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Medical Marijuana: No Longer Just for Adults 
Posted by CN Staff on November 21, 2009 at 12:22:45 PT
By Katherine Ellison
Source: New York Times
California -- At the Peace in Medicine Healing Center in Sebastopol, the wares on display include dried marijuana — featuring brands like Kryptonite, Voodoo Daddy and Train Wreck — and medicinal cookies arrayed below a sign saying, “Keep Out of Reach of Your Mother.” The warning tells a story of its own: some of the center’s clients are too young to buy themselves a beer.Several Bay Area doctors who recommend medical marijuana for their patients said in recent interviews that their client base had expanded to include teenagers with psychiatric conditions including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“It’s not everybody’s medicine, but for some, it can make a profound difference,” said Valerie Corral, a founder of the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a patients’ collective in Santa Cruz that has two dozen minors as registered clients.Because California does not require doctors to report cases involving medical marijuana, no reliable data exist for how many minors have been authorized to receive it. But Dr. Jean Talleyrand, who founded MediCann, a network in Oakland of 20 clinics who authorize patients to use the drug, said his staff members had treated as many as 50 patients ages 14 to 18 who had A.D.H.D. Bay Area doctors have been at the forefront of the fierce debate about medical marijuana, winning tolerance for people with grave illnesses like terminal cancer and AIDS. Yet as these doctors use their discretion more liberally, such support — even here — may be harder to muster, especially when it comes to using marijuana to treat adolescents with A.D.H.D.“How many ways can one say ‘one of the worst ideas of all time?’ ” asked Stephen Hinshaw, the chairman of the psychology department at the University of California, Berkeley. He cited studies showing that tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, disrupts attention, memory and concentration — functions already compromised in people with the attention-deficit disorder.Advocates are just as adamant, though they are in a distinct minority. “It’s safer than aspirin,” Dr. Talleyrand said. He and other marijuana advocates maintain that it is also safer than methylphenidate (Ritalin), the stimulant prescription drug most often used to treat A.D.H.D. That drug has documented potential side effects including insomnia, depression, facial tics and stunted growth.In 1996, voters approved a ballot proposition making California the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Twelve other states have followed suit — allowing cannabis for several specified, serious conditions including cancer and AIDS — but only California adds the grab-bag phrase “for any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.”This has left those doctors willing to “recommend” cannabis — in the Alice-in-Wonderland world of medical marijuana, they cannot legally prescribe it — with leeway that some use to a daring degree. “You can get it for a backache,” said Keith Stroup, the founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.Nonetheless, expanding its use among young people is controversial even among doctors who authorize medical marijuana.Gene Schoenfeld, a doctor in Sausalito, said, “I wouldn’t do it for anyone under 21, unless they have a life-threatening problem such as cancer or AIDS.”Dr. Schoenfeld added, “It’s detrimental to adolescents who chronically use it, and if it’s being used medically, that implies chronic use.”Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said she was particularly worried about the risk of dependency — a risk she said was already high among adolescents and people with attention-deficit disorder.Counterintuitive as it may seem, however, patients and doctors have been reporting that marijuana helps alleviate some of the symptoms, particularly the anxiety and anger that so often accompany A.D.H.D. The disorder has been diagnosed in more than 4.5 million children in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Researchers have linked the use of marijuana by adolescents to increased risk of psychosis and schizophrenia for people genetically predisposed to those illnesses. However, one 2008 report in the journal Schizophrenia Research suggested that the incidence of mental health problems among adolescents with the disorder who used marijuana was lower than that of nonusers.Marijuana is “a godsend” for some people with A.D.H.D., said Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist who has written several books on the disorder. However, Dr. Hallowell said he discourages his patients from using it, both because it is — mostly — illegal, and because his observations show that “it can lead to a syndrome in which all the person wants to do all day is get stoned, and they do nothing else.”Until the age of 18, patients requesting medical marijuana must be accompanied to the doctor’s appointment and to the dispensaries by a parent or authorized caregiver. Some doctors interviewed said they suspected that in at least some cases, parents were accompanying their children primarily with the hope that medical authorization would allow the adolescents to avoid buying drugs on the street.A recent University of Michigan study found that more than 40 percent of high school students had tried marijuana.