Cannabis

When seeking drug reform we should avoid the deeply entrenched anti-drug narratives that have dominated drug policy debate. These narratives are often rooted in fallacy, distortion and sweeping generalisations, whereas, reform must maintain integrity and stay firmly rooted in reason, rationale, science and evidence. We need to be clear, we don't have a global drug problem - we have a global drug policy problem, and the cause of the problem isn't gangsters - it's governments.

Plant Medicines. Symposia of submitted papers at Breaking Convention: 5th International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness, 16th-18th August, 2019, University of Greenwich, London. . - Chair: David Luke

Friday 16th August

09:30 The Mythical Medicinal Story of Fly Agaric
Fiona Heckels & Karen Lawton (Seed SistAs)

10:00 An Unwatched Pot Never Boils
Zachary Bellman

10:30 Chemical Composition of “Ayahuasca”
Helle Kaasic

Over the past 15-20 years, domestic cultivation of cannabis has been established in a number of European countries. New techniques have made such cultivation easier; however, the bulk of growers remain small-scale. In this study, we explore the factors that prevent small-scale growers from increasing their production. The study is based on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted with 45 Norwegian cannabis growers, 10 of whom were growing on a large-scale and 35 on a small-scale. The study identifies five mechanisms that prevent small-scale indoor growers from going large-scale. First, large-scale operations involve a number of people, large sums of money, a high work-load and a high risk of detection, and thus demand a higher level of organizational skills than for small growing operations. Second, financial assets are needed to start a large 'grow-site'. Housing rent, electricity, equipment and nutrients are expensive. Third, to be able to sell...

Background Alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use cause considerable morbidity and mortality, but good cross-national epidemiological data are limited. This paper describes such data from the first 17 countries participating in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative.

RESUMEN.Reflexionamos sobre el debate que existe en la comunidad científica sobre los artículos de opinión que plantean valorar el posible uso terapéutico que puede tener el consumo regulado del Cannabis y por otra parte los estudios que muestran la relación entre el consumo de esta sustancia y el riesgo de enfermedad mental. Se diferencia entre "riesgo de enfermedad" y causalidad y se explica el concepto de estocasticidad en psiquiatría Debemos valorar así mismo "el coste de oportunidad que está suponiendo que el debate sobre el cannabis se siga planteando como un conflicto bélico entre partidarios y detractores del uso de esta sustancia milenaria y compleja".
Palabras clave: Cannabis, artículo de opinión, causalidad, riesgo de enfermedad, psicosis, enfermedad mental, consumo.
SUMMARY.We reflect on the debate that exists in the scientific community about the opinion articles that propose assessing the possible therapeutic use that the regulated cannabis consumption can have and on the other hand the studies that show the relationship between the consumption of this substance and the risk of mental illness. Differs between "risk of disease" and causality, and explain the concept of stochasticity in psychiatry. We must value "the loss of opportunity that is assuming that the debate on cannabis continues to arise as a war conflict between supporters and detractors of the uso of this ancient and complex substance. En las ciencias de la salud las cosas casi nunca son blancas o negras y la estructura empírica, el momento histórico, nos hace valorar debidamente

“Informal Communities and Cannabis Regulation in the Emerald Triangle”, chapter for
"The Illegal, the Immoral and the Criminal: Transnational Perspectives on Informality", edited by Polese A., Russo A., Strazzari F.,
Palgrave&MacMillan, 2018 (in print)

