Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew in '74

Alternet
Raymond Cushing

In 1974 researchers learned that THC, the active chemical in marijuana, shrank or destroyed brain tumors in test mice. But the DEA quickly shut down the study and destroyed its results, which were never replicated -- until now.

The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February, 2000 when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.

The Madrid study marks only the second time that THC has been administered to tumor-bearing animals; the first was a Virginia investigation 26 years ago. In both studies, the THC shrank or destroyed tumors in a majority of the test subjects.

Most Americans don't know anything about the Madrid discovery. Virtually no major U.S. newspapers carried the story, which ran only once on the AP and UPI news wires, on Feb. 29, 2000.

The ominous part is that this isn't the first time scientists have discovered that THC shrinks tumors. In 1974 researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia.

The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, who reports on the events in his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." In 1976 President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- unsuccessfully -- to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the "high."

The Madrid researchers reported in the March issue of "Nature Medicine" that they injected the brains of 45 rats with cancer cells, producing tumors whose presence they confirmed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). On the 12th day they injected 15 of the rats with THC and 15 with Win-55,212-2 a synthetic compound similar to THC. "All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days after glioma (brain cancer) cell inoculation ... Cannabinoid (THC)-treated rats survived significantly longer than control rats. THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which died by days 16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the time of death of untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days. Moreover, the tumor was completely eradicated in three of the treated rats." The rats treated with Win-55,212-2 showed similar results.

The Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University, also irrigated healthy rats' brains with large doses of THC for seven days, to test for harmful biochemical or neurological effects. They found none.

The Healing Power of Marijuana Has Barely Been Tapped

Medical marijuana is now legal in 18 states, but it's clear we've discovered a fraction of its potential for health.

Alternet
Allen Badiner

There are now legal medical cannabis programs in 18 states plus Washington, DC, with pot fully legal for adults in two other states. Ironically, however, the actual healing power of the plant has barely been tapped. Smoking marijuana with THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), or better, vaporizing it (using a device to bake the plant material and inhale the active ingredients), has an indisputably palliative effect and can be medically useful for pain relief, calming and appetite stimulation. It already has confirmed benefits against glaucoma, epilepsy and other specific diseases and disorders. It also gets people high. THC triggers cannabinoid receptors in the brain and this produces the sensation of being stoned. These receptors are found in the parts of the brain linked to pleasure, memory, concentration, and time perception.

But, based mostly on research overseas there is an increasing consensus that the medicinal benefits of psychoactive THC pale in comparison to the non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) from the leaves of the same plant--raw and unheated. Depending on the strain, some plants are high in CBD but also contain a lesser amount of THC which is said to enhance the healing potentiality. CBD does not make people feel “stoned” and actually counters some of the effects of THC (for example, suppressing the appetite vs. stimulating it). CBD is beginning to be recognized by researchers at mainstream medical institutions around the world as a potentially very powerful weapon against cancer.

Researchers Sean D. McAllister and Pierre Desprez, who conducted studies of CBD's effect on cancer cells for California Pacific Medical Center, suggest that these non-psychoactive compounds from the cannabis plant might, in short order, render chemotherapy and radiation distant second and third options for cancer patients. Based on a more recent study, McAllister and Desprez feel that CBD's "could stop breast cancer from spreading."

Dr. Donald Abrams, a cancer specialist and professor of integrative medicine at UCSF, conducted early trials involving THC medical cannabis, and now he is excited about the powerful impacts of CBD on cancer cells. The National Cancer Institute was busy researching this in the 1970s, Abrams explains, but restrictions on the use of cannabis for research in the United States resulted in most of the research on this subject disappearing in the U.S., and being picked up in other countries, such as Israel, Spain and Italy. He says existing studies point to a remarkable ability of CBD to arrest cancer cell division, cell migration, metastasis, and invasiveness.

Other studies point to CBD as having great promise as a defense against Alzheimer’s disease. In a 2006 study published in Molecular Pharmaceutics, a team of University of Connecticut researchers reported that cannabis “could be considerably better at suppressing the abnormal clumping of malformed proteins that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease than any currently approved prescription.” The research team predicted that cannabinoid-based medications "will be the new breakout medicine treatments of the near future.”

