cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- August 11, 2005





NORML's Weekly News Bulletin -- August 11, 2005
Posted by CN Staff on August 11, 2005 at 15:10:14 PT
Weekly Press Release
Source: NORML
"MARINOL VERSUS NATURAL CANNABIS" - New NORML Report Examines The Pros And Cons Of Synthetic THC Compared To CannabisAugust 11, 2005 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: Oral synthetic delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), legally available in the US by prescription as the medication Marinol, often provides only limited relief to a select group of patients - particularly when compared to natural cannabis, concludes a comprehensive report issued today by NORML and The NORML Foundation.
The report, entitled "Marinol Versus Natural Cannabis: Pros, Cons and Options for Patients," is a comparative analysis of the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis and the pharmaceutical drug. Citing more than 50 published studies and clinical trials, the report finds:* Marinol lacks several of the therapeutic cannabinoids (naturally occurring compounds) available in cannabis.* The synergism of these cannabinoids is likely more efficacious than the administration of Marinol alone.* Marinol is far more psychoactive than natural cannabis.* Cannabis vaporization offers distinct advantages over the oral administration of Marinol.* Marinol is more expensive than natural cannabis.* Patients ultimately prefer natural cannabis to Marinol.NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano, who authored the report, said, "Despite Marinol's legal status as the only FDA approved synthetic cannabinoid medicine, many patient populations continue to risk arrest and criminal prosecution to use natural cannabis medically, and most report experiencing greater therapeutic relief from it."He continued: "The active ingredient in Marinol is a synthetic analogue of only one of the compounds in cannabis that is therapeutically beneficial to patients. The federal prohibition of the possession and use of natural cannabis unnecessarily burdens patients to use a synthetic substitute that lacks much of the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis and its cannabinoids."Armentano concluded: "Marinol should remain a legal option for patients and physicians and the development of additional cannabis-based pharmaceuticals should be encouraged. However, federal and state laws should be amended to allow for those patients who are unresponsive to synthetic THC, or simply desire an alternative to oral dronabinol, the ability to use natural cannabis and its cannabinoids as a legal medical therapy without fear of arrest and/or criminal prosecution."For more information, please contact Paul Armentano at (202) 483-5500. Read the report online at: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6635 (HTML version) orhttp://www.norml.org/pdf_files/NORML_Marinol_vs_Natural_Cannabis.pdf (PDF version).DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6640THC Selectively Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth Better Than Synthetic Alternative, Study SaysAugust 11, 2005 - San Francisco, CA, USASan Francisco, CA: The administration of the cannabinoid THC selectively inhibits the proliferation of malignant cancer cells more effectively than does the use of a synthetic cannabinoid agent, according to clinical trial data published in the August issue of the Journal of Neurooncology.Researchers at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute reported that the administration of THC on human glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumor) cell lines decreased the proliferation of malignant cells and induced apoptosis (programmed cell death) more rapidly than did the administration of the cannabis receptor agonist WIN-55,212-2. Researchers also noted that THC selectively targeted malignant cells while ignoring healthy ones in a more profound manner than did the synthetic agonist.Previous trials have found that cannabinoids selectively induce tumor regression in rodents and in human cells, including the inhibition of lung carcinoma, glioma (brain tumors), lymphoma/leukemia, skin carcinoma, prostate cancer, and breast cancer.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the study, "Cannabinoids selectively inhibit proliferation and induce cell death of cultured human glioblastoma multiforme cells," appears in the August issue of the Journal of Neurooncology.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6641Congress Requests Assessment On "Drugged Driving"August 11, 2005 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: Legislation approved by Congress and signed by the President this week for the first time contains language regarding the enforcement of "drug-impaired driving."The provision, included in the Transportation Appropriations bill, orders the Transportation Secretary, in cooperation with National Institutes of Health (NIH), to submit a report to Congress estimating the prevalence of "drugged driving" and assessing the available "technologies for measuring driver impairment resulting from use of the most common illicit drugs (including the use of such drugs in combination with alcohol.)"To date, 13 states have enacted laws prohibiting motorists from operating a vehicle with trace levels of illicit drugs and/or drug metabolites in their bodily fluids. In 2004, Congress considered legislation to mandate all states to enact so-called "zero-tolerance per se" drugged driving laws. However, that effort failed to gain majority support.For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. A comprehensive breakdown of state drugged driving laws appears in NORML's report, "You Are Going Directly to Jail: DUID Legislation: What It Means, Who's Behind It, and Strategies to Prevent It," available online at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6492DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6642Source: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: August 11, 2005Copyright: 2005 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml
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Comment #19 posted by The GCW on August 13, 2005 at 10:44:46 PT
Cannabis is cosmic like nothing else here.
