The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Here's to you, William Randolph Hurst!


http://wbztv.com/local/marijuana.federal.penalty.2.1052437.html


Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana.

It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100.

"I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s," said Congressman Frank, "when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don't hurt anyone else. It's a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don't need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others."

This will please the 420 crowd.  Now it will be perfectly legal for them to sit around, smoke dope, eat pork rinds and twinkies, and suckle off the government teat without worrying about losing their benefits.

Good going Barney!

(http://www.mehmetjan.com/myspace-marijuana-graphics/myspace-420-graphics/myspace-pot-graphics/myspace-cannabis-graphics/myspace-weed-graphics/myspace-420-comments-9.jpg)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CT6HIDPbPc[/youtube]

Ten other states have also reduced penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana – in some cases they are a civil fine. These states include California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon.

Oklahoma....making Mississippi look progressive since 2002.

You angry white homophobe.

I just want to know where I can get one of those kittens...

Looks like Conan thinks you gotta be a suckler to get a little kitty....

Interesting responses. It does not mean you indulge just because you support civil liberties and you make a statement against big tobacco, big pharma, and the prison over lords. Could it be that hemp production would help the small family farmers (or what's left of them?)?

I have more "conservative" friends who smoke pot than "liberal" friends, so I'm not quite sure where you are going with that...

Point made. Thanks...the libs want decrim for philosophical reasons. The cons want pot to forget what they've done to ruin our cuntry during the last 40 years.

WTH is with you and the spelling of "country"? Are trying to be cute or just be a d!ck.

Hey, who said I was white?  ;)

The devil loves going full retard and yanking your chains!

I do as well, they just don't admit to it readily.  ;)

Simply decriminalizing smaller amounts on the federal level really doesn't do a whole lot if you get some uptight state's AG's who claim state's rights on this issue.  And if the supply chain is not legalized, it doesn't recognize the real problems of pot production and the people who are hurt as a result of that.  I totally agree that most pot smokers are mellow and stay home when they smoke it.  I don't buy the argument though that it's not addictive.  I've most certainly known heads who were incapable of holding down a job because they were psychologically-dependent on weed.  They wind up bumming off everyone they know or wind up on the government dole.

BUNK....the underlying problem for those lackies ain't smoking pot. And let's not pay any mind to addiction facts, Conan. Go sip the drip you like so much, but you need to quit being prejudice against civil libertarians.

I have no problem at all with civil libertarians, and really don't have an issue with pot being legalized.  There's certainly plenty of people mentally and physically disabled due to alcohol and I'd never deny that.  However, your constant assertions that people can't get addicted to pot is a total denial of reality. 

It's like anything else, if you manage it in moderation, no problem.  If you make a habit of doing it daily it becomes a problem.

Prove that!

A hit on a thinking man's cigarette a day keeps the bozone(1) at bay....


(1)The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

I'm 100% for complete legalization, however, I know at least one person who fits into Conan's stereotype.  One of my good friends, he's 30, still living w/ his mom, never held a decent job, didn't graduate from college b/c he'd rather get high than take care of bidness.

I lived with him in college.  Really the only difference between us is I knew when to put down the pipe for a few hours and he didn't.

However, I can't say I blame the drug for his problems though...That would be too easy.

I am ok with legalization if the majority approves but this is a state issue.  Let the states that want it legalized make the law.  The Feds have no Constitutional right to force this on states that do not want it to be legalized.

The exact same things can be said for alcohol.  We tried outlawing alcohol and it was futile.  Same for pot, IMO.  I don't like pot, can't stand the smell of it.  But I think it no worse for society than alcoholic beverages.

I say, legalize it, tax the hell out of it (like we do booze and tobacco), license the growers and suppliers, and quit spending so much government money to irradicate it, because that is a lost cause.  Let it bring some money to the government.  If this were done, I really don't think there would be any substantial increase in pot consumption.

The drug never is the source of the problem, the drug is a symptom of the problem and can wind up mentally disabling people from dealing with the underlying problems and functioning in the normal (or is it NORML?) world.

Just because FOTD can wake and bake every day doesn't mean everyone else can and be productive.  Then again, he doesn't have a job to go to either which might account for his flawed paradigm.  Weed can and does make people just as lazy as psychotropics and depressants.  It's hardly what I'd call a stimulant.

What about your poor souls who have been holding a job since day one, and more rigorously, that yet have no comfort that they are not just spending their strength in vain, and the days of the lives evaporate with endless labours? Do you ever think to proclaim liberty every man to his brother, for once?

Conan has a real bad habit of assuming things. He also takes things personally. Does he do his best? Hardly. So, his word is questionable. The example can be found as he goes back to correct himself and say pot is not the problem but a sympton of a bigger problem while earlier stating something else. What a dweeb.

