cannabisnews.com: Fringe Parties Hope to Woo Israel Voters





Fringe Parties Hope to Woo Israel Voters
Posted by CN Staff on January 01, 2003 at 11:41:11 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press
Jerusalem -- A driver speeding past two dozen cyclists from the pro-marijuana Green Leaf Party shouts, "Hey, you giving out free samples?" A bus driver gives a wave and a honk.The cyclists, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with a marijuana leaf, pedaled through the city to draw attention to one of their many tenets, ditching cars for bicycles. It was part election campaign, part environmental activism and part lark.
A month before parliamentary elections, Green Leaf is among several fringe parties competing for the protest vote from Israelis unwilling to choose hardliners but frustrated by dovish parties after more than two years of fighting with the Palestinians.They woo voters with campaigns on the weakened economy, social ills and the environment, not plans for peace.Green Leaf just missed the 1.5 percent of the vote needed to enter parliament in 1999, but polls predict it might get two of 120 seats in the parliament, or Knesset, this time. The party champions legalizing marijuana and the right to hold all-night dance parties without interference from police making drug busts.Fringe movements give voters a way out of agonizing choices, said Shmuel Sandler, a political science professor at Tel Aviv University."People are very disappointed by the peace process, and it's sort of an escape," Sandler said. "They are frustrated with the left, but they're not going to vote for the right, so this is a nice way of getting out of this dilemma."Among the protest parties is the Men's Rights in the Family Party, which advocates strengthening a man's say in child custody battles and decisions over abortions.Yisrael Acheret, or Another Israel, is led by a 26-year-old law student who wants to replace politicians with academics, business people and professionals.The group also wants to end subsidies for ultra-Orthodox Jews, who are exempt from military service and often depend on state handouts as they devote their lives to seminary study, and Jewish settlers.The momentum, for now, is with Green Leaf.Biking through Jerusalem, Green Leaf activists handed stickers to cheering motorists. Stopping at a gas station, they unfurled a pot-leaf banner near a police jeep, and one cyclist got a high-five from a policewoman.The party's chairman, Boaz Wachtel, 44, is no typical hippie: He was the assistant military attache at the Israeli embassy in Washington in the 1980s, and served on a team of Israeli representatives to former President Ronald Reagan's space-based anti-missile shield program.Wachtel, also a longtime proponent of alternative drug-abuse treatments, said the group of activists only reluctantly entered politics. "We're not politicians by choice, but out of necessity. In order to change things we had to jump into the political swamp in Israel."His desk at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters is covered with newspapers, including a weekend magazine with a photo of him with a green mint leaf stuck to his forehead. Posters on the wall have the slogan "ballot to freedom" with illustrations of pot leaves and hearts.Wachtel believes that so-called soft drugs like marijuana are not gateways to hard drugs like cocaine; such addiction, he said, is the outcome of larger social problems poverty, violence and sexual abuse.He says legalizing cannabis would free up money and time for the government to treat hardcore drug addicts and fight more important problems like violent crime.The Green Leaf headquarters is near Tel Aviv's cafe and shop-lined Sheinkin Street, the heartland of Israel's anti-establishment youth culture, which feeds much of the support for the smaller parties.Alegria Sabag, 19, said Green Leaf will speak up for young Israelis, especially on issues of education. Sabag has no money to go to college, and is resentful that young Israelis have to serve in the military but get little financial assistance for school."Green Leaf represents the young voice," she said, at work in a dance-music filled clothing store.Note: Pro-Marijuana Party, and Host of Other Groups, Hoping to Get Into Israel's Knesset.Source: Associated Press Published: January 1, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Associated Press Related Articles:The Wrong Drug Front - Ha`aretz Daily http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14851.shtmlDrug Trade Thrived in Biblical Times http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13663.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by knox42897 on January 02, 2003 at 11:53:17 PT:
Medical Cocaine! anecdotal evidence
"For a long time we have known that cocaine causes a pleasure response immediately after it is taken because it increases dopamine levels in the brain," Dr. Karley Little, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, told United Press International.I post the term "Medical Cocaine" because I believe it is a medicine. Its a very powerful medicine that needs to be respected and not abused. 