“I don’t have a problem with that, as long as we can have our medical conversation,” Dr. Talleyrand said, adding that patients must have medical records to be seen by his doctors.The Medical Board of California began investigating Dr. Talleyrand in the spring, said a board spokeswoman, Candis Cohen, after a KGO-TV report detailed questionable practices at MediCann clinics, which, the report said, had grossed at least $10 million in five years.Dr. Talleyrand and his staff members are not alone in being willing to recommend marijuana for minors. In Berkeley, Dr. Frank Lucido said he was questioned by the medical board but ultimately not disciplined after he authorized marijuana for a 16-year-old boy with A.D.H.D. who had tried Ritalin unsuccessfully and was racking up a record of minor arrests.Within a year of the new treatment, he said, the boy was getting better grades and was even elected president of his special-education class. “He was telling his mother: ‘My brain works. I can think,’ ” Dr. Lucido said.“With any medication, you weigh the benefits against the risks,” he added.Even so, MediCann patients who receive the authorization must sign a form listing possible downsides of marijuana use, including “mental slowness,” memory problems, nervousness, confusion, “increased talkativeness,” rapid heartbeat, difficulty in completing complex tasks and hunger. “Some patients can become dependent on marijuana,” the form also warns.The White House’s recent signals of more federal tolerance for state medical marijuana laws — which pointedly excluded sales to minors — reignited the debate over medical marijuana.Some advocates, like Dr. Lester Grinspoon, an associate professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard University, suggest that medical marijuana’s stigma has less to do with questions of clinical efficacy and more to do with its association, in popular culture, with illicit pleasure and addiction.Others, like Alberto Torrico of Fremont, the majority leader of the California Assembly, argue for more oversight in general. “The marijuana is a lot more powerful these days than when we were growing up, and too much is being dispensed for nonmedical reasons,” he said in an interview last week, bluntly adding, “Any children being given medical marijuana is unacceptable.”As advocates of increased acceptance try to win support, they may find their serious arguments compromised by the dispensaries’ playful atmosphere.OrganiCann, a dispensary in Santa Rosa, has a Web site advertisement listing the “medible of the week” — butterscotch rock candy — invitingly photographed in a gift box with a ribbon. OrganiCann also offers a 10 percent discount, every Friday, for customers with a valid student ID. A version of this article appeared in print on November 22, 2009, on page A39A of the New York edition.Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Katherine EllisonPublished: November 21, 2009Copyright: 2009 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/lgWQIXr0CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #34 posted by Hope on November 25, 2009 at 13:12:59 PT
Sorry...
Reco... not Rico.Reco... as in short for reconnaissance or reconnoiter. As a "Warrior" in a "War".
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on November 25, 2009 at 13:07:09 PT
Sheriff Stirs Pot Smoker
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1049/a04.html?397
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on November 25, 2009 at 13:03:15 PT
rico loc
You might want to participate in this conversation as well.http://www.drugwarrant.com/2009/11/open-thread-209/#commentsBut I must warn you. There is a guy over there who is a turkey carving machine in this verbal and intellectual "warfare".:0)Swagger on over.
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Comment #31 posted by museman on November 25, 2009 at 12:44:35 PT
Well..
Kick 'em one for me, too busy to do it myself...Love ya all.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #30 posted by runruff on November 25, 2009 at 12:08:31 PT
"let the people i addressed speak for themselves'
I can show you references all day long but I don't wanna!Articulate, rude and selectively informed.....go away!
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Comment #29 posted by Hope on November 24, 2009 at 17:12:45 PT
Thank you, Observer.
Very well said, Observer. As usual. I agree with every word.
