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International Cannabinoid Research Conference 
Posted by FoM on October 22, 2001 at 15:05:35 PT
By Pete Brady
Source: Cannabis Culture 
Brain power, cutting-edge science and political conflict at the 10th annual cannabinoid research convention.I walked into a cavernous meeting room at a hotel in Baltimore and encountered the biggest collection of brainy brain researchers that I had ever witnessed. Cerebral cortexes were literally throbbing with talk of endocannabinoid systems, custom-built experimental mice, receptor sequestration, hippocampuses, amygdalas, and whether there would be enough potent coffee to keep everybody awake during three days of formal and informal presentations, symposiums and panel discussions.
Underneath the technowords and chemistry equations, the ICRS conference was basically about marijuana – what can be derived from it, how those derivatives (called cannabinoids) affect the body at a cellular and systemic level, how the body's reaction to cannabinoids can be used to decode its reaction to disease and other drugs, how cannabinoids can be manipulated and reconfigured to achieve medical and research goals.The tenth annual ICRS meeting cast of characters included legendary cannabinoid researchers such as Dr Raphael Mechoulam, the US government's marijuana farm boss Dr Mahmoud ElSohly, and maverick physician-businessmen like GW Pharmaceuticals' Dr Geoffrey Guy.The scene was surreal, politically charged, and slightly intimidating. Most American cannabinoid researchers are funded by the National Institute of Health, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), other government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies. Few of these funding sources are friendly to smoked marijuana or the marijuana legalization movement, and as I was to find out later, some officials representing NIDA are openly hostile to whole marijuana and those who believe that individual citizens should be able to do high level cannabinoid research in the privacy of their own brains.Still, Dr Mechoulam listened patiently with apparent interest as grow guru Ed Rosenthal talked about marijuana varieties and offered him a copy of The New Prescription, Marijuana as Medicine, a new book published by Rosenthal's Quick Trading publishing company.Dr Guy, a treating physician, pharmaceutical products developer, and British pot greenhouse sponsor, found himself discussing rat brain slices and marijuana cultivation techniques with doctoral candidates.Some NIDA representatives, who rudely refused to let me interview them or write down their names (they claimed their handlers in Washington DC prohibited them from speaking to journalists), found themselves confronted by Jeff Jones, the boy wonder head of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative (OCBC), who told them that their "abuse" paradigm was unscientific and harmful, especially to patients that Jones' OCBC tries so hard to assist by providing high quality medical grade whole marijuana, derivative products, and harm reduction devices.ICRS treasurer Dr Richard Musty stood with Scottish researcher Dr Roger Pertwee and ICRS Administrative Director Diane Mahadeen, talking about neurotransmitters, absent colleagues, and whether the host hotel would be able to handle the conference's seating and feeding requirements.A bevy of international researcher-babes, consisting of beautiful, bright, young female cannabinoid researchers, provided grace notes to the gathering, which otherwise would have been dominated by receding hairlines and graying hair of the senior geniuses who have been researching cannabinoids since the 1960's.Image and Reality The ICRS is an eclectic organization. Its scientists and researchers are extremely well qualified academically and professionally, but instead of doing mainstream pharmaceutical, behavioral or physiological research, they study cannabinoids. This means they fight an image problem because cannabinoids come from marijuana.Publicly, they present themselves as straights, no different from other scientists. They're offended when peers, corporations, media or government agencies view their specialization as "Cheech and Chong" research. Musty recalled occasions when ICRS had trouble booking potential conference sites, for example, because hotel reps didn't want a "cannabis conference" at their facility.Behind the straight arrow facade, however, I found many ICRS members are closet radicals, iconoclasts, pioneers. Some of them even smoke marijuana! They are a small cabal, interested in constituents of a plant that has been slandered and persecuted for 70 years. They have heard drug czars and other prohibitionists describe cannabis as an evil weed with no medical efficacy. They have seen pharmaceutical companies and doctors, who had cannabis extracts in their pharmacopoeia as recently as the 1970's, gradually move away from cannabinoids in favor of totally artificial drugs.Now, ICRS members are feeling vindicated, as more and more scientists and capitalists are acknowledging that cannabinoids, even derived from raw plant materials, are a fascinating, useful and potentially profitable source of substances with an almost infinite variety of medical and research applications.It's been a long road. Cannabinoid research began in the 1940's, when an American isolated CBD, CBN and THC from plant materials. The next big breakthrough was courtesy of Dr Mechoulam's lab in