As a productive member of society, a working and tax paying citizen, FOTD wishes to set Conan the Pathetic straight. And he's not even high...he's low down.

Laziness + Pot= Living in your Mama's basement playing WoW w/ degenerate Trekkies.

Having a friend who lives in their Mama's basement while they play WoW and your getting free tokes?...priceless ;D

Countdown to Conan breaking his foot off in FOTD 3...2...1

Laziness + Pot= Living in your Mama's basement playing WoW w/ degenerate Trekkies. FOTD

FIFY

The weed has obviously ruined your comprehension skills, you big dope.

(http://www.dvorak.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/p901stoner-simpson-posters.jpg)

(http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p309/kallsop2/stoned-1.jpg)

Same here.

Here's the difference, though.  Liberals will tell each other if they smoke it.  Conservatives, if they wish to stay in favor with other conservatives, usually won't.

No conservatives wait till they're drunk then whisper: "where can I score some weed?"

  The thing I have noticed about those who smoke pot, is that its not so much that they cant hold a job or do certain things per say, its more that, wherever they were in their lives developmentally when they started smoking, thats where they stay (until they quit smoking and or doing drugs then you find, and they find, that they are almost starting all over, they feel like they are perhaps 20years old maturity wise but have a 30 or 40 year old body). If they happened to have good work or other habits when they started, its a decent chance those things will continue. If on the other hand they were immature and or hadnt yet developed good work habits, life habits, social habits, etc.... while they are smoking pot, they wont. Essentially it seems people stop developing and growing.

A lot of the progress we make in life is because we get sick and tired of the way things are and that pain pushes us to change and do something different. Change and growth take a lot of work. If however, whenever you dont feel good and can simply smoke something to feel good, well there goes your motivation. Alcohol can act similarly, but the difference is that pot acts differently in the brain. It can actually reduce, and become a replacement for, the brains natural ability to "feel good". Kind of like weight lifters who take testosterone, the artificial testosterone reduces the bodies own testosterone production, aka shrinks their balls lol.

Also pleasure is a motivator to do things, the joy of accomplishment, etc. However, if the habit is easier to smoke something to feel good, well that becomes more likely to happen, the more likely motivator. But its also a directionless motivator. If you have direction fine, if you dont, your crap outta luck. You now have even more to overcome. Not that you care. But if you do,,, oh well, dont feel like dealing with that today, gonna smoke some pot. Aaaah yea, everything is fiiine duuuude. Life is great.  

Is it the end of the world? No.  But it can easily become a major stumbling block on any hoped for journey of growth, change, achieved potential,,,self-actualization and true joy.   (And some people do become addicted, I have met some who are, and its really sad. It becomes their main relationship. Even supplanting the relationship with their own "self", and "they" of course cant see it. )

HAWGWASH!

Interesting. Recalling the days when alcohol was prohibited from music venues, the stoners created an atmosphere of quiet involvement with the performers. Then alcohol was let into the scene as promoters and venues started expanding their profit potential. Then, the music scene became messy, noisy, smelly, obscene, and lacked the previous connection between artist and audience.

Bill Graham often prohibited such sickness to penetrate his shows. Then he died in a helicopter crash and the scene was never the same again....

Too many pot heads are to their chosen drug what some college students are to alcohol:  it's really "cool" to seem like you use too much and actually to do so.  Wear a marijuana/Budweiser shirt.  Have parties with the intent of drinking/smoking.  Be really cool.

But like alcohol, most pot users are actually normal, responsible people.  Most "pot heads" eventually level out their usage and become Average Joe.   If alcoholics and/or college students were the the face of the alcohol industry, it would still be illegal too.

And also like alcohol, pot is not inherently addictive.  Most people can use it on a recreational basis with few or no adverse affects to their life or health while some will over use and adversely affect their health and life.  The inhalation of smoke is inherently bad for one of course, but for America to make marijuana illegal on that basis is hypocritical on too many levels to make it a logical statement.  As with all things, overuse is bad for your health but casual sporadic use is of no great concern.  If taken by a method other than smoking or smoking a refined product the health are nearly negated (there are inherent dangers to putting chemicals in the body of course, but again - from the most heavily drugged country in the world that reason falls short).

For that matter, it can have medical benefits.  Some research even suggests it suppresses lung cancer.  Certainly the benefits in pain reduction and appetite stimulation are well known.  Is "medical marijuana" some kind of breakthrough?  I don't think so, but for people suffering from chronic problems it is of great use (no pun intended.  I know of 2 people personally who have/had severe injuries and marijuana use allowed them to cope with the pain.  The alternative was heavy narcotics that would not enable them to function on any level.).  

Marijuana's intended effect is also not inherently dangerous.  It doesn't promote all night parties, violence, blackouts, "accidental" sexual encounters, or other behavior associated with many recreational drugs (including alcohol).  It DOES impair ones ability to make decisions and operate machinery (including cars) and if decriminalized/legalized that aspect of usage should still be tightly controlled (as it is with alcohol, prescription drugs, or anything else).  

