Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 21:54:48 -0700

Subject:Canada: Pot should be sold like wine or beer Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Thursday, September 5, 2002
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Address: 200 Granville Street, Ste. #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada
Contact: provletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Author: Jason Proctor
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/A8792B83-4D3C-485F-BCEB-E8CFD0DE0255

Pot should be sold like wine or beer

Senate recommends making marijuana legal, granting amnesty to 600,000

Jason Proctor
The Province; Canadian Press; with Southam News

Marijuana should be legalized, regulated, taxed and sold to anyone over age
16, a Senate committee recommended yesterday.

The proposals -- contained in a 600-page report written after two years of
public hearings -- could lead to pot being sold in government-run stores or
even corner groceries, like tobacco or wine, said Conservative Sen.
Pierre-Claude Nolin, a committee co-chairman.

Inquiry members agreed more harm than good is being done by making marijuana
possession a criminal offence, said Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny, the
five-member committee's other co-chairman.

"Whether or not an individual uses marijuana should be a personal choice
that is not subject to criminal penalties," Nolin said, adding the committee
believed that keeping the drug illegal, but subject to non-criminal laws,
would not end its production and distribution by organized crime.

"We have come to the conclusion that, as a drug, it should be regulated by
the state as much as we do for wine and beer."

The senators made it clear that while they aren't endorsing the drug, they
believe Canadians want pot use regarded as a matter of personal choice and
not as a crime.

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially
less harmful than alcohol and should not be treated as a criminal issue but
as a social and public health issue," said Nolin.

"Canadians from every walk of life told us loud and clear that we should not
be imposing criminal records on users or unduly prohibiting personal use of
cannabis."

The senators are also calling for amnesty for the 600,000 Canadians who have
been convicted of marijuana possession.

"The fact that somebody in some high place has noticed that we're being
persecuted is reassuring," said B.C. Marijuana Party founder Marc Emery.

He estimated that the price of pot could drop from $220 an ounce to between
$30 and $40 in the event of legalization.

"It should be sold in places like Starbucks."

Although it is unclear if the suggestions will ever be adopted by
Parliament, the recommendations could have huge implications for both law
enforcement and taxation -- particularly in B.C., where estimates put the
annual value of pot production at up to $6 billion.

Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the Senate committee
recommendations would be considered and that related laws are outdated. But
the government won't disclose its next move before early next year, he
added.

The changes would require the Canadian government to insist on amendments to
international conventions and treaties that govern illegal drugs, a
particularly sticky point with the U.S., which continues to maintain a hard
line on the subject of marijuana.

Anticipating U.S. opposition to legalization in Canada, Nolin said that
while the White House under President George W. Bush might react negatively,
views vary widely across the U.S. Several states have already
de-criminalized marijuana, Nolin noted.

He added restriction of sales to resident Canadian citizens would also help
curb smuggling to the U.S.

"A look at trends in cannabis use, both among adults and young people,
forces us to admit that current policies are ineffective," the report
states.

"Throughout Canada, above all in British Columbia and Quebec, the cannabis
industry is growing, flooding local markets, irritating the United States
and lining the pockets of criminal society."

The Canadian Police Association denounced the committee's recommendations,
saying Nolin and his colleagues began the study with the belief that pot
possession should be legalized and set about to prove their case.

"We are appalled but not surprised," said David Griffin, the association's
executive officer, who called the report "nothing more than a back-to-school
gift for drug pushers."

The association referred to studies it has cited earlier, including during
testimony to the committee, that all drugs can be harmful.

"Drugs are not dangerous because they are illegal; drugs are illegal because
they are dangerous," said Griffin, suggesting the senators were "playing
scientist."

Griffin added the association believes powerful lobbies, which stand to
benefit commercially from the legal distribution and sale of marijuana, are
behind the push for legalization.

The annual cost of drug enforcement in Canada is estimated to be between
$700 million and $1 billion -- and yet Canadian youth appear to have the
highest rate of cannabis use in the world.

The senators believe school drug-prevention strategies should not be led or
delivered by police officers.

Despite the negative health effects of drug use, the government should not
be in the business of controlling human actions such as cannabis
consumption, the committee said.

"We might wish for a drug-free world, fewer smokers or alcoholics or less
prescription drug dependency, but we all know that we shall never be able to
eliminate these problems," the report says. "More importantly, we should not
opt to criminalize them."

FACTS ABOUT MARIJUANA

What is it? Dried leaves, flowers and stems of the hemp plant from the genus
cannabis. It contains tetrahydrocannibol (THC) that can produce an
intoxicating sensation when ingested.

How is it used? Leaves and the concentrated resin known as hashish are
usually smoked.

How many people use it? A new Senate committee report estimates as many as
two million Canadians have used cannabis in the last year and as many as
100,000 use it daily. Police say as much as 800 tonnes of cannabis
circulates in Canada each year.

Justice issues:

- - Cannabis was outlawed in 1923, amid what the Senate report called a
"panic" over drugs.

- - About half of the 90,000 drug incidents reported each year involve
cannabis and up to 600,000 people have criminal records for simple
possession.

- - Cost of drug enforcement runs at $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year, with a
third of that related to cannabis.

Effects: The Senate report said cannabis use can cause short-term memory
loss, loss of co-ordination and concentration, but the effects wear off.

High doses or first-time use can also cause anxiety, disorientation,
vomiting and even convulsions.

Other names: Pot, dope, Mary Jane, ganja, hemp, reefer.

 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 21:55:15 -0700

Subject:CMAP: CN BC: Marijuana activists on Cloud 9 after report  Up TOC

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Thursday, September 5, 2002
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Address: 200 Granville Street, Ste. #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada
Contact: provletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Author: Canadian Press
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/6B064E44-BF4B-4CD8-B64A-338AF79BA1BD

Marijuana activists on Cloud 9 after report

The Canadian Press

There was more than the usual buzz yesterday at the downtown Vancouver
headquarters of the B.C. Marijuana Party.

As news circulated, along with the pungent aroma of burning pot, that a
Senate committee had recommended the legalization of marijuana, party head
Marc Emery was busy bouncing among media interviews.

