literally nothing about who these people are, what their lives are like, why they do or do not use marijuana, or what effects marijuana has had on them. Neither can we use such brain scans to predict who these people will become, or what their lives will be like in the future.

Nonetheless the study invented two new categories of person: the “young casual marijuana user” and the young non-marijuana user. This is the latest example of turning to brain imaging to make something seem objective. Establishing brain differences among certain groups highlights the uniquely ignoble political history surrounding the criminalization of a plant.
 
The Establishment Turns Against the Drug War

A record number of people are using drugs. Farmers are growing more heroin than ever before, and criminal organizations are making so much money from the sale of illicit narcotics that their revenues dwarf the legal trade in cereal, wine, beer, coffee, and tobacco combined. The war on drugs has succeeded in ruining millions of lives, with people worldwide thrown in prison for nothing more than getting high and helping others do the same–or getting murdered in the crossfire of drug war violence. Prohibition has so miserably failed to achieve any of its stated goals that even gross old politicians, the last to embrace change, are saying the status quo is unacceptable. Legalization, once a topic only seriously discussed in college dorms, has gone mainstream.

“Ultimately, the most effective way to reduce the extensive harms of the global drug prohibition regime and advance the goals of public health and safety is to get drugs under control through responsible legal regulation,” says a new report from the Global Commission on Drugs. The group—composed of establishment luminaries such as former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, billionaire Richard Branson, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and honorary co-chair George Shultz, who served as US Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan—unveiled its recommendations this morning at a press conference in New York. A delegation, including former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo, then met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has previously called drug addiction “a disease, not a crime.”

But change? Good luck waiting for that. As welcome as it is to see decrepit old men lining up to endorse the Global Drug Commission’s recommendations, the people saying the right thing now were generally doing the wrong thing back when they had real political power. It’s only in retirement that many politicians find their voice.

To be fair, it’s not as if the former presidents who have signed onto the commission’s recommendations had a lot of choice in the matter. Members of the United Nations are, at least technically, forbidden from doing what the commission recommends: regulating drugs as opposed to outright prohibiting them. When Uruguay first considered legalizing marijuana, the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board warned the South American nation that it would “be in complete contravention to the provisions of the international drug treaties to which [it] is party.” In 2016, however, there will be a United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs, which commission chairman and former president of Brazil Henrique Cardoso believes will offer “an historic opportunity to discussion the shortcomings of the drug control regime.”

Given the lack of urgency to address the crisis of international climate change with a new treaty, though, what’s the chance the global community will tear apart existing ones that require states to pledge allegiance to drug prohibition—and do so over the objections of a US empire? Not great, though with the US unable to rally sufficient opposition to block Bolivia from legalizing the chewing of coca leaves, there is cause for optimism.

"Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana was an absolute game changer," said Tom Angell, a long-time drug policy reform campaigner who heads the group Marijuana Majority. "When the US has legal marijuana in its own backyard, it's much harder for our federal government to go around telling other countries that they cannot reform their own drug policies."
 
Original, Extended Version of "Neurons to Nirvana" is Available Online

“From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines” (108 minutes) is about essential psychological, social and therapeutic issues confronting humanity and the role that psychedelics can play in alleviating those issues and assisting in finally civilizing civilization. It’s about the neuroscience and the subjective experience of these ancient and taboo medicines as carefully explained by the world’s leading neuroscientists, psychopharmacologists and other experts in the field.

“From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines” is the original, “non-dual consciousness” centred vision of the popular released “Neurons to Nirvana: Understanding Psychedelic Medicines” (69 minutes). This version —which you can see only here— was the version of the film that was selected for The Seattle International Film Festival, The Vancouver International Film Festival and The Montreal Nouveau Cinema Festival.
 
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