Pain and Punishment

On 1st February 2006 at Carlisle Crown Court (in the UK), three people are to be prosecuted for supplying cannabis chocolate to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sufferers.

Over the last five years, operating as THC4MS, they have sent over 34,000 free 'Canna-choc' bars to more than 1800 bona-fide sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis (a doctor's note is required, confirming diagnosis of MS). All three concede they have broken the law but felt it essential because cannabis is often the only medicine which works for people with MS. Alternative treatments cost the National Health Service a fortune, aren't as effective and often come with severe side-effects.

Without cannabis people with MS suffer intolerable levels of pain, pain which has been compared to having barbed wire dragged up and down one's spine. Without cannabis people with MS cannot walk, cannot feed themselves and are entirely dependent upon a carer. With cannabis they regain a quality of life which we take for granted. Until recently they could contact THC4MS and be given their cannabis chocolate.

Should the givers be prosecuted as villains or praised as heroes?

A note to the Judge:

In Germany earlier this year, in the case of a 41-year old multiple sclerosis patient, Judge Ulrich Krehbiel used strong words against criminal prosecution of severely ill persons who use cannabis medicinally. "Why don't we allow a man with such a heavy burden some good days," he said.
(Source: http://www.cannabis-med.org/)

A note to the Jury:

Jurors have the right (established in the Magna Carta) to throw out prosecutions purely on the basis that the law itself is wrong. It doesn't matter that the law has been broken, jurors can decide it shouldn't have been established in the first place and acquit on that basis alone.

A note to the Whingeing Whiners:

Get a Whife.

Footnote:
The British Government understands the value of cannabis medicines and has allowed Sativex, a British made cannabis-based medicine, to be imported from Canada on a temporary basis. Or rather it has said Sativex can be imported. To this date not a single MS sufferer has been granted a prescription.

Source: Press Release by THC4MS.

What's Your Flavour?

If you smoke, do you like the flavour of tobacco?

I thought I liked it, but I also like allspice, almond, anise (I love anise), apple, apricot, banana, basil, bergamot, caramel, cardamom, cedar, celery, cherry, cinnamon, clove, cocoa, coffee, cognac, coriander, dill, fennel, fenugreek, fig, geranium, ginger, honey, hop*, jasmine, lavender, lemon, licorice, lime, lovage, malt, mimosa, molasses, orange, origanum, peach, peppermint, pineapple, plum, raspberry, rose, rum, spearmint, star anise, tea, vanilla (I love vanilla), walnut and wine.

And all those are amongst 366 flavouring ingredients in cigarettes, from the list on Gallaher's website.

Here's the list of the flavouring additives:

Table 1 - Ingredients added to tobacco
Cigarette Products
Ingredients

(PARA-HYDROXYPHENYL)-2-BUTANONE, [4-]
ACETANISOLE
ACETIC ACID AND ITS SODIUM/POTASSIUM SALTS

ACETOIN
ACETOPHENONE
ACETYLPYRAZINE, [2-]
ACETYLPYRIDINE, [2-]
ACETYLPYRIDINE, [3-]
ACETYLPYRROLE, [2-]
ALANINE, [L-]
ALLSPICE OIL
ALLYL HEXANOATE
ALMOND OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
AMBRETTE SEED OIL
AMBROXIDE
AMMONIUM ISOVALERATE
AMYL BENZOATE
AMYL BUTYRATE
AMYL HEXANOATE
ANETHOLE, [TRANS-]
ANGELICA LACTONE, [ALPHA-]
ANISE
ANISYL ACETATE
ANISYL ALCOHOL
APPLE EXTRACT AND/OR CONCENTRATE
APRICOT EXTRACT AND/OR CONCENTRATE
BANANA EXTRACT AND/OR CONCENTRATE
BASIL OIL
BEECH TAR EXTRACT
BENZALDEHYDE
BENZOIC ACID AND ITS SODIUM SALT