I find the concept of medical cocaine (except in the limited way mentioned by Dr. Russo) hard to swallow. I find alot of people don't believe in "medical Cocaine" hence the need to "repeatedly" "justify" their own use compared to everyone else's(I call this anecdotal evidene). I do this repeatedly because why fellow comrades in Columbia are being looked up in prison's for life, for a plant, see the similarity? And as a fellow human being I must defend the honor or my "fallen" comrades.To use the term "medical" cocaine in regards to "recreational" ingestion of some powder cut(what if it wasn't cut?) with "God" only knows what is a "slam" to the users of medical cannabis, whose "purity" is "unmatched" when grown by "caring" gardeners. Unmatched to you becuase you don't even know what "god" puts in there. Yeah well I bet the are "caring gardners" in Columbia who don't add jack diddly to there "coca plants" and who would certify under oath that its has incredible healing powers but is negated(maybe even severly) when chemicals are added.Personally, I would just like to mix coca plant with cannabis plant to evaluate all possible medical benefits. I can only provide my anecdotal evidence to try to counter the myth that, Medical cocaine is inferior to Medical Cannabis, even the feds recognized that schedual II. Hopefully this will serve to educate people on subjects people find hard to swallow(ladies never spit). I wish President Cocaine W/Bush would provide his anecdotal evidence of how "medical" cocaine used in moderation is no more harmfull than medical marijuana, tobacoo, or alcohol or any other drug for that matter.Drugs by definition = medicine  
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 02, 2003 at 10:47:33 PT
Pictures from Jerusalem
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030101/168/2ylvk.htmlhttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030101/168/2ylv0.htmlhttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030101/168/2yltw.html
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Comment #11 posted by BGreen on January 02, 2003 at 06:09:51 PT
Cocaine Was Available In Nasal Swabs
when I worked in the Pharmacy about 20 years ago. It was also available in very pure powdered form but by that time doctors had stopped prescribing cocaine in this area. Pharmacists had been preparing special formulations containing cocaine that one old doctor used to prescribe, but the DEA pressure stopped the doctor from prescribing cocaine.It was impossible to secure the cocaine in small pharmacies and led to too many robberies.To use the term "medical" cocaine in regards to recreational ingestion of some powder cut with God only knows what is a slam to the users of medical cannabis, whose purity is unmatched when grown by caring gardeners.Cocaine (at that time, at least) was a schedule II drug, so doctors could prescribe it, but I just don't think there are any doctors willing to use it outside of surgery.
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Comment #10 posted by CorvallisEric on January 02, 2003 at 03:24:00 PT
I don't mean to be negative, but ...
I find the concept of medical cocaine (except in the limited way mentioned by Dr. Russo) hard to swallow.Maybe I just don't like the phrase. Similarly, I get a little queasy from seeing the term medical marijuana (or medical cannabis) used - invariably combined this way - by some people. Do they need to repeatedly justify their own use compared to everyone else's? It certainly isn't a different species.Just a personal reaction. Maybe it's my own psycho-linguistic creepy-crawlies, but I'll bet it bothers some others who aren't dedicated cannaphiles, and really gets a rise from our enemies.
