Glaucoma

glauco-research
Glaucoma Research Foundation

glaucoma-eye

Advocates of medicinal marijuana cite evidence that hemp products can lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in people with glaucoma. However, these products are less effective than medicines prescribed by an eye doctor.

The high dose of marijuana necessary to produce a clinically relevant effect on IOP in the short term requires constant inhalation, as much as every three hours.

The number of significant side effects generated by long-term oral use of marijuana or long-term inhalation of marijuana smoke make marijuana a poor choice in the treatment of glaucoma, a chronic disease requiring proven and effective treatment.
Currently, marijuana is designated as a Schedule I drug (drugs which have a high potential for abuse and no medical application or proven therapeutic value).

The only marijuana currently approved at the Federal level for medical use is Marinol, a synthetic form of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the most active component of marijuana. It was developed as an antiemetic (an agent that reduces nausea used in chemotherapy treatments), which can be taken orally in capsule form. The effects of Marinol on glaucoma are not impressive.
Medical Research Studies

To date, no studies have shown that marijuana— or any of its approximately 400 chemical components—can safely and effectively lower intraocular pressure better than the variety of drugs currently on the market.

Currently, there are no National Eye Institute studies in the United States concerning the use of marijuana to treat glaucoma.
The Glaucoma Research Foundation will continue to monitor the research community for any new and well-designed studies regarding the use of marijuana to effectively treat glaucoma.

www.Glaucoma.org

Disclaimer:This text is for informative purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice from a physician. Always consult your doctor before making any decision on the treatment of a medical condition.

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Medical Wiki

medical-bottle-cannabis
Cannabis indica fluid extract, American Druggists Syndicate,
Cannabis_sativa
Cannabis , Köhler’s book of medicinal plants from 1897
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Modern Medical
Marijuana Dispensary medical-usemedical-fda

Medical cannabis has several potential beneficial effects. Cannabinoids can serve as appetite stimulants, antiemetics, antispasmodics, and have some analgesic effects, may be helpful treating chronic non-cancerous pain, or vomiting and nausea caused by chemotherapy. The drug may also aid in treating symptoms of AIDS patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved smoked cannabis for any condition or disease as it deems evidence is lacking concerning safety and efficacy of cannabis for medical use.The FDA issued an 2006 advisory against smoked medical cannabis stating; “marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA states that “Marijuana itself is an unlikely medication candidate for several reasons: (1) it is an unpurified plant containing numerous chemicals with unknown health effects; (2) it is typically consumed by smoking further contributing to potential adverse effects; and (3) its cognitive impairing effects may limit its utility”

The Institute of Medicine, run by the United States National Academy of Sciences, conducted a comprehensive study in 1999  assessing the potential health benefits of cannabis and its constituent cannabinoids. The study concluded that smoking cannabis is not to be recommended for the treatment of any disease condition, but that nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety can all be mitigated by cannabis.

While the study expressed reservations about smoked cannabis due to the health risks associated with smoking, the study team concluded that until another mode of ingestion was perfected providing the same relief as smoked cannabis, there was no alternative. In addition, the study pointed out the inherent difficulty in marketing a non-patentable herb, as pharmaceutical companies will likely make smaller investments in product development if the result is not patentable.

The Institute of Medicine stated that there is little future in smoked cannabis as a medically approved medication, while in the report also concluding that for certain patients, such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks are not of great concern. Citing “the dangers of cannabis and the lack of clinical research supporting its medicinal value” the American Society of Addiction Medicine in March 2011 issued a white paper recommending a halt on use of marijuana as medication in the U.S., even in states where it had been declared legal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis

Glaucoma
Arthritis

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Ryan Loflin

Ryanloflin ryanloflin-harvest ryanloflin-2

Hemp: First harvest in more than fifty years begins in southeastern Colorado

By Melanie Asmar Tue., Oct. 1 2013 at 4:20 PM

Ryan Loflin.
America’s first (known) hemp harvest in more than fifty years began this month in southeastern Colorado. This past spring, following last year’s passage of Amendment 64, which legalized small amounts of marijuana for adults and paved the way for industrial hemp production, farmer Ryan Loflin planted 55 acres of marijuana’s sober sister. Last week, hemp advocates from across the country came to watch as Loflin and others harvested the first plants by hand.