BENZOIN RESINOID
BENZOTHIAZOLE
BENZYL ACETATE
BENZYL ALCOHOL

BENZYL BENZOATE
BENZYL BUTYRATE
BENZYL CINNAMATE
BENZYL FORMATE
BENZYL ISOBUTYRATE
BENZYL ISOVALERATE
BENZYL PHENYLACETATE
BERGAMOT OIL
BUCHU LEAVES OIL
BUTYL 2-METHYLBUTYRATE, [N-]
BUTYL ACETATE
BUTYL BUTYRATE
BUTYL BUTYRYL LACTATE
BUTYL PROPIONATE
BUTYLIDENEPHTHALIDE, [3-]
BUTYRIC ACID
CARAMEL AND/OR SUGAR COULEUR

CARDAMOM SEED OIL
CAROB GUM AND/OR BEAN POWDER AND/OR EXTRACT

CARVONE
CARYOPHYLLENE OXIDE, [BETA-]
CARYOPHYLLENE, [BETA-]
CASCARILLA BARK OIL
CASSIA FISTULA, EXTRACT
CASSIA OIL AND/OR CASSIA BARK EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
CASTOREUM EXTRACT
CEDARWOOD OIL
CELERY SEED OIL
CHAMOMILE FLOWER EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
CHERRY INFUSION SCH. MORELL.
CHICORY EXTRACT
CINNAMIC ALCOHOL
CINNAMIC ALDEHYDE
CINNAMON OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
CITRAL
CITRIC ACID
CITRONELLAL
CITRONELLOL, [D-/L-]
CLARY SAGE OIL
CLOVE OIL
COCOA AND COCOA PRODUCTS
COFFEE AND COFFEE EXTRACT
COGNAC OIL
CORIANDER OIL
CORN OIL
CORN SYRUP
DAMASCENONE, [BETA-]
DAMASCONE, [BETA-]
DAVANA OIL
DECADIENAL, [2-TRANS,4-TRANS-]
DECALACTONE, [DELTA-]
DECALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
DECANAL
DECANOIC ACID
DECENAL, [2-]
DIACETYL
DIETHYLPYRAZINE, [2,3-]
DIHYDROCOUMARIN, [3,4-]
DILL OILS
DIMETHOXYBENZENE, [PARA-]
DIMETHOXYPHENOL, [2,6-]
DIMETHYL PYRAZINE, [2,6-]
DIMETHYL SULPHIDE
DIMETHYL-1,2-CYCLOPENTANEDIONE, [3,5-]
DIMETHYL-1,2-CYCLOPENTANEDIONE, [3,4-]
DIMETHYL-3-HYDROXY-2,5-DIHYDROFURAN-2-ONE, [4,5-]
DIMETHYLPYRAZINE, [2,3-]
DIMETHYLPYRAZINE, [2,5-]
DODECALACTONE, [DELTA-]
DODECANOIC ACID
ETHYL 2-METHYLBUTYRATE
ETHYL ACETATE
ETHYL ACETOACETATE
ETHYL BENZOATE
ETHYL BUTYRATE
ETHYL CINNAMATE
ETHYL CITRATE


ETHYL DECANOATE
ETHYL FORMATE
ETHYL GUAIACOL, [4-]
ETHYL HEPTANOATE
ETHYL HEXANOATE
ETHYL ISOBUTYRATE
ETHYL ISOVALERATE
ETHYL LACTATE
ETHYL LAURATE
ETHYL LEVULINATE
ETHYL MALTOL
ETHYL MYRISTATE
ETHYL NONANOATE
ETHYL OCTANOATE
ETHYL OLEATE
ETHYL P-ANISATE
ETHYL PALMITATE
ETHYL PHENOL, [4-]
ETHYL PHENYLACETATE
ETHYL PROPIONATE
ETHYL PYRIDINE, [2-]
ETHYL PYRIDINE, [3-]
ETHYL STEARATE
ETHYL VALERATE
ETHYL VANILLIN
ETHYL-2-HYDROXY-2-CYCLOPENTENE-1-ONE, [3-]
ETHYL-2-METHYLPYRAZINE, [3-]
ETHYL-3,5(OR 6)-DIMETHYLPYRAZINE, [2-]
ETHYL-3-HYDROXY-4-METHYL-2(5H)-FURANONE, [5-]
ETHYL-4-HYDROXY-5-METHYL-3(2H)-FURANONE, [2-]
EUGENOL
FENNEL OILS, SWEET
FENUGREEK EXTRACT AND/OR ABSOLUTE
FIG EXTRACT
FORMIC ACID
FRUCTOSE
FRUITS AND EXTRACTS THEREOF
FURFURYL MERCAPTAN
GENET ABSOLUTE
GENTIAN EXTRACT
GERANIOL
GERANIUM ABS AND/OR OIL
GERANYL ACETATE
GERANYL ACETONE
GERANYL BUTYRATE
GERANYL FORMATE
GERANYL ISOBUTYRATE
GINGER OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
GLUCOSE