This article is organized as follows. The background section describes the case of newly legalized recreational marijuana. It introduces Portland, Oregon as a hub of ethical consumerism and environmental mobilization; outlines the status of recreational marijuana in Oregon and in the United States; highlights environmental issues related to the cannabis production; and describes an uptick in ethical consumerism of other recreational drugs in the United States. Next, the theoretical framework organizes extant research on political consumerism and suggests how this study may contribute to knowledge on emerging industries, the role of stigmas in framing, and power dynamics at the retail level of analysis. Following, the methodology section describes the three methods used in this study: qualitative analysis of internet research, networking, and semi­structured interviews; quantitative analysis of data collected at a random sample of 64 dispensaries; and spatial and statistical analysis relating the dispensary findings to socio­demographic indicators. The findings section offers what the author believes to be the first account of ethical consumerism in the licit recreational marijuana sector. It demonstrates that there is, indeed, a nascent “political consumerism movement” in the licit, recreational marijuana sector. The movement is largely industry­driven and is marked by an absence of third sector actors (such as environmental NGOs, fair trade certification organizations, and agricultural justice advocates). Mobilization efforts are challenged by two distinct stigmas: cannabis cultivation as a “natural” (and thus necessarily environmentally­friendly) process, and the marijuana industry as a “criminal” enterprise (which may deter potential allies). Interestingly, the distribution of “ethical” pot is quite consistent across neighborhoods of different socio­economic compositions­­in contrast to most ethically­oriented products. The paper closes with a discussion of these findings, their implications, and suggestions for further research.

(September 2019 – February 2020)
• 7 November 2019: Successive rises in staple food prices
• 4 November 2019: Clear indication of expiry dates
• 31 October 2019: Facilitating the establishment of regional slaughterhouses
• 29 October 2019: Colombian anti-dumping measures on frozen fries imported from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
• 28 October 2019: Lead in turmeric
• 24 October 2019: Measures against carcinogens in baby milk
• 21 October 2019: Bisphenol B, a substitute for bisphenol A, and safeguarding consumer health
• 15 October 2019: Labelling of organic products
• 12 October 2019: Situation faced by small‐ and medium-scale and family farmers — measures to be taken
• 11 October 2019: Support for European agri-food businesses
• 11 October 2019: Duties on PDO agri-food products
• 10 October 2019: US tariffs on the wine sector
• 8 October 2019: Exclusion of fisheries from Commission portfolio title
• 7 October 2019: EU-wide ban on food products containing glyphosate
• 30 September 2019: The inadmissible legalisation of cannabis and CAP funding for cannabis cultivation

"El peor de todos los narcóticos, peor incluso que la morfina o la cocaína. Bajo su influencia los hombres se han vuelto bestias. La Marihuana les ha destruido sus vidas. No tengo ninguna simpatía por aquellos que venden esta cizaña" (Juez J. Symes, Denver 1937). Esta vez, he viajado en el tiempo, a un momento muy concreto en la historia. Allí pude observar unos hechos macabros de los que se culpó injustamente a la marijuana. Viajamos en nuestra nave del tiempo…

Cannabis sativa L. has been used for a long time to obtain food, fiber, and as a medicinal and psychoactive plant. Today, the nutraceutical potential of C.sativa is being increasingly reappraised; however, C. sativa roots remain poorly studied, despite citations in the scientific literature. In this direction, we identified and quantified the presence of valuable bioactives (namely, β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, friedelin, and epi-friedelanol) in the root extracts of C. sativa, a finding which might pave the way to the exploitation of the therapeutic potential of all parts of the C. sativa plant. To facilitate root harvesting and processing, aeroponic (AP) and aeroponic-elicited cultures (AEP) were established and compared to soil-cultivated plants (SP). Interestingly, considerably increased plant growth—particularly of the roots—and a significant increase (up to 20-fold in the case of β-sitosterol) in the total content of the aforementioned roots’ bioactive molecules wer...

Background Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive component and one of the most important medicinal compounds in cannabis. Whether in human body fluids and breath or in laboratory and field samples, rapid and easy detection of THC is crucial. It provides insights into the impact of THC on human organism and its medicinal benefits, it guides the cannabis growers to determine different stages of the growth of the plant in the field, and eventually it helps scientists in the laboratory to assure the quality of the products and determine their potency or better understand the product development procedures. The significance of fast THC detection in forensic analysis also cannot be overlooked. Electrochemical sensor technologies are currently in the focus of attention for fast, easy, and low-cost detection of THC. Method In this work, we review the recent advances in sensor technologies developed for the purpose of fast and accurate THC detection. The research works perfo...