Emery, arguably Canada's best-known pot advocate, was visibly ecstatic and
admittedly stunned at the way the stereotypical stodgy senators had suddenly
become, well, dudes.

"It's a beacon of light from the Senate," said Emery, a mayoral candidate in
the city's November election. "It's wonderful. I was stunned by the
enlightenment in this report."

Emery called the report the "most far-reaching document of any Western
country or any place in the world" in regards to marijuana.

"It goes further than Switzerland, further than Holland and is certainly
light years ahead of the United States," he said.

David Malmo-Levine, another longtime pot legalization activist, said he was
"ecstatic."

He is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada in a few months on a pot
conviction, along with two others.

"I'm euphoric. I'm blown away."

Malmo-Levine will argue his own case before the nine justices, as he did
before the B.C. Court of Appeal, but now bolstered by the Senate committee's
pot pronouncements.

"The senators have gotten us all high out here on the West Coast," he said.
"I'm glad that age does not seem to remove common sense from your brain."

Malmo-Levine was found guilty of possession of marijuana for the purpose of
trafficking.

The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the conviction, but a dissenting judge
stated the risk must be significant if Parliament is to intervene criminally
in people's lives.

The judge wrote that simple possession does not meet that test.

Malmo-Levine will be joined by two other Canadians -- convicted pot
smokers -- who will argue Dec. 13 that federal marijuana laws are
unconstitutional.

The much anticipated case was among 36 listed yesterday by the Supreme Court
of Canada in its busy fall docket, which begins Sept. 30.

The appeal covers three cases involving Malmo-Levine, Victor Eugene Caine of
Langley and Chris Clay of London, Ont.

All three argue that pot, if properly used, is harmless. Moreover, they say,
laws prohibiting its personal use infringe on the right to life, liberty and
security guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Scott Hearty, who works at the Marijuana Party Book Shop, passed a joint
around as he too wondered at the Senate's work. "I'm in awe," he said. "They
were supposed to consider decriminalization options and they said
legalization."

Still, Hearty is wary of the reaction in the House of Commons and by the
U.S. "There will be a lot of pressure on Ottawa from the U.S. government and
it's hard to say how they'll react."

But Emery said the Senate report might help the Commons.

"The Supreme Court will be greatly emboldened and empowered by nine Senate
members unanimously saying legalize marijuana," reasoned Emery.

"A lot of us suspect that all along the House of Commons wants the Supreme
Court to rule on this so they can go to the Americans and say, 'It's not our
fault. It was that Liberal-minded court.' "

 
 


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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 21:56:34 -0700

Subject:Canada: London Police Fume At Plan To Legalize Pot Up TOC

CRRH: London, Ontario is Marc Emery's home town

Newshawk: CannabisLink.ca (http://cannabislink.ca)
Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2002
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2002 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Contact: letters@lfpress.com
Website: http://www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author: Jonathan Sher, Free Press Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

LONDON POLICE FUME AT PLAN TO LEGALIZE POT

A Senate committee pushed yesterday to legalize marijuana for anyone over
16, a move that stunned and horrified London police.

The recommendations could make it easier to smoke pot in Canadian cities
such as London than in Amsterdam, a prospect that frightens Deputy Chief
Murray Faulkner.

"What kind of message does that send, especially to children?" Faulkner said.

The senators want to regulate pot rather than prohibit it, with the
government collecting taxes on its sale, perhaps at government outlets or
even corner stores. Criminal records would be erased for Canadians
convicted of simple possession.

The report was hailed by marijuana activists but condemned by the Canadian
Police Association which called it "a back-to-school gift for drug pushers."

Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, whose committee drafted the report,
acknowledged the federal government is unlikely to act quickly to consider
or implement it.

He's right on that account if London MPs are any indication. Both Joe
Fontana (London-North-Centre) and Pat O'Brien (London-Fanshawe) were
appalled by the report.

"I don't think it stands a chance in hell of passing," Fontana said.

"Those Senators must be smoking something funny," O'Brien said.

Yesterday's report surprised Faulkner. Police and politicians have
advocated decriminalizing some aspects of marijuana use, making it
permissible, for example, to use pot for medicinal purposes or in small
amounts. "But this report goes much too far," he said.

This year, London police have busted pot operations worth more than $9
million. While users caught with a joint may not deserve a criminal record,
society shouldn't turn a blind eye on those engaged in the drug trade.

"I really have some serious concerns," said Faulkner, warning that pot use
would go up, especially among children.

But his assertion was challenged by an employee at Hi-Times, a Richmond
Street store that sells pot bongs and growing equipment.

"It might become less attractive because it would be less on the edge,"
said Travis Davies, noting the store now turns away many youths.

"This (report) is really open-minded . . . That's absolutely beautiful,"
Davies said.

A House of Commons committee is expected to issue a report on illicit drugs
in November.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the government will study those
findings and won't unveil its position before early next year. But Cauchon
did suggest current marijuana laws are outdated.

"We must be able to evolve at the pace of society," he said in Quebec City.
"It strikes me as unlikely that someone could have a criminal record after
being arrested for simple possession.

"When we have legislation that's not really being enforced because it's no
longer consistent with social realities, it's important for a government to
look at and reshape such legislation."

Last month, Cauchon said the government might consider decriminalization,
but would likely reject legalization.

"I believe endorsing marijuana use might inflict harm on society and lead
to greater problems," he said then.

But Nolin disagreed, saying, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates
that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be
treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

Legalizing pot will eliminate organized drug traffickers who may use
violence, Nolin said. Senators recommended legalization over
decriminalization because the latter would leave the production and sale of
cannabis in the hands of organized crime.

Nolin said the idea is not to encourage marijuana use, but to regulate it,
saving hundreds of millions in annual drug-enforcement costs.

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

Highlights of a Senate committee report recommending Canada legalize the
use of marijuana and hashish:

- - Marijuana and hashish should come under a regulatory system for
production and sale under licence for legal use by any Canadian resident
over 16.

- - Looser rules for the use of medical marijuana should provide easier access.

- - The law should be changed for those who drive after using both alcohol
and marijuana, with blood-alcohol limits lowered to .04 per cent in such cases.