GLYCEROL
GUAIAC WOOD EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
GUAIACOL
GUAR GUM

HEPTA-2,4-DIENAL
HEPTALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
HEPTANOIC ACID
HEPTANOL, [1-]
HEPTENAL, [CIS 4-]
HEXADECENLACTONE, [OMEGA-6-]
HEXALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
HEXANAL
HEXANOIC ACID
HEXEN-1-YL ACETATE, [CIS-3-]
HEXEN-3-OIC ACID, [TRANS-]
HEXEN-3-YL BENZOATE, [CIS-]
HEXENAL, [TRANS-2-]
HEXENOL, [CIS-3-]
HEXYL ALCOHOL
HONEY
HOP EXTRACT
HYDROXY-2,5-DIMETHYL-3(2H)-FURANONE, [4-]
HYDROXYPYRIDINE, [2-]
IMMORTELLE EXTRACT AND/OR OIL AND/OR ABS
INVERT SUGAR

IONONE, [ALPHA-]
IONONE, [BETA-]
IRONE, [ALPHA-]
ISOAMYL ACETATE
ISOAMYL ALCOHOL
ISOAMYL BUTYRATE
ISOAMYL CINNAMATE
ISOAMYL FORMATE
ISOAMYL HEXANOATE
ISOAMYL ISOVALERATE
ISOAMYL PHENYLACETATE
ISOAMYL PROPIONATE
ISOBUTANOL
ISOBUTYL ACETATE
ISOBUTYL N-BUTYRATE
ISOBUTYL PHENYLACETATE
ISOBUTYL PROPIONATE
ISOBUTYRALDEHYDE
ISOBUTYRIC ACID
ISOVALERALDEHYDE
ISOVALERIC ACID
JASMINE ABS AND/OR EXTRACT
KOLA NUT EXTRACT
LABDANUM EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
LACTIC ACID
LATAKIA
LAVENDER OIL
LEMON OILS
LEVULINIC ACID
LICORICE AND/OR EXTRACT
LIME OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
LIMONENE
LINALOOL
LINALYL ACETATE
LINALYL ISOBUTYRATE
LOVAGE EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
MACE OIL, POWDER, EXTRACT
MALT EXTRACT
MALTODEXTRIN
MALTOL
MATE EXTRACT
MENTHOL, [L-]
MENTHYL ACETATE, [D-/ L-]
METHOXYBENZALDEHYDE, [PARA-]
METHYL 3-METHYLTHIOPROPIONATE
METHYL ACETOPHENONE, [4-]
METHYL ANISOLE, [PARA-]
METHYL BENZOATE
METHYL BUTYRALDEHYDE, [2-]
METHYL CINNAMATE
METHYL CYCLOPENTENOLONE
METHYL HEXANOIC ACID
METHYL JASMONATE
METHYL LINOLEATE
METHYL PHENYLACETATE
METHYL PYRAZINE, [2-]
METHYL QUINOXALINE, [5-]
METHYL SALICYLATE
METHYL-2-HEPTEN-4-ONE, [5-]
METHYL-2-METHYL BUTYRATE
METHYL-2-PHENYL-2-HEXENAL, [5-]
METHYL-3,5-HEPTADIEN-2-ONE, [6-]
METHYL-5-HEPTEN-2-ONE, [6-]
METHYL-5-THIAZOLYLETHANOL, [4-]
