cannabisnews.com: Questions About Pot
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Questions About Pot
Posted by CN Staff on October 26, 2009 at 06:46:28 PT
Editorial
Source: Washington Post
Washington, D.C. -- The Justice Department announced last week that it would not prosecute patients who legally obtain marijuana from licensed dispensaries in the 13 states that allow medicinal use. The decision is both sensible and potentially problematic. People suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other serious ailments should not be harassed or live in fear if they abide by the laws of their state to obtain a drug that may provide relief from such symptoms as pain and nausea. 
Neither should those who strictly follow legal standards in dispensing marijuana from state-licensed shops. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is right to focus federal resources primarily on large-scale illegal traffickers. Yet this policy shift leaves significant questions unaddressed, including whether the Justice Department's decision essentially constitutes a first step toward legalizing marijuana. Such an immense policy decision should not be ushered in surreptitiously, but should be tackled head-on, with a full-throated public debate about the possible benefits and consequences. More information -- good old-fashioned scientific information -- is needed before the federal government or more states formally endorse marijuana smoking for medicinal use. The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, in 1999 published what is widely considered to be the most comprehensive study; it was decidedly mixed, listing the many possible drawbacks of smoking marijuana, including respiratory problems, while noting that such use seemed to provide some patients with relief not obtained from pills containing marijuana's active ingredients. More recently, Dr. Peter J. Cohen, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, noted in a 2009 law review article that reputable studies released in the past few years showed that patients with AIDS and hepatitis C experienced reduced pain and nausea and were better able to tolerate traditional treatment as a result of smoking marijuana. Yet these preliminary results -- as Dr. Cohen points out -- have not been subjected to rigorous testing by the Food and Drug Administration. The reason: A manufacturer must submit the drug for review before the FDA will tackle the assignment. So far, no such "manufacturer" has come forward. The medical marijuana controversy may be moot in the near future because of a drug known as Sativex, a spray mist approved for conditional use in Canada and the United Kingdom that delivers the active ingredients found in marijuana. If cleared by the FDA, patients will have some confidence that it is safe and effective. Patients have the right to know if the same can be said about smoked marijuana. Note: Has the Justice Department taken a first step toward decriminalization of marijuana?Source: Washington Post (DC)Published: Monday, October 26, 2009Copyright: 2009 Washington Post Contact: letters washpost.com Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/WVqSELWDCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on October 27, 2009 at 06:41:25 PT
runruff
That's OK. It's hard to tell if someone is kidding or serious when it is all typed.
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Comment #28 posted by runruff on October 27, 2009 at 05:47:55 PT
ooops! FoM...
I was being a smart A, I made that up about 2012. Which, by the way, is the only way I can be sure if anything is true or not is if I make it up!
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Comment #27 posted by Sam Adams on October 26, 2009 at 20:10:10 PT
on behalf of Jonathan Magpie...
Washington Post, bite me!
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 18:50:48 PT
runruff
I don't understand what it's all about but thank you for telling us. I know something big could happen in December of 2012 but that's about all. 
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 18:48:03 PT
Mark702
Thank you so much for the link to CNews on your web site. I really appreciate it.
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Comment #24 posted by runruff on October 26, 2009 at 18:24:40 PT
We can all relax now,
The Mayan Calendar was only predicting the movie "2012" not an actual catastrophe!Remember you heard it first right here from, Runruff!
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Comment #23 posted by Mark702 on October 26, 2009 at 18:22:34 PT
Questions Or Misconceptions
If you or friends/family have questions or misconceptions concerning cannabis and hemp, have them check out CannabisTV.org. They'll find great informational videos, info, resource links and more. CannabisTV.org
CannabisTV.org
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 13:54:49 PT
herbdoc215
Thank you for voting for Obama. I had no faith in the system until I saw and heard Obama speak. I knew he was an answer to all the hopes I ever had to have a good man as President.
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Comment #21 posted by herbdoc215 on October 26, 2009 at 13:31:43 PT
Museman, I've long thought the answer is only
through patients banding together in order to share information and be able to hire and retain the best botanist/horticulturalist they can find...The idea of a 'Guild' of some sort is a very good one as it would at least help establish a baseline of what is even possible for full expression of genetics as well as safety issues and safe construction techniques?