- - The government should erase the criminal records of 300,000 to 600,000
Canadians convicted of simple possession of marijuana.

- - The government should appoint a national adviser on psychoactive substances.

- - The government should call a conference of the provinces, municipalities
and other interested parties to set the ground rules for legal marijuana.

- - The government should finance research on drugs and on prevention and
treatment programs, financed by taxes on the sale of legal marijuana.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager

 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

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Date: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 21:57:50 -0700

Subject:US: War on drugs is still on, U.S. insists Up TOC

Newshawk: Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy (http://www.cfdp.ca/)
Pubdate: Thursday, September 5, 2002
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Address: P.O. Box 5020, 1101 Baxter Rd., Ottawa, ON K2C 3M4
Contact: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
Author: Joanne Laucius
Webpage: http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/321A10D3-69E8-4D45-9FBD-A2222C7A1C2B

War on drugs is still on, U.S. insists

Senate report won't alter U.S. policy, officials say, but marijuana
advocates argue it will sway public

Joanne Laucius
The Ottawa Citizen

Advocates of marijuana reform in the U.S. celebrated a Canadian Senate
committee report yesterday, while those who crack down on marijuana users
insist the report will not dampen the U.S. war on drugs.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says the report won't change the
way it does business, even if it results in a change to marijuana laws in
Canada. "Our drug policy is intact," said spokesman Thomas Hinojosa.

"Marijuana is against the law, whether it is possessed, cultivated or
distributed," he said.

"It is not our number 1 priority, but it is our responsibility. We will
enforce the Controlled Substances Act."

While Canada and some European nations, including Switzerland and Britain,
have been slowly loosening their marijuana laws, conflicting signals come
from the U.S.

Eight states permit the medicinal use of marijuana, while Nevada will hold a
referendum this fall to determine whether residents want to decriminalize
the drug. New Mexico's Republican Gov. Gary Johnson has come out in favour
of legalizing cannabis.

At the same time, the number of arrests for possession has increased by 75
per cent in the past decade. There were more than 734,000 marijuana-related
arrests in 2000, more than 80 per cent of them for possession.

Just last month, the U.S. government starting running advertisements that
linked drugs to financing terrorism. President George W. Bush declared that
quitting drugs was synonymous with joining in the war against terrorism.

Some U.S. lawmakers, including Detroit police Chief Jerry Oliver, believe
there are better ways to spend law enforcement dollars than cracking down on
marijuana users.

But a recent survey of members of the National Association of Chiefs of
Police shows almost 89 per cent of the respondents believe marijuana use
should still be illegal. About three-quarters believe the 15-year-old war on
drugs has been successful in reducing drug use.

Mr. Bush's drug czar, John Walters has not softened. "The number of people
seeking medical treatment for marijuana abuse is increasing rapidly, not
decreasing," he said in a column in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday.

"In fact, the number of adolescent marijuana admissions increased 260 per
cent between 1992 and 1999."

This morning, when the U.S. department of Health and Illness Services
releases its annual report on drug use reform, legalization advocates will
point out Canada's "sane" Senate report to journalists in their fight to
convince policy-makers that marijuana laws need to the reconsidered.

The Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, which has about 9,000
paying members, cheered the report.

"I think the report makes a very good case for taking it out of the black
market, out of the criminal underground and out into the daylight where it
can be discussed intelligently," said spokesman Bruce Mirken.

The news out of Canada can't help but affect public opinion public opinion
in the U.S., he said.

"At a certain point, it has to become obvious to policy-makers that most of
the world is moving beyond 'reefer madness,' " said Mr. Mirken.

"John Walters treats it as an evil scourge that has to be demonized and
wiped off the face of the Earth. Eventually, the silliness of that has to be
obvious."

Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which
has 10,000 members including two federal judges, appeared before the Senate
committee last November.

His group does not advocate legalizing hard drugs such as cocaine, however,
it does promote treating drug addicts rather than putting them behind bars.

"There's a risk of increased use. But the benefits exceed the risks," he
said yesterday.

He believes a significant report released in a neighbouring country must
affect policy in the U.S. It's like when Canada repealed prohibition laws 70
years ago, he said. "It was an important step in hastening the process of
reform in the U.S."

The Senate Committee's Proposal

Highlights of a Senate committee report yesterday recommending that Canada
legalize the use of marijuana and hashish:

- - Marijuana and hashish should come under a regulatory system for production
and sale under licence for legal use by any Canadian resident over 16.

- - Looser rules for the use of medical marijuana should provide easier
access.

- - The law should be changed for those who drive after using both alcohol and
marijuana, with blood-alcohol limits lowered to .04 per cent in such cases.

- - The government should erase the criminal records of 300,000 to 600,000
Canadians convicted of simple possession.

- - The government should appoint a national adviser on psychoactive
substances.

- - The government should call a conference of the provinces, municipalities
and other interested parties to set the ground rules for legal marijuana.

- - The government should finance research on drugs and on prevention and
treatment programs, financed by taxes on the sale of legal marijuana.

 
 


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web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 01:44:21 -0700

Subject:CA: WAMM Raid Update Up TOC

from Dale Gieringer:

WAMM UPDATE:  DEA TERRORISTS ROB PATIENTS OF MEDICINE
     WAMM DIRECTOR VALERIE & MIKE CORRAL RELEASED

    Santa Cruz CA, Sep 5.  The Wo/Mens Alliance for Medical Marijuana
was raided by a team of armed DEA agents early this morning with no
prior warning to the local sheriff. Agents woke patients residing on
the property at gunpoint and handcuffed them.
         WAMM Director Valerie Corral and Mike Corral were arrested
and taken to the federal building in San Jose.  They were later
released without charges pending possible criminal indictment,
leaving them in legal limbo (like other cannabis groups that have
been raided, such as the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center)
       The plants were cut down with chain saws, a scene captured on
videotape by WAMM's security system and shown on KTVU -TV. Some 150
strong, healthy plants were taken.
       While the DEA did their dirty work, patients organized a
blockade of the narrow dirt road leading to the garden to block their
escape.  The DEA called on the local sheriff to help out;  the
sheriff was clearly dismayed at the raid.  The blockade was called
off in exchange for the release of Valerie and Mike, negotiated over
the telephone from the Court House in San Jose.  A caravan of SUVs
and trailers hauled the crop away.   The agents looked sullen and
shamefaced, except for one young hotdog with a smart-aleck grin.
       Shocked patients returned to the scene of the crime, crying in
disbelief at the  clear-cut scene of their year's lost labors.  WAMM
is a collective of some 250 patients, all of them seriously ill.
Members take turns helping with harvesting and tending the garden,
attending meetings, caring for each other's health, and sharing the
crop amongst themselves.    Because of space limitations, WAMM had to
turn away many applicants and maintained a waiting list for admission.