METHYL-5-VINYL THIAZOLE, [4-]
METHYL-6,7-DIHYDRO-[5H]-CYCLOPENTAPYRAZINE, [5-]
METHYL-TRANS,2-BUTENOIC ACID, [2-]
METHYLBENZYL ACETATE, [ALPHA-]
METHYLBENZYL ALCOHOL, [ALPHA-]
METHYLBUTYRIC ACID, [2-]
METHYLFURFURAL, [5-]
METHYLGUAIACOL, [4-]
METHYLMETHOXYPYRAZINE
METHYLPENTANOIC ACID, [3-]
METHYLTETRAHYDROFURAN-3-ONE, [2-]
METHYLTHIAZOLE, [4-]
MIMOSA ABSOLUTE
MOLASSES
MYRCENE
MYRRH EXTRACT AND/OR OIL
NEROL
NEROLIDOL
NONALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
NONANAL
NONANOIC ACID
NONENAL, [2-]
OAKMOSS ABS AND/OR EXTRACT
OCIMENE, [BETA-]
OCTALACTONE, [DELTA-]
OCTALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
OCTANAL
OCTANOIC ACID
OCTANOL, [1-]
OCTYL ACETATE
OLIBANUM OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
ORANGE LEAF ABSOLUTE
ORANGE OILS AND/OR EXTRACTS
ORIGANUM OIL/EXTRACT/OLEORESIN
ORRIS ROOT EXTRACT
PALMAROSA OIL
PALMITIC ACID
PATCHOULY OIL
PEACH EXTRACT AND/OR CONCENTRATE
PENTADECALACTONE, [OMEGA-]
PENTAN-1-OL
PENTANEDIONE, [2,3-]
PEPPERMINT OIL
PERU BALSAM OIL
PHENETHYL ACETATE
PHENETHYL ALCOHOL
PHENETHYL ISOBUTYRATE
PHENETHYL ISOVALERATE
PHENETHYL PHENYLACETATE
PHENYL PROPIONIC ACID, [3-]
PHENYLACETALDEHYDE
PHENYLACETIC ACID
PHENYLPROPYL ACETATE, [3-]
PIMENTO LEAF OIL
PINEAPPLE EXTRACT AND/OR CONCENTRATE
PIPERIDINE
PIPERONAL
PLUM/PRUNE EXTRACT
PROLINE, [L-]
PROPANOL, [1-]
PROPENYLGUAETHOL
PROPIONALDEHYDE
PROPIONIC ACID
PROPYL ACETATE
PROPYLENE GLYCOL [1,2-]

PROPYLIDENEPHTHALIDE, [3-]
PYRIDINE
PYROLIGNEOUS ACID
PYRROLIDINE
PYRUVIC ACID
RASPBERRY SPIRIT
RHODINOL
ROSE OIL AND/OR ABSOLUTE
ROSE OXIDE
RUM ETHER
SACCHARIN AND ITS SODIUM SALT
SALICYLALDEHYDE
SANDALWOOD OIL
SODIUM/POTASSIUM CITRATE
SORBIC ACID AND ITS POTASSIUM SALT

SPEARMINT OIL
SPIRITS, DISTILLED
STAR ANISE OIL
STYRAX GUM AND/OR EXTRACT AND/OR OIL

SUGAR SYRUP

TABANON
TAMARIND EXTRACT
TEA EXTRACT AND/OR RESINOID
TERPINEOL, [ALPHA-]
TERPINYL ACETATE
TETRAHYDROFURFURYL ALCOHOL
TETRAMETHYLPYRAZINE, [2,3,5,6-]
THYMOL
TOBACCO EXTRACTS
TOCOPHEROL