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Comment #28 posted by observer on November 24, 2009 at 17:08:46 PT
The real motivation - to wave a flag of victory 
dare i say that the real motivation a lot of those willing to speak in favor of this have is simply to try to 'win'... Perhaps. I'm hoping to see cannabis legally available for me to grow and use in my dotage. Eventually, if we survive long enough, we'll need medical cannabis. So there's foresight in attempting to make sure it is legal.And there's definitely a concordance of goals for wanting to see medical marijuana legally available for adults and wanting to see marijuana legally available for adults, in general. Winning is good in this case.more excuses for pot heads to wave a flag of victory ...Heck, I like it when pot heads wave their flags o' victory. This makes me happy, deep down inside. We suffer deep losses, as around 700,000 people are still arrested each year for cannabis in the US. It is about time we got a few victories.and that shouldn't be what this is about.Huh? I'm glad when the forces of ignorance, the forces of prohibition are beaten back in whichever way it happens: populism, common sense, divine intervention, etc. Seeing prohibitionists (people who endorse and/or profit from the jailing of people who take cannabis) publicly discredited warms my heart. there are people with legitamate illnesses that need to benefit from a movement supporting medical marijuana that has integrity and political fortitude behind it.Exactly. We want truth, justice, and the American Way to prevail. We support righteousness and freedom, and eschew evil and despotism. Some integrity and political fortitude would be great.I would urge supporters to please not endorse or act on anything that could screw it up for them... Always sage advice. Still, if medical professionals agree that taking a cannabis medication is best for a given specific child, I'd say that should carry some weight. But we certainly don't want to scare the bejesus out of Mom & Pop Middle America in Mississippi who will recoil in horror at the thought of anyone (let alone a child, oh my Lord!) being allowed to take cannabis for anything. (They'd rather the child died in cannabis-free goodness than to live sullied with marijuana, I think, if it came to that.) It is a fine political line we're walking, I would say. 
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on November 24, 2009 at 13:12:44 PT
Motherships and Tin Foil hats..
Thanks BGreen. I understand now. He threw that one too high. It went right over my head. But reco loc did refer to the GCW as well as Sam and Runruff.If reco loc isn't a narc or other sort of prohibitionist, he should be appreciative of all that those three have done diligently over these many years, probably back to before he was born, to try to keep his, or her, non-gung-ho derriere out of the lock up and free of the life long drag of a criminal record over cannabis.
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Comment #26 posted by Hope on November 24, 2009 at 12:09:02 PT
Lol!
Snap or growl?That's so funny.
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on November 24, 2009 at 09:20:36 PT
BGreen
Just growl! LOL!
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Comment #24 posted by BGreen on November 24, 2009 at 09:17:55 PT
Dog forum LOL
Did the moderator snap at you or just growl? LOLThe Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #23 posted by FoM on November 24, 2009 at 09:12:32 PT
Being Polite Isn't Hard
I was taught I better be polite at a very young age. It has served me well in life too. I am a member of a dog related forum. It is heavily moderated. I was told one time to get back on topic. I apologized and all is well. I was only moderated for about a week and removed from the novice status. I respect the moderators and they knew it fairly quickly. Being polite and respectful of the people who have been here for years shouldn't be hard to do.
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Comment #22 posted by BGreen on November 24, 2009 at 09:05:18 PT
mothership
It's another "tin -foil hat" slam like Nick T******** used to throw at us.In other words, reco loc thinks we're kooks with no concept of reality and you're our queen.Either that or he's just posting random nonsensical gibberish and I'm reading too much into it.Nah, he's too good of a bully to not know what he's doing.Brother Bud
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Comment #21 posted by BGreen on November 24, 2009 at 08:57:59 PT
Here's how I put the clues together
1. Introduces self by disparaging two long-time posters for no obvious reason. It's like a bully picking a fight.2. When called on said inappropriate behavior, doesn't humbly apologize and treat people with civility, instead bullies some more and complains about our membership policy. Actually, we just have one major rule and it's unwritten. It's "if you can't play nicely, play elsewhere." We never thought we had to specifically outline that as a written rule since most civilized people learn that lesson in kindergarten.3. Claims he's on our side but "just not a GUNG-HO *legalize the weed* type guy.Um, you're nothing like any of us so don't flatter yourself. We're as gung-ho of a bunch as you'll ever meet in trying to peacefully stop the barbaric and abhorrent treatment we've received from all of the other "just not a GUNG-HO *legalize the weed* type guy(s)" like you that mock us and ridicule us and belittle us. And then, as if that isn't enough, you try to insinuate we're a bunch of kooks with your self-righteous posturing and your none-too-subtle kook-fest words like "dude," and "ya dig." Then, as if you haven't pushed us quite enough, there's the horribly insulting "mothership" moniker you so unjustly placed on the head of one of the sweetest and purely genuine people you could only hope to become, all of this after the idiotic and unjustified comment aimed squarely between the eyes of every one of us questioning "were you guys high when you posted?"Does anybody need any more proof that this is a law enforcement agent provocateur?It's just a feeling, dude.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on November 24, 2009 at 07:57:16 PT
*smile* ... My dear BGreen...
