Laurel A. Beechey
The World is a Stage
In studying history it often become apparent that the ancients knew more than we can ever comprehend. We have gotten so wrapped up in technologies and synthetics that we have forsaken many truths which need to be returned to our modern world. A wise man from the past can still teach us today, “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates [between 460 and 377 BC]:
There are more allergies, syndromes, and physical, mental and emotions problems today than any other time. We may be blessed with being able to purchase our favourite foods all year round but at what cost? Fruits and vegetables, picked un-ripened to transport then gassed to ripen; hormones and antibiotics in our meat; pesticides and other chemicals that provide easier workloads for the farmers and give us the perfect looking product. Yet with all the food available to us so much of it no longer provides the essential vitamins, minerals and sustenance that it once did. Is it any wonder that it is difficult to find a family where everyone is in good health?
Too many people don’t eat well in the first place but even those of us who do, know we need something more. So some people have found various vitamin supplements help and others try Himalayan Goji Juice or Wheatgrass Barleygrass Juice or Tahitian Noni Juice or other drink or solid helps pump up their bodies and energy. But these don’t often show a great improvement to the people already eating well.
Recently my 85 year old Mom, who has several heart conditions, was found scraping and painting her front and back stairs and large living room window. She hadn’t done that much work in several years. Since her heart problems there have been many trips to the hospital which the nitroglycerine patch finally stopped but her energy level was nil it was very frustrating for her not to be able to work her garden or keep up small things around the house. When she suddenly had more energy that I did, I had to know why.
Turns out that her niece has been taking Hemp Hearts for quite a while and this innocuous heart of the hemp seed seem to have miraculous properties in her household, so Mom gave it a try too with obvious results and I noticed and decided I had to have some of that for myself!
No matter how good or bad we still need our food to keep our motors running. So it then comes down to making sure the motor is running smoothly and cleaning. It turns our that our bowel behaves much like a sewage system, collecting sludge and such over the years which accumulates on the interior bowel wall and does not allow the nutrients in our foods access to the wall where it can pass through. So no matter what you eat or take the goodness is being blocked. Hemp hearts remove this sludge allowing the foods we eat and drink to quickly absorb. Before getting any for myself I took the time to learn about them on the internet. Although I did not appreciate some of their over the top ways of loosing weight I could see why they would benefit most people.
Another problem many people have is that they are genuinely hungry. That is because they are not eating the foods which stave off hunger. You could have bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, pancakes, syrup and six cups of coffee and still be hungry in a couple of hours. Protein staves off hunger and hemp hearts are very high in protein. It also high in ‘good’ oil, the beneficial kind of essential fats – polyunsaturated Omega 3 and 6.
Okay, there has to be something wrong with them, right? Well not that I could find. They are cholesterol free and said to reduce cholesterol; no gluten and in fact there are no known allergies to Hemp Foods and no THC, the active chemical that is in marijuana. Industrial hemp is grown for both food and fiber. Sorry, you don’t get a buzz on taking hemp hearts.
Hemp has been used almost since the dawn of man, about 7,000 years in fact, for woven fabrics and ships sails. The Latin name for the hemp plant, cannabis sativa, means ‘most perfect food’, and humans have also been using hemp seeds for health and energy for millennium. In Russian history their use of it as a food source staved off many bouts of starvations during wars. In more modern time meticulous records were kept when Czechoslovakian doctors, who had no modern drugs available, dissolved the ‘hearts’ of hemp seeds to cure tuberculosis with amazing results to not only cure but prevent the disease.
One thing our modern technology found, however, is a better way of separating the hearts from the shells so more can be produced and at better costs.
I have been taking them for over a month and although there has been no miracle cure for my Fibromyalgia, TMJ syndrome, degenerative discs and assorted other ills, my arthritis pain has subsided, I have tons of energy and I feel good. In fact it has been some years since I have felt this good.
If you are interested, learn more about hemp hearts and decide how they can help you. Most people are not going appreciate the ‘diet’ plan they talk about but that is only one small aspect of their use. I use mine as a cereal in the morning while others sprinkle some on their cereal.
Hemp Hearts can be purchased in Tillsonburg at health food stores and Coyle’s. They are also available over the internet. One helpful website I have used www.healing-source.com.
http://www.tillsonburgnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2693044