Abstract: Cannabis is a federally controlled substance, it’s very familiar to many but its neurobiological substrates are not well-characterized. In the brain, most areas prevalently having cannabinoid receptors have been associated with behavioral control and cognitive effects due to cannabinoids. Study over the last several decades suggested cannabinoids (CBs) exert copious oftentimes opposite effects on countless neuronal receptors and processes. In fact, owing to this plethora of effects, it’s still cryptic how CBs trigger neuronal circuits. Cannabis use has been revealed to cause cognitive deficits from basic motor coordination to more complex executive functions, for example, the aptitude to plan, organize, make choices, solve glitches, remember, and control emotions as well as behavior. Numerous factors like age of onset and duration of cannabis use regulate the severity of the difficulties. People with the cannabis-linked deficiency in executive functions have been found to ...

Background: A recent research focus is a set of hypothesized adult-onset mental health disturbances possibly due to early-onset cannabis use (EOCU, onset <18 years). We seek to estimate the suspected EOCU-associated excess odds of experiencing an incident depression spell during adulthood, with comparisons to never cannabis smokers and those with delayed cannabis onset (i.e., not starting to smoke cannabis until adulthood).
Methods: The National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) assess non-institutionalized community-dwelling residents of the United States after probability sampling each year. In aggregate, the NSDUH analytical sample included 173,775 adult participants from survey years 2005-2009 (74-76% of designated respondents). Standardized computer-assisted interviews collected information on background determinants, age of first cannabis use, and depression spell onset. Logistic regression was used to estimate EOCU-depression spell associations in the form of odds ratios, with statistical adjustment for sex, age, race/ethnicity, years of cannabis involvement, tobacco cigarette onset, and alcohol onset.
Results: About 1 in 10 experienced a depression spell during adulthood, and both early-onset and adult-onset cannabis smokers had a modest excess odds of a depression spell compared to never cannabis smokers, even with covariate adjustment (OR = 1.7 & 1.8, respectively; both p<0.001). Estimates for early- and adult-onset cannabis smokers did not statistically differ from one another.
Limitations: Shared diathesis that might influence both EOCU and adult-onset depression spell is controlled no more than partially, as will be true until essentially all known early-life shared vulnerabilities are illuminated.
Conclusion: Cannabis smoking initiated at any age signals a modest increased risk of a spell of depression in adulthood, even when adjusted for suspected confounding variables studied here. Delaying cannabis onset until adulthood does not appear to diminish the cannabis-associated risk.

BackgroundNowadays, medical cannabis still remains inaccesible for patients in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Even registered medicinal products based on herbal or synthetic cannabinoids, like Sativex, are practically unavailable due to their high cost and narrow scope of application (for example, in Lithuania). However, before the absolute prohibition of medical cannabis in the USSR, in line with Single Convention of 1961, the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR (eighth edition) published monographs on such medicinal products as “HerbaCannabis indicae”, “ExtractumCannabis indicaespissum” and “Fructus Cannabis”, which could be prescribed by physicians with precaution.ObjectivesFormation of a holistic approach aimed at the creation of appropriate conditions for the development of medical cannabis market and the improvement of life quality and health of Ukrainian patients.MethodsWe analyzed legislation and regulation mechanisms for medical cannabis in the USSR, and...

Federal and state laws present marijuana as a dangerous substance requiring coercive control and forbid private citizens from possessing, selling, or growing it. Possession cases brought under these laws depend on a forensic confirmation of taxonomic identity as Cannabis sativa to establish and successfully prosecute a case. Hemp Industries Association v. DEA (2003), a recent federal appeals court ruling, is at odds with this forensic process. American citizens may legally possess and even consume a similar substance—hemp and its derivatives—which can be made into such everyday objects as clothing, rope, and food products. Yet these two plants are both Cannabis sativa and differ only in physical structure and degree of natural