“It felt very historic,” says advocate Lynda Parker.
See also: Free joint giveaway on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall
“We think that, obviously, this is a symbolic first hemp harvest,” says Eric Steenstra, the executive director of the Hemp Industries Association.
With the U.S. Department of Justice recently indicating that it won’t sue to stop states’ marijuana policies, Steenstra predicts farmers in other states will soon follow Loflin’s lead. Steenstra is among those who believe the DOJ’s pot policy extends to hemp; although hemp contains little to none of the THC found in marijuana, the federal government doesn’t distinguish between the two and considers both to be illegal.
“Our eventual hope is to see the full commercialization of hemp,” he says.
Hemp Industries Association
Loflin harvests his hemp plants.
Loflin has only been able to harvest about a quarter-acre of his plot so far. He was planning to use a combine to harvest the bulk of it, but when he tested that method, he found that the combine destroyed part of the plant in the process. So now he plans to hand-harvest the entire field. That way, he says, he’ll even be able to save the roots.

“We’re going to try and save the entire plant and do as much as we can,” Loflin says.
Since hemp was illegal for so long, there’s very little seed available, making the seeds produced by Loflin’s plants quite valuable. “We’ll save a lot of the seed and replant it next year,” says Loflin, who also plans to make a small amount of hemp seed oil.
Loflin says he isn’t worried about law enforcement, especially in the wake of the Department of Justice’s announcement. “It’s time for this to happen,” he says.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture is currently working on rules for registering hemp farmers with the aim of having them in place by early 2014. Back in May, the department issued a statement clarifying that it’s not okay to plant hemp in Colorado until that registration process in in place — a distinction that didn’t stop Loflin.
The night before the September 23 ceremonial harvest, Loflin hosted a dinner at his farm, complete with hemp food. It was attended by Colorado hemp advocates, as well as national advocates from Vote Hemp, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and the Hemp Industries Association.

Rocky Mt. HempRocky Mt. Hemp

Colorado Department of Agriculture

State Colorado Seal
“Rules Pertaining to the Administration and Enforcement of the Industrial Hemp Regulatory Program Act”

colorado-dept agriculture
Industrial Hemp

“Importation of viable industrial hemp seed across State lines and Country boundaries is illegal under the Federal Controlled Substances Act.”

Industrial Hemp Regulatory Program Act:
Rules Pertaining to the Administration and Enforcement of Industrial Hemp Regulatory Program Act – 8 CCR 1203-23

2/4/2014

The Colorado Department of Agriculture’s regulatory role with Industrial Hemp is limited to registration of growers and inspection of crop. The State of Colorado has no jurisdiction over many other factors that producers are faced with. While Colorado legalized the production of Industrial Hemp (Cannabis spp), growing it is still considered illegal by the Federal Law. The following issues may cause concern for those interested in growing this crop in Colorado.

  • Seed Procurement/Seed Quality – Seed that exists in Colorado may be variable and have unknown THC levels.  Random sampling of hemp fields will be conducted. Plant samples testing at levels higher than 0.3% THC will be in violation of the Colorado Industrial Hemp Registration and Production Act.  Importation of viable industrial hemp seed across State lines and Country boundaries is illegal under the Federal Controlled Substances Act.
  • Pesticides – There are not any pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.) currently registered for use on Cannabis spp. (Industrial Hemp and marijuana) due to the predominant federal nature of pesticide regulation. The CDA is putting together a list of pesticides that could be used on Cannabis spp. and not constitute a violation of pesticide labeling or other federal and state pesticide laws and regulations.  This list will be extremely limited.
  • Federal farm programs such as crop insurance, farm loans and conservation reserve may be jeopardized if industrial hemp is planted; these programs are managed by USDA a Federal Agency.  Contact a lawyer for legal advice.
  • Banking – banks including state-chartered banks may be reluctant to provide services to Cannabis growers for fear of being prosecuted for federal laws and regulations violations.
  • Processing – Industrial hemp must be processed prior to shipment out of Colorado. Colorado’s industrial hemp rules state that industrial hemp producers must provide documentation of in state processing as part of registration. It is unknown at this time how many processing facilities will be available in Colorado at time of harvest.