       DEA spokesman Richard Meyers claimed that the DEA was not
targeting medical marijuana, but was rather concerned with the
quantity of marijuana at WAMM. However,  the WAMM bust was small by
federal standards observed heretofore in a state where busts of
1000's of plants and common.  Word from local US attorneys is that
the Justice Department has ordered a crackdown on all of California's
medical cannabis clubs.

     WAMM is highly regarded as one of the best cannabis patients'
clubs in the state.  Unlike many other clubs, which sell marijuana to
their members, WAMM distributes it for free.  WAMM's director,
Valerie Corral, is widely admired for her tireless and dedicated care
for the seriously ill.  A member of Attorney General Lockyer's state
task force on medical marijuana, she was one of the original
organizers of California's Prop. 215.   An inspiring feature about
Valerie and WAMM was published in Mother Jones magazine:


http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF01/marijuana.html

     WAMM website: http://www.wamm.org

ACTION ALERT:
      CALL Sen. Barbara Boxer (202) 224-3553  and Dianne Feinstein (202) 
224-3841
      Protest the WAMM raid - demand an end to the DEA's war on the
sick and dying
      Also tell them to vote NO on the RAVE Act, which would give DEA
power to raid property owners who host events where marijuana and
other drugs might be used.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS ON SEPTEMBER 6th

ACTIONS TO TAKE:

- -- On September 6th, call your Senators and tell them to oppose S. 2633, the
RAVE Act. Tell them that innocent business owners shouldn't be punished for the
activities of their customers. Tell them this bill has dangerous anti-civil
liberties provisions that they need to be aware of, and that it's a threat to
public health.

For more information on this bill see: <http://ga1.org/campaign/rave>

- -- 
- ----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858  // canorml@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114


 
 


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Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 03:09:37 -0700

Subject: Mother Jones on WAMM (Jan/Feb'01)  Up TOC

Half an Ounce of Healing
The desperately ill members of a Santa Cruz marijuana club aren't growing 
pot to get high or make money. They just want to find some relief.
by Evelyn Nieves

January/February 2001
      <http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF01/marijuana.html>http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF01/marijuana.<http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF01/marijuana.html>html