Impending regulation of California's marijuana industry demands a quantifiable understanding of the extent of cultivation and adequacy of water storage on private lands long devoted to a dispersed, but commercial-scale, unregulated marijuana industry. Water storage is a critical factor, given both California's droughts and its climate: indoor plants are grown under lights year-round, and outdoor plants are grown during the dry months. This research aimed to quantify marijuana cultivation and water storage in the Redwood Creek watershed of southern Humboldt County, where major land use changes have taken place since the late 1960s. Using Google Earth imagery and geospatial analysis, an inspection of 369 assessor's parcels located within or partly within the watershed yielded 303 greenhouses, 100 outdoor cultivation scenes, 164 water tanks, and 51 installed ponds. Estimating the number of water-storage tanks was much more challenging than estimating the number of cultivation sites; it is virtually certain that numerous tanks are under the forest canopy and not visible. The only way to verify their number and holding capacity would be through either ground truthing or GIS analysis using point-cloud data. The latter is costly to collect and process; therefore, given that many landowners who have engaged in unregulated marijuana cultivation are loath to grant access to outside parties, at this juncture it may be difficult for academic researchers, state and county regulators, environmental inspectors, and other interested parties to measure some of the industry's existing environmental impacts.

Atomik Seeds’ aim is to distribute easy to grow, productive and affordable feminized cannabis seeds to professional and amateur growers, as well as sector dealers. They offer the opportunity of working with new varieties, with exquisite aromas and remarkable power selected by their flavour, production and quality. Atomik Seeds cannabis seeds make up a collection of feminised and autoflowering marijuana strains that are world-renowned for their fast-flowering properties as well as for their amazing organoleptic characteristics. www.atomikseeds.com

Ya pudimos leer en la primera parte de este artículo, en Cannabis Magazine nº 127 de diciembre de 2014, los orígenes de jazz y su relación con el cannabis. El cannabis comenzó a ser fumado en los Estados Unidos por los latinos (sobre todo mejicanos) y negros (Snyder, 1970:129). Éstos a su vez conocieron la forma de fumar gracias a la expansión del consumo que se originó de los esclavos negros del Brasil que habían usado la planta en África. El cannabis fue perdiendo paulatinamente su imagen de medicina desacreditándose como un embriagador e igualándolo, por los medios de comunicación del momento, a la heroína. Durante el primer cuarto del siglo XX muchos estadounidenses blancos fueron sustituidos laboralmente por mejicanos y negros que trabajaban por menos dinero. Así comenzó el odio de la clase trabajadora blanca hacia todo aquello que se considerase cultura mejicana (entre ellas la marijuana) o cultura negra (jazz y blues). El cannabis, según los periódicos de la época, le provocaba a los mejicanos y negros violencia y ganas de asesinar y de violar. Los títulos de los discos de jazz de la época en los años 20 y principios de los 30 del siglo XX estaban muy influenciados por el consumo de cannabis y los títulos eran: “Golden Leaf Strut” (se podría traducir como “El pavoneo de la hoja dorada”), “Texas Tea Party” (“La fiesta del té de Texas” de 1933), “Chant of the weed” (“El canto de la cizaña”), “Song of the Vipers” (“El canto de las víboras”), “Smokin’ Reefers”, “Muggles”, “Reefer Man” (“El tío del canuto” de Don Redman y su orquestra, 1932) o “Jack, I´m Mellow” (“Jack, estoy colgada” de Trixie Smith, 1938).

En la Argentina, la sanción de la ley 27.350 significó un avance en relación a la investigación médica y científica de los derivados de la planta de cannabis. El proceso de sanción de la norma duró años e involucró la participación de distintos actores de la sociedad y una confluencia de disciplinas, ciencias, creencias y aspectos relacionados al Estado, de los cuales, muchos requieren de un mayor análisis.
Uno de los puntos que requiere mayor atención, es la relación entre la ley 27.350 y la ley penal 23.737, que tipifica y pena las acciones relacionadas a los estupefacientes en general en nuestro país. Respecto a esto, cabe destacar la situación de vulnerabilidad de miles de personas que se encuentran en constante conflicto con la ley penal, con el único objetivo de encontrar una solución a las distintas patologías que disminuyen su calidad de vida.
Hoy en día, las políticas públicas en materia de drogas agravan la persecución penal de todos los usuarios drogas en la Argentina, incluidos los usuarios de cannabis con fines medicinales. Además, las políticas de seguridad y la actividad de las fuerzas de seguridad resultan en una situación apremiante de constante criminalización y violencia sobre las personas que usan drogas en el país, y a la luz de la ley 27.350, en una violación del derecho a la salud y en definitiva, a la vida, protegidos en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico y en los tratados y pactos internacionales de derechos humanos.
El presente trabajo intenta relacionar el informe “Radiografía a un año de la sanción de la ley 27.350” del Área de Política de Drogas de la Asociación Pensamiento Penal con la situación actual de miles de personas que se encuentran en una situación imperiosa, con el fin de hacer valer su derecho a una vida digna.

