Blog Archives

URB937: The next generation of painkillers thanks to cannabis

9/30/2010

     In a boon for pain research, American and Italian scientists say claim to have found a new drug that allows a cannabis-like substance to control pain at a specific site in the body. Their study suggests cannabinoid compounds could be used in new pain medications that are non-addictive and non-sedative, unlike opiates.
     The drug works by blocking an enzyme that degrades a compound called anandamide, whose name comes from the Sanskrit word for “bliss.” Anandamide exists naturally in humans and is chemically similar to THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. It was thought to work only in the brain, but with the new drug, URB937, anandamide works in peripheral tissues, too.
     Led by Daniele Piomelli, director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the University of California-Irvine, teams from the Italian universities of Urbino and Parma gave the URB937 drug to rats and mice. It suppresses an enzyme called FAAH, which boosts the amount of anandamide. It doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier, but it still lessens pain at the site of an injury, the researchers say.
     Anandamide is part of the endocannabinoid system, which is involved in modulating appetite, pain, mood and memory. (The name is derived from the system’s involvement in responding to THC.) Blocking FAAH can have the same pain-mitigation effects without generating marijuana high, according to a UC-Irvine news release.
     Only a handful of states allow cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes, one of which is modulating pain. So a drug that enhances the body’s natural cannabinoid compounds could be helpful for millions of patients

0 Comments

Canada gone crazy: American style drug laws possible in Canada!

9/29/2010

0 Comments

     Canada needs your help! On Saturday, October 2nd 2010, cannabis activists are planning Canada-wide rallies to call attention to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government's Bill S-10, the disastrous drug bill that includes mandatory minimum sentences for cannabis offences.
     To sign up and put your MP’s office on the list click here WHYPROHIBITION.CA
     Bill S-10, if passed, would bring American-style mandatory minimum sentences for cannabis to Canada for the first time, including an automatic 9-month jail sentence for growing as few as 6 plants, and an automatic 18-month sentence for sharing hash or pot cookies. Follow this link for a complete list of the new penalties under S-10 http://tinyurl.com/28evmcn
     S-10 is currently on the back-burner at first reading in the Senate, but Conservatives are expected to push the bill harder as part of their planned overhaul of the Canadian justice system that would see increased arrests and expensive new prisons!
     "We are trying to send the message to the recently returned Parliament that S-10 is something that is very much on our radar, and we want them to be paying attention too," rally organizer Jacob Hunter told Cannabis Culture. "We want to let everyone know the bill is out there and we don't want the Conservatives to sneak it in, unnoticed."
     Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have been criticized by drug policy experts, scientists, and members of opposition parties for the introduction of mandatory minimum sentences, which have been the cause of much controversy south of the border.
     "These mandatory minimum sentences against marijuana users will cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars, and for what?" Hunter said. "Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and if legalized, would earn government billions in tax revenue."
     Activists will be taking the fight to Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament's offices across the country to let lawmakers know that Canadians do not support bringing failed, American-style drug laws to Canada.
     "We're asking people to rally at their Member of Parliament's offices," Hunter said. "MPs are supposed to be in their offices on Saturday to communicate with their constituents, but all too often they are not. If they're not there, let the public know that their taxes will be going up to throw marijuana users, including medical users, in jail."

0 Comments

Drug Czar required to lie? Here's the proof!