Cannabis is cosmic.Cannabis helps Us see; Dark evil powers can not allow Us access to cosmic truth.  Cannabis speaks.And the greedy, murdering, disobedient Christian, sick in the head ones don't want Us to hear truth.We can have poison, guns, hate, etc. but not truth.The Green Collar Worker
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Comment #18 posted by mayan on August 12, 2005 at 16:28:45 PT
GCW
I don't disagree with your comment #5. Cannabis does put us in touch with the creator and with nature if we want it to. I believe we are just beginning to rediscover the spiritual aspects of cannabis because the internet is helping us to fight through years of lies and disinformation. That is bad news for the prohibitionists as their lies are backfiring on them. It's almost like how the U.S. government destroyed the culture of the native American indians and now some indians are trying to rediscover that culture. 
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Comment #17 posted by AOLBites on August 11, 2005 at 23:48:17 PT
OT: paradigm shift from a non-renewable
Each week, hundreds of new cars1 roll out of the Subaru factory in Lafayette, Indiana. What doesn't come out of the plant is garbage. When the garbage truck rolls up to the curb in front of your house each week, it hauls away more trash than is generated by the manufacturing processes at the factory.The factory is the first auto assembly plant in North America to become completely waste-free: Last year, 100 percent of the waste steel, plastic and other materials coming out of the plant were reused or recycled. Paint sludge that used to be thrown away, for example, is now dried to a powder and shipped to a plastics manufacturer, ending up eventually as parking lot bumpers and guardrails. What can't be reused -- about 3 percent of the plant's trash -- is shipped off to Indianapolis and incinerated to generate electricity. -=snip=-In 2001, HP managed to keep just over three-quarters of its trash out of landfills around the world. Now that figure is 84 percent. Xerox is reusing or recycling 90 percent of its waste. Three of Toyota's manufacturing plants in the United States have reached the 95 percent level, as has Fetzer Vineyards, one of the country's largest winemakers.In the 1980s and '90s, "even the best companies were only diverting 60 percent or 65 percent of their waste from landfills," says Wayne Rifer, an associate at the nonprofit Zero Waste Alliance in Portland, Oregon. "In the last five years, we've seen a whole new way of thinking about the problem of waste."Going green is good public relations, of course. It can also, however, be good business. -=snip=-
At Clean Plants, It's Waste Not 
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Comment #16 posted by billos on August 11, 2005 at 22:30:33 PT
..........Folks.........
I suppose the reason you stated for cannabis prohibition makes more sense. It's all about the money......just as everything else is these days.
It's all truly mind boggling, isn't it.
Has anyone tried Marinol for the "high" and is it comparable to eating a pot brownie?
You all sparked my curiosity!
