AsianScientist (Jan. 11, 2012) – In a world-first, researchers from the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Center (NCPIC), based at UNSW, are studying whether the pharmaceutical drug Sativex – registered for pain relief in multiple sclerosis patients – can help people better manage cannabis withdrawal symptoms as well.
It is estimated that there are at least 200,000 people dependent on cannabis in Australia, with one in ten people who try the drug at least once in their lifetime having problems ceasing use.

“One of the major barriers for regular cannabis users when they try to quit is withdrawal,” said NCPIC director Professor Jan Copeland.
“Withdrawal symptoms may include sleep difficulties, cravings and mood swings and although these are not life threatening, they are significant enough to cause marked distress and lead people to go back to using the drug.”

While tobacco smokers have nicotine replacement therapies to assist them when they stop cigarette smoking and opiate users have synthetic opioids like methadone, there is currently no targeted drug available to assist with cannabis withdrawal, Prof. Copeland said.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.asianscientist.com/tech-pharma/cannabis-withdrawal-drug-sativex-ncpic-australia-2012/
 

People who smoke marijuana for recreational or medical purposes might now breathe easier. Scientists report in the Jan. 11 Journal of the American Medical Association that occasional cannabis users don’t experience any loss of lung function.
In a 20-year study that included lung tests and a specific accounting of marijuana use, scientists also found that people who smoke more than 20 times a month and accumulate many years of use might have a slight drop in lung capacity over time. But the researchers are unsure of that finding since it was based on scant data.
The study is the longest ever conducted that measures cannabis smoking and lung function, uses standard lung measurements and includes thousands of volunteers, says Donald Tashkin, a pulmonologist at UCLA who wasn’t involved in the study. “That makes it important,” he says.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337499/title/Light_pot_smoking_easy_on_lungs
 

It’s the second year in a row that legislation has been filed to start Florida on the path that 16 other states and the District of Columbia have taken, starting with California in 1996. And this year represents the first time that a bill allowing marijuana as a medicinal has been filed in both the House and the Senate.
For some from the home of “Gainesville Green” — a celebrated strain of marijuana — and the recently revived Hemp Fest — including those who have served jail time for being a “Doobie Tosser” — this legislation can’t come quickly enough.
House Joint Resolution 353 and Senate Joint Resolution 1028 propose that the question of allowing marijuana for medical use should appear on the 2012 ballot as a statewide referendum. If approved by at least 60 percent of the voters, the state constitution would be amended.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20120107/ARTICLES/120109653?p=1&tc=pg

Robert  Harris

One day, hemp will be big. Really big. Its fibre makes an excellent replacement for fibreglass in car manufacture, building insulation and bonded reinforced plastics. It can even be used for brake pads.
 
Its woody core, or shiv, is well established as horse bedding, but it is finding a more lucrative use as the key ingredient in a novel, thermally-efficient building system.
On top of this, the crop needs few inputs, adding to its green credentials. Indeed, it has been hailed by some commentators as the crop that holds the key to a greener future.
However, the world is not ready yet for hemp on a large scale, says Mike Duckett, director of Hemp Technology, the UK’s largest hemp processor based in Halesworth, Suffolk.
“Hemp has a great future, but the real breakthrough will come when the price of oil rises to a level that makes the fibre widely attractive as a replacement to man-made alternatives. That could be in a couple of years or 10 years – no-one knows.

“The market is growing at about 15% a year – not as fast as people were predicting. But it takes time for industries to accept new materials,” says Mr Duckett. “And while everyone wants to be green, it also has to stack up economically. However, the market is now growing through market pull and that has to be better than trying to drive it from the supply side.”
He expects to process about 6,000t of straw this year from his 30 growers through the firm’s £4m processing facility, producing about 1,500t of fibre and 3,000t of shiv. At current market growth that tonnage and grower base could double over the next five years.
Another market gaining ground is hemp oil for human consumption, produced from dual-purpose (seed and fibre) varieties. Most is contracted to Devon-based Braham & Murray, which markets it as Good Oil, a low-saturated fat alternative to olive oil. Hemp seed is also included in a range of other goods such as specialist high-protein products.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/07/01/2012/130862/Hemp-could-be-the-crop-of-the-future.htm
 