It’s rare to find a natural, organic, toxin free deodorant that works. I discovered Lafe’s deodorant at my local Bikram yoga studio locker room and it withstood the sweat test. I have looked for this every time I go out for my organic toiletries and I was recently informed that this amazing deodorant is available at most natural food stores, organic beauty shops and online.
Lafe’s Natural Bodycare team explains that their “deodorants were created to address consumer concerns that natural deodorants are only marginally effective. Since we started our deodorant line in 1992, we have been creating formulations using active ingredients with proven antibacterial properties. With consumer friendly ingredients such as natural mineral salts, baking soda, hemp oil, and essential oils…”
The Lafe team is able to create healthy, organic deodorants that are highly effective in eliminating body odor. Their line of deodorants are made with mineral salts, similar to those found in the earth’s crust. Mineral salts eliminate bacteria that cause body odor. Most of the standard antiperspirants plug up the pores of the skin, which is an unhealthy process.
Perspiration (good clean sweat) is a healthy process allowing toxins to be released from the body to keep it healthy.
Lafe’s natural deodorants are not antiperspirants being that perspiration is a healthy and natural process for the body Lafe deodorants are formulated to eliminate the bacterial cause of body odor.
As we move into the heart of this season and the heat has us sweating, it is great to find natural and organic products that withstand the test of summer sweat.
Pictured above is Lafe’s natural mineral spray, which is a truly unique blend of mineral salts with aloe vera that provide 24-hour natural deodorant protection. More remarkable benefits of this amazing Lafe’s organic deodorant include:
* skin nourishing mineral salts eliminate odor-causing bacteria
* healing aloe vera soothes, heals and softens the skin
* no aluminum chlorhydrate; no alcohol
* a non-staining and non-irritating formula
* no white residue
* a fragrance-free and hypoallergenic formulation
* an ozone friendly product with no harmful propellants
* no animal testing
* a paraben and proplyene glycol free blend
http://feelgoodstyle.com/2010/08/01/lafes-natural-and-organic-deodorant-is-sweat-proof/

THE only independent candidate so far to raise his hand in the federal election for the seat of Richmond wants laws changed to make it easier for farmers to grow the non-intoxicating version of marijuana known as industrial hemp.
Nic Faulkner, who has made one of his main platforms the abolition of state governments, yesterday issued a challenge to the major political parties, including the Greens, to debate Commonwealth law which he says makes it legally difficult to grow industrial hemp.
The Brunswick Heads resident said the plant, a type of cannabis with a low level of the intoxicating drug tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), could be a big boost to North Coast farmers.
But he said its production was restricted by conditions applied under the Commonwealth Narcotics Act 1967.
“A potentially huge industry for Australian farmers and manufacturers is being held back, an industry that would help rectify the Murray Darling basin water and land management issues,” Mr Faulkner said.
He added that growing hemp could help sequester carbon, produce biofuel and omega oils and be used for sewage and waste water management. He said it also used 40 per cent less water than cotton.
“It is a common sense, rational, scientific and medical fact that industrial hemp (low THC cannabis) is not a narcotic,” Mr Faulkner said.
He added it was also “time to open the debate on the whole cannabis prohibition issue”.
“Many hundreds of thousands of people all over Australia use marijuana on a regular basis,” Mr Faulkner said.
“Many people I have spoken to are disappointed that the Greens appear to have abandoned one of their core principals around the whole cannabis debate to attract more mainstream voters.”
http://www.tweednews.com.au/story/2010/07/29/nic-faulkner-independent-tells-greens-just-wear-it/

Mexican soldiers patrol following a drug war hit in Monterrey last month.