 As for titles and credentials, I've never put much stock in them as much as information and knowledge, however it is attained...BUT along the way I've gotten to meet/know several doctors and professors whom REALLY know the deal in microscopic detail and also can speak the language of the folks whom make the rules...I've found much to be gained in taking the time to help nurture those folks into seeing the truth and our victories so far has came from them teaching each other modalities and methodologies that have spread all over the west coast so far and that genie will never get stuffed back into the bottle! Fred Gardner and the cannabis medical journal they are doing is going to be the real key to our gaining equal rights as well as access to our medicine.dongero, your right but the door is there to be opened by right key, as well as the fact that THC pills (Marinal) is ONLY drug in recent history to be down scheduled from 2 to 3, and THC pills are going to be generic this year so price as well as formulations are changing now. I think they will let Craker get his grow at UMASS this year as well as a few others soon as demand is getting ready to go through the roof as elderly get 'hip' to what cannabis can offer them as face it we all want to live as long and pain free as possible, don't we?  FoM, You was right about the president and I'm glad your faith has been born out despite what all the haters spewed and you can rest assured you influenced me to actually vote in last years presidential election instead of giving up and throwing in the towel, I want you to know that you got him one vote and I'm so glad your instincts were dead on! I agree it sure is better now than ever before in my life, Thanks, steve  
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Comment #20 posted by museman on October 26, 2009 at 12:40:58 PT
herbdoc
Your comment made me think of a conversation that is going around with a lot of medical growers I know here in Oregon.We are spreading the idea of a 'Growers Guild' or 'association' that would enable those who already know what they are doing to band together to protect their interests against the money-ladened modern carpetbaggers who are trying to legislate themselves into a piece of the pie -pharmas as one example-. The idea is that if we band together -legally- then we can prevent the establishment takeover that is being attempted to be written in to the new cannabis laws.as for other stuff....Personally, I recognize that there are human beings in every walk of life, and that there are some few who strode the path of academia and professionalism with reality instead of personal social and economic 'positioning' in mind, but like all the 'jobs' that are motivated by power and money, over usefulness and efficiency (like cops) the majority is 'the rule' and the overall general worthiness of any of those trumped up 'classes' of humanity to occupy their lofty positions of false authority is very limited and small.If a man is considered by the evidence of his works and the effects of his deeds, rather than the 'honorary', and titular accreditations then the separation of persons by arbitrary rank and priviledge will become moot and a thing of the past. The practice of 'assigning' authority based on those easily falsified and abused standards is the isssue here , not whether or not there are actually some few who may be as qualified as the paper on their wall suggests.I dare say, and would even be willing to 'guarantee' (if I had that power, which I don't) that for every poser and pretender to 'expert' knowledge and skill, there are hundreds of thousands whose skills, abilities, knowledge, understanding, and experience equals or surpasses those who bask in the limelight of status quo acceptability -without the badges and paper credits that supposedly proclaim 'mastery' and expert knowledge and skill.Bottom line. You talk to me as a human being, I am obligated to respect you, even if I don't agree, but if you talk to me with assumption of your somehow being 'more' or 'better' or 'superior' in this or that, well I've left the room, and I ain't likely coming back.One who actually has wisdom does not have it through constant denial because of personal attachment ot this or that piece of information (knowledge) but through the hard labor of self-honesty, which is not an attribute honored in any layer of what is considered to be 'successful' society.An honest man is the most valuable asset available in our modern society, and can rarely be found in any lifestyle that honors personal wealth and propriety over Love, Sharing, Peace, and Understanding.Those who support the pride and ego of a very very bad and failed system, with their own pride and ego, can only be assumed, and probably rightly so, to be an entrenched cog in the great puppet show of the establishment.You show me one who is worthy by means of their results, not their opinions, then I will respect their worth based on that, and that alone. Just because you have a title or degree is meaningless. Those who base their social trust on such criteria, are one of the prime reasons why the corrupt gain power and keep it.END CANNABIS APARTHEID - REPEAL PROHIBITION
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Comment #19 posted by dongenero on October 26, 2009 at 12:00:54 PT