TOLU BALSAM EXTRACT AND/OR GUM
TOLUALDEHYDE, [PARA-]
TOLYLACETATE, [PARA-]
TRIACETIN
TRIMETHYL PYRAZINE, [2,3,5-]
UNDECALACTONE, [GAMMA-]
VALERIAN ROOT OIL AND/OR EXTRACT
VALERIC ACID
VALEROLACTONE, [GAMMA-]
VALINE, [L-]
VANILLA BEANS AND/OR EXTRACT
VANILLIN
VERATRALDEHYDE
VETIVER OIL
VINYLGUAIACOL, [4-]
WALNUT HULLS EXTRACT
WINE

* Did you know that hop is a member of the family Cannibinaceae? There are only two members of this family - the hop and cannabis. Is this a danger? Should we write to our MP?

Maybe It's a Gay Horse

An Oxford college graduate was arrested for making homophobic comments about a police horse.

He had told an officer: "Excuse me, do you realise your horse is gay?"

The student refused to pay an £80 ticket and was charged with using threatening words and behaviour.

But the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case at Oxford Magistrates Court yesterday because of lack of evidence.

Source: Oxford Mail.

No Shit for 8+ Days

In the UK Drugs Act 2005 there's a provision described thus:

"Allow a court to remand in police custody for up to a further 192 hours those who swallow drugs in secure packages, to increase the likelihood of the evidence being recovered."

I had thought that this further eight days was a bit excessive, but then I read this post on a forum:

"I attended the 1990, 1992 and 1993 Glastonbury festivals and the Reading 1990 festival and didn't take a dump at any of them.

That's 15 days of eating noodles from polystyrene trays and Curried Bully Beef without taking a crap."

According to an Interesting Facts page:

"The world constipation record is 108 days."
(As someone remarked elsewhere, you wouldn't want to be there on the 109th day.)

In the light of the evidence from this new research, surely this extra eight days on remand is insufficient.

There is a question here, too, of fair remuneration, not considered in the Act. Should an officer be paid more for investigating faeces (sic) of a greater quantity and longer-fermentation?

But since the cost of keeping a prisoner on remand is, in any case, met from the public purse, would it not be better for the taxpayer to have laxatives administered to suspects, thus expediting the whole procedure.

With the worldwide implications of this same problem - which faces authorities everywhere - it could be worthwhile for investors to keep an eye on the markets in Alexandrian, Kartoum, Tinnevelly, and Indian senna.

"a bunch of trendies"

Following my January 5th post below on the looming UK reclassification of cannabis, there's an interesting quote from the following day's Daily Mail:

Kate Hoey, one of ten Labour MPs who voted against reclassification in October 2003, said: "I take no satisfaction in this, but I'm pleased Charles Clarke is now taking the issue more seriously than perhaps it was taken at the time.

"The evidence on mental health was all there when the Commons debated this. I mentioned it in my speech, and so did other MPs.

"Nobody was calling for reclassification except a bunch of trendies. Everybody on the Advisory Council seemed to be from the pro-legalisation camp, so their findings were hardly surprising."

Déjà vu

This remark, very insulting to the members of the Advisory Council, is just like one made by James Callaghan, then Home Secretary, in the 1969 debate on the report of the Wootton Commission on cannabis. He insulted Baroness Wootton and her committee (of very upright citizens) with his remark :

"I had the impression... that those who were in favour of legalizing pot were all the time pushing the other members of the committee back, so that eventually these remarkable conclusions emerged that it would be wrong to legalize it but that the penalties should be reduced."

This is the level of debate which our appointed representatives give us for our money. A few more intellectual gems from that debate:

"This mania for research that inspires sociologists and armchair legislators fills me with misgivings. There is a lot that we do not know about water, but I have a pretty shrewd conviction, at any rate when I am in a boat, that it is wet and better kept out of and not got into."
T L Iremonger

"The effects of cannabis are bad. It is all very well for the Honourable Member for Yarmouth to say that they are not bad. The essential of drug taking is that one has to take more and more to have the same effect." Captain Walter Elliott

(Emboldening is mine)

Million Dollar Tattoo Girl Has Her Baby

Nancy Vital, in the US, says: "I was stupid. I'm 18. I thought I was in love with this guy, we got pregnant, and now I'm on my own."