Like prohibition, crime associated with marijuana will nearly disappear with legalization and could be significantly reduced with decriminalization.   We can grow PLENTY of marijuana in this country, imports won't be a great concern.  There will be no reason to shoot the guy down the street for selling on your corner either.  Will criminals find other crimes?  Probably, the mob still operates.  But it will take one more "product" off of their shelves.

BUT, all that aside, the war on drugs is a loser.  We have been spending tens of billions of dollars and removing tens of thousands of people from productive life for two decades (3?), and have accomplished nothing.  Drug use, particularly marijuana (new drugs come and go), has remained stable as it did before the "war on drugs."  Criminalizing drug use ever tighter doesn't work and the rest of the world is using as as exhibit "A".  

Spain had a very significant drug problem.  They sent researchers to the United States and then decided to legalize almost all drugs. Usage is down.  Drug related crime is down.  Treatment is up.  Enforcement budgets have been slashed.  The apocalypse predicted by conservatives never materialized, neighboring countries aren't having significant "bleed over" problems.  In short:  it worked.

But we're Puritans.  Body and soul.  So lets just keep throwing people in jail because EVENTUALLY it will work.

Bravo CF!

Most of us "indulger's" or "users" take extra effort in self maintenance. Great diets, exercise, wellness focus, and over all health consciousness seems to be the norm amongst the majority of naturalists. Look what sprouted from the enormous culture movement towards self awareness and mindfulness that started with the 1960's.

+++++++1

I'm a libertarian who leans conservative on quite a few issues. I smoked quite a bit of weed in college (graduated a couple years ago) and haven't smoked since. I really have no interest in smoking again, though I do support its legalization.

I would say of my friends, a pretty equal share of the righties and lefties currently smoke weed. And for the most part we all think weed should be legalized. I think it's because our age. For folks my age, we have always known all our life that it's not something that is really bad for you, it's just something fun and safe to do. (And I would say we are pretty successful people for our age. Though the lefties, maybe not as much ;). In college I never let weed get in the way of anything important, and my friends now who still smoke it don't let it get in the way of the important things.)

'Scuse me, I just spit vodka all over my computer screen.  I suppose it isn't in the hands of people who have balance in their life but try and pass that line of BS off on someone who has struggled with substance abuse and addiction, you won't get very far.

You needed to keep reading . . .


Is that not an accurate statement?  MOST people will have no addiction issues with either alcohol or marijuana.  But some people will.  Like alcohol, marijuana is not  innately, unavoidably, or inherently addictive (like tobacco).    I specifically said some will over use and adversely affect their life and their health.  Some of that will be on their own accord, and some will be from addiction (physical or mental).  I did not mean to imply addiction isn't real.

My family has a history of alcoholism (the flag in my computer room is from my uncle who drank himself to death, for instance).   I have abused and been addicted to substances.  I am well aware of the pitfalls and I am also well aware that MOST people who smoke marijuana or drink alcohol are not addicted.  If I were to compare addictions NyQuil or other over the counter sleep aids would be higher on the list of addictive substances than marijuana.

Most, if not all alcoholics would agree with the statement that most people can drink alcohol without being addicted.  I have no qualms standing by my statement.  If this post doesn't clear my position up, let me know.  But I stand by the fact that most people can drink alcohol without becoming alcoholics and most people can smoke pot without becoming some sort of degenerate.

Ah, yes.  But as far as I know Conan, the only conservatives who would openly admit getting drunk are Catholics.

Baptists don't admit drinking until they run into each other at the liquor store.

 ;D

Baptists also don't have sex standing up.  They're afraid they'll be accused of dancing if they get caught.

Re-read what I said.  I qualified what I had to say about it being "inherently" addictive.  I didn't say a word about most people "would" or "wouldn't" be addicted to either substance.  I was simply pointing out the quote I selected would sound awful glib to someone who has suffered from addiction.  No one seems to compile accurate stats as to the number of drinkers or dope smokers who can be classified as addicts.  The true number is very likely under-reported because there are a lot of people who suffer from addiction who won't come forward and do something about it until it's gone way too far.

Bottom line is, I don't have a problem with the reasons behind decriminializing pot, that's fine and good if they do it.  I simply don't believe the implication that marijuana (or alcohol) are completely harmless substances.

Real truth is, I've waited for three years on this forum for the right moment to say: "'Scuse me I just spit Vodka all over my screen."

FOTD has known many Afrin (over the counter) addicts. Either their noses fried out or they went on to prescription speed. All of them have brain damage. Take it away, they go nuts. That's the true test for addiction. To my knowledge, one's body does not go through withdrawal after you take the herb away. It's not completely harmless. Less so than the air you breathe outside in Tulsa.....