9/16/2010

0 Comments

     Under Kerlikowske's reasoning, we never should have repealed Alcohol Prohibition, since alcohol made up less than 50% of Al Capone's overall profits.
     Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake has posted video of the Just Say Now! campaign delivering a legalization petition to Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske. Since the drug czar is required by law to oppose all legalization efforts (ONDCP reauthorization act of 1998), it is a bit like petitioning the Pope to bless an orgy, but it does make for some entertaining video: (http://tiny.cc/9gzy6)
     This morning FireDogLake joined with members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and delivered 52,000 petition signatures to drug czar Gil Kerlikowske on behalf of the Just Say Now campaign.
     Daniel Pacheco, a Georgetown University student from Colombia and a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, handed the petition to Kerlikowske at a press conference held by his office at the National Press Club. The petition (http://tiny.cc/mciup) asks President Obama to end the war on drugs and legalize cannabis.
     Daniel asked Kerlikowske why he opposed legalizing cannabis, since President Calderon of Mexico has said it could be helpful in fighting the Mexican drug cartels. Kerlikowske said that since cannabis comprised such a small percentage of drug cartel profits, legalizing cannabis would not have any impact on their activity.
     “I don’t think that if they lose a small part of their revenue from legalizing marijuana that they’re going to go to work for Coca Cola or Microsoft,” he chuckled.
     Ha ha ha! Oh, that jokester! So, the idea here is that since legalizing cannabis won’t put them out of business, we should continue to subsidize part of their business? Because our prohibition of cannabis leads to the high price Americans pay for weed they could grow themselves, subsidizing the high profits the Mexicans make on the plant, and then our tax dollars subsidize the Merida Initiative that buys more helicopters, drones, surveillance, ammunition, and police to fight the traffickers! We also help arm both sides of the drug war, with official grants of weapons to the “good guys” and plenty of gun shops just over the border whose guns end up in the hands of the “bad guys”.
     So, since the Mexican criminals are unlikely to go to work for Coca Cola or Microsoft if we take away their puny cannabis profits, we should continue to make criminals out of Americans who smoke a joint, Mr. Kerlikowske?
     Ryan Grim at Huffington Post digs deeper into Kerlikowske’s new song and dance about the “small part” of Mexican drug trafficking organizations’ profits from marijuana:
      Instead of defending the principle of prohibition, Kerlikowske quibbled with Pacheco’s statistic on how much of the cartel’s revenue comes from cannabis. The number that has been often cited in the press, 58 to 60 percent of cartel revenues, was introduced by ONDCP in 2006. Unfortunately, the history is that it was based on 1997 information. Kerlikowske said. “Everyone that recognizes these cartels clearly understands that their revenues have changed a lot since 1997. There are different drugs, they are involved with different criminal enterprises, so people that continue, and we really reject trying to continue to use a number that is now 13 to 14 years old, about how much money comes from marijuana. So, we strongly believe we see significantly less than the numbers cited from 14 years ago.”
     Testimony to the Senate from both the FBI and DEA, however, confirmed the 60-percent figure in 2010.
     How low a percentage of overall profits must marijuana reap before it’s no longer worth taking that business from the criminals? 30%? 15%? 5%? Suppose we were talking about crippling Al Qaeda. Do you suppose if we discovered an easy way to reduce the funding of terrorists by even five percent that our government officials would be dismissing the idea, simply because those terrorists wouldn’t then be forced to work at Starbucks?
     Nobody thinks legalizing cannabis in America is suddenly going to turn murderous torturing drug trafficking criminals into Boy Scouts. Surely most criminals are going to be criminals and will find new criminal enterprises if we legalize cannabis…but some won’t. Some may become the new Joe Kennedys who turn their prohibited business into a lucrative legal business. The question is whether we want to continue to give criminals a lucrative illegal business when there is no compelling reason to do so.

0 Comments

KopBuster update 2 of 2

9/15/2010

0 Comments

     Barry N. Cooper, a former narcotics law enforcement officer turned cannabis activist, said he was charged on Thursday with conducting private investigations without a license, a Class A misdemeanor. The charge appears to be related to Cooper’s “Kopbusters” hoaxes in which he videotapes various police departments seeking to expose police corruption.
     Department of Public Safety officials said the charge was filed in Williamson County, but the affidavit for his arrest could not be obtained late Monday afternoon.
     Cooper said by phone Monday that he was arrested by a SWAT team at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. He was released after more than 10 hours in jail on $10,000 bond.
     The arrest came just two days after Ector County prosecutors said they would not pursue misdemeanor charges filed by the Texas Rangers in connection with a December 2008 KopBusters hoax in Odessa in which Cooper set up a fake cannabis grow house. He had been charged with filing a false report to a peace officer.
     Cooper said he plans to hold a press conference Wednesday at the state capitol to address his most recent arrest. Cooper also faces misdemeanor charges of filing a false report in connection with another KopBusters hoax in Williamson County and possession of cannabis.