thx for the info Steve
here is more in case anyone needs to read themselves to sleep tonight.http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074382.htmSome key paragraphs:Under the 1938 grandfather clause (see 21 U.S.C. 321(p)(1)), a drug product that was on the market prior to passage of the 1938 Act and which contained in its labeling the same representations concerning the conditions of use as it did prior to passage of that Act was not considered a new drug and therefore was exempt from the requirement of having an approved new drug application.Under the 1962 grandfather clause, the Act exempts a drug from the effectiveness requirements if its composition and labeling has not changed since 1962 and if, on the day before the 1962 Amendments became effective, it was (a) used or sold commercially in the United States, (b) not a new drug as defined by the Act at that time, and (c) not covered by an effective application. See Pub. L. 87-781, section 107 (reprinted following 21 U.S.C.A. 321); see also USV Pharmaceutical Corp. v. Weinberger, 412 U.S. 655, 662-66 (1973).The two grandfather clauses in the Act have been construed very narrowly by the courts. FDA believes that there are very few drugs on the market that are actually entitled to grandfather status because the drugs currently on the market likely differ from the previous versions in some respect, such as formulation, dosage or strength, dosage form, route of administration, indications, or intended patient population. If a firm claims that its product is grandfathered, it is that firm's burden to prove that assertion. See 21 CFR 314.200(e)(5); see also United States v. An Article of Drug (Bentex Ulcerine), 469 F.2d 875, 878 (5th Cir. 1972); United States v. Articles of Drug Consisting of the Following: 5,906 Boxes, 745 F.2d 105, 113 (1st Cir 1984).Finally, a product would not be considered a new drug if it is generally recognized as safe and effective (GRAS/GRAE) and has been used to a material extent and for a material time. See 21 U.S.C. 321(p)(1) and (2). As with the grandfather clauses, this has been construed very narrowly by the courts. See, e.g., Weinberger v. Hynson, Westcott & Dunning, Inc., 412 U.S. 609 (1973); United States v. 50 Boxes More or Less Etc., 909 F.2d 24, 27-28 (1st Cir. 1990); United States v. 225 Cartons . . . Fiorinal, 871 F.2d 409 (3rd Cir. 1989). See alsoLetter from Dennis E. Baker, Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs, FDA, to Gary D. Dolch, Melvin Spigelman, and Jeffrey A. Staffa, Knoll Pharmaceutical Co. (April 26, 2001) (on file in FDA Docket No. 97N-0314/CP2) (finding that Synthroid, a levothyroxine sodium product, was not GRAS/GRAE).As mentioned above, the Agency believes it is not likely that any currently marketed prescription drug product is grandfathered or is otherwise not a new drug. However, the Agency recognizes that it is at least theoretically possible. No part of this guidance, including the Appendix, is a finding as to the legal status of any particular drug product. In light of the strict standards governing exceptions to the approval process, it would be prudent for firms marketing unapproved products to carefully assess whether their products meet these standards.
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Comment #18 posted by HempWorld on October 26, 2009 at 11:36:11 PT
RevRayGreen
Yes, it is. I was 1st in La Paz 23 years ago and lived there for a couple of weeks and spent about 2 months traveling the entire peninsula.We hope to have you as a guest asap!Cheers!
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Comment #17 posted by RevRayGreen on October 26, 2009 at 11:30:33 PT
#15- HempWorld 
Sounds like an awesome destination.......
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Comment #16 posted by herbdoc215 on October 26, 2009 at 11:27:50 PT
Since we are talking about FDA and such...
Cannabis having been included in the past US Pharmacopoeia should be grandfathered in by FDA as there is a concept with drug preparations known as GRAS(ironic, eh?) 'Generally Recognized As Safe' that applies to cannabis as the LD10 is virtually unknowable...this concept has been applied to many older medicines without going through big money phase trials and such. NIDA,DEA and FDA have proven over the years (vioxx and others have also made me doubt their abilities in general) that they have zero understanding of this drug and only by trying to prove negatives have many of the positives been stumbled across at great cost, they have shown they don't have the knowledge to properly regulate the innovation of preparations from cannabis yet as they have much to learn as we need somebody to weed the snake oil salesmen from the real co-ops/companies/research for safety, BUT also there are going to be hundreds of single and compound molecule medicines produced in the future from raw cannabis that's going to be lifesaving for many and private companies will be the ones leading the way in conjunction with major university research...we need the few professors of medicine whom are knowledgeable about this to be able to regulate this medicine, not cops or DA's? peace, steve  
 
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Comment #15 posted by HempWorld on October 26, 2009 at 11:15:42 PT
OT Just got back from Mexico ...