Photograph by: Reuters, The Ottawa Citizen

One can imagine how delighted the people at the Colombian Embassy were when they read the Globe and Mail last week. One article after another about their country — and none focussed on drugs and murder.
Instead, the theme was that after decades of civil war and criminal chaos Colombia has been transformed into a land of stability and optimism. The mood is “buoyant, hopeful, and utterly entrepreneurial,” one story reported. Colombia is “an eco-paradise with bustling cities,” another burbled.
The people at the Mexican Embassy were probably much less pleased by what they read. “Suspected drug hit men stormed a private party and killed 17 people in the northern Mexican city of Torreon on Sunday in one of the deadliest attacks in Mexico’s drug war,” read one story. Another reported on a car bombing. Gangsters apparently dressed a bound man in a police uniform and called in a report of a wounded officer. When police, paramedics, and a doctor rushed to the man’s aid, the bomb was detonated. At least three died.
The contrast between the two countries is exaggerated, of course. Colombia continues to be the world’s largest producer of cocaine, there are still leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries, and human rights continue to be violated in many horrible ways; and despite the bad press Mexico is getting, much of the country is unscathed by the savage war with, and between, drug gangs.
But it is true that Colombia is more stable and safer, for most, than it has been in decades. It is also true that Mexico is continuing its descent into the hell Colombia so recently exited.
Inevitably, some are drawing the conclusion that Mexico must do whatever it was that Colombia did. And since what Colombia did was engage in a massive escalation of military and police power, supported by billions of dollars from the United States and elsewhere, that’s the medicine Mexico needs.
This is unspeakably foolish. And we can expect Canada will be asked to help fund this foolishness, as we did in Colombia. So let’s get this straight now: What happened in Colombia is not a model for Mexico; what happened in Colombia is the cause of what’s happening in Mexico.
Let’s go back to the 1970s. For decades, cocaine had been a relatively obscure jet-set drug produced in Bolivia and Peru and smuggled in small quantities by minor traffickers. But then its popularity soared — especially in the United States and Canada. The scale of trafficking grew proportionately. Usually, the traffickers were Bolivian or Peruvian but Colombian marijuana smugglers increasingly acted as middlemen.
By the early 1980s, the Bolivians and Peruvians were sticking mostly to production, selling shipments of cocaine to Colombians who transported the drugs through the Caribbean into Florida. Dominating the most profitable part of the trade, the Colombians got very rich. And powerful. Colombia increasingly resembled a “narco-state.”
In the mid-1980s, the American government poured interdiction resources into Florida and the Caribbean. Under pressure, the Colombians increasingly shipped cocaine to Mexico and hired Mexican gangsters to smuggle it across the border into the U.S.
Meanwhile, American programs to suppress coca growing and cocaine production in Bolivia and Peru were ramped up and there were steep declines in exports by the early 1990s — which were more than offset by exploding production in the many regions of Colombia where the government’s hold was tenuous.
About the same time, Colombian and American officials put the squeeze on Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel. In the mid-1990s, the Cali cartel was targeted. Under pressure, the Colombians increasingly sold cocaine shipments to Mexican gangsters, who built their own smuggling and trafficking networks. By the end of the decade, all Colombia’s major drug lords were dead or in prison but thanks to a proliferation of smaller networks, and the increasing involvement of Colombia’s leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries in the drug trade, cocaine exports actually rose.
Meanwhile, the wealth and power of the Mexican drug lords grew rapidly.
See where this story is going? I was in Colombia and Mexico at the end of the 1990s, and I well remember Mexicans telling me how they feared “Colombianization.” They were right to be worried. Several years later, the Mexican government took down all the major Mexican drug lords. What followed this “victory” was the war we see now — a war pitting the government against gangsters, but also a war of gangsters against each other in a struggle for control of the fantastically profitable trade routes. “Colombianization,” in other words.
In the war on drugs, that’s the way it always goes: Eliminate kingpins and gangsters battle to be the successor;
drive down production in one place and it balloons in another; stamp out a smuggling route and new routes are created. The market will not
denied. It’s Economics 101.
Look at Afghanistan. It was never a major heroin producer. But “victories” in West Asia and the Golden Triangle of southeast Asia pushed the drug trade into that sad country and now it’s paying for weapons that kill Canadian soldiers. With victories like that we have been “winning” the war on drugs for 90 years — and today the illicit drug trade is far bigger and far more destructive than ever.
But editorialists, politicians, and drug cops never connect the dots. “More of the same,” they urge. “More of the same.”
The last thing Mexico needs is more of the same. What it needs, desperately, is for governments to follow the advice of the Vienna Declaration, which I discussed Friday, and “undertake a transparent review of the effectiveness of current drug policies” — followed by “a full policy reorientation.” Until then, the madness will continue.
http://www.flashnews.com/news/wfn03100726fn28540.html