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Quick Facts
10/9/2013
  • Amendment 64 to the Colorado Constitution directed the General Assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp.  Legislation adopted in 2013 delegated the responsibility for establishing registration and inspection regulations to the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
  • The new rules, to be published as 8 CCR 1203-23, will sets forth the requirements of registration and inspection. These rules will be adopted and effective by early 2014.  The registration deadline is May 1 of each year, beginning in 2014.
  • Industrial Hemp means a plant of the genus Cannabis and any part of the plant, whether growing or not, containing a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration of no more than three-tenths of one percent (0.3%) on a dry weight basis.
  • Two types of registration will be allowed:  Research and Development (R & D) and Commercial.
    • R & D is limited to 10 acres or less and will be charged a registration fee of $100 plus $5/acre.
    • Commercial registrants are not limited in size of acreage and will be charged a registration fee of $200 plus $1.00/acre.
  • When registering, applicants must provide:
    • contact information
    • maps that include GPS locations of all growing locations and varieties planted
    • affidavits or lab tests showing that the crop planted will produce a THC content of 0.3% or less
  • CDA will select at least one third of registrants each year for field sampling and verification of 0.3% or less THC content
  • Costs of field sampling and lab testing incurred by the Department will be passed on to the registrant.
    • Fees for field sampling are currently $35/hour and will include drive time, sampling time and any per diem or room charges incurred by the Department’s representative(s).

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History of Hemp

A history of pot, from George Washington to legalizing ganja Thursday Dec 6, 2012 6:03 AM

nbc-nightly

Washington State’s new law makes it legal for adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, but some speculate the federal government will prosecute those who use marijuana on federal land because federal law prohibits marijuana use. By Gene Johnson, The Associated Press The grass is no greener. But, finally, it’s legal -at least somewhere in America. It’s been a long, strange trip for marijuana. Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize and regulate its recreational use last month. But before that, the plant, renowned since ancient times for its strong fibers, medical use and mind-altering properties, was a staple crop of the colonies, an “assassin of youth,” a counterculture emblem and a widely accepted – if often abused-medicine.

legalization day

On the occasion of Thursday’s “Legalization Day,” when Washington’s new law takes effect, here’s a look back at the cultural and legal status of the “evil weed” in American history. Cannabis in the colonies 
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp and puzzled over the best ways to process it for clothing and rope. Indeed, cannabis has been grown in America since soon after the British arrived.

jamesfort-1 jamestown-till

In 1619 the Crown ordered the colonists at Jamestown to grow hemp to satisfy England’s incessant demand for maritime ropes, Wayne State University professor Ernest Abel wrote in “Marihuana: The First Twelve Thousand Years.” Hemp became more important to the colonies as New England’s own shipping industry developed, and homespun hemp helped clothe American soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Some colonies offered farmers “bounties” for growing it.

hemp-jefferson-1 hemp-washington

“We have manufactured within our families the most necessary articles of cloathing,” Jefferson said in “Notes on the State of Virginia.” “Those of wool, flax and hemp are very coarse, unsightly, and unpleasant.”  Jefferson went on to invent a device for processing hemp in 1815. 
 
Taste the hashish
Books such as “The Arabian Nights” and Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo,” with its voluptuous descriptions of hashish highs in the exotic Orient, helped spark a cannabis fad among intellectuals in the mid-19th century.

 opim-den-1

“But what changes occur!” one of Dumas’ characters tells an uninitiated acquaintance. “When you return to this mundane sphere from your visionary world, you would seem to leave a Neapolitan spring for a Lapland winter — to quit paradise for earth — heaven for hell! Taste the hashish, guest of mine — taste the hashish.”

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Civil War Ambulance
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Civil War Hospital

After the Civil War, with hospitals often over prescribing opiates for pain, many soldiers returned home hooked on harder drugs.Those addictions eventually became a public health concern. In 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, requiring labeling of ingredients, and states began regulating opiates and other medicines — including cannabis. 
 
Mexican folklore and jazz clubs
By the turn of the 20th century, cannabis smoking remained little known in the United States — but that was changing, thanks largely to The Associated Press, says Isaac Campos, a Latin American history professor at the University of Cincinnati. In the 1890s, the first English-language newspaper opened in Mexico and, through the wire service, tales of marijuana-induced violence that were common in Mexican papers began to appear north of the border — helping to shape public perceptions that would later form the basis of pot prohibition, Campos says.

mexico-poster MexicoRev-1

By 1910, when the Mexican Revolution pushed immigrants north, articles in the New York Sun, Boston Daily Globe and other papers decried the “evils of ganjah smoking” and suggested that some use it “to key themselves up to the point of killing.”

louis-armstrong

Pot-smoking spread through the 1920s and became especially popular with jazz musicians. Louis Armstrong, a lifelong fan and defender of the drug he called “gage,” was arrested in California in 1930 and given a six-month suspended sentence for pot possession. “It relaxes you, makes you forget all the bad things that happen to a Negro,” he once said. In the 1950s, he urged legalization in a letter to President Dwight Eisenhower.