      Dorothy Gibbs is lying in bed in her trailer, barely able to move. It 
is a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Santa Cruz, the October sun as full as 
July's. The curtains in Gibbs' room are half open; she is squinting as 
though the light stings her eyes. But her 90-year-old face, framed by a 
snowy froth of hair, looks cheerful, almost youthful. "I woke up in pain 
this morning," she says, "but then I took the marijuana and it made things 
better."
      She reaches for an eight-ounce bottle of brown liquid on a bedside 
tray and takes a swig. The tonic, a concoction of soy milk and marijuana 
known as Mother's Milk, looks like the muddy sand in a child's pail. "It 
doesn't taste like much of anything," she says with a shrug. "It just makes 
me feel better."
       Ten years ago, Gibbs, who had developed polio as an infant, was 
stricken by postpolio syndrome, leaving her arms nearly useless and her 
nerves on fire. Two years ago, at the suggestion of her full-time visiting 
nurse, she tried pot for the pain. ("I tried smoking it first," she says, 
"but it hurt my throat.") Now she is one of about 200 members of the 
Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM, a  Santa Cruz, 
California, cannabis collective run by and for people who are very ill.
       If WAMM, the first medical marijuana club in the country to be 
granted nonprofit status, will not convince skeptics that cannabis may have 
a healthy purpose, nothing will. The collective, which grows its own 
marijuana and distributes it  free to its members each week, is no pot 
party. About 85 percent of its members are terminally ill. Many of those 
who line up at the club's small, borrowed storefront every Tuesday evening 
had not used the drug before they developed  life-threatening illnesses 
like cancer and AIDS. Others hadn't tried it before exhausting a medicine 
chest's worth of pharmaceuticals for chronic, debilitating ailments like 
postpolio syndrome or epilepsy. Relatively few have used marijuana the way 
Bill Clinton did in college, for fun.
       The Tuesday night WAMM line is a gallery of illness. People come in 
wheelchairs, using walkers, clutching canes, bald from chemotherapy, gaunt, 
hollow-eyed, nearly wasted. The healthiest looking are the caregivers who 
come to pick up pot for members who are too ill to come themselves.
       But it is not a grim group. After sitting in on five WAMM meetings, 
led by its firebrand director, Valerie Leveroni Corral, I was most struck 
by how spirited, even happy, members sounded. People announced picnic 
lunches, organized a weekend in Reno, offered rides, memorialized the 
latest member to die with fond remembrances and spirited anecdotes. They 
also complained, like a family around the dinner table. In one meeting, a 
member with AIDS griped about having to wait around for an hour listening 
to everyone's "issues" before the marijuana is doled out: "I'm in a room 
full of sick people," he said. "I don't exactly feel great about that when 
my T-cell count is down." That led to an hour of collective soul-searching 
on just what WAMM is supposed to be -- a community or a marijuana dispensary.
       With laws legalizing medical marijuana already in effect 
in  California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Maine, and Hawaii (and with 
initiatives recently approved in Colorado and Nevada),  medical marijuana 
groups around the country have been calling on WAMM to see how patient-run 
collectives ought to operate. It is not easy. Federal law supersedes state 
law, and the government refuses to budge in classifying marijuana as a 
dangerous, illegal narcotic -- and a gateway to harder drugs -- with no 
medical value. This means that in states where medical marijuana is legal, 
local and state law enforcement may leave the collectives alone but the 
Department of Justice could still step in, shut down the clubs, and 
prosecute patients and their caregivers. In 1999, an Institute of Medicine 
report commissioned by President Clinton's then drug czar, General Barry 
McCaffrey, concluded that patients suffering from severe pain, nausea, and 
appetite loss might find "broad spectrum relief not!
  found in any other single medication" by using marijuana. But that failed 
to alter the federal government's position that possessing marijuana for 
any reason should be a crime.
       There is an encouraging development in the battle for legitimacy: In 
September, ruling on a class-action suit filed against the government by 
medical marijuana advocates, including WAMM, federal Judge William Alsup of 
the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco ruled that the government could 
not punish doctors who recommend the benefits of marijuana to their 
patients. And while the federal government has threatened to prosecute 
medical marijuana patients, that seems increasingly unlikely given the 
public's growing acceptance of the drug as medicinal.
       Medical marijuana clubs began quietly operating in the early 1990s 
in response to the AIDS crisis, and in 1996 California passed a 
groundbreaking voter initiative, Proposition 215, that legalized 
possession  of marijuana for patients with a doctor's recommendation who 
are  suffering from AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and other illnesses. But the 
fight for the right to exist is far from over. Especially since the passage 
of Prop. 215, the federal government (or state and local police, invoking 
federal law) has continued to shut down marijuana clubs in  California and 
has repeatedly confiscated plants.
       WAMM was started in 1993, lucky to be born in Santa Cruz. The 
coastal city about 75 miles south of San Francisco is one of the most 
tolerant in the country. Here's a place where old and young hippies sit 
cross-legged on the sidewalk, strumming guitars all day, where the City 
Council proposed "sleeping zones" for the homeless (until the town was 
inundated by urban campers from all over the West), and where the nation's 
first bed and breakfast for medical marijuana users opened last year with 
great fanfare. True to form, Santa Cruz has honored WAMM with official 
proclamations and vowed to defend the collective's right to exist. The 
city's position, endorsed by the mayor, district attorney, and chief of 
police, is that Santa Cruz will abide by California's medical marijuana 
law, and never mind the feds.
       In fact, WAMM runs a tight ship. It is strict about membership, 
admitting only the very sick, and only those with a written recommendation 
from a doctor who agrees to monitor the use of marijuana in the patient's 
treatment. The club also preaches respect for the law. Except for the 
location of its marijuana garden, deep in the Santa Cruz mountains, it is 
not secretive about how it operates. Valerie Corral occasionally counsels 
officials in cities throughout California on how best to implement and 
abide by Prop. 215. She recommends that medical marijuana collectives 
operate openly and, as WAMM has done, work with law enforcement officials 
to make sure they are operating in accordance with state law.
       "It's imperative that we patients are really respectful to the law 
so that we can prove that we're not trying to pull the wool over the eyes 
of law enforcement," said Corral, an epileptic who uses marijuana to 
control seizures and alleviate mind-stopping headaches. "For police, their 
experience is still the mindset of marijuana being a gateway drug, of the 
horror that drugs cause in people's lives. Our job is to show that it's so 
much more of a medicine than it is a problem."
       For Corral, WAMM is much more of a communal support group than a 
marijuana dispensary. For WAMM, Corral is much more of a spiritual leader 
than a director. It is almost impossible to imagine the organization 