0 Comments

KopBuster update 1 of 2!

9/15/2010

0 Comments

     After a misdemeanor charge for his Kopbusting activities was dropped by prosecutors in Texas, Ex-Narcotics officer turned pot activist; Barry Cooper says he is just getting started going after corrupt cops.
     The charges, filed by the Texas Rangers against Cooper, his wife Candi, and an associate after they set up a sting operation to bust corrupt police officers, were dropped by Ector County prosecutors who say the charges did not reflect the facts of the case.
     "The statute in Texas requires that the false report be made during an investigation, and there was no ongoing investigation," County Attorney Cindy Weir-Nutter told the Odessa Nation. "You have to be able to prove all elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt."
     "I knew the charges were bullshit because I used to be a cop," Cooper told Cannabis Culture. "They never should've applied for the warrant in the first place and the judge should never have granted it. I knew their actions were done in retaliation but I still believed we would have to go through the system and prove that it was all bullshit and still might not win. This is great and fantastic news."
     The charges were filed after the Coopers set up a fake cannabis growing operation in a house in Odessa, Texas, using Christmas trees instead of pot plants. An anonymous letter was dropped off at a local church and eventually given to police. The cops responded as Cooper expected and less than 24 hours later the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house (without probable cause), finding only a KopBusters attorney, spy cameras, and a couple of pine trees.
     Texas Ranger Brian Burney later filed charges against the Coopers claiming it was "obvious that the information given to the Odessa Police Department was false and deceptive with the intent to cause a reaction from officers who were conducting the investigation."
     Cooper recently filed a $40 million lawsuit against Texas law enforcement groups and officials but said he would drop the city of Odessa as a defendant in the case.
     The Texas resident still faces a different misdemeanor charge in Williamson County for filing a false report in connection with another KopBuster sting where Cooper's team planted a 'suspicious package' full of cash in a public location that was apparently stolen by police. It is not yet evident if the ruling in the Ector County case will have any effect on Cooper's charges in Williamson County.
     There may be future battles in store for the Coopers, but Barry says his Kopbusting activities are far from over.
     Cooper, who is known for his NeverGetBusted series of DVDs, told Cannabis Culture he is working on a new product line that includes "Barry Cams": small cameras that can be installed in a vehicle and quickly activated to record nasty interactions with police officers during traffic stops.
     "When the police pull them over they can hit the button and it records the traffic stop in color, with full audio, for 2 1/2 hours," Cooper said. "That person will be able to upload their footage to my website for my personal analysis to advise if the police did anything wrong."
     Cooper said other products he will unveil include LED growing lights, plant chameleon - an all-natural dye that can be sprayed on plants to protect them from prying eyes in the sky, smell-proof bags that totally stop ALL permeation of scent, and a floating garden.
     The third volume of his NeverGetBusted series is also due for release in coming months, and is titled NeverGetBusted Advanced Techniques: Examining the Mind of a Cop.
     Cooper says he wants to launch the products as soon as possible "to help citizens and continue Kopbusting with those cameras. Now everyone can do their own Kopbusting."
     The products should be available from the NeverGetBusted website in the next few months.
     If this amazing story of a Narc turned Narc-hunter seems to you like something out of a Hollywood movie you aren't far off, actually, you are right on the money.
     The story has been deemed so amazing that it will be the subject of a feature motion picture and Cooper has been working with Hollywood producers Franck Khalfoun and Brett Ratner, directors responsible for the Rush Hour movies, Prison Break TV show, and other films.
     Barry said he has been talking to the directors on a weekly basis preparing the script for production.
     "I spend a couple hours each week on the phone with them writing the script," Barry said. "The movie is going to start when I was 12 years old and they took me from my momma, and it's going to go all the way through till today."
     Cooper said he's sure he will run in to more opposition from law enforcement, but that he will continue to bust corrupt cops.
     "Once I get that product line up, I'm going to do another KopBusters sting. I'm not going to stop, because it would be selfish of me to stop. The charges got dropped on us here and they will probably be dropped in Williamson County, but there are just too many people in prison to stop. While we are sitting pretty we're going to go out and stir this shit up again because it's the right thing to do."