When Dean Folda goes to pick up his medicine, he has a choice between cannabis products with names like “Grunk,” “Johnny Rocket,” and “Godbud.”
Folda, 47, says marijuana helps relieve his pain. He’s had a myriad of health issues over the years, ranging from an accidental gunshot wound when he was 10 years old to a hole in his aorta that required two open-heart surgeries.
“I could’ve probably been the biggest pillhead in the valley,” he said. “But I’ve found that marijuana did the same thing for me that the pain pills would do without the side effects.”
Folda isn’t sure just how or why marijuana works for him.
But a doctor and a chemist in Bozeman are aiming to take the mystery out of it.
Dr. Michael Geci-Black, a former emergency room physician, and Noel Palmer, who has a PhD in chemistry, run the first laboratory in Montana dedicated to studying medical cannabis, Montana Botanical Analysis.
“If it’s going to be a medicine, you’ve got to treat it like a medicine,” said Geci-Black, who started the lab in 2009. “So, I thought, ‘We’ve got to do some testing to see what’s in it.’ There’s no other medicine that doesn’t have the active ingredients (listed) on it.”
Even marijuana providers, or “caregivers,” aren’t always sure why certain strains of marijuana work particularly well for treating certain kinds of ailments.
A Kinder Caregiver in Bozeman, for example, sells 27 strains of marijuana in its plant form. It also has a menu that includes 16 baked “sweet treats,” plus four diabetic alternatives; two tinctures of liquid cannabis; one tea; and baking basics “cannabutter,” “cannaoil,” “ganja cream,” and “sweet leaf honey.”
But the head of the company, Robert Carpenter, admits determining what works best for a specific person is mostly a matter of trial and error.
“It differs so much for each person,” he said.
Marijuana providers from across the state pay Montana Botanical Analysis to test “cannabinoids,” chemical compounds in their strains of marijuana, so they can have a better understanding of how to dispense it.
“If you don’t know what’s in it, how can you dose it?” Geci-Black said. “We’re trying to establish product labeling.”
The lab tests 20 to 50 different strains each week, he said. Testing takes about three days and costs about $100 per sample.
“I really feel like the science, it’s going to help clarify these ambiguities that everybody has,” Palmer said.
Not everyone wants high THC
On Thursday afternoon, Palmer held the dried tip of a marijuana plant in the palm of his hand, a sample a provider had given the lab to test. He was working in the MBA’s new lab and offices in the Medical Arts Building on North Willson Avenue, where the neighbors are family-practice doctors and dentists.
For a typical test, Palmer dries a raw marijuana plant bud, then puts it in an “extraction” liquid, where it dissolves it into a lime green solution.
He puts a few drops of the solution in a vile, and puts the vile in a 3-foot tall stack of automated machines. The machines run the solution through a series of tubes and beakers, with the results displayed on a computer monitor.
The process, called chromatography, isolates cannabinoids found in the crystals on the edges of the marijuana leaves.
For the “OG Kush” strain, a line graph on the computer screen showed levels of about 25 different cannabinoids, primarily tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN).
A total of about 66 cannabinoids are believed to be present in cannabis plants, Palmer said.
“That’s why we’re interested — because THC is not the only one,” he said. “Patients tend to like lower THC and that often has other cannabinoids in higher levels.”
Cannabidiol, for example is not psychoactive, Palmer said, meaning it tends to relieve pain without getting the user “stoned.”
But it’s hard to find CBD in marijuana in Montana.
“It’s been an arms race for THC,” which is believed to produce the “high,”
Palmer said. “People have all but bred out CBD from cannabis samples.”
Some providers simply tout THC levels in their products, Geci-Black said. They don’t realize the chemical could have unintended side effects. People are making shampoos and soaps, he said, but THC may actually stymie hair growth.
“There’s one guy in town, he has lip balm that has like 13 percent THC in it,” Geci-Black said.
Even the most potent marijuana usually has no more than 20 percent THC.
What about a pill?
In Colorado, marijuana providers put cards detailing test results from labs like Geci-Black’s next to each strain in their display cases.
Frank Quattrone, owner of Pure Medical Dispensary in Denver, told the Denver Post earlier this month that he hopes the black-market names of marijuana strains “hopefully, will be come irrelevant.”
With knowledge about the chemical makeup of different marijuana, a provider could tell a patient with irritable bowel syndrome, for example, to eat a marijuana high in CBD, Geci-Black said. That could send pain relief directly to the digestive tract where it’s needed and allow them to function normally without having to be high, he said.
Or, if a patient has knee pain, Geci-Black said the provider could suggest they get a salve and apply that directly to the joint.
The possibilities beg the question: Will there come a time when patients don’t need to smoke marijuana? When chemical components will be extracted from it in some other more socially accepted form, like a pill?
Drug companies have already created synthetic marijuana in pill forms, like the drug Marinol.
“Anybody who argues against the medicinal effect of cannabis is just – with all due respect – uninformed,” Geci-Black said.
Geci-Black, who began practicing alternative medicine in 2007 and lives part time on an organic farm in upstate New York, said he’s gotten calls from people in half of the 14 states where medical marijuana is legal asking him for information about the lab.
Recently, he was a keynote speaker at a conference in Humbolt County, Calif.
In addition to testing for medicinal properties, the lab can test for mold and pesticides, so patients can tell if they’re marijuana is safe or organically grown.
“There’s a myriad of applications for this that are exciting,” Geci-Black said. “We’re just scratching the tip of the iceberg right now.”
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_d5ff2830-9358-11df-a697-001cc4c002e0.html