Three years is a long time to hold silly lines in.....

Well then we are in agreement.  And I'm happy I set you up for your gem.   ;D

I'll back you up on the Afrin claim.  A guy I knew years back only had a couple of dollars left until payday the next day.  He was faced with the choice of buying cigarettes or Afrin.  He bought a Snickers bar and some Afrin.

A "true" test for addiction is a lot more involved than someone having obvious symptoms of withdrawls when it's taken away.  Addiction can take the form of physical, mental, or both.  There are no physical withdrawl symptoms I'm aware of either from pot, though the issues of separating mentally from an addiction is a whole other can of worms.

Which is why I don't and will not own a Wii.  A sweet, sweet Nintendo Wii.

Don't buy the argument that marijuana is needed for some medical cases, as, marinol, which is a marijuana alternative for medical reasons, works the same.  Those that argue against marinol are only pissed that you don't get high when you use it.

I'm on the fence for legalizing marijuana.  Although, there are even people within DEA who say marijuana will be legal within the next couple of years.

Ultimately, it will come down to a state issue, and Oklahoma will be last to legalize it (can you say tattoo?)

I'd think that since it's one of the largest cash crops in Oklahoma, OK might be smart enough to get on board with it early (can you say tax stamps?).

Does Marinol make you write incredibly deep intense drawn out 20 page A+ essays?   ;D hehe



Friedrich Nietzsche - Pot Head "If one seeks relief from unbearable pressure one is to eat hashish "

President John Adams - Pot Head "We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption."

Louis Armstrong - Pot Head "We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine, a cheap drunk and with much better thoughts than one that's full of liquor."

Louisa May Alcott - Pot Head (Chocolate Bon Bon covered ones too!)

Queen Victoria - Pot Head -"When pure and administered carefully, [cannabis] one of the of the most valuable medicines we possess."

George Washington -Pot Head and Grower "Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere."

Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin - Potheads and Growers "Hemp farmer Thomas Jefferson and paper maker Ben Franklin were ambassadors to France during the initial surge of the hashish vogue. Jefferson smuggled Chinese hemp seeds to America."

I wonder if T. J. was high when he thought of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  I wonder why they stopped producing money from hemp.  Hemp can be made to produce SOOO much material. 

Marinol is a registered trademark of Solvay Pharmaceuticals and is sold as a prescription drug.  Thus, it has the complication and cost associated with it of any prescription drug.  While smoking marijuana is cheap and readily available.  On the plus side, there is no reported cases of anyone ever overdosing on the drug and the side effects include "an exaggerated sense of well-being."   I'm surprised it isn't used more frankly:  stimulate appetite, suppress nausea, pain relief, sleep aid . . . man, what can't it do!

But I agree, it will be a State issue and unless Jesus appears before some Tulsa pastor or Bob Stoops comes out in favor of it . . . Oklahoma will be 10-20 years behind the curve.

Marinol is only effective for a subset of the conditions marijuana is effective for.

There is a middle ground between smoking enough to have medicinal effects and getting stoned out of your mind, you know.  :P

Many years ago when I came down with a four day bout of a particularly severe gastroenteritis (think constant evacuation from both ends simultaneously) the only thing that would quiet the symptoms long enough to get any rest was marijuana. Even that would only last an hour at a time, but when you've been..suffering for several hours, you take what you can get. Pepto Bismol just resulted in pink vomit.

Maybe if I had been able to get myself to a doctor (which would have required the evacuation to stop long enough to get there, which was unlikely at best), I might have been able to get a prescription for a topical antiemetic, which given my history with both forms of Dramamine (they nauseate me, ironic, eh?) wouldn't have been helpful. Without the unconventional treatment I probably would have ended up in the hospital with severe dehydration if not electrolyte imbalance.

So I'm told, anyhow.

When I read this, this is all I can think of :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqBHu2P0_E

Conan, you self medicator...

JNE: LINK OF THE DAY!

+1

Make that +3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRPxN7DGy5c [/youtube]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A pro-marijuana group was set Wednesday to launch another television bid to legalize pot in California — this time with the pitch that legalizing and taxing the drug could help solve the state's massive budget deficit.

The 30-second spot, paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project, features a retired 58-year-old state worker who says state leaders "are ignoring millions of Californians who want to pay taxes."

"We're marijuana consumers," says Nadene Herndon of Fair Oaks, who says she began using marijuana after suffering multiple strokes three years ago. "Instead of being treated like criminals for using a substance safer than alcohol, we want to pay our fair share."

State lawmakers are bitterly debating how to close a $26.3 billion budget deficit that likely means cuts to state services.

In February, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Bill supporters estimate the state's pot industry could bring in more than $1 billion in taxes.