0 Comments

Want some numbers?

9/15/2010

0 Comments

As the debate over legalizing cannabis via Prop 19 rages on, what follows are a few relevant figures:

420 - A globally-recognized euphemism for cannabis...which originated in California.

1937 - The year cannabis was first prohibited in the United States. For more than a century of U.S. history before that, cannabis was legal and there were no violent drug cartels or gangs.

10 - The number of years since Portugal decriminalized all drugs; and the percentage of Portuguese over the age of 15 who have ever used cannabis, the lowest rate in the European Union.

39.8 - The percentage of Americans over the age of 12 who have used cannabis where it is still illegal for recreational purposes. In fact, TIME Magazine reports that "Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used cannabis," despite Portugal's entire decade of drug decriminalization.

7 - The percentage of the African American population in California.

22 - The percentage of California's marijuana arrests comprised of African Americans.

16,800 - The number of California teenagers of color arrested in 2008 for cannabis possession.

60,000 - The number of cannabis-related drug arrests in California each year according to former Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray, who is now a spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Legalizing and taxing cannabis could end all those arrests, save the taxpayers’ money, and help police focus on catching truly dangerous criminals like John Gardner.

60 - The percentage of violent drug cartel money which comes from the sale of cannabis on California's black market, according to former San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara. Prop 19 could cut off all this funding to violent criminals and instead put that money in the hands of peaceful, legitimate California growers and distributors.

>23,000 - The number of people who have died in Mexico's violent drug wars in the last three years alone as a result of the market distortions and perverse incentives created by U.S. drug prohibition.

>125,000 - The number of dollars Prop 19 opponent Dianne Feinstein has received from the beer, wine, and liquor industry over the last five years.

56 - The percentage of Americans who believe that cannabis should be treated the same or even less strictly than alcohol according to an AP/CNBC poll.

48 - The average percentage of Americans who approved of Obama's administration on the days the poll above was being conducted, meaning more Americans approved of cannabis legalization than Obama by a comfortable eight percent margin.

21 - How old you would have to be in the State of California to cultivate, possess, or use cannabis under Prop 19.

51 - The percentage of voters it would take to pass Proposition 19 this November and end the prohibition of cannabis. Technically, it's even less than that- just a simple majority of votes is all that's required.

0 Comments

Hemp was once required by law!

9/1/2010

0 Comments

     According to the Hemp Historian, the first cannabis law in our land was enacted in 1619 in Jamestown mandating that hemp be grown. That should be no surprise, though, since the stuff is so incredibly useful. Do a quick Internet search for hemp products and you’ll find everything from food products to fuel. In fact, Treehugger.com has a list of several ways to use hemp you may not have heard of before in their article, by Matthew McDermott, titled, “Perfect Plant “
     But if hemp, a plant humans have relied on for centuries, is so useful; why is it illegal (especially since you can puff on it all day and it won’t get you stoned like it’s more-fun sister plant)? The quick answer is money. You see, other products came on the market, such as wood pulp and oil, and the companies behind them encouraged the U.S. to ban hemp; a major competitor, spreading ridiculous rumors about its effects.
     All of this is ridiculous, of course. As SustainableHemp.com points out, “Hemp is one of the most diverse plants on the planet, and could literally supply most of humankind’s needs for fuel, food, clothing, building products, and medicine.”
     But let’s drag our feet on legalization legislation, shall we? Let’s continue pretending it’s harmful and that our country couldn’t use the tax revenue it would collect if only our legislators would stop being so Puritanical. As long as we turn away from all it can do for us, we’ll continue to fuel “Mexican criminal groups” as the National Drug Intelligence Center puts it; waste money enforcing drug laws and imprisoning people involved in the trade while we continue to deny ourselves realistic alternatives to products that are harmful to us and our planet.

Absolutely Brilliant!

0 Comments