science

Governors petition for cannabis reclassification

Posted on December 1st, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

medical marijuanaGovernors Christine Gregoire (D-WA) and Lincoln Chafee (I-RI) announced at a press conference in Olympia Nov. 30 that they are jointly filing a federal petition to reclassify cannabis for medical use. Under the Controlled Substances Act, the federal government considers cannabis a Schedule I substance, a dangerous drug with no medical value. The rescheduling petition filed by governors Gregoire and Chafee comes after their administrations were sent letters threatening medical marijuana producers and distributors and the implementation of state laws.

LA cancer clinic denies liver transplant to medical marijuana patient

Posted on November 18th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , .

medical marijuanaAdvocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) issued a letter Nov. 17 urging that Los Angeles' prestigious Cedars-Sinai Medical Center promptly re-list 63-year-old patient Norman B. Smith for a liver transplant. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009 and became eligible for a transplant at Cedars-Sinai the following year. Smith's oncologist at Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Steven Miles, approved of his cannabis use to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and pain from an unrelated back surgery. But in February he was removed from the transplant list after testing positive for cannabis use.

Survey: medical cannabis leads to less prescription drug use

Posted on November 5th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

medical marijuanaSurvey data collected from members of the Berkeley Patients Group, one of California's most prominent medical marijuana collectives, indicates that most patients reduce their use of prescription medications following their initiation of cannabis therapy. The anonymous survey found that 66% of respondents said that they consumed cannabis as a prescription drug substitute. Many said they preferred cannabis because it caused fewer side effects than conventional medications.

Nine congress members protest medical cannabis crackdown in letter to Obama

Posted on November 1st, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , .

Nine Congress members on Oct. 31 issued an open letter to President Obama urging him to put a halt to new aggressive Justice Department tactics aimed at dismantling California's medical marijuana industry. "It's unconscionable...to endanger the lives of patients," the reps state in the strongly worded letter, which calls for rescheduling cannabis. It especially urges support for HR 1983, the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, which was introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) earlier this year.

California Medical Association calls for cannabis legalization

Posted on October 16th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , .

medical marijuanaTrustees of the California Medical Association, representing more than 35,000 physicians statewide, on Oct. 14 adopted a position calling for legalization of cannabis at their annual meeting in Anaheim—becoming the first major medical association in the nation to do so. Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group's new policy, attributed the move to growing frustration over California's medical marijuana law, which puts practitioners in the situation of having to decide whether to recommend a substance that is illegal under federal law.

Humboldt firm markets vegetarian cannabis nutrient

Posted on October 1st, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , .

Northern California's Humboldt Plant Fertilizers (HPF) announced Sept. 22 that it will become "the only natural liquid plant nutrient company banning any use of slaughterhouse by-products such as the bone meal, blood meal, and feather meal almost universally found in all other natural fertilizer products." Every product manufactured by HPF will now bear the "Holy Cow" symbol—a smiling bovine head with a halo and the words "We never use slaughterhouse by-products."

Cannabis effective against PTSD?

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , .

medical marijuanaCannabis administered in a timely manner may block the development of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in rats, a new study conducted at Israel's Haifa University finds. The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology journal, found that rats given cannabis within 24 hours of a traumatic experience successfully avoided PTSD symptoms. "There is a critical 'window of time' after trauma, during which synthetic marijuana can help prevent symptoms similar to PTSD in rats," said study leader Dr. Irit Akirav.

Cannabis use up; meth, coke down: study

Posted on September 9th, 2011 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

cannabisCannabis is increasingly the drug of choice among young adults in the US, while methamphetamine use  is dropping, according to a national survey released Sept. 8 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Overall, 8.9% of the US population or 22.6 million people aged 12 and older used illicit drugs in 2010, up from 8.7% in 2009 and 8% in 2008, the study finds according to Reuters. Cannabis use appears to be driving the increase, with some 17.4 million—or 6.9% of the population—saying they used marijuana in 2010, up from 14.4 million or 5.8% of the population in 2007.

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