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 21:26:29 PT
Article About Northern Border
New Leader Sworn in to Protect 300 Miles of U.S.-Canada BorderBy Nichilas K. Geranios, Associated Press WriterThursday, August 11, 2005 SPOKANE, Wash. -- The head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection swore in a new commander for the Spokane Sector on Thursday, and said keeping terrorists out of the United States remains the agency's top priority.Commissioner Robert C. Bonner administered the oath to Robert L. Harris, who took over a sector that spans some 300 miles from the Cascade Range in Washington state to Glacier National Park in Montana, and has 150 employees."Our mission is to prevent terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the United States," Bonner said. "Al-Qaida has not gone away. They have vowed to attack us again."The best way to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil is to keep terrorists out, and the 11,000 officers who patrol the nation's borders are the best way to achieve that, Bonner said."You are America's front line," Bonner told a roomful of Border Protection agents. 
 
The ceremony included politicians, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, local law enforcement agencies and bagpipers.Harris takes over for Ray Ortega, who is retiring.The son, brother and nephew of Border Patrol agents, Harris has most recently been deputy chief of the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C.His wife Renee is currently the U.S. Customs and Border Protection attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. They have two children.She pinned a new badge to her husband's lapel and then kissed him during the ceremony."My job is to make sure our agents have the best training, equipment and support," Harris said, while thanking Ortega for his work in improving the Spokane Sector.A thin line of agents patrols the mountainous and heavily forested border of the Spokane Sector. In addition to potential terrorists, local agents have recently been faced with increased drug smuggling, especially of the marijuana known as "B.C. Bud,"and human trafficking.There are many places along the border where a person can hike unseen into the United States.Bonner also noted the discovery last month of a 360-foot-long tunnel from Canada into Western Washington that was used by drug smugglers. The tunnel, reinforced with 2-by-6 wooden supports and rebar, stretched from a metal hut in British Columbia to a point underneath the living room of a house in the Whatcom County town of Lynden."They were digging a tunnel literally below our border with Canada," Bonner said. "There cannot be weaknesses when it comes to national security."Copyright: 2005 Associated Presshttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Border%20Spokane
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Comment #14 posted by afterburner on August 11, 2005 at 21:10:38 PT
Au Contraire, billos
{That in itself seems so hypocritical to me and points to the fact that the rightous people in power just do not want people getting "high".}"Marinol is far more psychoactive than natural cannabis."That is, Marinol gets you higher than natural cannabis. That's one of the reasons people stop using Marinol. The PTB want a pharmaceutical product, not an herbal one. Watch out, CAFTA is pushing us toward the Codex, authored by pharmaceutical companies to gain control over vitamins, minerals, herbs, and nutriceuticals.CAFTA and CODEX .:. Global Healing Center, Inc.
http://www.ghchealth.com/cafta/cafta-codex.php
Information about CAFTA and CODEX and laws affecting your access to vitamins and
supplements.
www.ghchealth.com/cafta/cafta-codex.php - 25k - 10 Aug 2005 Big Pharma's free ride
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/08/12/cafta_drugs/
Salon - 1 hour ago
... CAFTA, which President Bush signed last week after coaxing it through Congress, requires its members to adopt strict rules on intellectual property rights ... 
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Comment #13 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2005 at 21:08:20 PT
Eeeeeee.
Which brings us to the second item of concern, speaking of the Americans. News from our southern neighbours this week is that they will soon be electronically tagging all visitors to the country. Canadians, luckily, will be exempt. However, tourists from other countries who visit the U.S. will be equipped with a chip that can be accessed through a special reader. It will contain pertinent information about the person. At least the Americans are up front about the chips; they are designed to track people. http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1295/a01.html?397CN BC: Editorial: Brave New World Is HerePubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: Williams Lake Tribune, The (CN BC)
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 20:13:47 PT
Thank You
I appreciate it alot.
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2005 at 20:10:22 PT
I'm confussed, but ok.
Emery is not the sidetrack;He's on the main line.I'm confussed. Marc's issue is Our issue. (I think or I thought)But I want to give You Your space... with comfort. 
 
Some activists believe Our freedom of religion is what will finally buck this bastard law.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 19:39:22 PT
The GCW
Remember by posting something about him here it might make people start talking about it instead of where it should be talked about on his forum. That way we can keep going and not be sidetracked which means a lot to me.Thanks in advance for help in that area.