Israel in 1964, where Mechoulam first detailed the exact chemical structure of THC.In the 1970's and 80's, pharmaceutical companies and researchers concentrated on creating synthetic substances that mimicked cannabinoids, but the most important discovery came in 1988 when Allyn Howlett and Bill Devane discovered the existence of cannabinoid receptors in the brain. In 1992, Devane was again instrumental in another big breakthrough: he and Mechoulam discovered that the body manufactures its own endogenous cannabinoid, arachidonylehtnaolamide, which they dubbed anandamide, from the Sanskrit word for bliss.By the mid-90's, researchers had cloned cannabinoid receptors, designed substances that prevent cannabinoids from acting on receptors, and established that cannabinoids and the cannabinoid systems influence virtually every major neurotransmitter function in the body. From mood to muscle tone, from anxiety to appetite, cannabinoid systems are integral to an organism's core functions.According to Dr Richard Musty, cannabinoid scientists began networking in the 1970's. In the mid-80's, Musty got together with two other cannabinoidists to plan a formal conference in Melbourne, Australia which took place in 1987. Later, the widely respected Virginia-based scientist, Dr Billy Martin, formed the International Cannabinoid Study Group, which met in Virginia and more exotic locales, like Crete.In 1991, Martin, Musty and a few other dedicated networkers chartered the ICRS; by 1992, the organization was growing in stature. It has increased its membership every year since 1991, and has had yearly conferences in Cape Cod, Acapulco, France, Montreal, and other beautiful locations.The Politics of Science Much of this year's ICRS conference consisted of oral presentations in a large darkened meeting room. Every afternoon, however, researchers conducted "poster sessions" during which posters were pinned on mobile walls in the hallways, with research authors explaining or arguing about what they had studied.About 60% of what I heard at these sessions was too technical for me. My lack of comprehension was compounded by the fact that whenever I joined an audience containing NIDA reps at a poster session, the NIDAites would quickly move away. I wondered if I had bad breath. When I confided my fears to a senior scientist, he said, "Have you noticed that you are the only journalist here? This group isn't very eager for publicity."Some researchers were kind enough to tell me what they were talking about. Emmanuel Onaivi, a Vanderbilt University researcher and African national who is also affiliated with NIDA, said his research indicates that genetic differences based on ethnicity might create different types of CB1 receptors."The expression of the receptors, which is gene-modulated, has mutated among different groups," he said. "There may be differences in how one group's receptors react to cannabinoids. These differences might explain why some people are more prone to abuse than others, or why different people experience cannabinoids in idiosyncratic ways."A few posters away, a handsome 27-year-old doctoral candidate named Jason Schechter told a group of people what he does to rats."We inject substances into rats that create two acute pain states," he explained. "One state makes normally painful stimuli even more painful. Another state, called allodynia, makes skin so sensitive that in humans people cannot even wear clothing. I administered HU210, a cannabinoid agonist that is 500 times more potent than THC. It completely got rid of both these conditions. Dr Gabriel Nahas [the infamous anti-marijuana scientist] says cannabinoids have no pain-relieving effects. But I had a discourse with him about this, and he had little to challenge me with."Publicity Shy Many people looked forward to the Friday lunch session because NIDA head Alan Leshner was scheduled to speak.Leshner and NIDA are controversial. Cannabinoid researchers take NIDA's money, but many wish they didn't have to. Privately, some admitted that NIDA money automatically skews research proposals and outcomes. Dr Donald Abrams, a San Francisco AIDS researcher who recently completed a clinical trial involving cannabis, makes no attempt to hide his opinion that NIDA interferes with expedient approval and facilitation of marijuana research.When Leshner strolled into the hallway toward the main conference room, he was surrounded by well-wishers, but was also met by Dr Tod Mikuriya, the courageous California pot doctor who has been recommending marijuana to patients for 20 years. Mikuriya tried to engage Leshner in a dialogue about compassion, science and law enforcement. Leshner stood mutely with a smile frozen on his face.During Leshner's 40-minute speech, it became apparent why he'd shut Mikuriya down. The NIDA head, a former acting director of the National Institute of Mental Health who has studied the biological basis for human behavior, stunned us by reciting reefer madness propaganda.In regards to medical marijuana, he intoned that NIDA was going to "replace anecdote with science." He also claimed marijuana was addictive, and then moved on to what really seemed to excite him: NIDA's new public school propaganda package, in which children are lied to about marijuana under the guise of a program designed to encourage them to enjoy science!When I tried to take a picture of Leshner, he barked at me to stop.As he made his way out of the building after his speech, I asked him