Cannabis as a mind altering substance entered the world of Islam relatively late, sometime towards the end of the 12th century with the help of antinomian spiritual communities. Though kalenders used it as an entheogen and only for spiritual purposes, cannabis very soon became a cheap and much sought for source of intoxication with those laypeople who could not afford alcohol. Pieces of data provided by contemporary sources suggest that cannabis became a serious rival to wine quite rapidly. Three literary texts written in three different Turkic languages in the 15thth and early 16thth centuries, Yūsuf Amīrī’s Bang u čaġır written in Chaghatay, Muḥammed Fuẓūlī’s Beng ü Bāde composed originally in Türkī-i cAjemī and an anonymous author’s Esrār-nāme compiled in Early Anatolian Turkish  document the fierce competition of the two intoxicating substances for the favours of customers very well.
The present paper focuses on two of these works representing the two sides of the same coin and aims at both reconsidering the various interpretations of Fuzūlī’s Beng ü Bāde in the light of research work done in the past few years and at the same time it endeavours to give a short description of a recently discovered Esrār-nāme with a special reference to its connection to Fuzūlī’s text.

William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) fue un editor estadounidense. Creó la mayor cadena nacional de periódicos de los Estados Unidos. Su periodismo era especulativo, irreverente y muy polémico. Hearst estudió en la Universidad de Harvard, pero fue expulsado. En 1887 Hearst se ocupó del periódico que su padre adquirió en una apuesta, el San Francisco Examiner. Siendo editor de este periódico comenzó a utilizar los métodos sensacionalistas. En 1895 adquirió el New York Morning Journal y en 1896 empezó a publicar el Evening Journal. En unos pocos meses la tirada conjunta de estos dos diarios había alcanzado la cifra de millón y medio de ejemplares. ra un hombre corpulento de voz muy fina, un tímido que se sentía bien entre multitudes , belicista contra España y México y un pacifista en Europa, un esposo extraño ya que se casó a los 40 con una corista de 20 años que resultó una cónyuge tradicional, pero que vivió más de 30 años con su feliz amante, la actriz Marion Davis. Un multimillonario que luchaba contra los monopolios, buscando luego él los suyos, y que defendía a capa y espada a los millones de inmigran-tes que llegaban al país, mientras no fueran negros o hispanos. Lo que Hearst aportó al mundo de la información fue la creación del primer gran conglomerado mediático del mundo. Nadie como él fue capaz de movilizar sinergias, sindicar servicios, compartir firmas, inversiones y ejecutivos. Nadie como él para darse cuenta del gran éxito que supondría unir medios de comunicación escritos con noticiarios de cine, películas y todo tipo de productos audiovisua-les. Sus diarios llegaron a tener 20 millones de lectores, una cifra espectacular, pero todavía más norteamericanos vieron sus noticiarios cinemato-gráficos. Fue un verdadero adelantado y tuvo muy pocos escrúpulos para llegar a ello.

Os movimentos sociais servem como uma maneira da população de se expressar e lutar a favor de uma opinião em comum, os movimentos sociais ganharam força no Brasil em torno dos anos 70, na época sendo opositores do regime militar, depois disso movimentos como a marcha dos cem mil, diretas já, entre outros foram criando força. A pesquisa em decorrência irá elucidar sobre a legalização da maconha, um movimento que vem ganhando mais força com os anos.