By JEREMY D. MAYER | 3/29/09 7:25 AM EDT
Smoking pot doesn’t cause schizophrenia, but marijuana as an issue sure gives our political system the symptoms. We have just elected our third president in a row who at least tried marijuana in early adulthood, yet it remains illegal.
As we discovered again this week, President Obama, like his two predecessors, supports imprisoning people for making the same choices he made.
Beyond imprisonment, one of my policy students, who was honest on a security clearance about her one time use of pot, could lose her job for doing what Clinton, Bush and Obama did.
On television, leading comedian Jon Stewart and America’s sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, swap pot smoking stories with lighthearted abandon, laughing along with their audience, who, like most Americans, end up voting for politicians who support draconian punishments for pot users and dealers.
Year after year, major Hollywood films like Pineapple Express show potsmoking in a positive light, yet legalization remains unmentionable to both our political parties. And America’s most popular Olympian, Michael Phelps, like the majority of people his age, has tried pot, but loses millions in sponsorship when it is revealed that he has done what most of his fans have done.
Several states have legalized medical marijuana, and a few are contemplating decriminalization, and yet, other states are about to prevent those whose urine tests positive for marijuana from receiving desperately needed benefits to which they would otherwise be legally entitled.
At least eight states, including Kansas, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, are actively considering making drug tests mandatory for food stamps, welfare, or unemployment. In a classic demonstration of how America has always had one drug law for the rich and one for the poor, no one has suggested drug testing recipients of billions in bailout cash. We could probably save a lot of money by testing Wall Street financiers for pot (or cocaine, for that matter).
Perhaps these accumulated paradoxes have finally become large enough for the nation to begin reconsidering its position on pot. For an issue that has been in stasis for decades, marijuana is suddenly hot, one might even say, smoking.
By jamming up the White House’s “Open for Questions” website with votes for questions about their favorite substance, advocates for the legalization of marijuana managed to force President Obama to address the issue.
This is success in Washington, even when the president chuckled derisively and came down against legalization. Of the thousands of issues in the competitive policy environment, only a few get this kind of attention.
Some think the economic crisis will help the legalization cause.
California state legislator Tom Ammiano argues that marijuana, by far the most lucrative crop with an estimated $14 billion in sales, could provide over a billion dollars of tax revenue in California alone.
There are, however, a few problems with these numbers. First, it is always tough to estimate what total sales are for any illegal substance. Good data just doesn’t exist in this area. Second, even if $14 billion is accurate, that’s the California sales total when pot is illegal. When a pothead scores a dimebag in Los Angeles, the high price is mostly a function of the illegality. He’s paying for the risks taken by the grower, the importers, and the dealers at each step of the marijuana process.
Currently, dealers risk not only jail, confiscation of property, and the burden of a criminal record, but they also face violence from other rival dealers. That’s why the markup on pot is so extreme.
Legalize pot, and perhaps 80% of its price vanishes. And since marijuana requires very little processing, unlike cocaine or heroin, the supply of pot could skyrocket if it were legalized, further driving the price down. Why pay for it when you can grow your own, tax-free?
It is also possible, though, that legalization would result in a surge in demand, since potential users who avoided it due to fear of incarceration or its high price might now indulge.
Advocates of decriminalization or legalization have reason to take cheer from many recent developments. Tax revenues, although not as high as some dreamers would wish, would certainly be substantial, and would replace the billions spent interdicting and confiscating marijuana, as well as imprisoning users and small time dealers. Legalizing marijuana would immediately remove millions of dollars in income from the international drug cartels that are making life hell in Mexico.
The tide of public opinion is slowly moving towards decriminalization. As polling expert Nate Silver recently pointed out, only 10% supported legalization in 1969, while at least 40% do so today. The younger you are, the more likely you are to have tried marijuana, and to support its legalization. NORML doesn’t have to persuade anyone to win; if they just wait for the anti-pot geezers to die, most Americans will favor legalization within a decade.
Or, they could wait for Obama to go back to the position he had when he was an obscure Illinois state legislator, just four years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQr9ezr8UeA
I don’t use pot, but I do believe that the tide of history is moving against our ridiculous and counterproductive ban on this relatively harmless substance. The question is not will we decriminalize, but when?
Jeremy D. Mayer is the author of “American Media Politics in Transition” (McGraw Hill, 2007) and an associate professor and director of the master’s program in public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.
Kat Willliams is a U.S. comedians, rapper, and actor. He is best known for his role as Money Mike in Friday After Next. He is also known for his stint on Nick Cannon’s MTV improv show, Wild 'n Out, for playing the fictional character Bobby Shaw on the program My Wife and Kids, as well as providing the voice for the character A Pimp Named Slickback in The Boondocks.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uLQOYtpZsA&w=560&h=315]
Dr. Robert J. Melamede Ph.D. Chairman of the Biology Department of the University of Colorado:
Conducting Scientific research on Cannabinoids
The Cannabinoid System has been around for over 600 million years. Before the Dinosaurs. The Cannabinoid System is continuously evolutioning and has been retained by all new species. Food and feeding is at the heart of the Cannabinoid System.