to explain his comments about marijuana."You really believe marijuana is addictive?" I asked."Of course it is, no doubt about it, absolutely," he responded, trying to move past me."What evidence do you have to support that?""Look," he said, side-stepping so he could get out the door, "I've had to answer these questions 20,000 times. I don't need to answer you. I'm tired of these questions. Look at our website. Goodbye."A Jones for Real Bud As the conference drew to a close, OCBC's Jeff Jones pulled off a major coup.To my knowledge, all the other presenters had been scientists or doctoral candidates. Somehow, Jones, who has no advanced degree or science background, got permission to give one of the last presentations of the conference.He was dressed in a suit as he strode to the front of the packed meeting room. Only one other researcher, from Holland, ironically, was on deck, and then it was on to the closing banquet.Jones carried a small wooden case with him. He opened it and produced an odd contraption: a high-tech vaporizer, powered by a heat gun. Jones had demonstrated it in Rosenthal's room. It was definitely a harm reduction device that eliminated particulates and tars the government seems so worried about, while allowing a healthy cannabinoid profile to shine through.Announcing himself as the director of a medical marijuana club, Jones demonstrated the device the best he could, although the bowl was empty.Midway through his presentation, several female NIDA bureaucrats got up loudly from their chairs near the front of the room, gathered their belongings, and stormed out.Dr Mikuriya, who earlier that afternoon made his own presentation, during which he shocked the audience by saying marijuana's status should be reset to the way it was before 1937, urged me to ask the women what they objected to.The trio were talking in hushed, disparaging tones when I approached them. When they saw me coming, they covered their nametags and said they didn't want to talk to me."Did you have some objection to Mr Jones's device?" I asked."We don't have to talk to you," a portly woman said. "We're government employees. Get away."Reflecting on the incident later, Jones pretty much summed up how I felt about the entire conference."There are obviously a lot of talented, dedicated and sharp people here," he said. "Almost all of them were cool, open-minded and professional. I was impressed by how much they know and how creative they are in their research. But there's a disconnect between what they know and what I know. NIDA is hung up on the abuse angle. They don't realize or care that people all over the world enjoy the plant and use it to make them feel better. My clients don't need somebody to tell them which receptor site mediates that feeling. I think ICRS should put the cannabis back into cannabinoids."• ICRS: 55 Elsom Pkwy., S Burlington, VT 05403 USA; tel (802) 865-0970; email ICRS together.net - website - http://www.cannabinoidsociety.org Newshawk: Cannabis Culture OnlineSource: Cannabis CultureAuthor: Pete BradyPublished: October 21, 2001Copyright: 2001 Cannabis CultureContact: ccmag cannabisculture.comWebsite: http://www.cannabisculture.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Medicinal Cannabis Research Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/research.htmCannabinoid Consciousness http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1530.htmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by kaptinemo on October 23, 2001 at 05:13:27 PT:
S_O, I tend to agree
It's like any organization: those at the top are rarely ever believers in their own propaganda. Or as I overheard one old Catholic priest tell a newly ordained one, "Faith is for the congregation."They didn't get where they are by blindly following orders. Nope, they got where they are by intelligence and cunning...which necessarily requires them to use all information available...which means looking at uncomfortable facts. Which their True Believer shock troops (like Joyce Nalepka) never do; might spoil their ideological purity. Like Cold Warriors who loudly, proudly professed that they had never read Marx's Das Kapital, their 'useful idiots' will always remain faithful to the core...while their more savvy leadership is quietly reading the real facts instead of the 'officially released' ones. (To use a more popular analogy, remember the horse in Orwell's Animal farm? Worked and worked and worked hard to create the new society...until it died. And then it was unceremoniously carted off to the glue factory. While the whole time the pigs were whooping it up. And secretly laughing at it's naivete.)And as usually happens, those at the top are actually quite few in numbers; they have the power they do because of the strength of the myth they project of invincibiity and righteousness. But let some cracks develop, and we see that they too have feet of clay. This is why they fear debates so much; one crack, one well aimed question which shows their dishonesty, and they've lost legitimacy. Once the myth is disproved, once the faith is shaken, the end comes swiftly. Just look at what's happening in the Canadian courts; when the racist origins behind the laws up there (a la "Janey Canuck") became evident, things started to change, albeit haltingly.Yes, we are a majority 70-80 million strong...dealing a with a minority of perhaps less than 10,000. Yet this 10,000 makes life miserable for an entire country of 300 millions. Only in America...
