Related to previous post -- Legalise synthetic cannabis: lobby group

AN adult industry lobby group says synthetic cannabis drugs should be legalised, tested and regulated to ensure the products are safe.

The call from Eros follows the death of Sydney teenager Henry Kwan who jumped off a balcony to his death after taking a synthetic hallucinogen.

Robbie Swan, coordinator of Eros, isn't suggesting there should be legalisation and regulation of such hallucinogens.

But he says Australia should follow New Zealand's lead to force manufacturers and distributors of synthetic cannabis products to submit their products for government testing for toxicity and safety.

"The government should then regulate them through a tightly controlled network of age-restricted premises with warnings on labels. And then after that, the government should put a tax on these products which should go to education and research," he told AAP.

He said without any testing, the synthetic hallucinogens, seemed too dangerous.

"They probably still should be tested. If they cause people to jump off buildings, well they clearly shouldn't be legalised. Nobody knows, that's the problem," he said.

"Politicians are really working the dark, the same as the public and indeed the people taking them."

Eros is traditionally associated with the X-rated adult DVD industry but some adult stores now sell various herbal drug products.

The organisation is proposing use of its hologram stickers on approved products and a code of practice for sale of what it calls "social tonics, erectile dysfunction and mood enhancing lifestyle products."

That includes selling only tested and approved products from age-restricted premises.

The NSW government last week announced it was moving to ban synthetic drugs following Henry's death.

NSW opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald supports the proposed ban saying it's the government's responsibility to make sure more people aren't harmed by the unregulated products.

"These drugs will kill young people if they take them," Dr McDonald told reporters on Saturday.

He said the campaign by Eros was a waste of money as the drugs were dangerous and should be outlawed.

Source -- http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/legalise-synthetic-cannabis-says-eros/story-fn3dxiwe-1226660564781

!The REAL Danger of LEGAL DRUGS! 

Tragic death of model student Henry Kwan reveals the new scourge of legal synthetic drugs.
HENRY Kwan, 17, was a model student, dux of his class, when he took a drug that led to a psychotic breakdown and caused him to jump to his death off a balcony at his family's suburban Sydney home.

The synthetic drug he took on Wednesday afternoon was perfectly legal, and drugs just like it - forms of LSD, cannabis, cocaine, methamphetamine, marketed with names such as Kronic and Northern Lights - are available at your local tobacconist, at sex shops and even sports stores.

Henry's father Stephen faced the media last week, trying to get across the message that these drugs should not be legal.



"I just want that all parents should be aware of this. Because it can be available everywhere easily," he said.

His son was a "very good boy" who never would have taken an illegal drug. He took the tab because he thought it would help him stay awake to study

Instead it sent his brain haywire. He stripped off and told his mother he could fly as she struggled to hold him back from the balcony's edge.

It's a horror no parent should endure. Yet those drugs are still openly on sale.

How many more people have to die or lose their minds?

The NSW government already has the report of a 15-month parliamentary inquiry into synthetic drugs, tabled two weeks ago.

Chaired by Castle Hill MP Dominic Perrottet, it made 13 recommendations, including giving the Minister for Fair Trading power to issue on-the-spot fines.

But it still requires police to establish a substance is illegal, against the challenge of drug manufacturers who tweak their formulas to stay ahead of the law.

It's a complex task for lawmakers but Queensland has found the will for a tough response, banning all substances "intended" to have the same effect as a dangerous drug. No grey area.

Meanwhile, the human carnage piles up. On the NSW north coast, where police say synthetic drug use is rife, emergency departments are facing unprecedented violence and drug-induced psychosis.

Normal people are presenting with "out-of-control behaviours and manic violence similar to the comic book monster The Hulk" a nurse told The Port News. This is the illegal drug problem on steroids, and a glimpse into a future of legal drugs.

Last year, "Gabrielle", 22, and her partner decided to try synthetic cannabis "Kronic" they bought at a Newcastle tobacconist.

It was $10 more expensive than real cannabis, but they used it because it was legal.

"You think, I'm not doing anything wrong, it must be OK. It's legal and easy to get and you didn't have to associate with all the grubs you have to associate with to get (real marijuana). And it didn't show up on the drug tests at work."

She smoked Kronic for seven months, sharing 15-20 "cones" per day with her partner. One day he was smoking a cone when he "dropped to the ground and started having a fit".

The last straw was when her 13-year-old stepson found their stash and smoked one cone. They found him "stumbling up the road with no shirt on and blood coming out of his stomach. Voices in his head were telling him to kill himself so he stabbed himself with a cheese knife with two prongs on the end."

The boy spent three weeks in a psychiatric unit but recovered.