I didn't know reco loc jumped me. I can be pretty dense. Was that mothership reference a reference that females shouldn't be involved in this site?Lol!I have no problem with thinking of C-News as a huge powerful, space dominating safe port in the sky... but did he call me fat?
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on November 24, 2009 at 06:17:05 PT
reco loc
You are new to CNews and don't even know the people you are criticizing. When a person is allowed into a private forum that isn't the way to win friends and influences enemies. We don't all agree on everything but we are polite to one another. 
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Comment #18 posted by reco loc on November 24, 2009 at 05:13:45 PT
looks like i'm the only one being called names
 interesting how i am 'berated' as an individual for things i am only vaguely suspect while members here proceed to do the same as a group... and somehow this is right. group minds are interesting.. 
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Comment #17 posted by reco loc on November 24, 2009 at 05:08:40 PT
you're right.... i'm a member of the illuminati.
"a bunch of stuff without references".please point these out for debate..you know what, nevermind... next thing you know bud green will call me a cointelpro agent.if any admins want to remove my original post because they believe i have violated the terms of use, then please have at it.talk about sensitive. let the people i addressed speak for themselves before you start taking things personally for others at the drop of a hat.
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Comment #16 posted by BGreen on November 23, 2009 at 23:13:37 PT
reco loc, you're pompous, bombastic and rude
You are the antithesis of everything we stand for.How dare you?You claim the posts of others are "weak post(s)" without substantiating proof and then post a bunch of stuff without references expecting us to believe it just because you said it and just because you say you're right and others are "weak."You resemble nobody here except the occasional LEA troll who thinks they can infiltrate and disrupt a peaceful and just movement.Leave. You're not welcome here in my opinion and you'll see the rest of the CNews family come to the defense of runruff, Sam Adams and our dear Hope.How dare you bring your rude and offensive diatribes into our friendly and caring website?How dare you?The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #15 posted by Hope on November 23, 2009 at 22:42:19 PT
It is ok, I think, sometimes, and to a degree.
"i think its perfectly okay to call someone out on a weak post whether they frequent a news site/message board or not."It's the "pothead" remark and "are you stoned" and the rude attitude that seemed to be directed at those you disagree with that is not ok.We have to endure enough insults, abuse, and disparagment from those who would despise and persecute us for being "Legalizers", "Bleeding hearts", or "Potheads" ... without having to endure it from people we are supposed to be discussing something with. You might have something to add to this discussion, and I would have liked to have been able to really hear it, but your people skills are sorely lacking... and more than a little offensive and the way you have gone about it detracts completely from what ever it is you are trying to relate.It's late. I've got to shut down.Good night.