1. Cannabinoids are in every living animal on the planet above Hydra and Mollusks, with the exception of insects. Bodies are homeostatically maintained by the Cannabinoid System.
2. Mothers give their babies a booster shot of cannabinoids in mothers milk to give them the munchies because they have to learn to eat. (they've been fed thru the umbilical cord and did not have to know how to eat.)
3. Mice lacking the CB1 receptors don't like any changes. If they are moved to another part of the cage they act upset and when they are put back to the original spot in the cage they relax, but if then put into another part of the cage they get upset again. Comment: I wonder if people, especially drug warriors, had their CB1 receptors blocked then they would resist change and the ones of us that have unblocked CB1 receptors enjoy the benefits of cannabinoids are a lot more relaxed and not paranoid about or over change. Interesting thought. It turns out that that thought is absolutely correct. Many people' brains are not capable of a good connection to the CB1 CB2 receptors.
4. All new species utilize cannabinoids.
5. By being alive and breathing air our bodies produce "free radicals". Cannabinoids help to reverse this action.
6. Cannabinoids do kill brain cells, but the brain cells they kill are called "Glioma" or Cancer of the brain (Tumor). All other brain cells are protected and healed by cannabinoids. (Glioma cells cannot tolerate the action of cannabinoids)
7. Cannabinoids protect against sunburn and skin cancer because of the CB1 receptors in our skin.
8. Cannabinoids slow down the aging process. Mice that their brains respond to cannabinoids live longer and mice that have brains that block the CB1 receptors die younger.
9. Activity in the evolutionary advanced areas of the brain is increased in cannabinoids receptors and promotes higher consciousness levels.
10. Cannabinoids are even found in the white blood cells (CB2 receptors). The CB2 receptors are found predominantly on immunological cells and regulate the shift in the immune system to the anti-inflammatory mode.
11. Cannabinoids protect the heart against Arythmia.
12. The way it works on pain is there is specific nerves that deal with pain. They are called vanilloid-Receptors. Anandamide (sanscript word for "Blissful Amide"), the bodies internally produced marijuana binds with the nerve endings, reducing pain. Anandamides are produced internally by our bodies in response to a whole variety of conditions. As an example, Aspirin prevents the breakdown of Anandamide, the internally produced marijuana to activate & start working at easing pain. How many old lady's say they "WOULD NEVER" use marijuana & are actually using the equivalent of marijuana that their bodies produce as a natural activity, & don't even realize it. And how many politicians and citizens of the US do this also & aren't even aware they are condemning something that their bodies make naturally. Anecdotal evidence is valid because when a person smokes marijuana & it relieves their pain, then they smoke it again & it relieves their pain again it becomes a fact known only to that person, but nonetheless true.
13. In the case of most autoimmune diseases, the bodies immune cells produces free radicals & is destroying it's own body as a foreign object. Cannabis pushes the immune system into anti inflammatory mode & helps slow the progression of that disease, thereby slowing down the aging process.
14. Seizures are controlled by marijuana not only THC, but non-psychoactive cannabidiol.(CBD) The exact mechanism is not known, however HEMP is high in CBD's & can cancel out the psychoactive high of THC & at the same time benefits the user or smoker. Cannabinoids control everything in our bodies including our minds.
15. There are many other things that Cannabinoids do in the body, besides attaching to the CB1 and CB2 receptors, the main cannabinoid receptors in the higher part of our brain. Cannabinoids affect our skin and other parts of our bodies.
16. Pharmaceutical companies are working at sythesizing different cannabinoid components and different types of strains of marijuana. If they can succeed, then there will be more choices for you and I to choose from and we will be able to use what works best for our particular bodies.
17. The natural course for mankind, because of the location of our CB1 CB2 the brains main receptors, is to be more stoned.
18. Drug warriors are not doing what they are doing to us because they are intentionally evil, but because they are more primitive (obtuse comes to mind). They look at the world with fear and hostility not cooperativity and understanding.
19. According to a brain function study of 150 depressed people Cannabis protects the brain against healthy cell death and it also protects Neurons.
20. Cannabinoids dilate our brochial tubes and help asthsma sufferers to breath both in and out. Because of the balance that is maintained in our bodies for good health there are instances where it works backwards, where death is possible, if too much is smoked. This goes back to the effects of cannabinoids on individuals and if it doesn't work for you, you should not use it. There was some old studies that were done back in 1977 where "AEROSOLIZED THC" was used on patients. This is not what the government tells us when they say it's not medicine, but we are all familiar with the 7 government patients that are supplied marijuana to be used as medicine and we know the government is lying.
