Cannabis Hemp News

Alcohol major cause of drug rehab admissions, again DANNY ROSE, MEDICAL WRITER 15/12/2008 1:23:00 PM Independent Weekly http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/l...in/1386569.aspx Alcohol has again topped harder drugs like ice and heroin as the addiction which drives the most Australians into crisis rehab. Seventy per cent of people admitted to the major not-for-profit rehab centre Odyssey House, based in Sydney, in the past financial year listed alcohol as among their reasons for seeking treatment. For almost one in three (29 per cent), alcohol was their primary addiction - up from 28 per cent in 2006-07 and 20 per cent in 2005-06. Amphetamines such as speed, ecst…

Dagga farmer loses case Zelda Venter December 15 2008 http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&am...55356615C925003 The Pretoria High Court has ruled that the police were justified in arresting a Kameeldrift cannabis farmer for dealing in drugs as he could not provide a permit. Russell de Beer instituted a R620 000 damages claim against the minister of safety and security, claiming that he was unlawfully arrested and detained on drug charges while he had a permit for the 1.2 tons of dagga in his possession. De Beer, 37, was arrested for drug trafficking in February 2004 when the police raided his farm. He was kept in police cells for a night and subsequently …

Hey all, I'm about to head up from Victoria to NSW over Christmas and am just wondering how widespread roadside drug testing is up there? I know you've got it there, but am not sure if it's every single booze bus like it is down here now? Also they say it only detects THC for 'several hours following administration' but I dunno... is 24 hours enough room to leave? Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks, any info much appreciated!

CannaZine.co.uk In the week its been announced Germany has joined forces with Belgium, Holland, Switzerland Spain and Portugal in implementing European medical cannabis programs, the British Cannabis Lobby has called for the UK government to follow suit, by removing patients who consume cannabis with their doctors knowledge, from the war on drugs. Recently a South Wales man who suffers from an incurable auto-immune condition called Hidradenitis Suppurativa, which sees the sufferer experiencing debilitating boils and lesions around the groin and genitals as well as under the arms and on the face, wrote to the office of Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg, to ask if he supported …

NORML Blog President-Elect Obama, The People Have Spoken; Will You “Answer” Their Question? December 12th, 2008 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director Marijuana is #1. To follow up on yesterday’s post, change.gov (the website of President-Elect Obama’s transition team) has now closed the webpage “Open for Questions.” NORML wishes to thank all of you who took the time to visit the website and demanded the incoming administration to reform America’s marijuana laws. Your message got through loud and clear. After receiving nearly 100,000 total votes on more than 10,000 separate public policy issues, the most widely voted on question for Obama is: “Will you co…

NORML 11 December, 2008 Toulouse, France Marijuana use is not an independent predictor of delinquent behavior by young people, according to data to be published in the journal Addictive Behavior. Investigators at the French University de Toulouse-Le Mirail reviewed survey data from 312 high-school seniors. Researchers performed multiple regression analyses to investigate the potential contribution of cannabis use and other cofounding variables in delinquent behavior. Investigators concluded, “Cannabis use was no more a significant independent predictor of delinquent behaviors after adjustments for alcohol use and [other] variables.” Authors did cite an assoc…

AlterNet By Phillip S. Smith, Drug War Chronicle. Posted December 12, 2008 For more than 30 years under the policy of "gedoogbeleid," which could best be translated as "pragmatic tolerance," the Dutch have allowed the sale of personal amounts of marijuana through the coffee house system, even though doing so is technically illegal. But lately, especially for those of us on this side of the water, a black cloud appears to be hovering over the coffee shops. The number of coffee shops has contracted from about 1,500 in 1995 to 720 now, as successive governments have tightened the screws. The current national government is hostile, if somewhat divided on the issue, and re…

NORML December 11, 2008 - Baltimore, MD, USA Marijuana use is prevalent among patients suffering from chronic pain, many of whom are likely using the drug in order to self-medicate, according to findings published in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology. Investigators at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland analyzed a total of 13,948 urine specimens from patients at 31 pain clinics in six states. A total of 10,922 specimens tested positive for at least one licit or illicit substance. Nine-hundred and sixty-seven samples (8.9 percent) tested positive for the presence of cannabis metabolites. Authors speculated that the high prevalence of ca…

Africa: Debate Over Marijuana Legalization in Morocco Hits the Airwaves 12/12/08 Drug War Chronicle, Issue #564, http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/564/mo...lization_debate Since at least the 15th Century, farmers in Morocco's Rif Mountains have been growing marijuana, which they typically process into hashish. For decades, Moroccan hash has been a mainstay of European marijuana markets. In recent years, production reached a peak of 135,000 hectares in 2003 before declining to about 60,000 hectares this year and last in the face of aggressive government efforts to eradicate crops and break up trafficking organizations. Moroccan hashish fieldBut while the half-decade…

http://www.psychointegrator.com/?p=176 December 9th, 2008 MARIJUANA REDUCES MEMORY IMPAIRMENT COLUMBUS, Ohio – The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells. The research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impair…

In what seems to be a fairly draconian reaction police raided a mans house in Maroochydore for reposting a funny clip on LiveLeak. Sydney Morning Herald There's some more information about it on LiveLeak including the detrimental effects this has had on the mans welfare. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a4f_1228731672 This news clip shows some of the original footage. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c01_1228832145

R v Long appeal decision was just announced, the decision was overturned on appeal. In a nutshell this means that the lower Courts have not accepted that Canada's cannabis laws have indeed fallen and have not been in operation since 2003. I haven't read the decision yet and still waiting for more detailed analysis on http://www.thepotlawhasfallen.ca/ in the next 24 hours. PDF of the decision is attached. Long_Reasons_for_Judgment_Dec8.08.pdf

9/12/08 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...LW2w3QD94UO6G80 Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — Police said a woman was arrested after asking a state trooper whether she could smoke — and then trying to light up a marijuana joint. Honesty Knight, 32, was a passenger in a vehicle that Trooper Eric Perkins pulled over for a traffic violation early Friday. While the trooper was talking to the driver, Knight obtained the trooper's permission to smoke. Police say Perkins then asked to see the cigarette, which contained marijuana, not tobacco. Knight faces a preliminary charge of possession of paraphernalia. She was re…