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Comment #9 posted by knox42897 on January 02, 2003 at 01:04:02 PT:
Everything in moderation
Well I can tell you that because I suffer from bi-polar. I get theriputic relief from medical cocaine and medical marijuana. I personally use about 27.5 grams of medical cocaine in a year. Some years I average way less, for example last year was maybe 10 grams. The point being, it makes me feel better and making me feel better keeps me out of the crazy house, I am posting this cause I feel medical cocaine is truely is medically theraputic. Further more, I respect medical cocaine as I realize that it is highly addictive. I talked to people in jail "who supposedly sucked dick for cocaine, these were "men" with an addictive personality if you will. Anyway, I have the type of personality that won't let myself get addicted to anything that would do me harm , further I will also state that I have the type of "personality" that wouldn't suck dick for any drug. That's right, I am stating on the record that I could do heroin, medical cocaine, speed, LSD, crack and not get addicted, as I have done all these drugs and have no desire to do those drugs. As a Medical Marijuana patient in the state of Nevada, I can honestly recommend cocaine for certain personality type people as theraputic. 
The President Mr. Cannapablo Escobarbis Bush I
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on January 01, 2003 at 21:09:09 PT
knox42897
I didn't read your post until now. I'm glad I never got into cocaine. I really am. Hard drugs are way different then Cannabis. A vacation for me would be DisneyLand. That's my type of where to go for fun. I know I'm old but I'm old and happy to have made it this far in life. We got a phone call today and a friend of my husbands from years ago died. Just like that and was only in his forties. No drugs but natural causes and unexpected. Slow and steady as you go is my motto. 
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Comment #7 posted by BGreen on January 01, 2003 at 20:38:22 PT
knox42897
My wife says we'll have to make different vacation plans than what you've suggested.
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Comment #6 posted by knox42897 on January 01, 2003 at 17:24:37 PT:
Happy New Year from Las Vegas
I want to wish everyone a happy new year. It was wild and crazy on the las vegas boulavard last night again. They closed the sreet down ad let everyone drink alcohol. Needless to say you got girls fom 12 to grama's showing their boobs. It was really cool, the cops let everyone smoke pot. It was amazing, some girl was getting arrested and stopped to tell the cops to let her go. Another cop came up to me and said, "you wanna go to jail?" I said, NO. He said, "okay then move along, go smoke pot", I said Okay! Bye prety girl. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Jan-01-Wed-2003/news/20389858.htmlOn the subject of Medical Cocaine, I used 1/2 gram last night and I feel fine. I rarely use cocaine unless its an all night event. I want to suggest Honestly and under oath, That I think is the women's viagra. Worked last night like a charm. Here's the secret if you come to vegas on new year and want to et laid. Bring medical marijuana, medical cocaine, 1 dozen red roses, $400 to blow on anything, and its almost guarenteed you'll get laid!!!
I meet this beautiful pot smoking bi blonde and her friends, went back to MGM and partied more, did cocaine and had an orgy!!!! Womens Viagra indeed I swear this is the truth!
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on January 01, 2003 at 17:19:57 PT
Dr. Russo
Here's another article I wasn't sure I wanted to post but here's the link. This doesn't make sense to me either.Adolescent Trichomonas Vaginalis Strongly Linked to Marijuana UseA DGReview of :"Predictors of infection with Trichomonas vaginalis: a prospective study of low income African-American adolescent females."Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI Online)12/31/2002
By David LoshakAfrican-American adolescent girls who use marijuana are six times more likely to test positive for Trichomonas vaginalis non-users, according to a prospective study of girls in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.http://www.docguide.com/news/content.nsf/news/8525697700573E1885256C8D00685036?OpenDocument&id=48DDE4A73E09A969852568880078C249&c=STDs&count=10
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Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo MD on January 01, 2003 at 16:48:54 PT:
Continuing a Trend