Where I entered into agreement with a hotel owner to do the 1st hemp hotel in Mexico in La Paz, Baja California Sur.I hope the website www.HempHotel.com will be updated soon with details of this location and we can take bookings asap. This is a 20 room hotel that will offer hemp breakfast and snacks; hemp coffee, hemp bread, hemp shakes, hemp beer, hemp pizza, tequila, internet, horseback riding, excursions, bike riding, etc. etc. Patients and interested welcome from all over the world!
Hemp Hotel La Paz
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 11:09:05 PT
RevRayGreen
That looks like it will be a good movie. Thanks for the trailer.
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Comment #13 posted by RevRayGreen on October 26, 2009 at 11:01:21 PT
This movie is going to blow alot of peoples minds
I can't wait........Howard is a living legend.
The trailer for the 2010 film Mr Nice
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Comment #12 posted by Storm Crow on October 26, 2009 at 10:55:46 PT
And as a herb.....
That has NEVER caused a fatal overdose, WHY should they control it? Why do they feel they MUST control it, when it heals so many ailments? Is healing a bad thing? And is it really the herb they want to control, or our minds and bodies?
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 10:02:51 PT
dongenero
I think along the same lines as you. Man did not make Cannabis so why do they need to control it?
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Comment #10 posted by museman on October 26, 2009 at 10:02:47 PT
FoM
I appreciate this medium more than some might think. The ability to share information, regardless of response, is the edge that the people have never had until now, thanks in a large part due to the internet -which I dare say would not have happened the way it did without the daring of some few radical thinkers who listened to their own intuitive faculties, instead of the establishment. They smoked cannabis and partook in LSD -both tools of the minds, spirit, and intellect, denied by the members of the status quo, who have literally been left in the dust of the new intellect and consciousness that threatens the old order of class and power.Knowledge does not equate wisdom, it is experience that does that. There are wise old men and women still walking around that never graduated from high school, let alone need some kind of certificate on their wall to prove their effectiveness, and abilities as human beings.If I want an expert opinion on something, I ask someone who has done the work throughout their life, not based on the entitlements of the status quo. And I have yet to see any of these so called experts, get out of their boxes and proscribed attenuations to the parameters of status quo acceptability, and lower their noses enough to stand on equal human levels of common sense. A wise human being does not need 'qualifiers' to prove their wisdom, it is just something that comes with experience, but not necessarily age.REPEAL PROHIBITION
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Comment #9 posted by dongenero on October 26, 2009 at 09:44:19 PT
Cannabis is a product of.......the Creator.
Yet these preliminary results -- as Dr. Cohen points out -- have not been subjected to rigorous testing by the Food and Drug Administration. The reason: A manufacturer must submit the drug for review before the FDA will tackle the assignment. So far, no such "manufacturer" has come forward. I do not think the Creator will be coming forward to submit cannabis to the FDA. Hey, it's a plant, not a product.With regard to cannabis, government and FDA policy is more about medical control over people than it is public safety.  There is a long history of cannabis in pharmacopeoia, and the AMA lobbied (weakly) in favor of maintaining medicinal cannabis in the pharmacopoeia in the '30s. Aside from recent American medical history, cannabis has been used medicinally around the world for thousands of years. The anomaly is our current, ridiculous policy.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 09:35:18 PT
museman
I really enjoy all this talk because that is how we learn. We have a dear friend who was in my state over the weekend and he has strong beliefs that are the opposite of mine. We talked and talked and hopefully learned something from each other. I think he was surprised at how I knew about some of the issues he mentioned too. The one thing I told him is the people on the extreme right have been very mean to me over the past few years but he was kind. That was great.