Gabrielle stopped smoking Kronic but then the panic attacks began. "Horrible ones. I ended up in hospital twice. Like I get chest pains and pins and needles in my arms and feel like I can't breathe properly and when I get up to walk I get really light headed like I'm going to pass out."

She is now on anti-depressants.

The Perrottet inquiry heard evidence that synthetic cannabis has a more profound effect on the brain than cannabis because "some of the compounds are more effective in binding to receptor sites".

While research into use is sketchy, the committee found mining companies are particularly concerned about the problem, with one test in Western Australia finding rates of use among employees as high as 30 per cent. The Perrottet inquiry recommended against self-regulation and licensing of the $600 million synthetic drugs industry.

But in doing so it was bucking against a mood for drug liberalisation that has infected much of the political class, and even police.

For the past seven years there has been a concerted attack on the successful Howard-era Tough on Drugs strategy, which was launched in 1997, and brought drug use down for the first time in three decades.

The result is that drug use is increasing, and more children are experimenting in a laissez faire atmosphere.

The figures tell the story.

A report last week by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics shows ecstasy use and possession soared by 77.5 per cent and cocaine by 43.5 per cent. While Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione claimed it was due to proactive policing, the evidence indicates otherwise. It doesn't matter which study you look at, the upward trend on drug use is unmistakable.

The Australian Secondary School Students Alcohol and Drug Survey shows teenage drug use plummeted between 1996 and 2005 before rising again from 2008 to 2011.

The proportion of 12- to 15-year-olds who used an illicit drug, mainly cannabis, in the previous month fell from 16 per cent in 1996 to 5.2 per cent in 2008. But then the trend reversed itself, rising to 5.5 per cent in 2011. For those aged 16-17, drug use in the previous month fell from 12.8 per cent to 12.4 per cent between 2005 and 2008 and then swung back up to 14.2 per cent in 2011.

The latest National Drug Strategy household survey found the number of people over 14 who used drugs in the previous year rose by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2010.

A similar story is found in the Australian Crime Commissions Illicit Drug Data report, 2010-11. A decline in cannabis use from 18 per cent in 1998 to about 9 per cent in 2007 surged to 11 per cent in 2010.

We have no hope of tackling the new scourge of synthetic drugs if we keep going soft on regular drugs.

PICTURE -- Stephen Kwan with a picture of his son Henry who died after taking a synthetic drug and falling from a third floor balcony at his home in Killara. Picture:  Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph
Source- http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/tragic-death-of-model-student-henry-kwan-reveals-the-new-scourge-of-legal-synthetic-drugs/story-fni0cwl5-1226660617610

Another World

CANNABINOIDS OCCUR NATURALLY IN HUMAN BREAST MILK

The same cannabinoids found in marijuana are also found in breast milk. This may initially sound shocking to some, but the fact is that these cannabinoids have an important purpose in the growth and development of babies. Cannabinoids promote hunger in newborns, which ensures both an adequate milk supply in the mother and enough nutrition for baby.

  THE PURPOSE

Babies have to learn how to eat after birth. Cannabinoid receptors in the brain bind to the chemicals in breast milk to trigger a hunger response in babies. This response helps babies to nurse frequently. Frequent nursing is very important during the first months of life as baby learns how to eat. The brain and body of a newborn rapidly develops during the first year of life. Breast milk contains everything that a baby needs to develop, but the baby must first learn how to suckle. When cannabinoid receptors in the brain are activated, newborns experience a natural response that improves the coordination of muscles used to drink breast milk.

The naturally occurring cannabinoids in breast milk have a specific biological purpose that helps infants gain weight after birth. The same response that encourages an infant to eat is reflected among cancer patients who use medical marijuana to regain their appetite after treatment based caused severe weight loss and nausea. The fact that the human body has receptors for cannabinoids is important to consider. The cannabinoids in breast milk are the same as those found in marijuana. As a medicinal plant, marijuana can be beneficial for many reasons.

When used medicinally, marijuana can improve immune function and reduce the symptoms of many diseases. Cannabis is a natural pain reliever that has been used in some states as an alternative medicine for cancer, glaucoma, and for anxiety and depression among adults. The use of marijuana among cancer patients has been well documented as reducing the severe side effects of cancer treatment, which can include nausea, tiredness, vomiting, and depression. In modern society, marijuana is slowly becoming a viable complement to traditional medical treatments. According to HerbalMission.org, cannabis is useful in the treatment of Alzhimer’s disease, migranes, premenstrual syndrome, and seizures.

  THE BENEFITS OF CANNABIS

Cannabis has an effect on both the central nervous system and the immune system. BBC News reports that multiple sclerosis sufferers have experienced relief from symptoms of the disease by using cannabis extracts after other treatments failed. The relaxing properties of marijuana extracts can also be useful in the treatment of some mood disorders. The true potential of marijuana, especially in its natural form, is yet to be determined because of the stigma attached to the use of the plant. Luckily, people have started to realize that cannabis is a truly medicinal plant that can improve health while promoting a sense of well-being when used properly.