After the repeal of alcohol prohibition in 1933, Harry Anslinger, who headed the federal Bureau of Narcotics, turned his attention to pot. He told of sensational crimes reportedly committed by marijuana addicts. “No one knows, when he places a marijuana cigarette to his lips, whether he will become a philosopher, a joyous reveler in a musical heaven, a mad insensate, a calm philosopher, or a murderer,” he wrote in a 1937 magazine article called “Marijuana: Assassin of Youth.”

hemp-Reefer-mad cotton club

The hysteria was captured in the propaganda films of the time — most famously, “Reefer Madness,” which depicted young adults descending into violence and insanity after smoking marijuana. The movie found little audience upon its release in 1936 but was rediscovered by pot fans in the 1970s. Congress banned marijuana with the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Anslinger continued his campaign into the ’40s and ’50s, sometimes trying — without luck — to get jazz musicians to inform on each other. “Zoot suited hep cats, with their jive lingo and passion for swift, hot music, provide a fertile field for growth of the marijuana habit, narcotics agents have found here,” began a 1943 Washington Post story about increasing pot use in the nation’s capital.

Hemp_for_victory_1942

The Department of Agriculture promoted a different message. After Japanese troops cut off access to Asian fiber supplies during World War II, it released “Hemp For Victory,” a propaganda film urging farmers to grow hemp and extolling its use in parachutes and rope for the war effort.

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As the conformity of the postwar era took hold, getting high on marijuana and other drugs emerged as a symbol of the counterculture, with Jack Kerouac and the rest of the Beat Generation singing pot’s praises. It also continued to be popular with actors and musicians. When actor Robert Mitchum was arrested on a marijuana charge in 1948, People magazine recounted, “The press nationwide branded him a dope fiend. Preachers railed against him from pulpits. Mothers warned their daughters to shun his films.” Congress responded to increasing drug use — especially heroin — with stiffer penalties in the ’50s.  Anslinger began to hype what we now call the “gateway drug” theory: that marijuana had to be controlled because it would eventually lead its users to heroin.

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Then came Vietnam. The widespread, open use of marijuana by hippies and war protesters from San Francisco to Woodstock finally exposed the falsity of the claims so many had made about marijuana leading to violence, says University of Virginia professor Richard Bonnie, a scholar of pot’s cultural status.

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In 1972, Bonnie was the associate director of a commission appointed by President Richard Nixon to study marijuana. The commission said marijuana should be decriminalized and regulated. Nixon rejected that, but a dozen states in the ’70s went on to eliminate jail time as a punishment for pot arrests. ‘Just say no’
The push to liberalize drug laws hit a wall by the late 1970s. Parents groups became concerned about data showing that more children were using drugs, and at a younger age. The religious right was emerging as a force in national politics. And the first “Cheech and Chong” movie, in 1978, didn’t do much to burnish pot’s image. When she became first lady, Nancy Reagan quickly promoted the anti-drug cause. During a visit with schoolchildren in Oakland, Calif., as Reagan later recalled, “A little girl raised her hand and said, ‘Mrs. Reagan, what do you do if somebody offers you drugs?’ And I said, ‘Well, you just say no.’ And there it was born.”

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By 1988, more than 12,000 “Just Say No” clubs and school programs had been formed, according to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. Between 1978 and 1987, the percentage of high school seniors reporting daily use of marijuana fell from 10 percent to 3 percent.

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And marijuana use was so politically toxic that when Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, he said he “didn’t inhale.” Meds of a different sort 
Marijuana has been used as medicine since ancient times, as described in Chinese, Indian and Roman texts, but U.S. drug laws in the latter part of the 20th century made no room for it. In the 1970s, many states passed symbolic laws calling for studies of marijuana’s efficacy as medicine, although virtually no studies ever took place because of the federal prohibition.

Jerry Brown

Nevertheless, doctors noted its ability to ease nausea and stimulate appetites of cancer and AIDS patients. And in 1996, California became the first state to allow the medical use of marijuana. Since then, 17 other states and the District of Columbia have followed. In recent years, medical marijuana dispensaries — readily identifiable by the green crosses on their storefronts — have proliferated in many states, including Washington, Colorado and California. That’s prompted a backlash from some who suggest they are fronts for illicit drug dealing and that most of the people they serve aren’t really sick. The Justice Department has shut down some it deems the worst offenders.