This cute little pot leaf want to be your bud.

ORLANDO, Fla. (Wireless Flash – FlashNews) – Myths about smoking marijuana are being smoked out by adorable digital pot plants.
On Cannabuddies.com, tokers can learn the truth about bud by adopting their very own virtual marijuana leaf as a pet.
The animated leaves are a lot like the Digipets that were popular in the ’90s, with funny faces and cartoon-like voices, only they share valuable information about marijuana.
Creator Rob Mulligan thinks Cannabuddies are a “cute” way of spreading the facts about smoking pot and could “lead the forefront of complete legalization of marijuana.”
Despite their silly appearance, Mulligan isn’t worried about Cannabuddies becoming the gateway toy that introduces children to weed because they don’t blatantly promote sparking up.
He says, “Ultimately it’s just a cute plant. It’s as of you were interacting with a funny tree.”
But if kids do start playing with Cannabuddies Mulligan thinks it can’t hurt since they’ll be getting knowledge they aren’t learning in school.
http://www.flashnews.com/news/wfn03100726fn28540.html

Jay Selthofner, a supporter of medicinal use of marijuana and of legalizing the drug, has been inspired to run for office in Wisconsin’s State Assembly for District 41. The inspiration comes in the form of Joey, a child with autism whose mother has successfully treated him with the use of marijuana and the subject of a book: Autism and Marijuana – A mother’s fight to save her son’s life – Joey’s story.
Mr. Selthofner has been working steadily in his community to bring about change for medicinal uses of marijuana and legalizing its use. During this campaign, he first met Meiko, whose son was so severely impacted by autism, she resorted to a “street drug” to help him improve. “What did I have to lose?” she has said. She gives credit to marijuana for turning her son around and “saving his life.”
Mr. Selthofner says, “Being a parent myself, I could not imagine the doctor giving my child a death sentence and then watch the child starve to death. So from death, to a rebirth; development and growth, marijuana was credited as saving this boy’s life.” To be clear, it was not the autism itself that was a death sentence; rather, it was its effects on Joey. Joey could not eat foods that would keep him healthy and thriving. He was wasting away.
While there has been criticism, from the use of using a non-FDA-approved method of treatment to the phrasing chosen (“saving his life”) as it paints a negative view of autism, many parents are beginning to wonder if he or she should not give it a go as well. If a parent chooses this option, he or she should be aware: there are negative effects of this drug for some people. Please speak to a physician before starting any treatment regimen.
Mr. Selthofner says, “We face risks every day in our life. The punishment should not be worse than the crime, to enforce public health issues through the use of criminal law, is not a good idea, fundamentally. Marijuana is not for everyone, medical or recreational, but it certainly is not a crime. Alcohol, tobacco, over the counter and prescription drugs are proven to have a multitude of negative health effects that easily outweigh the effects of cannabis.”
Prior attempts to gain legislation support for marijuana used has failed in Wisconsin. “Major legislation opposition came from ‘slippery slope’ theory that medical would lead to full legalization. I have always been an advocate for full legalization of marijuana and will continue to do so.” But would he settle for just a medicinal use law? “The word ‘settle’ sometimes means something different to each person, but I would most likely vote yes for a medical bill, but keep pursuing reform.”