Fresh marijuana leaves can be juiced to create a healthy drink that contains dozens of beneficial cannabinoids. The use of marijuana as a natural remedy to illness and disease dates back thousands of years. It is only in recent history that the use of cannabis has become taboo. With more people fighting illness and disease than ever, the use of medical marijuana is growing. Cannabinoids, and cannabis, are safe and effective in the treatment of many different conditions. That human body was designed to make use of cannabinoids from birth. Natural cannabis,rather than extracts, is the best way to get the health benefits of marijuana. http://primalhealthnews.com

The marijuana Rx for sick New Yorkers 

Mr. Mayor, this is no 'hoax'; state legislators should pass medical pot without delay

On Friday, Mayor Bloomberg called medical marijuana “one of the greatest hoaxes of all time.” From a mayor who has generally promoted public health policies based on sound medical and epidemiological evidence, such a comment is puzzling. It flies in the face of science.Bloomberg’s remarks came one day after the New England Journal of Medicine revealed the results of a doctors’ poll asking whether marijuana should be used to help alleviate symptoms in a woman with metastatic breast cancer: 76% said yes.The Journal’s findings are consistent with public polling in New York: 82% of all New Yorkers believe it’s a good idea to allow seriously or terminally ill people to use marijuana if recommended by a physician.Marijuana has been shown to relieve pain, muscle spasms and spasticity, as well as stimulate appetite and weight gain in patients with wasting syndromes. The evidence comes from medium and large, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials — the gold standard for medical research.The body of medical evidence has grown to suggest that marijuana can help relieve symptoms related to cancer and its treatment, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and symptoms related to HIV/AIDS. There is also emerging data suggesting that cannabinoids (the active biochemical components of cannabis) may slow the debilitating progression of multiple sclerosis.Compared with other medications, marijuana has low toxicity and is extremely safe. There is no known case of an overdose death from marijuana. In contrast, a review of deaths from the FDA Adverse Reporting System between 1997 and 2005 showed 196 deaths from medications to prevent nausea and vomiting and 118 deaths from medications that suppress muscle spasms.Opioid pain medications, which are widely prescribed, are now responsible for more accidental deaths than traffic accidents; almost 15,000 people died from prescription pain medications in 2008 alone, the last year for which data are available.In addition, the evidence regarding the safety and addiction potential of marijuana from states that have allowed marijuana to be prescribed medicinally have, to date, generally shown no increase in overall marijuana use.For example, a 2012 epidemiological study concluded that medical marijuana laws have had no discernible effects on adolescent marijuana use. Indeed, the study suggests that adolescent use may actually decrease with the passage of laws legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, perhaps because it is perceived as less glamorous.While marijuana use can become a problem for some, few users become dependent on it. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, only about 9% of those who try marijuana ever become addicted (a number likely inflated due to the illegal context of use), compared with 32% of tobacco and 15% of alcohol users.Many physicians in the New York medical community have been pushing for the passage of a bill pending before the Legislature that would allow health care practitioners to certify patients with serious, debilitating illnesses so that they may have access to a small amount of medical marijuana to relieve their symptoms. This is no hoax; it is compassionate care for real people.The FDA’s medication approval system is hopelessly politicized and broken. That’s precisely why 18 other states and the District of Columbia have chosen to pass medical marijuana legislation, prioritizing the well-being of their sickest residents over politics. New Yorkers suffering from serious or debilitating illnesses should not have to wait any longer for relief.Blinderman, M.D., is the director of adult palliative medicine services at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Aggarwal, M.D., Ph.D., is vice chairman of New York Physicians for Compassionate Care and an associate member of the New York Academy of Medicine. The opinions expressed here are their own, not those of their employers.

SOURCE -- http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/marijuana-rx-sick-new-yorkers-article-1.1363212

ACLU Report: Racist Marijuana Laws Target Blacks

The war on marijuana is racist. That's the conclusion of a major new report released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Among the alarming findings in "The War on Marijuana in Black and White" is that while marijuana use rates between blacks and whites are comparable, blacks are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

The report -- the first to evaluate marijuana arrests rates by race on a national scope -- finds that the disparity isn't just limited to inner cities. In over 96 percent of the counties the ACLU examined, which cover 78 percent of the U.S. population, blacks are arrested at higher rates than whites for marijuana possession.

And, while criminal justice observers have long known that drug arrests are conducted on a racially disproportionate basis, the report finds that the disparity has widened even further over the past decade. ACLU's analysis reveals that while annual marijuana arrests have risen over 10 years, the arrest rate for whites remained constant, meaning that the overall national increase in arrests is largely attributable to a whole lot more black people getting busted.