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Comment #14 posted by reco loc on November 23, 2009 at 21:57:52 PT
mothership
ok i now stand well informed on the social climate here. thank you. i didn't specifically call anyone "names" nor did i mean to single out anyone as a "pot head" (i used this more as a blanket term for the stigma-type cannabis partakers have received from those outside the bubble). i think its perfectly okay to call someone out on a weak post whether they frequent a news site/message board or not. granted i have just joined but if this place was intended to strictly cater to the sensitivities of its members then i would think it would have a more rigorous format for membership.if anyone would like to disagree, specifically, with anything else i suggested regarding the topics addressed in the article itself i welcome it completely.cheers
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on November 23, 2009 at 21:27:14 PT
reco loc
I read your post. For a minute, I believed you were going to present some intelligent ideas or information. Universer disagreed with some of the other comments and stated his ideas without calling anyone names or disrespecting them. You, though, came in calling people names and inquiring rudely about whether or not they were inebriated. Some of our commenters are patients and are, in fact, likely to be using cannabis. Ease up on the prohibitionist type insults and personal attacks and we will be glad to hear your point of view. We may not respond... but we usually will read it and really not argue with you about it and certainly, we aren't likely to insult you about it.You can disagree intelligently and with some dignity. There's nothing wrong with having a different point of view or different take on things than some of our other commenters, but, please, don't come in throwing insults if you really want to discuss a situation.We don't all agree about everything, by any means. We will listen to your point of view. We will listen to your rants. Some might agree with you or at least understand where you're coming from. But you can pretty much count on people not busting in and calling you names and insulting you even if they do think what you said is wrong. Anyone's opinion, even a prohibitionist's can be heard here. But we're not exactly pleased to see anyone that comes roaring in with the objective of scolding and tearing people down. No problem with your disagreeing on some point with anyone here. Big problem with the insults and arrogance. That's not commenting or discussion... that's being a trouble maker.I'm trying not to scold, or insult you, or be disrespectful to you or your opinion. I'm just telling you this is a place where people, anyone, can say how they feel or share even misinformation, without having someone attack them.Go back out and come back in again with a little respect... or just go back out, if that's what you need to do.
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Comment #12 posted by BGreen on November 23, 2009 at 21:19:54 PT
Actually, NO
After I got finished reading your disparaging remarks about my friends I really didn't care what else you had to say. You've shown no respect for anybody.The people you chose to berate have posted here so long and posted so many references (as all of us have) that we don't feel the need to reference everything we write. You don't have a clue who you were slamming and the kind of vibe you brought here doesn't match the existing vibe.I don't care how you normally express yourself, I just care how you express yourself when referring to my friends.I've got a bad vibe about you. I don't think you're who you proclaim to be because if you were one of "us" you would never have come into our community acting like you did. Why should we care what you have to say?Strike three. I don't make the rules but I wish you would go away.Just a feeling ... dude.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #11 posted by reco loc on November 23, 2009 at 20:46:19 PT:
dude...
 .. did you even read my post?  forget the tone you extrapolated from it... that's just how i express myself..  if you read what i wrote it's anything but "antagonizing" toward a pro-cannabis viewpoint. i'm just not a GUNG-HO *legalize the weed* type guy. i prefer a different communication model.. ya dig?~respect. booyakasha.
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Comment #10 posted by BGreen on November 23, 2009 at 20:34:51 PT
By the way, reco loc
where in the hell are YOUR references when you were so quick to disparage others and then turned around and did the same freakin' thing?Strike two. I've got a bad taste in my mouth.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #9 posted by BGreen on November 23, 2009 at 20:22:36 PT
Trollin' ... Trollin' ... Trollin' down the river
reco loc, you speak much like that of our antagonists. I don't really like your accusatory tone.Try and be a little civil or don't bother posting because nobody will bother to read anything you write.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #8 posted by reco loc on November 23, 2009 at 17:11:54 PT:
.... passing along THC to the infant child.....
I pretty much agree with Universer i can see that maybe one of these posts are about the article. were you guys high when you posted?runruff... can you site your source for this statement about 'a strong cannabis tea'? who's insomnia and "colic" are you talking about? why does the infant need THC?  btw, there was a time in human history "prior to 1937" when doctors also used to cut you open in order to bleed out your ailment... or, in some cases, he'd have to break out the leeches. come to think of it there has to be at least one other reason they would make that recommendation "prior to 1937" and not after that doesn't equate to a worldwide conspiracy to eradicate the entire planet of cannabis as The GWC seems to imply.what's interesting to note is that doctors continue to make bone-headed recommendations post-1937. why would this be an exception to the rule? your own bias?basically, runruff, i'm wondering why you think referencing doctors in your contribution to the comments section here should invite us to make the inference that what you say contains any significant degree of relevance or truth.. ? don't get me wrong; sprouted or shelled hempseed is a top notch source of nutrition. I use shelled hempseed daily along with cold milled flax seeds and organic freeze dried whole acai from south america as some of my main sources of omega fatty acids. 