The ad will air on several cable news channels and network broadcast affiliates in Los Angeles, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

The group said in a statement that three California stations — KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV of San Francisco and KNTV-TV in San Jose — refused to air the ad.

Representatives from the three stations did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

In an e-mail to the group, a KNTV account executive said the station's standards department had rejected the ad.

Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Bruce Mirken said the ad was meant to promote conversation about the issues, not to encourage pot use.

"It was consciously unsensational," Mirken said. "It's time to talk about this, and we feel very frustrated that some of these stations have taken it upon themselves to stifle the discussion."

In a phone interview, Herndon said that before filming the ad, she had not told very many people about her marijuana use. But she said her concern over the state's fiscal crisis and her support of medical marijuana led her to go public.

"I came out of the closet with this ad," she said.

Herndon said she worked as a policy analyst for several state social services departments during a 38-year career.

She said she was approache d to star in the ad while her husband was taking classes at Oaksterdam University, an Oakland trade school that trains students to grow medical marijuana.

The Tulsa County Democratic Party passed a resolution supporting the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana at the last convention.

In the modern era People began using pot for medical treatment when they realized that nothing was as effective as smoking pot for treating the wasting disease associated with AIDS.  I remember the old woman in San Francisco who would bake and distribute pot laced brownies to the mostly gay men who were wasting away to skin and bones before they died.  It worked.  They maintained their weight and lived longer. 

Since then the use of pot to treat various medical conditions has expanded and many people are successfully treating medical conditions with pot prescribed by board certified physicians.   Unfortunately people in Oklahoma with medical conditions that would benefit from the use of pot are out of luck.  Tulsa likes to fancy herself as a leader in medicine but we are clearly behind the curve in this regard, not to mention short on compassion for people with serious illnesses.

Wave that flag...

(Long Island, N.Y.) A Texas patient who uses medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of HIV won acquittal on marijuana possession charges March 25 based on a "necessity defense." Though such a defense - which requires the defendant to establish that an otherwise illegal act was necessary to avoid imminent harm more serious than the harm prevented by the law he or she broke - has rarely been successful in Texas, the jury took just 11 minutes to acquit Tim Stevens, 53. The trial was hotly contested. Stevens had never been in trouble until Amarillo police arrested him for possessing less than 4 grams of marijuana. As a result of his HIV infection, Stevens suffers from nausea and cyclical vomiting syndrome, a condition so severe that he has required hospitalization and blood transfusions in the past.

Extensive research has established medical marijuana as an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer chemotherapy, uses recently acknowledged by the prestigious American College of Physicians. Key in establishing Stevens' medical necessity was the testimony of Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau for the state of New Mexico's Department of Health.

"This case proved to be a testing ground for public attitudes toward medical marijuana," said attorney Jeff Blackburn, who represented Stevens. "Even in a very conservative part of a very conservative state, jurors were willing to listen to the facts about medical marijuana and give Tim a break, and I hope this case will help to create a trend in Texas."

"The common sense and decency exhibited by this Amarillo jury is typical of what we see from voters around the country," said Ray Warren, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., and a former North Carolina Superior Court judge. "The American public doesn't want to see seriously ill patients arrested and jailed for simply trying to stay alive with the help of medical marijuana. It's time for legislators in Texas and around the country to follow the public's lead and take action to protect patients, so that no one battling a life-threatening illness has to live in fear of arrest."

www.juryimmunity.org

NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!
NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!
NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtqBHu2P0_E[/youtube]

NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!
NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!
NSFW--VOLUME ONLY!!!

Active Ingredient In Cannabis Eliminates Morphine Dependence In Rats
ScienceDaily (July 15, 2009) — Injections of THC, the active principle of cannabis, eliminate dependence on opiates (morphine, heroin) in rats deprived of their mothers at birth.  The findings could lead to therapeutic alternatives to existing substitution treatments.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090706090440.htm






 Once we stop making marijuana the bogeyman of drugs we will probably find that there are many medical uses for it.

Those stupid stoners said that legalizing pot would raise $1billion in revenue for the State of California and save the state hundreds of millions on incarceration.  A new study by the State's revenue department concluded they were wrong.  It would raise $1.4 Billion in revenue.    ;D

http://cbs13.com/local/california.marijuana.tax.2.1087391.html

THC initiates brain cancer cells to destroy themselves

Posted in Longevity and Age Management, Cancer, Medical Marijuana on Wed May 20, 2009
THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, causes brain cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy in which cells feed upon themselves, according to a study conducted by Guillermo Velasco and colleagues at Complutense University in Spain. Using mice designed to carry human brain cancer tumors, the researchers found that the growth of the tumors shrank when the animals received THC. The study also involved two patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. Both patients had been enrolled in a clinical trial designed to test THC's potential as a cancer therapy. The researchers used electron microscopes to analyze brain tissue taken before and after a 26- to 30-day THC treatment regimen. They found that THC eliminated the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. In addition, in what they described as a "novel discovery," the specific signalling route by which the autophagy process unfolds was isolated.