In reference to FoM's last post, let me say this. I am not fond of cocaine. It is a drug whose use is potentially quite destructive to the person and his (generally) family, and I do not recommend it. However, it is an excellent local anesthetic and vasocontrictor for ENT procedures. People who choose to use it should not be jailed for their opinion.Now, let us examine the the two conclusions in this apparently NIDA-sponsored study:"Human cocaine users lose VMAT2 protein, which might reflect damage to striatal dopamine fibers. These neuronal changes could play a role in causing disordered mood and motivational processes in more severely dependent patients."With those "mights" and "coulds" that's a whole lot of conjecture from where I sit.This pattern has become familiar. NIDA says Ecstasy puts holes in your brain. NIDA says cannabis produces permanent memory loss. Now NIDA says cocaine could harm dopamine fibers.This all sounds a lot like Chicken Little, and the end result is counter-productive. Youth hears these warnings and reaches for the next hit of whatever recreational or diverted presciption drug, cigarette or alcohol. By exaggerating possible harms of drug use, the government is losing the audience, and making reasonable harm reduction impossible. The American public, and scientific honesty demand a great deal more than this.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on January 01, 2003 at 15:17:31 PT
Off Topic - Cocaine Article
Cocaine Brain Damage Might be Permanent From the Science & Technology DeskPublished 1/1/2003 ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Cocaine appears to damage and perhaps destroy the brain cells associated with the "high" it produces, researchers reported Wednesday."For a long time we have known that cocaine causes a pleasure response immediately after it is taken because it increases dopamine levels in the brain," Dr. Karley Little, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, told United Press International. "But now we see that the specific neurons interacting with cocaine are disturbed, damaged and maybe destroyed in the drug-use process."Dopamine is the brain chemical responsible for causing feelings of pleasure. Along with inducing a cocaine high, its release contributes to pleasurable feelings associated with ordinary human activities such as eating, working and sexual relations.The researchers examined brain samples removed during autopsies of 35 known cocaine abusers and 35 non-drug users chosen for similar age, sex, race or cause of death. They used three standard molecular measurements to evaluate the condition of dopamine brain cells. They found levels for all three standards were significantly lower for cocaine users than for the control subjects. The levels were lowest among cocaine users who had been diagnosed with depression."About a third of cocaine users feel markedly depressed, listless, anxious, and uncomfortable when they stop using cocaine, and this persists in a sizeable number," Little said.Little, who also is chief of the VAHS Affective Neuropharmacology Laboratory in Ann Arbor, said, "We know that people who have those symptoms are likely to become more dependent on the drug and find it harder to quit. So, cocaine is most addicting to those individuals who experience not only pleasure from its use, but are also punished by its withdrawal. Our results provide a very good biochemical basis for cocaine withdrawal symptoms."The research results appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. They are the latest from brain tissue research begun in 1993 comparing samples from cocaine abusers and control subjects."This is a pioneering study," Cindy Miner, chief of science policy at the National Institute of Drug Abuse, told UPI. It raises the possibility that cocaine use causes damage to the brain, which is an unexpected result following prior animal studies that seemed to suggest otherwise. It isn't possible to say yet whether the cellular damage observed by these researchers is temporary or permanent, but at the very least it is a 'first' and intriguing finding that sets a direction for further research."Little added: "What we need to do now is to count the dopamine neurons and axons in our remaining samples, which is a big undertaking. If we find they are not decreased then it will mean we are dealing with a down-regulation process, a reduction in cellular activity in response to cocaine use. If the numbers are diminished then were are dealing with unprecedented neuronal loss. If the change is permanent it's a serious problem, and if it is reversible then we must find out the mechanism by which it can be reversed."The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and by a Veterans Administration Merit Award.Reported by Bruce Sylvester, UPI Science News, in West Palm Beach, Fla.Copyright: 2002 United Press International
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 01, 2003 at 14:56:33 PT
No Vintage California Pruno for New Year's?
Hi Everyone,This is really off topic but interesting. I guess necessity is the mother of invention.January 1, 2003By CHARLIE LeDUFFNew York TimesLANCASTER, Calif., Dec. 31 — There is a tradition among inmates serving long stretches in the nation's houses of correction. The new year is rung in with a little Dick Clark and a little jailhouse juice.The homebrew is lovingly known as hooch in Sing Sing and called pruno in San Quentin, but the process by which it is made is the same. It is a fortified wine concocted from a hodgepodge of ingredients including raisins, prunes (as in pruno), milk or anything containing sugar that can be purloined from the mess hall and fermented into alcohol.But the New Year's tradition was broken this evening at the California State Prison Los Angeles County located high in the Mojave Desert about a 90-minute drive from Los Angeles. The warden decided two months ago that fresh fruit should be banned from all lunch boxes that are delivered daily to the cells of its 4,000 inmates. Without fruit, the thinking goes, there can be no wine. It is the first prison in the California state prison to ban fruit from the cellblocks."A good deal of the violence that goes on in these walls is alcohol related," said Lt. Ron Nipper, a spokesman for the prison. "So this is law enforcement 101. Cut your hair, behave yourself, keep your cell clean and no pruno."Prison officials acknowledge that it is difficult to curtail pruno production entirely. Sugar and water are all that is needed. Sugar is broken down into ethyl alcohol in the presence of yeast, which floats about naturally in the air."We do the best we can," Lieutenant Nipper said. "But you can't trust these guys. Inmates working in the kitchen hide loose yeast in their shoes. Everything has a price in here."Humane and law-abiding citizens need not worry about an outbreak of scurvy among the incarcerated in Los Angeles County. State guidelines require that prisoners receive 15 servings of fresh fruit each week. Prisoners receive their fruit allotment at breakfast and dinner, which are served in the mess hall. Box lunch is served in the cellblocks."There is pruno in every prison," admits Margot Bach, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Correction. "We see an upswing around the holidays like Christmas and New Year's. Inmates are human beings after all. They want to ring in the new year like everybody else. It's a pretty busy day for us."Indeed. This morning, a half-dozen correction officers swept through the beds of Cell Block A, ostensibly in search of pruno. Though the blend is sealed in plastic bags, it is so rancid it can be detected with a simple sniff of the nostrils."It's a never ending battle of contraband," said Sgt. J. Ortiz. It is estimated by prison officials that more than two million cocktails are confiscated each year in California's 33 maximum security penal facilities, which house 160,000 people.According to correction officers, amateur alcohol is more prevalent in California prisons than any other form of contraband. Possession of alcohol is considered a misdemeanor behind bars, while possession of hard substances such as methamphetamines, opiates and marijuana are felonies. This is a deterrent to the man with two strikes, who if caught with a marijuana cigarette, could find himself serving a life term.Amenities that have been banned in California prisons over the past decade include weights, indoor smoking, conjugal visits for those serving life sentences and now pruno. Keep this up, inmates say, and people will stop wanting to come."Everybody wants to celebrate the New Year," said Paul Magnen, a soft-spoken and heavily tattooed man currently serving 50 years to life for the possession of narcotics, his third strike. His previous two felonies, he said, were in connection with an armed robbery committed in 1980."God knows I could use a drink," he said glumly as he sat at a card table in Cell Block A. "I did what I did, but it doesn't justify 50 years. There's not much to celebrate in here really. One day is just like the next. Nothing changes inside. Except the day they take me out in a box."The most famous recipe for jailhouse pruno comes from Jarvis Masters, a death row inmate at San Quentin who won a PEN award for his 1992 poem "Recipe for Pruno." Take orange peels, fruit cocktail and water and heat it for 15 minutes in your sink with hot water. Keep mixture warm with towels for fermentation. Leave hidden and undisturbed for two days. Add sugar cubes and six teaspoons of ketchup. Heat for 30 minutes. Wrap and leave undisturbed for three more days. Reheat daily for 15 minutes for three more days. Skim and serve.The poem ends, "May God have mercy on your soul."Copyright: 2003 New York Times
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Comment #1 posted by BGreen on January 01, 2003 at 13:33:50 PT
What A Difference
"... one cyclist got a high-five from a policewoman."The only high-five we get from the cops in the police states of amerika are body cavity searches.
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