This can lead me to all kinds of debate with what The GWC posted. if you go out of your way to read just a tad closer he seems very confused and actually contradicts himself and the link he posted to the U of M medical website regarding the availability of GLA. First he says there are only 5 places to get GLA. Mother's milk and hemp milk. okay, so what are the other 3? fill us in with your knowledge so that we may be healthy and thrive... next he says the body doesn't make GLA. then he says that he has read omega 6 is converted to GLA -- IN THE BODY. then he says GLA is virtually nowhere to be found and that if you weren't breastfed then you probably never get GLA (wait a minute here...). then he links us to a website that says our diets have an overabundance of Omega 6 (which he has read is converted to GLA in the body).  
[By the way, the solution to the omega 6 to 3 ratio in the North American diet is to simply purchase ***organic, grass fed*** types of meat and avoid the standard stuff you can find at the typical grocery store. http://www.grasslandbeef.com/StoreFront.bok is a good place to start] 
Then he seems to imply that our diets were somehow very rich in hemp derived foods prior to 1937 and that following this year a domino effect bringing cancer epidemics could be seen erupting in the U.S. and that the rest of Earth was able to witness this. and this is all because of marijuana prohibition. I would love to see any reliable information you can link us to (besides any sort of marijuana conspiracy site) that proves that there is any connection between cannabis prohibition and the animals we eat and drink milk from or the amount of the hemp plant we consumed as a society via seeds, milk, oils, etc. As far as i know, "hemp milk" is relatively new to the dietary scene regardless if someone made the occassional barrell of it more than 70 years ago. As far as the food chain argument -- heh -- I've never heard of much less seen with my own two eyes a cow or a chicken running up to a big hemp stalk and chowing down on the nutritious parts... daily... or even just frequent enough to establish the dominant fatty acid content of its biological terrain... let alone an entire nation's food suppy worth of these animals doing this generation after generation.. and lets not even get into whether its a deer or duck or rabbit. Quite frankly, these statements are preposterous. Another thing to point out is that prohibition of the part of the plant that is treated as a drug has little or nothing to do with delicious,nutritious and perfectly legal hempseed cultivated for food. not to mention hemp rope and oils and all the other good stuff the DEA won't come banging on your door about. if anything, hempseed is more prevalent in the diets of various livestock we consume these days. so if you want to talk about the food chain, you might want to consider that point of reference also.Sam Adams: tossing out statistics without giving us a source relevant for checking facts is utterly pointless unless you either a.) just like to read your own posts or b.) are counting on the average person's lack of critical reading comprehension skill. also, conspiratorial rants only add static. they aren't constructive elements of a comment section.>>>>  but maybe we should get back to the topic in the article. >>>>there are other ways to raise kids so they do not have to medicate themselves by getting high... they can eat whole, natural foods and stay away from smoking in general which should be enough for them to have a good foundation for developing the mechanisms in the body necessary to cope with any such 'condition' and adapt and function beyond it into their adult years. i don't mean for extreme cases like people with blatantly visible dysfunctions who... can't sit still due to 'ticks', act out in violent ways, etc (probably not ADHD... some other issue entirely). i mean this for those people i've met 'diagnosed' with AD(H)D who are either just neurotic and didn't get enough attention, were molested or suffer from PTSD or maybe started smoking cigs or weed at a young age... or who eat a 'mainstream' diet full of chemicals, excitotoxins and other generally unhealthy components... you know, stuff like that.
