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Search Results: drugs/ (40)

Colombia’s President: Marijuana Should Be Legalized Globally

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Global, Legislation, News

These bricks totaling more than seven tons of marijuana were confiscated by the Colombian army from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said this week that legalization of marijuana would allow the war on drugs to move forward by shifting focus to harder drugs and helping to stop the international violence associated with drug trafficking.

Santos said more world leaders should rethink their approach to the War On Drugs in order to deal with drug trafficking and the use of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, reports Natalie Dalton of Colombia Reports. The Colombian president made the remarks in an interview with Metro News.

“The world needs to discuss new approaches … we are basically still thinking within the same framework as we have done for the last 40 years,” the president said.

Worth Repeating: Want To Help With Cannabis Legalization? Sign These 11 Petitions!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 5, 2011 Legislation

Sign These 11 White House Petitions Today!

Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin’.

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)

(Editor’s note: Major props to Morgan Fox over at Marijuana Policy Project, who, as I was preparing Ron Marczyk’s post, published MPP’s list of petitions to sign, here.)

That’s right, from the comfort of your living room, you can have green petition party, punctuated with bong rips if you so desire.

If this community can get all 11 of these petitions maxed out with signatures, it’ll help put medical cannabis issues on the table for the 2012 Presidential race.

Click on the name of each petition to go to the White House page where you can vote for it.

Tourist Fined $2,000 For 3 Grams Of Marijuana In Bermuda

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 26, 2011 Global, News

Photo: Cruise Law News

Don’t carry your weed to Bermuda.

An American tourist who said she smoked marijuana for medical reasons was fined $2,000 on Thursday in Bermuda.

Teresa Sheridan, 53, of Oregon, pleaded guilty in Magistrates’ Court to one count of importing cannabis, reports Mikaela Ian Pearman of the Bermuda Sun.

Sheridan arrived on a flight from New York to Bermuda on May 23 at 2:10 p.m. She was selected for a search by Customs officers because a drug-detecting dog had alerted to her seat on the plane.

Happy 73rd Birthday To Stoner Comedian Tommy Chong

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Culture, Products

Photo: Rolled Too Tight

Tommy Chong is a legend among stoners. The Canadian-American comedian, actor and musician, well known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era pot smokers, turns 73 years old today. He was born May 24, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Chong is most widely known for his involvement in the Cheech & Chong comedy duo, which recorded a series of albums and then filmed a series of movies centered around marijuana-related humor. He also became well known for playing the hippie character “Leo” on Fox’s That 70s Show.

In 2003, Chong — as a highly visible and successful symbol of the stoner lifestyle — was targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter. He was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris.

Feds Order Banks To Spy On Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 21, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: DarkGovernment

Federal regulators stepped into a firestorm of controversy recently when they ordered banks in California’s North Coast area to spy on the transactions of customers who are suspected of making money in the medical marijuana business.

In a heavy-handed bid to crack down on California’s cannabis industry, federal officials have ordered the banks to look out for “suspicious activity” by dispensary owners, reports Clarence Walker at AlterNet. That is making it very difficult for medical marijuana dispensaries which are legal under state, but not federal law, to conduct business.

Worth Repeating: Body’s Own Cannabinoids Are The Bliss Within

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 14, 2011 Medical

Photo: Henry Diltz

Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin’.

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)

Did you see the medicinal cannabis science report in The New York Times on February 16?

In summary, the report says the great sense of euphoria and calm that many people report experiencing after prolonged exercise (“the runner’s high”) is not so much governed by the endorphins as “now an emerging field of neuroscience indicates that an altogether different neurochemical system within the body and brain, the endocannabinoid system, may be responsible for that feeling” of “pure happiness, elation, a feeling of unity with one’s self and/or nature, endless peacefulness,” and “inner harmony.”

I have always been fascinated by how exercise and positive mood states go together. Having a master’s degree in exercise physiology and cardiac rehabilitation, being a runner for 45 years, and as a rock climber with a background in Zen, I feel qualified to discuss how the endocannabinoid system can be activated by exercise and/or THC ingestion.

Poll: 79% Of Connecticut Voters Support Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 11, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: Menopausal Stoners

Medical marijuana has the support of a whopping 79 percent of Connecticut voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday. The poll, which also showed strong support for cannabis decriminalization, comes as state legislators consider medical marijuana and decrim bills.

Support for medical marijuana was above 70 percent in every demographic, with even 72 percent of Republicans favoring it, reports Phillip S. Smith at AlterNet.

“There is a near consensus on the medical marijuana law with about eight in 10 voters supporting it,” said Dr. Douglas Schwartz, Quinnipiac poll director. “it’s rare to see such a level of support for any issue.”

Feds Will Study Only ‘Negative Consequences,’ Not Medical Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 21, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: New York Medical Marijuana Society

The National Institute on Drug Abuse: “Our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use. We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana”

Nearly two years ago, the Obama Administration issued its heralded “Scientific Integrity” memorandum which said “Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration.”

Coming, as pointed out by NORML’s Paul Armentano at AlterNet, just months after the American Medical Association called for “facilitating … clinical research and [the]development of cannabinoid-based medicines,” the memorandum stoked the hopes of pot activists who want to see the commencement of long-overdue human studies into the safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis.

But that was before cold gray reality, also known as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), weighed in. NIDA, which oversees 85 percent of the world’s research on controlled substances, reaffirmed its longstanding policy of “no medical marijuana” to The New York Times.

“As the National Institute on Drug Abuse, our focus is primarily on the negative consequencs of marijuana use,” a spokesperson told the Times in 2010. “We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana.”

Drug Czar Lies His Ass Off; Claims ‘100 Groups’ Studying Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 11, 2011 News

Photo: LIFE

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said this week that there are “over 100” ongoing FDA studies on marijuana. There are two.

U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske sat down for an interview with The Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs earlier this week — and managed to tell one hell of a whopper while he was at it.

When Riggs asked the Drug Czar, “You’ve said before that you don’t see medical benefits to smoked marijuana and also that the jury is still out on medical marijuana. What sort of scientific consensus does the ONDCP [Office of National Drug Control Policy] require? How many studies have to come out arguing for medical benefits? What do you need to see?”

“You know there are over 100 groups doing marijuana research,” the Czar replied, “and they’re getting their marijuana from the University of Mississippi. There are several things in clinical trials right now. So we’ll just have to wait for those.”

Worth Repeating: Smoking Cannabis Does Not Cause Lung Cancer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 27, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: YouTube

Dr. Donald Tashkin of UCLA conducted the largest-ever study of marijuana’s effect on the lungs. His team found that not only was cannabis not associated with lung cancer, but that it possibly even exerts a protective effect against it.

Fellow Tokers, meet Ron Marczyk, who’ll be bringing to your attention stories from the cannabis archives that are “Worth Repeating.”

Often, as stories are churned through the media’s 24-hour news cycle, good information flashes by and is lost. We aim to help correct that with “Worth Repeating,” which will cover important cannabis stories that you may have missed.

Ron is a retired health education teacher who taught health ed and psych (drug/sex ed) to high school students for 20 years. He is an R.N. (emergency room) M.S. in cardiac rehab, and worked as a New York City Police officer for two years.

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