21. Natural pain eradication by cannabinol used by our receptors.
22. Cannabinoids control how we view the future. If you're loaded with bad experiences you're going to be fearful of the future. Lots of smoking of cannabinoids makes you want to be in the future. Lack of change vs embracing the future and changes. Conservative people might die prematurely, stressed, uptight and fearful (genocide). Open minded people and mice are able to change, whereas; people with defective receptors and knock-out mice (mice that have had their receptors removed) will keep going to the platform after it has been removed. They will be fearful of change.
23. Cannabinoids prevent and treat certain types of Cancer. Glioma (Brain Cancer) along with pheochromocytoma, skin cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, Lymphoma and Leukemia. Cannabinoids may prevent or cure cancer. Cannabinoids have a way of killing the bad cells and protecting the good ones.
24. Cannabis gives relief to Liver Disease & constant uncontrollable itching. Also, lack of sleep and depression and has been doing so for 600 million years.
25. THC in low doses relieves anxiety, while huge doses promote anxiety. (It's too strong like Marinol) Smoking marijuana relieves anxiety. Marijuana promotes sleeping better and normal persons when they are deprived of marijuana would have difficulty sleeping. (One other thing I'd like to add: When ingested, delta 9 THC, on the first pass thru the liver, changes into delta 11 THC. Five times as psychoactive and much longer lasting. I don't know how many people understand that. Ralph)
26. Cannabis protects nerve cells from dying thus protects against Altzheimers Disease.
27. Our bodies make up marijuana like compounds to make us hungry. (gives us the munchies) Then turn off those compounds & we don't have the munchies anymore when it has had enough food. The cannabinoid system first appeared 600 million years ago. Food & feeding is at the heart of evolution & the development of new species.
28. Head injuries cause the body to produce Endo-cannabinoids to protect itself as well as protecting the body against Nerve Gas. Marijuana turns on the bodies Protective Mode, because when you're hungry the body makes Cannabinoids to turn on your hunger. Cannabinoids turn on the expression of a Particular Gene (at the same time it prevents the expression of other Genes). How the Marijuana Receptors change the Integral Bio-Chemistry. Some of the Molecules that are involved or been studied in a Model Organism. There is a worm that people study alot. They have very simple Nervous Systems so you can define what exactly is going on. It turns out this one Particular Molecule regulates what is known as a Transcription Factor (It turns on the Expression of Genes.) It turns out that when you turn on the Expression of this Particular Gene of the Worm Model it actually promotes Mimicking a condition that actually Promotes Longevity of these worms. This Parallels what we've seen in mice. Because Marijuana exhibits Free Radicals so people who've been using Cannabis, Long Term, tend to Live Longer & Look Younger. Marijuana Promotes your Health by affecting your Nerve Cells, by Balancing your Immune System, by Reducing Fat Deposition in your Cardio-Vascular System. It looks as if it helps Burn the Synthesis of things like Cholesterol.
29. New research shows that the argument over outlawing cannabis because it "Causes Cancer" is no longer valid. There are Nicotine Receptors in your throat. There are no Cannabinoid Receptors in your throat. Cells have a Bio-chemical Program known as "APOPTOSIS". This Bio-chemical Program is activated when cells too damaged to repair themselves commit suicide. There is a Bio-chemical Pathway that controls that. Nicotine activates a path that protects the cells from dying. Smoking anything puts Carcinogens into your Air Passage-ways and Cardio-Vascular system. Cells that get damaged by smoke die and that's what you want to happen. Cells to die before they become Cancer Cells.