 any of these factors can hijack what is normally a healthy, balanced central nervous system and equilibrium of neurotransmitter within the body. often people will show the dysfunctional cognitive symptoms of AD(H)D as a result of getting started with smoking at such a pivotal developmental stage. a self-sustaining process perhaps? also, there are a multitude of other options available that DON'T GET YOU STONED that will have similar, if not better, more lasting results. certain nootropics, for instance and a diet rich in naturally occurring omega oils and an as-close-natural DMAE supplement are a few non-pharmaceutical choices that also won't impair aspects of one's ability to learn, think, operate machinery or engage socially. There is also an interesting supplement I have been turned onto called Geranamine that I suspect can be a very useful addition to the attenuation of attention deficits. i tend to notice a trend like the one Dr. Hallowell states in the article.. that having unfettered access to things containing THC can lead to just wanting to get stoned all day... sheesh... even people without the diagnosis do this. although i suspect a lot of the ganja smoking/eating subcultures encourage people to regard it in this way. i don't think the feeling one gets from the chemical itself should take all the blame.so many human beings are quick to put themselves on the "effect" side of the equation. always looking to some kind of institution or external stimulus to validate a significant benchmark in their sense of well-being. I fully support dispensation of medical marijuana for cases of debilitating conditions especially when health care is the way it is in this country and how most insurance companies will deny certain treatments and medications for any number of reasons... but in this case, i have to say it would be irresponsible to make this recommendation too quickly. dare i say that the real motivation a lot of those willing to speak in favor of this have is simply to try to 'win'... more excuses for pot heads to wave a flag of victory ... and that shouldn't be what this is about. there are people with legitamate illnesses that need to benefit from a movement supporting medical marijuana that has integrity and political fortitude behind it. I would urge supporters to please not endorse or act on anything that could screw it up for them... 
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Comment #7 posted by Universer on November 22, 2009 at 17:55:31 PT
Be all of that as it may be...
...I think our noble cause is made less noble, at least in the eyes of the public we are trying to convince, when kids use pot.Healthy effects notwithstanding, it is an herb which contains a substance which, on the immature brain and in the immature mind, has potential for derailing normal function.Red wine is allegedly beneficial for myriad heart-related reasons, but there is no clamor for children to start an unregulated regimen of guzzling that particular drug's delivery system.I think we should cool it on the "it's not that bad if kids consume cannabis for medicinal reasons" tip.Too soon. 
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on November 22, 2009 at 08:16:27 PT
Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)
This link has a long list of things GLA helps.http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/gamma-linolenic-000305.htm
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on November 22, 2009 at 07:59:33 PT
Are We suffering? Mother's milk.
Mother's milk also contains gamma linolenic acid (GLA) which is only available in 5 locations. One of those is from hemp seed oil. GLA contributes to a strong immune system.If a person was not nursed as a baby, there is a good chance that person never consumes GLA, which is an essential fatty acid (EFA). EFAs are labeled such because they are essential to human health but cannot be made in the body. Although I've read, omega-6 fatty acid, is converted to GLA in the body.So Our bodies need EFA's and this one, GLA, is practally unavailable and unheard of, yet was used more in diets before cannabis prohibition. With (it seems) the US leading cannabis prohhibition earth has witnessed the US experiencing growing cancer rates.Further, realize GLA isn't just in human mother's milk but rather mother's milk, so the animal world in general (perhaps) also suffers and We are part of that food chain so the ill effects of an absence of hemp seeds and hemp plants in the wild, due to US prohibition also has continued effects.The US hemp and cannabis prohibition has been a dangerous and irresponsible policy and it may take years to fully understand it's nagative ramifications.In the past, I've seen an amount listed for Our dail minimum requirements of GLA, but the bottle I have in the fridge now doesn't list a minimum daily requirement.Humans and perhaps animals too require GLA. With out it do We suffer?
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on November 21, 2009 at 15:33:08 PT
propaganda
you can tell the traditional zealots of prohibition like Reuters and the NY Times went out and researched ways they could attack Prop 215. It took a while after the initial burst of stories from Al Roker and the networks. But they couldn't resist a return to the lies. They'll always want tools like cannabis prohibition to punish the underclasses.
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on November 21, 2009 at 15:31:10 PT
Ritalin
6 million US children are on Ritalin alone! Over 10% have taken Ritalin or Adderall recreationally.
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Comment #2 posted by runruff on November 21, 2009 at 13:28:09 PT
A nursing infant that is.
And according to Dr. Roberta Hamilton hempseed milk is one molecule away from mothers milk lacking only in one fat molecule.Man's companion plant on the planet!
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on November 21, 2009 at 13:24:53 PT
Mothers milk w/thc.
Pryor to 1937 doctors recommended mothers drink a strong cannabis tea so the thc would be passed along to the infant child for a variety of maladies such a colic and insomnia.Remember Ritalin?
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