Medical cannabis has a long history of use, starting in India, and then in China and the Middle East some 6,000 years ago. It came to the West in the 1800s, where it was listed in the U.S. Pharmacopeia until the 1930s. Used for over 100 ailments, cannabis was a favorite of our grandparents for cough remedies, analgesics, and tonics and was available over the counter at every local drugstore as well as companies such as Sears, Roebuck and Co. Banned in 1937 via the Marijuana Tax Act as part of a politically and racially driven prohibition craze, it was gradually removed from the pharmacopeia and research was discouraged and later prohibited via drug scheduling. The FBI linked the herb with insanity and claimed a direct correlation between cannabis and violence, and even death, especially when used by people of color.

Currently, science increasingly recognizes the role that cannabinoids play in almost every major life function in the human body. It wasn't until 1990 that endocannabinoids, produced by the human body, were discovered to act as a bio-regulatory mechanism for most human life processes and have receptors sites throughout the human body. CB2 receptors are found almost exclusively in the immune system, with the greatest density in the spleen. These CB2 receptors appear to be responsible for the anti-inflammatory and other newly recognized and very significant therapeutic effects of cannabis.

Cannabis medicine has distinct advantages. CBD, as well as THC, can be given in massive doses with no side effects. In fact, it has performed very effectively as an anti-psychotic when given in high doses. CBD selectively targets and destroys tumor cells while leaving normal healthy cells unmolested. On the other hand, chemotherapy and radiation are highly toxic and indiscriminately injure healthy cells in the brain and the body. Industrial hemp is often high in healing CBD and very low in THC. Hemp CBD is a waste product -- it's thrown out by the ton every year when it could easily be harvested for tumor shrinking.

Colorado and Washington vote to become first US states to legalize marijuana

Russia Today



Marijuana is now legal in Colorado and Washington for recreational use, and possibly in Oregon as well.

While the decision in Colorado is historic, it was not without controversy: The measure won by a close six-point margin, 53% in favor to 47% opposed. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was an ardent opponent to the legalizaiton of recreational marijuana use, and reacted to the decision in the following statement: “The voters have spoken and we have to respect their will. This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don’t break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.”

Proponents of the initiative argued that pot is safer than alcohol, and that the legal sale of marijuana could rake in $45 to 100 billion in tax revenue, according to Bloomberg. The government will also save an estimated $14 billion in cannabis-related costs in fighting the war on drugs.

Massachusetts and Arkansas have also passed ballot initiatives allowing use of marijuana for medical purposes. These are two of the six states debating medical marijuana laws in 2012, a concept already accepted in around a third of US states. In California, a state often seen at the vanguard of the medical marijuana movement, there are more than 1,000 pot dispensaries in operation. It is also estimated that there are more facilities that sell medical marijuana in Colorado than there are Starbucks coffeehouses.

While nearly two-thirds of US states support some form of cannabis legalization and taxation, there still some obstacles to overcome before pot advocates can fully celebrate. Pot is still illegal at the federal level. It is widely believed that after the first state moves towards legalization for recreational marijuana use, a fight with federal law enforcement will ensue. Now that that gauntlet has been thrown down, all eyes turn to US Attorney General Eric Holder to see how the Obama administration will proceed. It remains to be seen how the controversial war on drugs will play out in areas where state and federal laws are in conflict.

Rich Johns' Identities are Shielded in Escort Probe

Detroit News

Escort probe skips 248 area code

Feds will only reveal customers with 313, 734 phone numbers

By Robert Snell

Detroit — Federal prosecutors are refusing to reveal customers from Oakland County and the 248 area code who hired hookers from a high-priced escort service but are willing to out clients from Detroit, according to federal court records.


The legal tactic was unveiled in records filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit involving the Miami Companions escort service.

The U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI busted the international escort service in July, indicted the owners and three employees on prostitution or money-laundering charges and seized a black book bulging with tens of thousands of customer names, job details and contact information.

Paul DeCailly, the attorney for Miami Companions co-owner Greg Carr, flew to Detroit last week to review the black book. He wanted to see the names of clients from Michigan and Ohio, but the U.S. Attorney's Office said he could see only the names from the 313 and 734 area codes, he said.

"There must be something there they don't want anybody to see," DeCailly said Tuesday. "In the 248 area code, a lot of influential people live there: musicians, Detroit's sports elite, politicians. ... It's the center of a lot of activity in the business community."

DeCailly filed a motion Tuesday to compel the government to turn over the entire black book and other records. He had a limited amount of time to review the names of clients from the 313 and 734 area codes and was not allowed to copy the information.


Prosecutors cited privacy concerns in initially refusing to allow DeCailly to copy the list and referenced a federal rule that says defense lawyers are not entitled to the government's witness list. A U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman earlier declined to say whether any clients will be called as witnesses during trial.