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 19:30:10 PT
The GCW
I won't read it but it's on Mapinc. site so that's ok. I just don't want to even think about his issues. It's not my concern. I don't like feeling nervous and it makes me nervous. I'd hate to have a heart attack over this when it isn't something I ever care about. Fear can do that to people you know. 
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2005 at 19:26:13 PT
FoM, - Is this one good to post?
CN BC: Religion Could Save EmeryPubdate: Thu, 11 Aug 2005
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1294/a03.html?397(This is the bulls-eye.)
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 19:25:31 PT
MikeEEEEE
I agree that this planet is in trouble. The drought we are having this year has everything dead. This is only the second time since 79 that I have seen no rain and heat. If a fire would stary everything would go up in flames in no time. We burn some of our paper trash and we won't consider doing that now. We could have a week of slow steady rain and it still wouldn't bring much back to life for this year.
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Comment #6 posted by MikeEEEEE on August 11, 2005 at 19:18:24 PT
mayan, I've always said
Follow the money if you want to know the truth, that is, in this economy.I'll agree with you about the oil economy being replaced. Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy it. The last 100 years has destroyed many populations and the maybe the earth."If we don't take action very soon, we could unleash runaway global warming that will be beyond our control and it will lead to social, economic and environmental devastation worldwide."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0811-03.htm
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on August 11, 2005 at 19:10:28 PT
mayan,
I agree with You.But I think it is for many reasons that the prohibitionists want to exterminate cannabis, all at the same time.Along with what You mentioned and right up there with oxygenisthe Spiritual implications.Cannabis, through out history has been implicated as a Spiritual plant, offering something to Us like no other plant.The positive and best qualities of cannabis are available to those who love one another.One of the Spiritual implications of cannabis is that it helps Us see.The people that are profiting in every which way that could only do so because of the existance of cannabis prohibiton, would be exposing themselves if they allow Us to touch, smell or see cannabis.To them what they loose is money, but what exposes them; the reason they loose the money is the Spiritual gem inside cannabis points them out.THCUThe Green Collar Worker.
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on August 11, 2005 at 19:01:36 PT:
Hope, you've got mail
Check your email inbox
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on August 11, 2005 at 17:26:40 PT
billos
I don't think they care if we get high. After all, they don't care if we get drunk off alcohol,waxed on pharmaceuticals, or dead off cigarettes. It's more about protecting profits for the numerous industries that would have to compete with cannabis if it was regulated. We are witnessing the beginning of the paradigm shift from a non-renewable,non-sustainable energy/material based economy to a renewable,sustainable one. The old guard will lose everything if they don't invest in what is surely inevitable. First, they will have to admit that they've been lying to us for decades and that will be hard for them.SHADOW OF THE SWASTIKA: The Real Reason the Government Won't Debate Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Re-legalization:
http://www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.htmlTHE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Hi-Res Scans of Major 9/11 Article in Daily Mail:
http://www.911blogger.com/2005/08/hi-res-scans-of-major-911-article-in.htmlNIST's 3-Year $20,000,000 Cover-Up of the Crime of the Century:
http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/nist/index.htmlStatement of 9/11 Advocates Regarding Surveillance of Mohammed Atta:
http://911citizenswatch.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=619&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0NY Times Discovers (Finally) That US Intel Was Spying on Mohamed Atta Prior to 9/11:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20050810014103123
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 11, 2005 at 15:58:02 PT
billos
I know what you mean. This is news that I really want to know and learn from. Thank you NORML.
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Comment #1 posted by billos on August 11, 2005 at 15:48:40 PT
......Why doesn't the oppositon focus.......
on the fact that "smoked THC is schedule 1 while Marinol is in schedule 3??
That in itself seems so hypocritical to me and points to the fact that the rightous people in power just do not want people getting "high". That IS the only reason smoked cannabis is schedule 1. WTF?????
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