without her. She is 48 years old, about five feet tall, with an auburn 
pageboy, a collection of tiny gold hoops in her left ear, and Cher's 
cheekbones. In part, she provides the public face of WAMM: She speaks to 
politicians, was appointed to the California Attorney General's task force 
on Prop. 215, testifies at hearings on medical marijuana, and organizes 
memorials for WAMM members. She is also the resident Best Friend and 
therapist at WAMM. Unsolicited, members would come up to me and call her 
their angel or savior. But Corral quickly points out that she has lots of 
help behind the scenes. Her husband of 22 years, Mike, a slim man with a 
shaved head, wide smile, and thick dark eyebrows, grows and cultivates the 
marijuana WAMM gives away in a garden that has become!
  a kind of sacred place for the collective.
       The Corrals are expert growers, having started more than 25 years 
ago following a freak car accident that left Valerie wracked  by seizures. 
The accident happened in 1973, when she was 20. She was near Reno, the 
passenger in a Volkswagen Beetle being driven by her friend. "I could see 
an old plane in the distance," Corral recalled. "It was flying very low as 
it came near. We thought it maybe had to make an emergency landing." The 
plane flew by, then, seemingly lost, looped around and roared back toward 
them. The torque of the plane caused the VW to cartwheel. Corral's friend 
shattered the left side of her body; Corral suffered severe brain trauma, 
leading to blackouts and epileptic seizures, up to five a day.
       For more than two years, Corral walked around in a sedated stupor. 
Hooked on Percodan, Valium, and Mysoline, she was obsessed with changing 
medications and trying different dosages to control her seizures. By then, 
she was living with Mike, who had become her caretaker. He found an article 
about how marijuana helped control seizures in laboratory animals and 
procured some for Valerie. "That changed our lives," she said, sitting in 
her living room in a rare moment of quiet, with Mike by her side. "I would 
take marijuana and the seizures diminished. By 1977, I was seizure free." 
She still suffers migraine headaches and, to prevent seizures and control 
nausea, smokes marijuana regularly, although not daily.
       The Corrals bought their first piece of property in the Santa Cruz 
mountains with part of the $40,000 insurance settlement she eventually 
received from her accident and began growing marijuana in an organic 
garden. Eventually, they began giving some of it away to people they knew 
who were dying of cancer.
       Luckily for WAMM, the couple has few expenses. The Corrals own their 
own home, and a second piece of property and some stock market investments 
provide their income. A modest lifestyle -- a blue-jeans wardrobe and a 
house filled with a cozy mishmash of old furniture -- allows them to devote 
themselves to WAMM full-time.
       In 1992, the local sheriff arrested the Corrals on felony charges 
for cultivating five marijuana plants in their front yard. The district 
attorney vowed to seek the maximum penalty for the crime: three years in 
state prison. Instead, all charges were dropped when the district attorney 
decided that no jury would convict them. A year later, they were arrested 
again. The highly publicized arrests prompted a flood of calls from people 
who wanted to use marijuana for their illnesses. The Corrals began working 
as advocates for medical marijuana and started WAMM that year.
       "You have a car accident and you think you get a brain trauma out of 
it," Valerie said, "and instead, it becomes this wonderful opportunity to 
meet people at the most crucial time in their lives." She has watched more 
than  80 members of WAMM die over the years. Many more, given the nature of 
the members' illnesses, will die over the next few years. But she firmly 
believes that WAMM enhances the quality and longevity of sick people's 
lives, and not just because of the marijuana. Members become friends, 
almost like family. Two members who met at the Tuesday meetings got married 
last summer. Some have become outspoken advocates of medical marijuana in 
their own right. "One of the great things about WAMM is that it puts 
patients in charge of their health care," Valerie said. "I just hope that 
when the drug companies and federal government find a way to make money off 
of medical marijuana, we'll still be here."
       On a Sunday afternoon in October the Corrals and about a dozen other 
WAMM members began the happy task  of harvesting the marijuana plants that 
will supply the club for 2001. The air on the property, which is perched on 
a secluded cliff overlooking the Pacific, was redolent with the 
pungent-sweet scent of marijuana. Mike Corral and George Hanamoto, a 
66-year-old glaucoma patient, cut down marijuana plants in the fenced-in 
garden. The other WAMM members sat in a circle under a tarp, trimming the 
plants to make it easier to harvest the buds during drying.
       Five of the members present had AIDS. Two had breast cancer. One had 
colon cancer. A young man who brought his brother along was suffering from 
lupus. Suzanne Peterson, a pretty 42-year-old and mother of three teenage 
sons, who had been disabled by a severe case of postpolio syndrome, trimmed 
plants from a wheelchair. Half a dozen dogs, two of them belonging to the 
Corrals, wandered around the group. Members drank beer and soda and munched 
potato chips, chatting about nothing in particular. It felt like a garden 
party, which in a way it was.
       "I love WAMM and this garden," said Hanamoto during a break from his 
cutting. Once a straight-and-narrow television repairman, he now wears his 
hair in a long ponytail. A white undershirt revealed a surprisingly taut 
physique. "WAMM changed me," he said. "I feel like I'm doing something in 
my life." He is now the garden coordinator, a kind of deputy to Mike 
Corral, and spends Sundays in the garden with his wife, Jean. "We speak 
about my using marijuana openly a lot, to everyone we know," he said. "I 
try to put it to people that people who smoke marijuana are not 
brain-dead." Marijuana, he said, has relieved the pressure in his eyes from 
glaucoma. "About two years after I started using it, a doctor said the 
glaucoma was gone," he said.
       Mike, who was nearly shrouded by plants, said he was well aware of 
the government's dismissal of the benefits of marijuana for glaucoma and 
other ailments. But countering the official doubt comes easily after his 25 
years of research, experimentation, and growing, he said. "There are 462 
molecules in marijuana," he said with a wry smile, "so there's a long way 
to go before this is fully investigated."
       For several years his wife has assiduously been documenting the type 
and amount of marijuana WAMM members use to test the effectiveness not only 
of the strain of the plant used but also of the method of ingestion. 
Members take the herb in muffins -- though many complain that this way 
makes the drug too strong -- as well as in Mother's Milk, in cigarettes, or 
in a tincture added to food or drink. Mike uses the responses from members 
to experiment with different marijuana plant varieties.
       "We're working with pure indica strains, pure sativa strains, and 
hybrids," he said. "We're growing more indica this year than the sativa 
because the membership prefers it for pain." He looked around the garden, 
where the plants bloomed fat and tall. "I can tell this is going to be a 
vintage year for purple indica," he said, gazing like a proud papa at a 
bush about six feet high.
       Valerie Corral, in overalls and sneakers, tiptoed into the garden to 
take a look. She is prone to smiling, which she did automatically when she 
saw Mike among the flourishing plants. She squeezed his hand and kissed 
him. "This garden," she said, "is beautiful."




CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 03:51:39 -0700
Subject: Interview with Professor Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, the discoverer of THC (1994) Up TOC

Interview with Professor Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, the discoverer of THC

         Although research into the psychoactive components of Cannabis 
began before the start of this century, it was not until 1964 that Dr. 
Raphael Mechoulam, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, identified 
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as the most active 
compound.   Mechoulam's discovery led to a lot of research into other 
natural and synthetic cannabinoids.  In recent years many exciting 
discoveries were made.  In 1990 the cannabinoid receptor, the "lock" into 
which cannabinoids fit, activating the specific biochemical events, was 
discovered.  This of course intensified the search for the cannabinoid-like 
brain molecule that binds to the cannabinoid receptor.  In 1992 William 
Devane and Raphael Mechoulam identified a natural brain molecule that binds 
to the cannabinoid receptor.  They called it anandamide, from the Sanskrit 
word for "eternal bliss".  While the substance mimics the action of THC, 
interestingly, it doesn't look anything like it.  Additional natural 
anandamides have since been found and it is speculated that a family of 
receptors may exist.
         One thing is certain: the pace of cannabinoid research has picked 
up and the field is entering a new and exciting era!  An exclusive 
interview (June 17 1994) with the man who has been in the forefront of 
Cannabis research for the last thirty years: Professor Raphael Mechoulam.