"These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy," says Velasco. The findings were published in the April 2009 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

According to Dr. John S. Yu, co-director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program in the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, "The findings were not surprising. There have been previous reports to this effect as well. So this is yet another indication that THC has an anti-cancer effect, which means it's certainly worth further study."

Dr. Yu warns cancer patients that they should not consider marijuana a potential cure for cancer and urges that people "not start smoking pot right away as a means of curing their own cancer." However, Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, the Beirne Family director of Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University, says that's precisely what many brain cancer patients are doing. "In fact, 40 percent of brain tumor patients in the U.S. are already using alternative treatments, ranging from herbals to vitamins to marijuana," says Dr. Fisher. "But that actually points out a cautionary tale here, which is that many brain cancer patients are already rolling a joint to treat themselves, but we're not really seeing brain tumors suddenly going away as a result, which we clearly would have noticed if it had that effect."

News Release: Marijuana chemical may fight brain cancer www.webmd.com

News Release: Active ingredient in marijuana kills brain cancer cells www.forbes.com

What would happen if marijuana was legal — not just for medical uses, but for all uses?

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, wants the state to tax and regulate all pot as it does alcohol. State Board of Equalization chairwoman Betty Yee, a supporter, projects the law would generate $990 million annually through a $50-per-ounce fee for retailers and $392 million in sales taxes. (The state now collects $18 million each year in taxes on medical marijuana.) The state would not start collecting taxes on marijuana under Ammiano's bill until the federal government lifts its restrictions on the drug.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=20090719_13_0_SANFRA706370

Drug enforcement agencies would be forced to switch their efforts to dangerous substances like Meth or Cocaine or risk loosing grant monies.

WOW! TULSA UNIVERSITY HAS SOME BUMP!



The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure: From the Vietnam to the Afghan Quagmire

By Jeremy Kuzmarov

Jeremy Kuzmarov is Assistant Professor of History, Tulsa University.

In a recent interview, Richard Holbrooke, White House Special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan and a key architect of President Obama’s “surge” strategy, declared the War on Drugs in Afghanistan to be a failure. After spending millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars, he said, aerial eradication campaigns have not cut supply rates and contributed to the displacement of farmers and loss of their livelihood, causing many to gravitate to the insurgent camp. He might have added that many of these farmers have been poisoned by chemical sprays resulting in the spread of diseases like cancer, and that the U.S. supports some of the major opium warlords in the Karzai government responsible for turning the country into what even Fox News has characterized as a “narco-state.” Drug money has corrupted all facets of society, crippled the legal economy and made it nearly impossible to carry out the simplest development projects. Positions for police chief in many provinces are auctioned off to the highest bidder due to their enormous graft value. The cost for a job as chief of police anywhere on the border is rumored to be upwards of $150,000.

As Holbrooke is well aware, the failure of the war on drugs in Afghanistan fits a long historical precedent. Holbrooke started his career as an employee with USAID, which was involved in pioneering drug interdiction campaigns during another ill-fated occupation where they proved to be an important recruiting tool for the ‘Vietcong.’ American intervention in Vietnam was a watershed in the growth of the global war on drugs, stemming largely from the crisis of addiction in the American armed forces and revelations of CIA support for opium growing warlords in the Golden Triangle.

By the early 1970s, as I chronicle in my book, The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs, the media was filled with sensational depictions which grossly inflated the scope of drug abuse among American GI’s and obscured the context in which they got stoned. The Nixon administration was placed on the defensive because of the corruption of U.S. governmental allies, who were supplying the troops with drugs, including heroin. In response, Nixon ordered the training of local South Vietnamese police units in counter-narcotics, threatened to cut off aid to South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thieu if he did not cut down on corruption, and initiated extensive aerial eradication and spraying programs across Southeast Asia. In Laos, the U.S. went so far as to order the bombing of heroin refineries once owned by a CIA asset in the Lao Air Force, Ouane Rattikone, and also initiated crop substitution programs which led to the uprooting of Hmong tribesmen whose principal cash crop was opium.

Nixon’s War on Drugs in Southeast Asia proved to be a disaster on all fronts. Governmental corruption remained endemic across the region, owing largely to the social displacements bred by the war and influx of foreign capital on a hollow economic base. A June 1972 army criminal investigations division staff report concluded that the flow of drugs was “so abundant and the distribution through local nationals so pervasive, that efforts to cut off the supply, even within the military compounds, are like trying to imprison the morning mist.” In South Vietnam, American narcotic agents continued to suspect that high-ranking military personnel and police were skimming the profits of all drug seizures, which one adviser evidently concluded “presents a major problem in narcotics investigations.” Crop-substitution and destruction programs caused the displacement of farmers, many of whom resisted US policy by shooting at overhead planes. Some later testified about children dying from poisoned food crops.