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Legal weed at last
On Nov. 6, Washington and Colorado pleased aging hippies everywhere — and shocked straights of all ages — by voting to become the first states to legalize the fun use of marijuana. Voters handily approved measures to decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce by adults over 21. Colorado’s measure also permits home-growing of up to six plants. Both states are working to set up a regulatory scheme with licensed growers, processors and retail stores.

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Eventually, activists say, grown-ups will be able to walk into a store, buy some marijuana, and walk out with ganja in hand — but not before paying the taxman. The states expect to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for schools and other government functions. But it’s not so simple. The regulatory schemes conflict with the federal government’s longstanding pot prohibition, according to many legal scholars. The Justice Department could sue to block those schemes from taking effect — but hasn’t said whether it will do so.  The bizarre journey of cannabis in America continues.

 Grateful-Dead-Jerry-Garcia-Bob-Weir
‘What a long strange trip it’s been…”
Grateful Dead

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AP researcher Julie Reed Bell contributed to this report from Charlotte, N.C.

Program Development – Howard S. Zaremba

More Background on Hemp

David Bronner – Long Time Advocate and Hempreneur

David Bronner
David Bronner

dr_bronner_soap
Dr. Bronner’s

D.C.’s Pot Legalization Initiative Gets Some Unexpected Star Power
This long-haired soap tycoon has attracted a cult following for his inventively packaged hemp soap and history of strange political actions.

David Bronner is president of Dr. Bronner’s magic soaps and a quasi-cult hero.

By Lucia Graves – Huffington Post

District of Columbia residents might know David Bronner, the California-based owner of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, as the guy who camped out in front of the White House in a steel cage until authorities came and forcibly removed him with a power saw. At the time he was protesting U.S. hemp policy. Now the owner of a top-selling natural-soap chain has turned his sights to other perceived Washington wrongs.

In 2013 he donated $100,000 to successful legalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington; this year Bronner put $20,000 into an initiative to make it legal for District residents to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana, to sell an ounce at a time, and to grow three plants in their homes. (The lead proponent of the initiative, Adam Eidenger, is Bronner’s D.C. media director.)

It’s a substantial amount of money for an initiative, first filed with the D.C. Board of Elections in January, that has so far raised just $28,000. But more important than the financial support is the celebrity of this pony-tailed marijuana activist whose rainbow Mercedes runs on french-fry grease.

Bronner, the grandson of company founder Emanuel Bronner, has managed to turn the quirky soap company, which sells tingly, liquid hemp soap in weirdly wordy labels, into a robust business with sales in the tens of millions.

The man is a master of marketing absurdity, so perhaps it makes sense that in an age when other hippie products like Burt’s Bees and Tom’s of Maine have been bought up by larger consumer-goods companies, Bronner has pursued a radical political agenda seemingly at odds with running a large business. Beyond legalization efforts, Bronner’s political agenda includes protesting policies that fail to differentiate between oilseed and fiber varieties of cannabis, and he’s fighting the rise of genetically modified foods.

It’s not your typical business move, but people love him for it. “As a resident, I’m truly thankful for the rare business leader like David who not only talks the talk about giving back to communities but who so clearly and consistently walks the walk,” said Tom Angell, chairman of pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. “We need more like him.”

The measure, which would require the signatures of 23,000 D.C. residents to make it on the ballot in November, comes as District council members are preparing to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Under the decriminalization bill, possession of an ounce or less would be punishable only with a $25 fine. The council backed the bill in a preliminary vote this week, and the measure is expected to be signed into law by Mayor Vincent Gray.

Huffington Post

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Legislation Matters

cartoon-colorado-sine

Legal hemp cultivation step closer as farm bill heads for passage
February 3, 2014, 5:37 PM

Universities and agriculture agencies in nine states are closer to being allowed to grow hemp for research purposes, thanks to the sprawling farm bill soon to be approved by Congress.
Cultivating hemp — a cousin of marijuana that is used to make rope, clothing, lotions and other products – is now effectively prohibited by federal law.

Nine states including Kentucky and Vermont have passed laws legalizing industrial farming of hemp. The bill would allow research on and growing of the crop without the threat of penalties from the federal government.

The House passed the farm bill Jan. 29, and the Senate is expected to follow suit on Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was a strong backer of the hemp legislation, saying it could help boost the economy in his home state of Kentucky.

The pending approval of the bill sent shares of Hemp Inc. Hemp, an over-the-counter industrial-hemp penny stock, soaring 83% on Tuesday.

– Robert Schroeder
www.marketwatch.com/Capitol Report