research

By. CBC News

 

An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal slams the federal government for its efforts to shut down Insite in downtown Vancouver, Canada's only safe injection site for drug addicts.

 

An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal slams the federal government for its efforts to shut down Insite in downtown Vancouver, Canada's only safe injection site for drug addicts.

 

A co-author of the paper has told CBC News he believes the federal government should stand aside, allow the centre to operate, and abandon an appeal to the Supreme Court Read more »

By. CBC News

 

Smoking marijuana a few times daily can help ease a type of chronic pain, a Canadian study suggests.

 

Researchers in Montreal conducted a randomized controlled trial -- the gold standard of medical research -- of inhaled cannabis in 21 adults with chronic neuropathic pain, a condition caused by damage to nerves that don't repair.

 

The research team found that smoking higher-potency marijuana significantly reduced average pain intensity and helped improve sleep quality.

 

Although the CBC News.ca article was about research into marijuana's possible health benefits, many readers engaged in a spirited debate in the comments section over whether cannabis use in Canada should be legalized. Read more »

By. ScienceDaily

 

If you want to know how people become addicted and why they keep using drugs, ask the people who are addicted.

 

Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain.

 

Another 24 began with a friend's left-over prescription pills or pilfered from a parent's medicine cabinet. The remaining 20 patients said they got hooked on street drugs. Read more »

By. John Geddes, Macleans

 

It would have been quite a news conference, and it very nearly happened. Last fall, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, after months of intense, private talks, agreed to face the media together to declare their agreement that research shows the “benefits” and “positive impacts” of supervised injection sites for intravenous drug users.

 

For the RCMP, making such a statement would have been a turning point: the Mounties would have had to distance themselves from dubious studies, commissioned by the force itself, that were critical of Insite, Vancouver’s pioneering safe injection facility. And that would have been a politically awkward move for the federal police, since Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is firmly committed to shutting down Insite. Read more »

by Jim Brunner

 

Republican Dino Rossi has been spending the week attacking the $800 billion federal stimulus plan pushed by Democrats in 2009 as a waste of money, pointing out examples of what he and others say is questionable spending that didn't create jobs.

 

But Rossi's latest example may have misfired.

 

On Thursday, Rossi attacked a WSU-Vancouver professor's study of whether marijuana can increase the effectiveness of pain-treating drugs like morphine. The study received $148,438 in stimulus grants.

 

Rossi's news release -- headlined "It's 5:00 Somewhere, But It's 4:20 At Washington State University" -- conjured images of stoner students toking away on the federal dime.

 

"Washington state taxpayers are tired of their money going up in smoke. This bill isn't going to stimulate anything other than sales of Cheetos," Rossi said in the news release, labeling the research a "boondoggle."

 

But the researcher, Psychology Professor Michael Morgan, said Thursday that Rossi doesn't know what he's talking about. Read more »

By. Jason Mick, Daily Tech

 

Even as marijuana is on the verge of legalization for recreational and medical uses on a state-level across the U.S., its advocates are struggling with the substance's health effects. After all, on a base level, smoking marijuana is inhaling a smoky mixture of organochemicals, many of which are carcinogenic (such as certain phenolic compounds, i.e. benzo[a]pyrene). While water pipes or oral consumption are sometimes used, they reportedly give weaker effects.

 

Thus it is interesting that researchers at the Neurobiology and Behavior program at the University of Washington (UW) have discovered the latest in a long string of chemicals your body produces that resemble those found in marijuana -- chemicals that could eventually be turned into a smokeless replacement that offers the full efficacy of marijuana's most useful effects. Read more »

by John Geddes, Macleans.ca

 

An outsider to Stephen Harper’s Ottawa might easily be forgiven for assuming that this summer’s uproar over the Prime Minister’s decision to scrap the long-form census was an isolated event. How could a debate, no matter how heated, over the way government gathers statistics signify much beyond the argument’s own peculiar details? But ask prominent scientists and researchers who’ve struggled to influence federal policy over the past few years, and they’ll quickly link the census flap to wider misgivings about how the Harper government uses data and evidence—or refuses to—in shaping policy. Read more »

By. Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

 

The administration of THC reduces the tumor growth of metastatic breast cancer and “might constitute a new therapeutic tool for the treatment” of cancerous tumors, according to preclinical data published online in the journal Molecular Cancer.

 

Investigators from Complutense University in Madrid assessed the anti-tumor potential of THC and JWH-133, a non-psychotropic CB2 receptor-selective agonist, in the treatment of ErbB2-positive breast tumors – a highly aggressive form of breast cancer that is typically unresponsive to standard therapies.

 

Researchers reported, “[B]oth Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol … and JWH-133 …reduce tumor growth [and] tumor number [in mice]. … [T]hese results provide a strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer.” Read more »

By Ian Dunt

 

Advocates of drug law reform had reason to celebrate today after public statements by senior figures in the medical and legal community suggested the argument was turning in their favour.

 

The chair of the Bar Council argued in his most recent report that decriminalising drug use would have substantial public benefits, while the editor of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the UK's most well-respected medical publication, came out publicly in support of drug law reform.

 

The twin developments come at an exciting time for those calling for a more liberal drug policy. Both deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and prime minister David Cameron are on record questioning the effectiveness of Britain's drug laws. Activists hope reform might be in the pipeline.

 

In his most recent report the chair of the Bar Council, Nicholas Green QC, argued that decriminalising drugs did not lead to greater use and would have the effect of cutting crime. Read more »

By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town

 

Proposition 19, the California ballot measure to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis, would enable the state to steer police resources toward more pressing matters, generate hundreds of millions in revenue to fund vital services, and protect children, roadways, and workplaces, according to a new nonpartisan report.

 

The report (PDF) confirms that Prop 19 will enable state and local governments to tax marijuana and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.

 

According to the report, "Proposition 19 allows local governments to authorize, regulate, and tax various commercial marijuana-related activities... We estimate that the state and local governments could eventually collect hundreds of millions of dollars annual in additional revenues.

 

The California Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), which provides nonpartisan fiscal and policy advice, released the report Tuesday.

 

Proposition 109 would enable California to sensibly adjust police priorities, according to the report. Read more »