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Comment #12 posted by dddd on October 23, 2001 at 04:40:36 PT
yup.....That light bulb is on now
...And I think you are on the right track Silent_Observer!......for one thing,you are totally right in suggesting that the percentage of drug warriors is infinitesmal...The people who have gain control of the country are a very small percentage........the worst part,,is that no one seems to be aware...Ithink maybe many people got spoiled by freedom,and now they aren't that concerned about losing it,or even keeping track of what is happening to our country.....the "new anti-terror/homeland security America" is gonna kick in,and there will be a bunch of people sayin',..."Hey...?...Wait a minute..?".... after they realize the implications of the war on terror,,and the homeland security......."Oh my goodness!..".....that's what they will say...."I had no idea that's what they were doing!?"All your suspicions are well founded Silent_Observer......dddd 
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Comment #11 posted by lookinside on October 23, 2001 at 04:40:15 PT:
awesome...
this meeting reminds me of one of those dream paintings with dead celebs...but these folks are ALIVE and working toward a worthy goal...unfortunately being alive means having to deal with trolls(NIDA reps)i've met jones and mikuriya...amazingly dedicated folks...
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Comment #10 posted by Silent_Observer on October 23, 2001 at 04:07:40 PT
kapt..
I'm beginning to think that much of the motivation for the WOD is much more mundane than real fear, or lack of convictions - although those are also true.Maybe my light bulb is just beginning to switch on, but I honestly believe its a very small minority indeed that has strongly held convictions against drugs. And even these convictions are monetarily dictated.Remember Jim Baker's famous line just before the Gulf War - "Jobs, jobs, jobs". Well, modify it just a bit, and you have "money, money, money"...then, "power, power, power".That being said, I think we really should treat the people on the front lines of the WoD much like the military. You may disagree violently with the government's policies, but you have to admit that the military does its job without question - they fight as intensely for Clinton as they do for Bush.  From that standpoint, I think it makes little sense to argue with the little guys. They're like care salesman - they'll try to sell you a Volkswagen today; then when they get fired and have to work at a Honda dealership across the street, they'll change their tune instantly.The real culprits are the planners and the plotters. I think they work in Washington, DC - in that big building with that big dome. What a wonderful building it is, and what a travesty to see such low-life occupants. 
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Comment #9 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 18:23:18 PT
Thanks E_J
thank was very cool.I have to agree kap. Humans are still fight or flight critters despite our superior noggins and "cut ans run" is definitely flight. But, fear can be a powerful emotion and unfortunately for us, a creature, human or otherwise, tends to lose reason when their mind is filled with fear; striking out blindly against their aggressor. Our situation becomes a catch 22- fight or be buried, but when we fight the retaliation comes in the form of harsher laws and totally nonsensical policy- the ban on hemp food products is a good example. Hopefully, this new war on terrorism will create a monstrous backlash once people have woken up from the media induced fear-mongering pervading the airwaves since 9/11 and realize that Uncle Sam is sneaking out the back door with the last of our rights."I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." -- Herbert 
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Comment #8 posted by kaptinemo on October 22, 2001 at 17:01:10 PT:
If anyone had any doubts about
the lack of intellectual - or intestinal - fortitude evinced by the government, then in reading this they would be dispelled instantly.But there's something else I picked up from this, something very important...something about NIDA in general and Leshner in particular. They're really, really scared.Someone secure in his knowledge and his own abilities to communicate the righteousness of his position, when buttonholed by the opposition in public, would have done everything in his power to destroy that opposition verbally, to cause it to lose face in a very publicly humiliating way. You'd think Leshner would have gone at it tooth and nail...but Leshner...wimps...out. Cuts and runs. And his support personnel? Haughty - and rude - little bureaucrats. But that rudeness betrays enormous fear.Oh, yes, they probably bluster at us from the safety of their podiums. Or leer at us from our jail cells. But leave those podiums and confront their opponents face-to-face? Nope, it's not in them; they simply lack the guts.I've said this for years: the antis lose the moral high ground the moment they open their mouths and spill Reffer Madness from their lips. They know they are spewing verbal bilge, but they are paid to. So, spew they do. But they also know that they have yet to produce a study that has not been torn apart in peer review. And they know that when challenged on this, they have not a single leg to stand upon. Hence the hoarse shouting of propaganda in order to drown out quieter voices of reason. Or their insulting dismissiveness.But they totally lack any strength of conviction to face us openly on neutral ground. Hence their unseemly haste to retreat from any possible confrontation on aforementioned neutral ground where these facts will become self-evident to anyone with a room-temperature IQ or higher.In a word? Cowardice, pure and simple. 