30. Cannabinoids modulate pain peripherally. In our bodies there are special kinds of pain receptors, known as Vanaloid receptors & they are sensitive to things like heat & excessive pressure & they are responsible for pain. It turns out that a natural regulator of that that down-regulates pain. The endocannabinoid known as Anandamide, the blissful amide, when you combine Sanskrit for ananda & amide for the chemical type. It's clearly known that cannabis can regulate pain, that's been done in numerous studies, but recently , as we learn more about the molecular mechanisms of pain & cannabinoid action what we have now learned is that there is a lot of crosstalk between the cannabinoid system & the morphine, the opioid system. The name of an article that just came out is called Chronic morphine modulates the contents of the endocannabinoid tuorachidonalglycerol in the rat brain. So, tuorachidonalglycerol is another endocannabinoid. We feel pain thru the sensory nerves that are telling us that we're in a painful situation & on the other hand we feel it within our minds because certain areas of our brain subsequently get tickled. What we are seeing now is that the cannabinoid system works both peripherally & centrally & what we are gonna talk about here is this new work that links the cannabinoids more with the opioids in that opioids & cannabinoids are among the most widely consumed drugs of abuse in humans & phenomena of cross-tolerations or mutual potentiation demonstrated between these two drugs. Some of the recent work on pain has come out of England as a result of work done by G.W. Pharmaceuticals which is a company that specializes in producing cannabis plants. They've developed different strains that have different ratios of the cannabinoids & those different plants have different properties. In the past I've mentioned Bi-Polar disorder. Some people who are Bi-Polar & are depressive find Sativa's are good to help elevate them & if they're in an elevated mood & in a manic state they have to be brought down alittle & the Indica's seem to be better for that & likewise they're different ratio's of these cannabinoids that are thought to benefit for example pain, more than others, that are thought to benefit auto-immune diseases. This is being worked out, but what I'd like to go into now is that some of the new links that seem to be occurring in this particular study that I just mentioned, what they are finding is that chronic administration of Opioids is in fact down-regulating the tuorachidonalglycerol which as mentioned, is one of the endo-cannabinoids. Interestingly the Anandamide level seem to be remaining the same, but this other one, tuorachidonalglycerol seems to be down-regulated. In knock-out mice, these are mice where a particular gene is missing, it turns out that you can eliminate alot of the withdrawal systems associated with opium if you have knocked out the receptors. When people go thru withdrawal, they get terribly nauseous & feel horribly sick, well, what we do know cannabinoids control nausea. That's why it's being used by people who are receiving Chemo-therapy or disorders where they are chronically nauseous. Cannabinoids can be very effective for that. So what we are seeing is that morphine turns down the Endogenous cannabinoid Arachidonic acid & that seems to be involved in some of the addictive behavior & this is kind of interesting because we know that cannabinoids themselves other than very twisted circumstances do not show addictive behavior. On the one hand we have the cannabinoid potentiating the morphine, in that people who need morphine for pain can often use 50% of what they normally use by including cannabinoids & on the other hand, we're seeing that the cannabinoid receptor system is involved in addiction & I mentioned a long time ago, that cannabinoids can be beneficial for some people in their attempt to withdraw & now we're seeing support for that in that chronic morphine administration is turning off one of the cannabinoids that's in turn, turning on some of the withdrawal systems.
31. Cannabinoids represent a general class of chemicals, not just cannabis & THC in plants, but rather also cannabinoids that are produced in our bodies. These happen to be Lipid compounds that result from burning & making fats. The thing that is so unique about this system represents how it works so broadly for various health reasons. That is that every single system in our bodies & by system I mean our nervous system or digestive system or reproductive system or immunological system or endocrine system, you name it & the cannabinoids are involved in maintaining what's known as homostasis balance. We need to have the right amount of these components of this system which includes the compounds like THC which is better known as Lygan. They bind to specific receptors & then they are broken down by another enzyme that breaks down these things. So, we have a whole network of bio-chemistry that's influencing everything in our bodies. The question that arises is that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. The system, the cannabinoid system influencing everything in our bodies & the question is what are the nature of the wholes? What are the greater pictures that emerge out of this cannabinoid systems activity. So we see, for example, regulating reproductive system, digestive system, immune system & when they are all working together in a way that is concertedly modulated by the cannabinoid system what can we expect to see, & I would suggest that what's represented by the influences of cannabinoids & cannabis on our mind, in that it opens up our minds to new ways of thinking, it free's us from being stuck in a single track of thinking & that's exactly the kind of thought processes that are required as we move into the future which is generally composed of the unknown. What the cannabinoid system is doing is giving us a way to peacefully & lovingly adapt to change & be open to change. We see in these mice that we can knock-out the cannabinoid system that they are afraid of change. The implications of this are really profound if in fact we have people that are shifted one way or the other in terms of their ability to modulate & accept change that is of profound importance because we see people that are afraid to look forward, happily embracing the future. There are health ramifications for all of this. The cannabinoid system can help us with cardio-vascular disease where it reduces infarctsize with auto-immune diseases where it helps ameliorate & prevent the development of a whole variety of auto-immune diseases including things like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, crones disease & it's also involved with, as a natural regulator of our pain. So we have this holistic medicine that's influencing so many things & I forgot to mention that it regulates our memories & mental pains & in fact, regulates alot of life/death decisions in our cells, nerve cells in particular, which is why it's so beneficial for neurological disorders often associated with the aging, such as Alzheimer's disease. What we're seeing is a holistic medicine & again it has to be used appropriately, too little is no good, & we may be making enough. Individuals may be making enough, but there could be many many people who are not making enough or their system is not active enough who will be able to benefit from the use of cannabis & other cannabinoids. To regulate all of the things we've mentioned that it regulates. So, we've got a holistic health program. To find the balance that's required for our optimum health is something that's totally built into the cannabinoid system. Therefore, it should be readily available to use wisely.
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