'Retox' a worry if you go off the grass

[Al B. Fuct]

The SMH published this bit of bent news today:

 

'Retox' a worry if you go off the grass

Leesha McKenny

August 16, 2009

 

REFORMED cannabis users opting for a crash diet and gruelling exercise regime stand a greater chance of "retoxifying" than coming clean, a study has found.

 

An Australian finding, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, found that stress or extreme dieting could trigger a release of THC, the psychoactive cannabis ingredient stored in fat, back into the bloodstream.

 

Co-author Jonathon Arnold, a senior lecturer in pharmacology from the University of Sydney, said the researchers studied rats after noticing unusual results in humans. "I had a case where a guy swears blind that he hadn't consumed cannabis," he said.

 

"But he'd gone on a vigorous weight-loss regime, lost four kilograms within a week and got this exceptionally high cannabinoid level that he couldn't really explain."

 

Dr Arnold's colleague, Iain McGregor, injected rats with a THC-equivalent of smoking between five and 10 cannabis cigarettes a day for 10 days, before sending them cold turkey and exposing them to a stress hormone or depriving them of food.

 

In the hungry rats, the THC reading was more than double that of the control group. There was a statistically significant increase in stressed rats.

 

Dr Arnold said the implications for humans were being studied.

 

"You could potentially kick your grass habit and a couple of weeks later go on a rigorous diet and exercise regime . . . the THC could flood out," he said.

 

Following a weekend binge by skipping breakfast and heading to the gym on Monday morning "could possibly lead them to say some silly things in a meeting".

 

Jan Copeland of the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre said it was a case of user beware.

 

"Frequent cannabis users who make health lifestyle choices that include quitting cannabis in association with a diet and exercise regime need to be aware that they may still test positive for cannabis for . . . up to four weeks or even longer," she said.

 

"Those for whom a negative test is critical should have a confidential test done by their GP."

 

This article is only half true.

 

Dr Arnold fails to note the fact that the body does not store actual d9-THC in body fat. Only THC metabolites are stored in body fats. THC metabolites are NOT psychoactive. Even if Arnold's assertion is true (and it probably is) that physical exercise or food deprivation causing the body to draw on stored fat for energy causes THC metabolites present in fat to be released into the bloodstream, the subject will not become re-intoxicated. To assert so, as Arnold does here:

 

"You could potentially kick your grass habit and a couple of weeks later go on a rigorous diet and exercise regime . . . the THC could flood out," he said.

 

Following a weekend binge by skipping breakfast and heading to the gym on Monday morning "could possibly lead them to say some silly things in a meeting".

 

is so silly that it makes me wonder if Arnold has enjoyed a spliff over the weekend and had spent Monday morning in the gym...

 

This story follows on from another anti-cannabis, equally junk-sciencey story in the SMH published 28 July 2009, "Skunk cannabis can make well users psychotic: study."

 

The SMH must be persuaded to stop publishing nonsense from anti-cannabis biased news sources like the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) without seeking comment from non-biased, evidence based drug researchers like Dr Alex Wodak of the StVincents Drug and Alcohol treatment unit.

 

Please complain! Write to letters@smh.com.au, newsdesk@smh.com.au, mediawatch@your.abc.net.au and cc: Wodak's PA, Leah McLeod at adsdirectorpa@stvincents.com.au . I don't know what it's going to take to get the SMH on the evidence-based bandwagon, I hate to think it'll take a Press Council complaint, but that's where I'm going next. Had it up my nose with the propaganda.

 

grr.

[jabez]

This is why we need to get off our arses and get a cannabis law reform organization going in Australia. As it stands they can say whatever they want and there really is no one to dispute it!

[Al B. Fuct]

Well, you & I can dispute it, with or without a cannabis law reform organization or lobbying group. However, there are such animals in Aus, such as The Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement and HEMP SA.

[mull]

Good work there Alby.

 

If I see things written like

 

I had a case

 

and

 

Jan Copeland

 

and know its self promoting bs..

 

You're right about stored cannabinoids not being psychoactive. No matter how fast or slowly they're released.

[Al B. Fuct]

ta marrabundi.

 

Only on stories about illicit drug use do news outlets get away with printing blatant bullshit.

 

You'll note that the ABC manages to avoid this practise for the most part. News Ltd used to be the worst offender but they're quickly being overtaken by Fairfax.

 

If this had happened just once on the SMH, you could call it an error. When they do this repeatedly and ignore objections and requests for an evidence based point of view in such stories, (as I've lodged several times with them), it's an agenda to spread disinformation. This is not lazy journalism, it's intentional omission.

[westy]

big is good.

[MadamePandora]

This might be slightly off topic....

 

Well, you & I can dispute it, with or without a cannabis law reform organization or lobbying group. However, there are such animals in Aus, such as The Australian Cannabis Law Reform Movement and HEMP SA.

 

 

HEMP SA is almost certainly dead in the water as their site hasn't been updated since 2006 (that's their 'latest' news)

 

ACLRM is a more interesting proposition but as quoted off their site ....

 

The A.C.L.R.M is a leaderless movement of like minded cyber citizens in a direction of JUST Cannabis Law Reform, a vehicle for change in JUST the law as it relates to cannabis and it is the belief of the A.C.L.R.M that Cannabis was wrongly convicted in the first place and that cannabis use / cultivation has never been a crime.

 

Without formal leadership it is hard to set goals and activities to make change happen. That's why there is some interest in forming a new group, based state by state, with an overall organisation and agenda to work with.

[Indycar]

Following a weekend binge by skipping breakfast and heading to the gym on Monday morning "could possibly lead them to say some silly things in a meeting".

LMAO, makes me wonder weather Jan Copeland has found herself in this sorta situation before.

 

Frequent cannabis users who make health lifestyle choices that include quitting cannabis in association with a diet and exercise regime need to be aware that they may still test positive for cannabis for . . . up to four weeks or even longer," she said.

 

Nothing new here Jan. To my knowledge that bit of info is over 20 years old. Infact, a lot of it comes down to one's metabolic rate and how quick it can be processed out of the body. In some cases, it's been known for some folks to take up to 3 months to cleanse it out of their system.

 

Yet another waste of taxpayers money..

 

[Al B. Fuct]

Without formal leadership it is hard to set goals and activities to make change happen. That's why there is some interest in forming a new group, based state by state, with an overall organisation and agenda to work with.

 

I won't disagree.

 

Have we got an Australian Rob Kampia waiting to be discovered?

 

Yet another waste of taxpayers money..

 

No doubt about it.

[pisspotgrower]

Dont understand alot of that but if THC was released into the bloodstream as a cause of stress id be fuckin baked all the time :wallbash: