propaganda

To add insult to injury, this latest dose of reefer rhetoric comes only days after investigators in the United Kingdom reported in the prestigious scientific journal Addiction that the available evidence in support of this theory is “neither very new, nor by normal criteria, particularly compelling.” (Predictably, the conclusions of that study went all together unnoticed by the mainstream press.)

Yet today’s latest alarmist report, like those studies touting similar claims before it, fails to account for the following: If, as the authors of this latest study suggest, cannabis use is a cause of mental illness (and schizophrenia in particular), then why have diagnosed incidences of schizophrenia not paralleled rising trends in cannabis use over time?

by: Natalie Tendall

A recent poll suggests nearly two-thirds of Iowans think medical marijuana should be allowed with a doctor's approval.

This comes after the state board of pharmacy reached a unanimous decision on recommending the reclassification of marijuana.

Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Pals said, "now we're gonna legalize one of the drugs we've been fighting for centuries."

The news that marijuana is potentially a legislative session away from becoming legal in Iowa for medical purposes is a big concern for local law enforcement.

Sheriff Pals said, "we've seen the effects and see medical marijuana as a gateway drug to other harder drugs and I'm not sure there's any good reason why there couldn't be any other narcotics used other than marijuana to relieve pain."

VANCOUVER — An RCMP review of medical marijuana licences found 70 cases across the country of holders violating the terms of their licence agreements.

The 2009 report said that in 40 of the cases, those with permits for medical pot production were trafficking excess marijuana to make a profit, RCMP Cpl. Dan Weatherby said Thursday.

Weatherby said he couldn't release a copy of the criminal intelligence brief on medical marijuana because it is classified.

But he quoted statistics from the national study, which raised a series of police concerns about medical marijuana licences.

By. Kirk Makin, Globe and Mail

A nation that has traditionally thought of itself as liberal and forgiving is adopting a hard line on crime and punishment – including the death penalty.

This hardening attitude among Canadians is revealed in a new Angus Reid public opinion survey that found 62 per cent of respondents favour capital punishment for murderers, while 31 per cent believe that rapists should be put to death.

The figure is a significant boost from the last such survey, in 2004, when 48 per cent favoured capital punishment for murderers.

New Health Canada website leads to American equivalents.

By Carl Meyer

Questions are being raised after Health Canada's new anti-drug website for youth included links to a similar campaign being run in the US. Health Canada says it had no choice but to link to several American sources on its new youth anti-drug website as no applicable Canadian sources existed. However, others see it as the government moving Canadian policy more in line with its southern neighbour.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the new "youth component" of the government's National Anti-Drug Strategy on Dec. 15. The campaign centers on a website hosted by Health Canada called not4me.ca, which includes links to a campaign run by the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, as well as interactive graphics from MSNBC and the University of Utah.

Posted in Chronicle Blog by Scott Morgan

Having apparently missed the memo that the alleged causal link between marijuana and psychosis is demonstrably false, BBC News is still spreading mindless hysteria and confusion about it. In an article overflowing with dubious claims, this one in particular caught my eye:

The experts believe skunk is particularly damaging because it contains more THC.
…
Unlike skunk, hashish - cannabis resin - contains substantial quantities of another chemical called cannabidiol or CBD and research suggests this can act as an antidote to the THC, counteracting its psychotic side effects.

And where did all that delicious, brain-nurturing CBD come from? It came from the cannabis plant, i.e. the exact thing you're claiming is so dangerous. The statement above, though not entirely untrue, highlights the fundamental ignorance about the cannabis plant that underlies this whole crazy obsession with "skunk" that has gripped the British press for years now. So let me break this down for you:

Marijuana's addiction potential may be no big deal, but it's certainly big business.

According to a widely publicized 1999 Institute of Medicine report, fewer than 10 percent of those who try cannabis ever meet the clinical criteria for a diagnosis of "drug dependence" (based on DSM-III-R criteria). By contrast, 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of alcohol users meet the criteria for "drug dependence."

Nevertheless, it is pot -- not booze or cigarettes -- that has the federal government seeing red and clinical investigators seeing green. As I reported for AlterNet last year, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which overseas more than 85 percent of the world's research on controlled substances, recently appropriated some $4 million in taxpayers' dollars to establish the nation's first-ever Center for Cannabis Addiction. Its mission: to "develop novel approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of marijuana addiction."

by Ben Morris

Tuesday night, after a week of calls by activists, the Drug Enforcement Administration updated its Web site to reflect the American Medical Association’s recent call for a review of marijuana’s Schedule I status.

The update removed several references to the AMA, including: “the American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance,” and “the American Medical Association has rejected pleas to endorse marijuana as medicine.” These changes came just over a week after the AMA released its new position on marijuana.

This may seem like a very small, almost meaningless step, but it’s important to remember how influential the AMA really is.