Cannabis – The Evil Weed?

Horizon BBC Two 03 Feb 2009, 21:00 on cannabis – marijuana

I very much enjoyed the programme, a lot of facts, a lot we already know, and encouraging to see that the science accepts that there is a positive – in terms of its many therapeutic effects on the mind-body – including its anxiolytic and relaxation effects.

The presenter accepted all that, the positives and negatives in balance, then right at the very end he says that the most pervasive problem is what he called ‘wasted lives’ of non-engagement. This, after having accepted that cannabis is an anxiolytic and relaxant. Given that our society functions through a fear-anxiety dynamic that promotes excessive competition and overwork what he is really saying is that cannabis is counter-cultural, but he didn’t say that. Instead he put the blame on cannabis rather than examining the assumptions of Western society. This let the whole thing down in my opinion. I’m a fellow psychologist and one of the taboos for social scientists is to not use rhetoric in this way. By putting that comment based on no evidence alongside an hour of lucid facts is disingenious.

I wanted to shout ‘and what about the all the lives of wasted engagement chasing consumerism and work and the commodification of everything, the rationalising objectifying and controlling of everything!’ It reminds me of Bill Hicks’ statement:

‘They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you’re high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it’s not worth the fucking effort. There is a difference.’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hhmd1

It’s Not a War – It’s a Cover Up

“Sergeant Fired After Criticizing “War on Drugs,” Now Reinstated”

SEATTLE, WA — A Mountlake Terrace police sergeant who was fired after publicly criticizing the “war on drugs” has reached an $812,500 settlement in a lawsuit he filed against the city and police department, among others. Under the settlement, Sergeant Jonathan Wender has been reinstated on the force and is eligible to receive back pay and full retirement benefits.

“In an open society, people on the front lines of the criminal justice system have an ethical duty to speak out on controversial social and legal issues that affect the public we serve,” said Sgt. Wender, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a 10,000-strong organization representing police, prosecutors, judges and others who fought on the front lines of the “war on drugs” and who now want to legalize and regulate drugs. “The public has a fundamental right to know which laws and policies are effective, and which ones aren’t; and they should expect that their police officers will speak the truth even when it isn’t popular or comfortable to do so. I hope that the outcome of this case will help reassure police and other public officials that they can speak freely on controversial topics such as the urgent need to seek better ways to deal with the crisis of drugs that plagues American society.”

Sgt. Wender joined the police force in 1990 after graduating from college and was terminated in 2005. He holds a Pd.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently a full-time sociology professor at the University of Washington. As part of the settlement, Sgt. Wender is back on the payroll at the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, where he will serve on administrative leave until he retires from the force on November 10, 2010 and can then qualify for his full pension.

“Jonathan Wender’s victory is ours, as well. As was his fight,” said Norm Stamper, the retired Seattle police chief and LEAP member. “Because of this fine man’s courage and perseverance, and his willingness to tell the truth about the ‘drug war,’ we’ve all moved closer to putting an end to that war. I believe police officers across the country will be moved by Jonathan’s example, and will raise their voices in support of LEAP’s goal of ending drug prohibition.”

The lawsuit was filed against the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mountlake Terrace Police Department, the City of Mountlake Terrace, the City of Lynnwood, and a handful of individual defendants.

Original Article

UK Protest at no Medical Availability

Psychological Benefits of Cannabis

Drugs mess-up your head. This message is carried explicitly or implicitly within every warning on illegal drugs. The warnings are very rarely placed alongside a balanced description of their benefits. If this were the case we would see: ‘Sometimes drugs mess-up your head, and sometimes they help solve your mental problems’. However, when have you ever seen that realistic message portrayed by the government or mainstream media?

The reason we are rarely told about the psychological benefits of drugs – apart from the promotion of legal and costly pharmaceuticals – is that governments and medical professionals are finding it very hard to reverse the decades of negative spin that they have applied to the subject. So they continue in the vein: ‘Drugs screw you up’.

In contrast with this dogma, grass-roots drug reform movements have long known that simple dichotomies presented by governments and right-wing campaigners are unhelpful and often seriously wrong. It’s not their fault of course, because governments are by their very nature incapable of thinking in complex ways and presenting complex messages. An issue has to be binary for them because they are dumb and reactionary. As for anti-drugs campaigners I make no comment.

Cannabis appears to be useful in helping to treat chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, gastrointestinal tract disorders and HIV/AIDS. It is also claimed that cannabinoids play a protective role in the brain, slowing the rate of disease. Studies have shown it to slow the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice – lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia and in another study THC destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats. Notably a recent epidemiological study found no greater incidence of lung cancer among cannabis smokers than among those who did not smoke cannabis – potentially due to the anti-cancer properties cancelling out the effects of tar or due to its expectorant effect producing mucous which may catch the tar and lift it from the lungs before damage occurs. Most recently, a study has shown it is far more effective than available Alzheimer drugs to halt the disease’s progression. It has also been found to be related to new cell growth deep in the brain’s memory areas. Cannabis appears to be a drug of significant medical utility as well as a drug that some people abuse.

The medical benefits of cannabis may also be psychological. Hallucinogen researcher Charles Grob says that ‘psychedelic drugs have the potential to alter modern medicine’. Charles Grob is editor of “Hallucinogens: A Reader” and recently co-edited, with Roger Walsh, “Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics.” Cannabis as a hallucinogen has the effect of promoting direct perception alongside relaxation. This potent combination for behavioural change and self-awareness is only one of the ways in which a person can be helped to provide him or herself with psychotherapy.

Endogenously created psychological change and personal growth is ideal because it is controlled by the patient and permits introspective analysis of the person’s problem as well as presenting unique creative solutions for those problems. Quite often mental problems are based on incorrect perceptions of the world (e.g., depression) and can be alleviated by altering the perceptual frame. As cannabis becomes more accepted as a medicine we can expect to see greater use of both its biological and psychological properties.