She needs to raise cash to get through college and support her daughter so, in the spirit of the age, she set up the milliondollartattoo.com site. She's doing a great thing: taking full responsibility for her daughter and getting a site going to raise cash. You can read Nancy's story on her site.

Of course, as per normal in this patriarchial society, she's had to take a load of flack. But, in reality, what she has done and how she has handled it is all good person stuff. A civilised society (which doesn't yet exist, except perhaps in 'primitive' cultures) would give her and her child total support (instead of denying them Medicaid).

You can be pretty certain that those who criticise her for getting pregnant manage to avoid getting so themselves by their craftiness and preparation; not because they don't have sex outside marriage.

Unfortunately, when you stick your head above the parapet you get some shots taken at it by some very shoddy people; and, as she's discovered there's a load of them just waiting to come out of the woodwork and take a snipe.

Still, she doesn't need to think about them when she's got a beaming brand-new baby to look at.

Here's hoping everything goes well for her.

US Approves Sativex Trials

US regulators (the Food and Drug Administration) have given UK company, GW Pharmaceuticals, approval to conduct a Phase III study into its cannabis extract Sativex as a treatment for cancer pain.

This is a significant achievement, since it waives the earlier-stage trials: nonetheless, it is unlikely that Sativex would be in the US marketplace until towards the end of the decade.

This acceptance of the possible benefit of cannabis is astonishing, when until recently federal prosecutions were being made against state-approved marijuana growers. In the case of one such grower, Ed Rosenthal, the judge would not allow the jury to be informed that his growing had been approved under Californian law. After the case, the jury were incensed at having been denied this knowledge of the defendant. Rightly so. In such a court what value is there in 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'?

Here's a wealth of reading on US medical cannabis and the law.

Source: IACM-Bulletin of 8 January 2006.

Gobbling Up Our Inheritance

Where did it all go? - all that plenty.

This is a quote from a piece in American Heritage magazine about Thomas Morton, who landed in New England in 1622 and felt it to be Paradise, Nature’s Masterpiece. It's a great story, well worth reading, about a man liked by the Indians and greatly disliked by the Puritans.

This is some of the abundance he found:

"Cod was a better source of prosperity than all the gold of the Spanish Main. Enough bass filled the stream by his house to load a hundred-ton ship. He could not throw a stone without hitting one and sometimes could cross over on their backs dry-shod. Merely the head provided a good dinner, and the taste excelled the 'marybones of beefe.' Mackerel, trying to escape the bass, 'shot themselves a shore,' and whole hogsheads could be taken up from the sand. Smelt could be scooped up by basketfuls. Halibut were so large, two men could scarcely lift one out of the water. Salmon and hake, 'a dainty white fish,' came in multitudes. The sturgeon were so fat they were yellow. The swarming shad were used only 'to dung the ground.' A thousand per acre would triple the corn yield. He became so sated with lobsters — for five hundred to a thousand came in with each tide — that for five years he used them only for bait. Some oyster beds were a mile long, the mussels were 'fat and large.' He defied anyone to show him 'the like in any known part of the world.'"

Here's another heartfelt piece on the events of that period and the dirty methods of the Puritans in fixing things their way against the free-minded Thomas Morton and the Native Americans.

Japanese Businessmen Fallen Asleep

Called Karoshi, 'overwork death', every year a number of Japanese business men die through overwork.

Here's some pictures of them asleep all over the place.

An American, upset at the suggestion that Japanese work harder than Americans, comments on the pictures: "They ALL FUCKING DRUNK! Stop giving this shit about Japanese workers."

More Obfuscation Coming Your Way

It's time to confuse and mess with your mind again. The anti-cannabis lobby is back on its hobby horse, and poor Charlie Clarke has the job of smearing the newschannels in preparation for a reversal of the UK downgrading policy which, I confidently predict, will be announced in the next two weeks.