Professor Dr. Raphael Mechoulam (Photo R.C. Clarke)

         David Pate:  Can you describe anandamide, its possible function in 
the brain and where its discovery leads us?
         Raphael Mechoulam:  It has been known since 1988 that THC acts on 
a specific receptor in the brain.  This specific receptor obviously was not 
built by the brain just for the sake of tetrahydrocannabinol - a compound 
present in a plant - which is of course foreign to the 
receptor.   Presumably the receptor is present because it has a function, 
which has nothing to do with a plant constituent.  We considered that 
possibly this particular receptor is activated by a compound found in the 
brain itself.  We succeeded 2 years ago to identify such a compound in pig 
brain.  We called it anandamide.  It binds to this cannabinoid 
receptor.  Anandamide differs completely from THC in its structure.   THC 
is an aromatic compound, while anandamide is a fatty acid derivative.  It 
also has a nitrogen atom in it, which is rather unusual for fatty acid 
derivatives.
         DP:  Any speculation as to why it is there, what it actually does, 
both the receptor and its ligand?
         RM:  We know that the cannabinoid receptor system is involved in 
sedation; at high doses THC can even cause catalepsy in animals.  In humans 
we know that Cannabis has a lot of effects which together cause the well 
known "high".  These also include memory effects and some effects on 
movement.  Most of the effects caused by THC are also seen with anandamide 
in animals.  Anandamide has not yet been given to humans but judging from 
the animal effects these two compounds seem to parallel each other in 
activity.   Whatever THC does, anandamide does as well.
         DP: What is the role of anandamides in the brain?
         RM: Anandamides and the receptor are found in areas of the brain 
which have to do with the coordination of movement, with memory and with 
emotions.  We assume that the brain has anandamides and the receptors to 
participate in the regulation of movement and to participate in memory and 
emotions.   But there is no proof that this is indeed the case, it is a 
circumstantial evidence.
         DP:  Since three natural anandamides have been found, how broad do 
you think the family is?  Are there multiple types of receptors?
         RM:  The three anandamides which are known bind to the same 
receptor.  They are actually a family of closely related compounds.  This 
is well known with other fatty acid derivatives in the body which also 
appear in large families of closely related substances, such as 
prostaglandins and the leukotriens.  The three anandamides so far known 
seem to have the same biological activity, but once we know more about how 
and what they do we may find small differences.
         DP:  Are there families of receptors as well?
         RM:  This is another point.   In the brain, so far, just one 
receptor has been found.  However, a second receptor has been found in the 
spleen, it is related chemically to the brain receptor and anandamide binds 
to both the central receptor (in the brain) and to the peripheral receptor 
(in the spleen).  Anandamide has not been found so far in the periphery, so 
chances are that the fact that it binds to the receptor in the spleen is 
just because the structures of the two receptors are somewhat close.  Maybe 
the brain transmits the brain mediator.  The peripheral receptor seems to 
have its own endogenous ligands.   As a matter of fact we have found an 
endogenous compound in the gut which binds to both the central and 
peripheral receptors.  We are working on it at the moment and have not 
published its structure or function.  I think that the peripheral receptor 
has to do with the immune system as it is well known that THC affects this 
system.   At present however this is just a speculation.
         DP:  Can you further speculate on what triggers production of 
anandamides naturally and whether they are degraded by an enzyme system 
like the cannabinoids?
         RM: Incidentally, also in answer to your previous question, the 
peripheral receptor is found in the spleen, but there is also a receptor in 
the testis, we do not know whether it is the peripheral or the central 
receptor and we know that THC and anandamides act on the sperm.  There is a 
paper in publication in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 
showing that both THC and anandamides act on activation of the sperm before 
it fertilizes the egg.  So it is involved, whether that is relevant or not, 
I don't know.
         We do not know what triggers the production of 
anandamides.  Incidentally, Bill Devane and J. Axelrod at NIH have now 
found an enzyme which synthesizes anandamide in the brain from arachidonic 
acid and ethanolamine.   The anandamides are labile compounds and they are 
degraded by an enzyme - an amidase.
         DP:  Are there interactions between the cannabinoid receptor and 
other receptors or receptor systems?
         RM:  Most definitely.  The cannabinoids (and presumably the 
anandamides) like most mediators in the body interact with other systems: 
the dopaminergic, the adrenergic, the opiate systems etc.  For example we 
have found that when anandamides are injected into the brain the 
concentration of cortical steroids goes up.  There are indications that the 
cortical steroids themselves may act on the cannabinoid receptor, 
presumably bringing down its activity.
         DP:  Were you surprised that anandamide was the structure it was 
and not a protein?
         RM:  No, there is no reason why it should be a protein.  As a 
matter of fact, we thought originally that anandamide should be a 
lipid-soluble compound, because the cannabinoids are lipid-soluble, and 
therefore chances were that the compound in the body will be lipid-soluble 
and it turned out to be a fatty acid.
         DP:  How do cannabinoids and anandamides happen to fit into the 
same receptor, considering their structures are quite different?
         RM:  We assume that in space and in distribution of electronic 
charges the anandamides and the cannabinoids take up the same kind of 
structure.  A few groups are using models to calculate the electronic 
densities and the structures of both types of compounds in space and to 
compare them.   However, as yet no definite answer has been provided.
         DP:  Are the relative affinities of cannabinoids and anandamides 
and their receptors about the same?
         RM:  Anandamides and THC have more or less the same affinity for 
the receptor.  There are synthetic cannabinoids which are a hundred and 
maybe a thousand times more active than THC.  But that is irrelevant, THC 
and anandamide are not very potent, but then the body does not want very 
potent compounds.  It wants compounds with intermediate potency, because if 
the potency is very high and there is a chance increase of the compound the 
body will go into stress.  Changes in the body are usually gradual so one 
does not need very active compounds in the body.  This is of course a 
generalization which does not aply to all body constituents as there are 
some compounds present in the body which act at extremely low concentrations.
         DP:  Do you think there is sufficient research into cannabinoids 
and will cannabinoids play a significant role in the future of therapeutic 
medicine?  If so, for what indications?
         RM:  After the identification of delta-9-THC as the active 
component of Cannabis there was a huge wave of research in chemistry, 
pharmacology and clinical aspects dealing with this plant 
constituent.   Many thousands of papers were published on it.  By the late 
1970s research started slowing down as the mode of action was not clear at 
all.  With the discovery of receptors and of endogenous ligands interest 
has very much increased and numerous new laboratories are working on 
various aspects.  We can expect in the future clarification of many of the 
problems associated with cannabinoid activity and possibly advances in the 
field of therapeutics.  So far the only cannabinoid which has been 
legalized is THC for use in cases of vomiting due to cancer 
chemotherapy.  THC has also been used for a few other things like appetite 
stimulation (in cases of AIDS) as well as in glaucoma.  There is also 
illegal use in some neurological diseases such as spasticity in multiple 
sclerosis and even in asthma.  In the past several companies worked on 
synthetic cannabinoids as analgetics or in reduction of blood pressure but 
these projects were terminated.  The synthetic compounds produced still 
caused psychotropic effects which were unacceptable.  In the last few years 
we have synthesized and widely tested a cannabinoid, HU-211, which causes 
none of the typical psychotropic cannabinoid effects but is a blocker of 
the action of the stimulatory transmitter glutamic acid, in particular on 
one of its subreceptors named NMDA.  This receptor is involved in 
stimulatory activity.  However, during trauma it causes excessive opening 
of ion channels in many cells in the vicinity of the trauma.  This 
introduces large amounts of calcium ions into the cells and they may 
die.  Blocking this activity is of considerable potential importance in 
cases of trauma and possibly stroke, and a company with which we are 
associated is developing HU-211 as an anti-trauma agent.  We expect to 
start human testing within a few months.
         The discovery of anandamide has apparently stimulated interest in 
several pharmaceutical companies.  I am aware of a Japanese company which 
is working in the field as well as a French one.  Apparently the French 
company has discovered an antagonist to anandamide - the first ever 
described antagonist in the cannabinoid series.  They are about to present 
it at a forthcoming meeting.
         DP:  Do you see the very limited use of cannabinoids in medicine 
as the result of their intrinsic medicinal value or as the result of the 
restrictions surrounding them?
         RM:  In the past most companies refrained from working on 
cannabinoids mostly because of the legal restrictions.  It seems reasonable 
to expect that as at the moment there are no such legal restrictions 
concerning anandamides it will be easier for companies to start projects in 
this field.   I expect that such research projects will be mostly in the 
neurological area and possibly in inflammation research and 
immunology.  This assumption is based on the high concentrations of the 
cannabinoid receptor in the basal ganglia - an area involved in 
coordination of movement and the peripheral receptor being in the spleen - 
an organ of immune importance.
         DP:  Do you think new delivery systems would help cannabinoid 
therapeutics gain more acceptance?
         RM: Definitely.  One delivery system which has not been 
investigated is the aerosol system.  People smoke cannabinoids, this is the 
best way of getting them into the body, and getting them to act fast.  And 
in asthma for example, THC is known to be a bronchodilator.  So if people 
want to use a compound against asthma, obviously they will prefer 
inhalation rather than any other way and very little work has been done in 
this area.
         DP:  Was THC patentable at the time of your discovery?  Why didn't 
you patent its synthesis?
         RM:  We didn't patent THC as it was of no apparent medical 
use.  One cannot patent compounds which have no practical use.
         DP:  I'm thinking now of the Unimed use of this as a pharmaceutical.
         RM:  We didn't patent the synthesis either.  I had asked my 
university authorities about this and they decided against it.  There was 
no apparent practical use of THC or its synthesis.  On the other hand we 
should have patented the major cannabinoid metabolite - THC-11-oic-acid 
which we identified and synthesized in 1972.  This acid stays in the body 
for a very long time and most tests of cannabinoid use look for the 
presence of this acid rather than for THC itself.  Numerous radio immuno 
assays are based on this acid and we realize now that it was foolish not to 
patent it.
         DP:  Is this approach basically a reflection of your background, 
which is academic rather than industrial?
         RM: Yes, now we patent quite a few things, we patented HU-211 and 
that's why a company was willing to take it over.  We now patent quite a 
few more compounds, but at that time we didn't and it is a pity, and the 
university lost a lot of money.
         DP:  Is there any relatively unknown or unusual Cannabis research, 
past or present, that deserves a wider mention?
         RM:  Well, if you look at what is going on now, there is a huge 
amount of research going in all kind of directions.   For example, groups 
working on the immune system may be using the receptor in the 
spleen.  Research goes into subjects like emotions, asking why does 
Cannabis do what it does?  People are looking into schizofrenia and finding 
some unusual things, some relationship between cannabinoids and 
schizofrenia, I think it has to do with the receptor.  Even though all 
these things are not well defined, I am under the impression that there is 
a burst of research in many directions.  Where that will lead I don't know. 
I think that the most promising approach is to look into neurological 
problems, coordination of movement and things of that sort.
         DP:  So the cannabinoids serve less as prototypes for drugs per 
se, but rather as probes of the systems, which other drugs may be later 
able to affect.
         RM:  Many if not most drugs used today are really structural 
modifications of natural products, be they plant products of known 
therapeutic value, or hormones, or transmitters.  In most cases the new 
drugs have less side effects than the natural product.  I expect that this 
is going to happen with the cannabinoids and anandamides.  Academic and 
industrial research groups will probably try to modify these molecules in 
order to minimize the side effects as well as to make the compounds more 
specific.  This is what we did with HU-211 and this is probably going to be 
done with these compounds in other fields as well.
         DP:  Is there anything else you may want to add to any of the 
previous questions?
         RM:  Research in the last 20 years has shown that Cannabis differs 
from most other illicit drugs - it is not a major addictive agent and it 
seems to act through mechanisms which are quite different from those of the 
opiates and cocaine.
         Hence investigations in this field may lead us into understanding 
of very basic problems in biology such as memory and emotions.   There are 
few tools for work in these areas and any additional one may be of great 
importance.  The National Institute of Drug Abuse of the USA which is the 
major granting agency in the field of drug abuse is looking into 
cannabinoids with great interest now and this will be of considerable 
help.  I would like to mention that the United Nations which has a huge 
budget devoted to drug abuse prevention does not support research at 
all.  This is a strange situation and probably reflects the background of 
the officials dealing with drug abuse at the UN level.  They view drug 
abuse as a social problem with little value of research for the solution of 
this problem.  Too bad.




CRRH is working to regulate and tax the sale of cannabis to adults like 
alcohol, allow doctors to recommend cannabis through pharmacies and restore 
the unregulated production of industrial hemp.

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp*
mail:     CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 USA
email:   crrh@crrh.org
phone:  (503) 235-4606
fax:       (503) 235-0120
web:     http://www.crrh.org/

------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #186
********************************