This clear unfair targeting of our nation's failed marijuana laws has prompted a growing number of leaders from black communities to raise their voices in favor of reform. Several state branches of the NAACP have endorsed legalization and played a crucial role in last year's successful campaigns to end marijuana prohibition in Colorado and Washington State. Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ, has declared the war on drugs a failure and endorsed reforms like medical marijuana laws. Jesse Jackson called the drug war "a new Jim Crow offensive against people of color." Al Sharpton says racial disparities in drug law enforcement have "undermined the legitimacy of our criminal justice system." And ActorMorgan Freeman says marijuana prohibition is "just the stupidest law possible."

But there's one black leader who's conspicuously absent from the serious conversation about reforming these laws: President Barack Obama.

Worse than simply being silent about the racially disproportionate impact of these laws, though, the administration of the president who used to smoke a lot of marijuana as a young man has actively stood in the way of sensible marijuana reform at nearly every step.

Despite campaign pledges to respect state marijuana laws, Obama's Justice Department closed down more state-legal medical marijuana providers in one term than were shuttered by the feds during two terms of the Bush administration.

The official White House marijuana webpage says that legalization "hinders recovery efforts and poses a significant health and safety risk to all Americans, especially our youth."

Right, because there's nothing like a criminal record to keep our young people safe and healthy.

While he's undoubtedly a busy guy, President Obama has had ample opportunity to speak up about the need to modernize our country's outdated approach to marijuana. In fact, he has been forced to address it a number of times. The White House occasionally asks people to submit and vote on policy questions via the Internet, and marijuana legalization usually ranks as the number one issue. Sadly, though, rather than giving the people who take the time to participate in these online forums the thoughtful answers they deserve, the president routinely ignores or dismisses them, sometimes literally laughing at and making fun of people for asking.

But this issue is no laughing matter for the thousands of young black men who get put into handcuffs and jail cells every year for engaging in the same activities young marijuana enthusiast Barry Obama used to partake in on Hawaiian beaches back in the day. It's probably safe to say that had he been caught by police back then, he likely wouldn't have ended up in a position to answer questions from YouTube town halls in the White House East Room.

How much can one president really do about these longstanding policies, though? When pressed about how the nation's alarmingly high arrest rates square with the administration's insistence that it's pursuing a health-focused anti-drug strategy that recognizes that "we can't arrest our way out of the drug problem," federal officials often say they have no control over the state and local police departments that make the bulk of drug busts in the country.

But in a telephone interview with me, ACLU's Ezekiel Edwards, who authored the new report, placed much of the blame on federal grant programs that perversely incentivize local law enforcement agencies to make as many drug arrests as possible.

Edwards says that if given the opportunity, he'd tell the president that, "You need to do a better job of making sure that federal money is not going to police agencies that are wasting it making racially biased marijuana arrests." He also pointed out that federal prosecution of marijuana offenses is rising. It'd be pretty hard for the administration to wash its hands of blame for that.

To date, the president and those who work for him have remained mostly mum about how the federal government plans to respond to the historic state marijuana legalization laws now being enacted in Colorado and Washington.

ACLU's Edwards called the growing polling support for legalization around the country "a smart and sensible move forward" and said the federal government should allow the new state laws to be implemented without interference. "Let states try to push forward with more intelligent drug policy. Move away from this failed 40-year, trillion-dollar war on drugs."

Let's hope the ACLU report and the attention it is sure to generate encourage the president to devote some time during his second term to finally giving this issue and the voters who support it the serious respect and consideration they deserve.

Tom Angell is chairman of Marijuana Majority.

SOURCE -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-angell/racist-marijuana-laws_b_3383580.html

New Research Finds Marijuana May Combat Brain Damage

New research published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research andExperimental Brain Research has found that even minimalistic amounts of marijuana may help fight brain damage.

Pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University, the lead researcher of the study, found that tiny amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, as well as toxic drug exposure and a lack of oxygen.

During the study, researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC (thousands of times less potent than even the weakest joint) either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Rodents in a control group were (sadly) exposed to trauma without given any THC.

Roughly a month later the mice were examined – those which had been given THC performed better in behavioral tests which were designed to measure learning and memory – the tests also showed the THC-administered mice had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than mice in the control group.

This study comes around the same time as research released in the journalNeuropharmacology, which found cannabinoids to have neuroprotective qualities when administered to newborn pigs. The study states, “In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that CBD exerts robust neuroprotective effects in vivo in HI piglets, modulating excitotoxicity, oxidative stress and inflammation, and that both CB2 and 5HT1A receptors are implicated in these effects.”

Source: The Joint Blog