“A medical only bill does accomplish a great deal: [getting] medicine to those who need it… and [taking] those [individuals] off the battlefield we have come to accept as ‘the war on drugs.’” There is more information about the economic and other benefits to legalizing marijuana and can be found by clicking here
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/nationalbreaking/ci_15609415

SANTA CRUZ — After the last several WAMMFests encountered challenges, organizers of Santa Cruz’s annual medical marijuana awareness event appear to be in for an easier time getting the city’s nod of approval.

Today, the City Council will consider lifting a smoking ban at San Lorenzo Park for five hours Sept. 25 to allow authorized pot users to medicate inside open-air tents designed to create privacy. The item is on the council’s consent agenda, indicating that it may not be as controversial as in years past.
“For the city, it’s a matter of course,” Mayor Mike Rotkin said.
The event will run from noon to 5 p.m. Admission to the event is free and open to the public, but if the council OKs temporarily lifting the ban, organizers will allow smoking marijuana only in a separate tent. Medical marijuana identification will be required.
Last year, an oversight kept the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana’s annual request for a smoking exemption from landing on a council agenda in time for the event. Instead, the group put its tent on county property near the usual site. Police issued two citations for smoking on park property but otherwise applauded WAMM for holding the event in a responsible manner.
In 2008, a philosophical divide on the council nearly kept marijuana users from legally participating. Three council members supported lifting the smoking ban but three others were opposed. The tie couldn’t be broken that night because a seventh council member was absent, but a compromise proposed two weeks later called for lifting the ban only for the tented area.
This year’s measure calls for lifting the smoking ban in the entire park, but urges the organizers “to designate a specific enclosed location for medical marijuana treatment.” Councilman Don Lane said he supports the measure because WAMM has acted responsibly in hosting previous events. “They have a good reason for wanting to allow it in just this one instance.”
Valerie Corral, co-founder of WAMM, said volunteers will monitor the park, asking people who are smoking marijuana to show their medical authorization cards so the event doesn’t “turn into hemp-fest.” “It’s just really is to keep the focus on the justices that have been met in our own community and on the state level,” Corral said. “We’re bringing awareness to an ongoing issue, marijuana as medicine, and the kind of marginalization that still occurs for people who are seriously ill.” The past year has seen a lot of movement on the medicinal marijuana front.
In January, WAMM suspended a lawsuit against the federal government on the condition that the Drug Enforcement Agency respect state medical marijuana rules. The DEA raided WAMM’s garden and arrested Corral and her husband, Mike, during a 2002 raid, but the Obama administration announced in October that it would stop prosecuting patients or caregivers in states with medical marijuana provisions. California voters approved medical marijuana in 1996.
Also this year, over the pleas of patients to expand options, the City Council limited medical pot dispensaries in Santa Cruz to the two operating in the Harvey West area. However, the council now allows the pot shops to open seven days a week and grow more of their own supply in-house.