Eventually the military command sought to limit the scope of the drug war. In May 1971, Director of Pacification John Paul Vann sent a memo to senior advisers warning them not to spray marijuana growing fields in the Chau Doc, An Giang, and Se Dec provinces controlled by the Hoa-Hao sect. He feared alienating them and driving them into the hands of the National Liberation Front (the southern based resistance movement). Vann viewed the marijuana program as a bane to broader pacification efforts designed to win over the “hearts and minds” of the South Vietnamese people. The programs nevertheless continued, in part as a covert means of funneling weapons to state security forces bent on stamping out the political opposition. In this respect, the War on Drugs proved to be something of a success, especially as Congress began lobbying for cutting off aid to regimes implicated in systematic human rights violations.

In spite of the overriding failure to curb supply rates, Nixon’s drug-control formula was adopted by successive administrations, which institutionalized the War on Drugs as a crucial dimension of American national security policy. The Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations were fixated on international interdiction in Latin America, where chemical spraying campaigns directed against predominantly poor farmers and the use of private mercenary firms like Dyncorps bred a sustained political backlash, culminating in the election of Evo Morales to the presidency and expulsion of the Drug Enforcement Administration from Bolivia. Afghanistan became the focal point under Bush II, with similar deleterious effects. Most disturbingly, the U.S. funded Afghan police have been implicated in major human rights violations, including the brutalization and torture of prisoners and terrorization of whole communities suspected of supporting the Taliban. All the while, Hamid Karzai’s own brother, Walid, is reputed to be the biggest heroin exporter in the country along with CIA backed warlords.

While acknowledging that there is no magic solution, Holbrooke has recently talked about switching to a strategy of alternative crop development. In the past, however, this approach has predominantly failed, largely because of an inability to create a viable livelihood for farmers and because the programs have often been implemented in an environmentally unsustainable and coercive way by USAID in collaboration with corrupt officials, resulting in displacement and the destruction of the rural social fabric. The U.S. should proceed with caution, and also think about finding a diplomatic settlement capable of bringing peace to a land ravaged by successive imperial interventions. This is the first and only precondition capable of curtailing the growth of the drug trade and fostering a climate in which genuine social and economic development can take root.

Read up.

If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/if-marijuana-is-legal-will-addiction-rise/

You need to at least cite to the publication when you cut and paste.  Even then it is probably outside the realm of "fair use."

The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure: From the Vietnam to the Afghan Quagmire, Jeremy Kuzmarov of The University of Tulsa, July 20th, 2009, History News Network published by George Mason University.  Available at http://www.hnn.us/articles/96313.html, last visited 07/21/2009.

*Not a technically correct citation, but all the info is jumbled in there.

FOTD misses putting the link in one time and gets jumped by Spartacuss....

Here.... http://hnn.us/articles/96313.html

Well, cut and paste is generally bad form anyway.  It is well beyond the scope of fair use when done occasionally and essentially an FOTD wire service around here the last couple months.  So when you cut and paste an entire article and don't even cite the source it's kind of a big deal.

Agreed...except, Groove Crusher, it is not an FOTD wire service....it's the truth teller conveying news channeled by what's good and fair.

This caught my eye on kotv's website:

"The Tulsa Fire Department cut a hole through the suspect's garage door at the home in the 4100 block of East 36th Street so undercover officers could haul out loads of marijuana"

Is it really ethical for the FIRE department to be breaking into homes to make pot busts?

Jebus! This is going to be a cottage industry every where unemployment has grown.

Damn, I bike past there all the time, I'd have never guessed.

http://fora.tv/2009/07/30/Marijuana_Economics#What_is_the_True_Cost_of_Marijuana_Legalization

Baby boomers find growing acceptance of marijuana use
Acceptance leads users to go public in support of drug

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/11/22/baby_boomers_find_growing_acceptance_of_marijuana_use/

"WASHINGTON - Smoking pot isn’t what it used to be for Joe Lee, 62, a vintage-record dealer in suburban Rockville, Md.

In the late 1960s, as an art student in Baltimore, he kept his landlord in a constant state of suspicion, with clouds of marijuana smoke poorly masked by clouds of incense.

These days, after four decades of regular use, cannabis is a smaller deal. Lee takes a few hits every other day or so, when he wants to listen to music or laugh with a few friends on the porch. And he’s happy to talk about it.

“There’s gotten to be greater tolerance, that’s for sure,’’ said Lee, the son of the former acting governor of Maryland, Blair Lee III. “I know literally hundreds of people my age who smoke. They are upright citizens, good parents who are holding down jobs. You take two or three puffs, and you’re good to go. I’m not a Rastafarian; I don’t treat this as some holy sacrament. But pot is fun.’’