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Comment #7 posted by museman on October 26, 2009 at 09:28:17 PT
#5_
1906 and 2009 are two distinctly different worlds.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #6 posted by museman on October 26, 2009 at 09:18:06 PT
FoM
Its about class. As long as the majority of the voting population continues to believe in, and support the current failed system in place -which is distinctly class - then that class of 'special people' will continue to hold the reins of power. What good is a so-called 'democratic process' if all the people ever get to 'vote' for are the chosen ones of the status quo?The change must come from within the people. They must exhibit some fortitude in the electoral process, and stop just taking what is handed to them from the elite classes. For example; why is everyone under the assumption that one must be a lawyer in order to 'represent' the people? Especially when that profession has proven quite succinctly to be as self-serving as they come. Whatever happened to the government 'of the people, by the people?'Its up to the people. If the people are content to continue their materialistic consumer ways, as a majority still seem inclined to do, slaving most of their lives away in service of the rich elite, governing classes, then those of us who do have a spine will pay the price for their complacency and laziness, just like we have been doing since Nixon tried to stop us in the 70's.Should those of us who are standing in front, confronting the BS with all the truth we can muster, be 'grateful and willing' to accept the compromises that pretty much render all our sacrifice ab impotent action, just because the spineless are more anxious to 'get back to work' on the american (carrot-on-a-stick) 'dream', than they are for truth, justice, and their own personal liberty?Not me.FREE CANNABIS FOREVER
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Comment #5 posted by JoeCitizen on October 26, 2009 at 09:07:48 PT
Herbs, FDA
First of all, let me say that I agree that cannabis is an herb. Trying to make it into something else by calling it a drug is merely a rhetorical trick.Now, some herbs and spices DO have medical properties, or at least are strongly chemically active in the body. And many of those aren't regulated at all. If you gulp down all the nutmeg in your spice rack, SOMETHING will happen to you, mentally and physically. It will NOT be a good or pleasant thing, so maybe that's why the puritanical culture overlooks it. But it's a strong effect. Why is nutmeg a spice and not a drug? Lastly, responding to Museman about the FDA: Have any of you ever read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair? It's where we get the term "muckraking" from, and it vividly (and disgustingly) describes the condition of the Chicago meatpacking industry in 1906.That was what food safety looked like when left to just "we the people." The FDA was formed in response to situations like that.Does the FDA always do what's it's supposed to? Certainly not. Is our food safety better today (even with E-coli and other contaminants) than it was 100 years ago? Read Lewis' descriptions in The Jungle of piles of semi-rotten meat, live rats, dead rats, rat poisons and all being ground up together and sold as good meat, then tell me it's in any way that bad today.So, some of those "Federal Dumb Asses" and "Accredited fools" must have had an effect on the situation.Wisdom without knowledge will only take you so far. We the People must include and consider experts and their information in our decisions. To do otherwise would be both unwise and ill-informed.JC
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 08:41:10 PT
museman
I believe we need more controls on those that are our elected leaders and we need less controls on the people who elected them to represent us.
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Comment #3 posted by museman on October 26, 2009 at 08:35:52 PT
FoM - truth in herbs
The whole point of such run arounds is to keep the control of cannabis out of the hands of the people. In the minds of prohibitionists, and their pre-programmed public, cannabis is not an herb, it is a 'narcotic' and a 'drug.' The language used, and the consistent reference to so-called experts or 'authorities' is just a slap in the face of all of us who have used cannabis for most of our lives with only one REAL problem; all these people who want control of our lives, and the ability to syphon resource from us to support their lifestyles and habits.The FDA (fed dumb asses) and the 'professors' cannot, or should i say 'will not' deal with reality, unless they can define what that 'reality' is according to their terms of regulation and control. The fact that the people know what is better and good for them, and their so called experts don't know their 'ass from a hole in the ground' is constantly being glossed over for the effort of accrediting fools instead of wisdom.If they can get the compromises they are looking for, and too many who say they are on the side of liberty and justice are willing to accept those compromises, then they will have successfully reclassified cannabis as a narcotic drug, and they will, through that twist of definition of terms (something the status quo warriors all like to do) re-establish cannabis as a 'dangerous' substance.Any and all compromises we allow these people to foist over on us will only be giving in to their falsehoods, and quite possible deleting our one and only opportunity for change.We are right, they are wrong. Why should we have to compromise with error? That's just foolish.END CANNABIS APARTHEID
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 26, 2009 at 07:34:48 PT
dongenero
I always thought that herbs were excluded. I take different medicinal herbs and they are not approved by the FDA.
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Comment #1 posted by dongenero on October 26, 2009 at 07:22:22 PT
FDA approval
I don't like the notion that a "manufacturer" must submit the "drug" to FDA for approval. It implies that any substance the FDA may "approve" as medicine, is biased toward "manufacturable"-"drugs", which implies patentable synthetics to me.
Why do we have this notion that the only thing that can be medicinal is a synthetic analog?Can anyone cite whole plant substances, herbs etc, that the FDA approves or oversees medicinally? I believe they ban herbal ephedra compounds over the counter. I don't think they have much to do with most vitamins and herbal supplement approval do they? I have my doubts that FDA would have any interest in whole plant cannabis. I believe they are ideologically and politically opposed.
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