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on October 22, 2001 at 16:49:09 PT
With all of their science...
can they know what "Wake up and turn I loose" means?There are so many persecutions mixed into marijuana persecution.It's the forces of logos in a war against mythos.It's the delusion of modern clarity against the reminders of a different life still buried deep within our brains.It's a war against the black man, it's a war against the Mexican, it's a war against the hippie long haired Commie freak.It's a war against men who were damaged by a war, by those who waged the war.It was once a war against witches, and it's still a war against the womb of the world.wake up and turn I loose!wake up and turn I loose!wake up and utnr I loose!for the rain is falling
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Comment #6 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 16:29:27 PT
For the people indeed.
Pathetic. One would hope that the childish attitudes portrayed by Leshner and his colleagues are not indicative of their work ethic, but considering this was a professional conference, I doubt they have any respect whatsoever for the research or the researchers."..."Look," he said, side-stepping so he could get out the door, "I've had to answer these questions 20,000 times. I don't need to answer you. I'm tired of these questions. Look at our website. Goodbye."..."As usual, when facts are involved the antis have to run and hide behind propoganda. 20,000 times? I'm sure he counted, but I think he should consider why the questions keep coming. If he would just give an answer, I'm sure he could enjoy early retirement when the NIDA cans him. Then he won't have to tax his mind by answering simple questions."...NIDA is hung up on the abuse angle. They don't realize or care that people all over the world enjoy the plant and use it to make them feel better. My clients don't need somebody to tell them which receptor site mediates that feeling. I think ICRS should put the cannabis back into cannabinoids."..."This is my thought exactly. The plant is there and it works. I think the problem stems from a human desire to tinker and refine and the climate stemming from the NIDA attitudes toward the research. These factors tend to place emphasis on separating the chemicals from the plant. Of course that is the problem with Western medicine in general- "REAL doctors use REAL medicine" The separation of mind and body is not healthy. There is something ritualistic, spiritual, and/or social about smoking- passing the peace pipe as it were. I think most of the anti-medial attitude stems from the attitudes of western medicine. The "better living through chemicals" phase Amerika went through in the 50's seems to have created a society that fears anything unprocessed and unrefined. A lot of ills in this country could probably be addressed by this- everything from canned soda pop to pop music. Americans expect prepackaging, flashy advertising, and pills. Always the damned pills. The same is true of drugs. How many drugs have been perverted by Amerika's need for refinement? Tobacco, coca, poppies, I'm sure you can think of a few. Amerika distorts a spiritual experience/ritual into competition- a bloodsport of the mind neatly packaged for mass consumption. How many conversations between students are concerned solely with "Dude, I got soooo wasted."? Too many. Profit and greed driving a market encouraged by a government driven by its own agendas, while the sheeple bleat for "justice." And where does that leave us, the keepers of this holy herb, so feared and reveared? We struggle to keep our heads above a sea of propoganda and hatred. We raise our voices against the din of war and tyranny. We spread truth and sow the seeds of liberty. Someday we will win. We must win. We're wearing them down-"..."Look," he said, side-stepping so he could get out the door, "I've had to answer these questions 20,000 times. I don't need to answer you. I'm tired of these questions. Look at our website. Goodbye."..."It's time to listen to some Bob.Free the weed. 
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Comment #5 posted by Patrick on October 22, 2001 at 16:05:57 PT
Government Employees?
If any one in America should be talking, it is government employees! This attitude is why the government tells us what we can do rather than we telling the government what we want. Sad sad day.
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on October 22, 2001 at 15:43:32 PT
But but.. that's what the British said
"We don't have to talk to you," a portly woman said. "We're government employees. Get away."Of the people, by the people, for the people.What a nice idea that was in its time.
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Comment #3 posted by bruce42 on October 22, 2001 at 15:41:35 PT
an amazing man
Bob was/is an amazing man. Why are people so afraid of peace?
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on October 22, 2001 at 15:32:40 PT
What would they make of Bob?
Can you imagine Bob at a conference like this explaining to them the Tree of Life?He'd put his arms around two of them, so he could look like Christ on the cross between the two thieves.
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Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on October 22, 2001 at 15:29:39 PT
Got to have kaya now
Wake up and turn I loosefor the rain is falling
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