Prosecutors have said they will use the black book against Carr, a 44-year-old Dearborn Heights native, who they allege co-owned and ran the ring under the nickname "Paul Cutlass."
A U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
DeCailly said he needs the black book to mount a defense.

"It's not to destroy lives or marriages or anything like that," he said. "I think (the U.S. Attorney's Office) could care less about exposing the list, but they want the push for it to come from me or one of the defendants."

There are other restrictions.

The defense can scan certain documents, but none that contain biographical information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers or other identifying data, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Blackwell wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to DeCailly.
Investigators already have interviewed some Oakland County residents whose names are in the black book, DeCailly said. He has reviewed copies of some of the interviews.

"The government is knocking down doors and any person it needs to, to do what the pleasure police want to do: basically shut down a legitimate business and prosecute a man who's done nothing wrong," DeCailly said.

Widely publicized 4/20 poll actually shows majority support for drug reforms

Raw Story

AT BOTTOM: California survey shows legalization winning out 56-42 percent

As with many instances in politics, actuality can often be obscured behind the wrong frame: ask a question just the right way and results can be wildly tilted, one way or another.

Take the case of an Associated Press/CNBC poll released on April 20, 2010, detailing Americans' opinions on legalizing marijuana. The poll was widely reported as declaring that 55 percent in the U.S. are opposed to ending prohibition.

Make no mistake, "oppose" is exactly what 55 percent of the people said when asked: "Do you favor, oppose or neither favor nor oppose the complete legalization of the use of marijuana for any purpose?"

However, a more nuanced probing of the issue, carried out by the polling firm but almost entirely unmentioned in the media on April 20th, found that when stacked next to alcohol, often a more debilitating and addictive substance, statistical support for drug law reforms skyrocketed.

Appearing on page four of the 22-page document, poll workers asked respondents whether or not the U.S. should treat marijuana and alcohol similarly. While 43 percent wanted rules more strict than those applied to alcohol, 44 percent wanted the two handled equally. Another 12 percent wanted less strict rules for pot over alcohol.

"... [Meaning] that a full 56 percent support the policy change -- perhaps the highest number ever recorded in favor of legalization," Huffington Post's Ryan Grim noted.

The AP's own report completely failed to mention the key data, which would appear to contradict their lead angle. Instead, the news wire handed the story's sole alcohol reference to the California Narcotics Officers Association, which suggested marijuana legalization is unpopular due to problems caused by alcohol and prescription drugs.

"Given that reality, we don't need to add another mind-altering substance that compromises people's five senses," a spokesman reportedly said.

The lobby's spokesman did not explain in the report how taxation and regulation would "add" a substance, considering marijuana is already the nation's most valuable cash crop, generating an estimated $35.8 billion annually: more than corn and wheat combined.

Over at CNBC, reporter Trish Regan actually mentioned the figure showing record support for legalization, but it was buried at the bottom of her report.

However, Regan did cite another figure the AP did not: the high degree of degradation in support for the persistent claim that marijuana is a "gateway drug." She noted that pollsters found 39 percent still believe the suggestion, "though nearly half the country believes marijuana has no effect on whether people will use more serious drugs."

Even RAW STORY carried the AP's angle, calling the 55 percent "opposed" to legalization in the April 20 poll a likely "buzzkill" on the counter-culture holiday which saw millions of Americans participate in public consumption of the plant.

Other recent national polls on marijuana legalization show an accelerating trend toward ending prohibition, with up to 53 percent in favor of legalization according to a December Angus Reid poll. Figures out of Gallup just two months earlier showed their highest recorded support for legalization as well, at 44 percent in favor.

According to Gallup's data, support for legalization grew eight percent, from 36 to 44, between 2006 and 2009: the fastest rate since the U.S. government commissioned the war on drugs.

In California, where activists succeeded in securing a spot for legalization on the state's 2010 ballot, the national trend appears even further accelerated. According to an April SurveyUSA sampling, if the election took place today the measure would pass 56 to 42. Support for legalization was highest among the 18-34 demographic, with 74 percent in favor.

Majorities of whites, blacks and Asians sampled for the poll also agreed with legalization, the group found. While 60 percent of the state's conservatives oppose the move, a shocking 39 percent are in favor, joined by strong majorities of liberals and moderates. The figures also fingered the Bay-area as the region with the state's highest concentration of green-leaning voters.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has expressed her opposition to the initiative, citing the law enforcement lobby's allegation that taxing the state's large population of cannabis consumers and enforcing regulations on their favored product would endanger public safety. Proponents of the ballot initiative have dismissed the objection as political posturing.