CONCORD, NH — Several active duty and retired members of law enforcement will question presidential candidates on the campaign trail in New Hampshire today and tomorrow about the failed war on drugs they’ve been asked to waged.
“As an active duty jail superintendent, I’ve seen how the drug war doesn’t do anything to reduce drug abuse but does cause a host of other problems, from prison overcrowding to a violent black market controlled by gangs and cartels,” said Richard Van Wickler, the serving corrections superintendent in Cheshire County, NH and a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “For a long time this issue has been treated like a third rail by politicians, but polls now show that voters overwhelmingly agree that the drug war is a failure and that a new direction is sorely needed.”
WHO: Cheshire County, NH Corrections Superintendent Richard Van Wickler; Plainfield, CT Chief of Police Robert Hoffman and other law enforcement officials
WHAT: Panel discussion and questioning of presidential candidates on ending the war on drugs
WHEN: All day Thursday and Friday, January 5-6; Panel discussion at 1:00 PM Thursday
WHERE: 2012 College Convention; Grappone Conference Center; 70 Constitution Ave.; Concord, NH (1:00 PM Thurs discussion panel in Merrimack Room).
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.cisionwire.com/law-enforcement-against-prohibition/r/cops-who-support-legalizing-marijuana-to-question-presidential-candidates-in-nh,c9204727
 

 
Kentucky attorney and legendary marijuana and hemp advocate Gatewood Galbraith has passed away from complications due to pneumonia. He was 64. Gatewood was cut from the same cloth as Jack Herer. A fiery, articulate cannabis activist for decades, Gatewood ran five times for governor of Kentucky – three times as a Democrat, once on the Reform ticket and last year as an independent. He finished third in the three-candidate race this past November.
 
Read complete article here:
http://hightimes.com/legal/ht_admin/7466

 

Tako Miko Grayless

Seeds of entrepreneurial inspiration
New year, new you, right?
If you’re thinking about ways to improve your eating in 2012, consider adding hemp seeds to your diet. The seeds, which are gluten-free, are packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals and the heart- and skin-healthy fatty acids that can also help balance hormones. They have almost twice the protein as flax seeds and a higher percentage of protein than beef. They are also a complete protein that delivers a set of amino acids that our bodies can’t produce on their own.
“Even though the food has been around since 8,000 BC, most people don’t know about it,” says Tara Miko Grayless, who moved to Austin last year to launch her hemp seed company, Happy Hemp. She spends most Saturday mornings at the downtown farmers’ market explaining the nutritional benefits of hemp seeds, how to cook with them and the crop’s interesting role in American history.
Even though the Declaration of Independence was likely drafted on hemp paper and hemp fibers were used during World War II to make uniforms and rope, people often associate hemp with what Grayless calls “the black sheep” of the Cannabis sativa family: marijuana. According to the North American Industrial Hemp Council, both hemp and marijuana are members of Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties, but industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC. Even though hemp is legal to sell and eat (and use to make clothing, oil, paper and even particle board), because of the botanical connection to marijuana, you can’t grow it in the U.S. without a Drug Enforcement Administration permit, so Grayless works with farmers in Canada to source her product.
You can eat the seeds raw, but Grayless has found a number of ways to use them in everyday cooking and baking. She posts three or four new recipes a week on her blog, happyhemp.wordpress.com. “I try to be as informative as possible and make recipes that aren’t complicated like chicken salads, turkey burger and chocolate chip cookies.” She even has a recipe for hemp seed dog biscuits that she feeds her three rescue dogs.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.austin360.com/food-drink/food-matters-hemp-seeds-can-help-you-keep-2077344.html
 

By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
 

Marijuana activists last year also used the initiative process to convince supervisors to overturn an ordinance limiting the number of marijuana dispensaries in the county.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120103/ARTICLES/120109880
 

 
February, 2011. Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, an Oklahoma mother of four, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling $31 worth of marijuana. While what Ms. Spottedcrow did was illegal, the harsh punishment hardly reflects the severity of the offense, especially for a first time offender convicted of a nonviolent crime.
This sentence tears apart a family, leaving a husband without his wife and four children without their mother. It also wastes valuable taxpayer resources incarcerating someone who does not belong behind bars.
We are calling for Governor Mary Fallin to restore sanity and justice to the situation and put an immediate end to this egregious abuse of power. We are asking Governor Fallin to commute Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow’s sentence to a more reasonable and humane punishment such as probation, which is typical in cases such as these.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE:
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ok-remove-10-year-prison-sentence-for-moms-first-time-marijuana-offense