The campaign has all the hallmarks: BBC radio interview on 'Today' programme this morning and an interview in today's issue of the Times newspaper.

The Times reports:

"The public was misled about the dangers of taking cannabis when the Government unwittingly decided to downgrade the drug less than a year ago, the Home Secretary admits today."
('unwitting' - without knowing or planning, Cambridge Dictionary Online)

"In a damning assessment of the decision taken by his predecessor, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke said he is 'very worried' about recent evidence suggesting a strong link between cannabis and mental illness." (Damn, I'll bet it's so 'recent' that no-one else has seen it.)

If this sentence makes sense, please let me know. Charles Clarke: “The thing that worries me most [about the downgrading of cannabis] is confusion among the punters about what the legal status of cannabis is.”

I have problems with this one, too: "Asked if the downgrading of the drug had served any useful purpose, Mr Clarke paused before responding: 'I think it gives it a steer to the citizen on more serious drug consumption'." What on earth does 'gives it a steer' mean?

In the BBC interview we hear:

Asked whether the decision to downgrade cannabis's classication was premature, a mistake, Mr Clarke said: "Since that decision, further medical evidence has been developed about the implications of consumption of cannabis for mental health, which is serious." ('developed' - now that's an interesting word to use)

"We need to work much harder to educate people about the consequences and, when finally determined, what the legal status of cannabis is."

"The fact is that we still don't know a lot about this relationship (between cannabis and mental health), as the Advisory Committee report makes clear, but what we do know is concerning."

If you read the BBC report on the various evidence which is being 'developed' and my earlier post, you may get more of the actual picture (ie, more eagerness than science). I believe it looks something like this:

Since the end of alcohol prohibition in America in the 1930s, when the devil was called upon to find work for the idle hands of enforcement officers, we have been fed a constant diet of lies and falsified evidence. According to the propaganda, cannabis users will commit murder, rape and violence; go insane; become addicted, ravenous for another hit and led to hard drugs. It was bollocks, and it's still bollocks.

There's always been an eager lobby of right-wing semi-mental evangelical campaigners eager to bend ignorant minds. And alongside them there's an equally eager crew of evangelical researchers, now becoming desperate to be the ones to prove what is so desperately sought to be proven; and slanted newspapers itching to report it early in large type. Look carefully at the research; note the over-eager bending and stretching - they're on a mission.

After years of intensive research, via books, the internet, and life, I believe that, when ignorance and prejudice are defeated, we will simply understand the remarks of a US Judge: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L Young, 1988.

For your titillation, here's a quote from 1930's USA:

"Under the influence of cannabis indica, these human derelicts are quickly subjugated by the will of the master mind."
Dr. A. E. Fossier.

(All emboldening of words is mine)

New Year's Motivation

Ha, ha! Time to get heads on track for the next rung of the treadmill.

Here's some motivational help:

A lovely piece on letting go, entitled Gain Confidence Thru Your Creative Self, with instructions for brainstorming for ideas.

Aim High - Dig Deep gives good advice on mastering tasks; here computers and painting, but the advice applies to any subject.

And some useful thoughts:

When setting paths and goals:

"The subconscious must be seduced into responding the way you want it to perform. To be effective, therefore, the ideas you plant in it must appeal to the imagination rather than the intellect."

Resolving personal issues:

"Your subconscious specialises in finding solutions to your most personal problems. Place your faith in it, and give your conscious mind a rest."

I like this:

"For a long time it had seemed to me
that life was about to begin - real life.
But there was always some obstacle in the way,
something to be got through first,
some unfinished business; time still to be served,
a debt to be paid. Then life would begin.
At last it dawned on me that
these obstacles were my life."
Bette Howland, Life in the Snakepit.

Image © 2006 R deCinabre

Old Year Reminder

3 million dead

"Somebody dies avoidably through poverty every three seconds", I quoted in my post of September 14th. I calculate that since that date over three million people have died.

When over three thousand people died in the attacks on the world tower, the message was 'the world will never be the same'; but for those three million dead, and the others following them now, the world is just the same.