A federal survey of Americans’ drug use shows that Lee and his friends are not the only baby boomers approaching the age of retirement much as they departed the Age of Aquarius - with an occasional case of the munchies. The government’s most recent survey showed that the share of marijuana users ages 50 to 59 increased from 5.1 percent in 2002 to almost 10 percent in 2007.

Some of those users are empty-nesters, returning to the drug decades after their pot habits gave way to raising children and building careers. Others, like Lee, have used pot all along, researchers said.

“We’re concerned by the public health impact of this,’’ said Peter Delany, who heads the office in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that conducts the survey. Marijuana could present special problems for older users, he said, including unknown interactions with prescription drugs. “Doctors need to be more sensitive to it,’’ he said. “They may ask older patients about alcohol now but not think to ask about illicit drug use.’’

But some older marijuana users say they are living evidence that smoking cannabis does not preclude a normal life, and more older smokers seem more comfortable than at any point since their teen years with going public - a tribute, they say, to a big boost in public tolerance.

In parts of California, licensed medical marijuana dispensaries have become as common as In-N-Out Burger stands. At least 13 other states allow some form of pot use for medicinal purposes, and the Obama administration announced last month that federal prosecutors would no longer go after medical users in those states, a policy shift that activists hailed as a watershed.

Recently, in a reversal, the American Medical Association called for a review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 hard drug alongside LSD and PCP and for more study of its medicinal potential.

Nationally, support for legalization has jumped to its highest level in 40 years, up in a Gallup poll from 31 percent in 2000 to 44 percent last month.

In much of American pop culture, the taboo against smoking pot lies largely in ashes.

All of which adds up to what some commentators see as marijuana’s steady march into the mainstream. Conservative pundit George Will recently declared the drug “essentially legalized’’ in California and predicted that the rest of the nation would follow suit.

That shift in atmosphere has encouraged more older users to take their pot habits public.

“I don’t think more people in their 50s are smoking marijuana. I think we are just more comfortable talking about it,’’ said Rick Steves, who writes travel guidebooks and hosts a public TV series on travel. At 54, the clean-cut guru of mass-market European tourism has begun to present himself as the hard-working, successful face of the longtime smoker.

“Even my pastor knows I smoke pot,’’ said Steves, recently named Lutheran activist of the year for his work on international poverty relief. “It’s just not that big a deal anymore.’’

Although young users generally go to some lengths to keep their pot use under wraps, those of a certain age - especially those not in danger of being kicked out of school or subjected to drug tests - seem more likely to talk about their usage.

“It seems the stereotype of the marijuana user as a goofy teenage boy has begun to change,’’ said Shelby Sadler, 48, a freelance editor from Rockville. She described a wide circle of professional friends in the Washington area who use the drug socially. “They are less inclined to hide it now. The kids are gone, and they no longer have to worry about losing their jobs because they’re the ones doing the hiring.’’

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/24/portlands_cannabis_cafe_is_the_first

Portland’s Cannabis Cafe is the First Marijuana Coffee Shop of Its Kind in the Country

Can Tulsa be too far behind?

Medicate out of public view....

Whooooo Cares? lol  ::)

Legalize it. Even conservatives like myself support this.

When you realize just how much support legalization has among the people (even deep in the heart of conservative America - Tulsa, OK) it just shows that there are other forces involved that are keeping it illegal.

Who benefits from it staying illegal? Drug kingpens and law enforcement are the most obvious beneficiaries of illegal drugs. Then there's the medical community who doesn't want to see such an easy and useful alternative to their expensive drugs. But there is also so much that hemp can do such as paper, building materials, and fuel.

" A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA ENCOURAGING THE OKLAHOMA STATE LEGISLATURE TO TAX MARIJUANA TO FUND LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES:

WHEREAS, the sales tax base of the City is not sufficient to adequately fund police and fire;

WHEREAS, marijuana is a renewable resource which can generate increase funding of police and fire;

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULSA ENCOURAGING THE STATE LEGISLATURE TO CREATE THE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY TO TAX MARIJUANA TO BENEFIT LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA ENCOURAGING THE OKLAHOMA STATE LEGISLATURE TO TAX MARIJUANA TO FUND LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES:

WHEREAS, the sales tax base of the City is not sufficient to adequately fund police and fire;

WHEREAS, marijuana is a renewable resource which can generate increase funding of police and fire;

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TULSA ENCOURAGING THE STATE LEGISLATURE TO CREATE THE REGULATORY INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY... Type:Open: All content is public.



Let's tax the boyger "joints" and boozeries too!

fotd,

Where did you get this from, do you have a link?

Just cut and paste it and rip it off.  That's what he does.

It came to me from Facebook.... Conan, Merry Christmas!

The Devil should be on Facebook...