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Issue #42 FALL 2014
Wild West P. 9
Cannabisdigest.ca
Supreme Trial P.15
Suppositivity P. 22
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
ISSUE # 42 FALL 2014
CREDITS Publisher
Ted Smith <hempo101@gmail.com>
CONTENTS
Editor-in-Chief
Judith Stamps <editor@hempology.ca>
Graphics Editor
NDP’s Marijuana Mistake.....................P.03
Web Editor
SensibleBC Fights On...........................P.04
Distribution/Ads
Publishers Note/Editorial.......................P.05
Owen Smith <rainbowensmyth@gmail.com> Dieter MacPherson <dietermacpherson@gmail.com>
Jim Mooney <cannabis.digest.advertising@gmail.com>
Contributors
Gayle Quin Owen Smith Judith Stamps Dr. David Allen (USA) Ras Kahleb (Jamaica) Dana Larsen Dean Schwind Dieter Macpherson Nicholas Fraleigh Ted Smith Mark Knowles (UK)
Updates, Warnings, Suggestions.........P.06 One Woman Versus Alberta...................P.07 Contrasting Clubs and L.P.’s................P.09 What is in Your Vapor Pen?.................P.11 Who Really Discovered THC?.................P.13 Cookies Rise to Supreme Court...CENTER Emery................................................P.17
Cover by Georgia Toons
Rastafari Report.....................................P.19
For editorial questions, letters, or information on submitting: <editor@hempology.ca>
Suppositive Medicine.............................P.22
Cheech and Chong Still Smokin’?..........P.23 U.K. Slow to Change..............................P.27 Wordsearch / Comics..............................P.29
826 Johnson Street V8W 1N3 Phone: 250-381-4220 www.hempology.ca
The Cannabis Digest will not be held responsible for claims made within the pages of the newspaper, nor those made by advertisers. We do not suggest or condone illegal activities, and urge readers to research their country’s laws, and/ or talk to their doctors, before engaging in any activities that could be deemed as illegal or dangerous to one’s health.
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
NDP’S MARIJUANA MISTAKE
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Why it’s Not Too Late to Make it Right
In 1999, the NDP convention reaffirmed the party’s support for decrim, and in 2003, new leader Jack Layton boldly appeared on Pot-TV with Marc Emery, saying “our party is in favour of modernizing our marijuana laws.” Layton called upon Pot-TV viewers to join the NDP.
Dana Larsen
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or four decades, the NDP was the standard-bearer for sensible marijuana laws. From the time of the LeDain Commission report of 1971, it was the most progressive voice in Parliament for marijuana reform. So how did the NDP manage to lose that position to Trudeau’s Liberals? PROGRESSIVE POT POLICIES
In 1971, the NDP introduced a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession, but it was voted down by the Liberal majority. In 1978, decrim became official NDP policy, and party leader Ed Broadbent made it a part of the 1980 election campaign. In 1993, NDP MP Jim Fulton introduced a private member’s bill to legalize marijuana fully, but the Liberal government voted it down. Two years later, the NDP fought to remove fines for possession from the Liberals proposed “decriminalization” bill. The Liberals insisted on large fines for possession, but then failed to pass their own legislation.
NO ROOM FOR LEGALIZERS
Yet as Layton’s popularity grew and the NDP saw its support increase, his advisors encouraged him to distance himself from the cannabis community. Marijuana was included in the NDP’s 2004 election platform, but has not been mentioned in any platform policy book since. Layton’s subsequent waffling on the marijuana issue came from a disconnection between his true support for full legalization, and pressure from advisors like Brad Lavigne to avoid the issue. His clear and easy going discussions of the issue on PotTV were replaced with a confusing, unsure message. My run as a federal candidate in 2008 certainly didn’t help. I had to resign a few weeks into the campaign after Liberal party operatives released heavily-edited videos showing me smoking pot and taking LSD. In his book Building the Orange Wave, then NDP National Director Brad Lavigne writes that he knew in advance I would be a problematic candi-
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS 1. Silence—You can refuse to talk to the police or answer their questions. You must give your name, birthdate, and address, or show them your ID. You DO NOT have to say anything else. 2. You can say NO if police ask to search any of your things. 3. You can leave unless you are being arrested or detained 4. You have the right to know why you are being detained, and to speak privately to a lawyer—even if you can’t pay. 5. You can only be strip-searched in private, and only by someone of the same sex. 6. You have the right to know the officers’ badge numbers. 7. You can report an officer who abuses me, swears at me, or violates your rights Example of what to say if you are being detained: “Officer, if I am under arrest or being detained, please tell me so...If I am free to go, please tell me so. If I am not free to go, please tell me why...I wish to exercise all my leagal rights, including my right to silence and my right to speak to a lawyer, before I say anything to you. I do not consent to be searched. I wish to be released without delay...Please do not ask me questions, because I will not willingly talk to you until I speak to a lawyer...Thank you for respecting my rights.” *Every situation is different. Use courtesy, and common sense.
Legal Aid BC: 1-866-577-2525 Check out Pivot Legal Society for more info < www.pivotlegal.org>
date. Yet instead of approaching me openly about any potential problems before the campaign started, he and the party’s inner circle treated me with disdain. They then humiliated me by forcing me to resign as a candidate in the middle of the campaign. With a few respectful conversations, this could all have been avoided. A year later, Lavigne went so far as to ban me personally from the NDP Convention in Halifax. He also did his utmost to destroy the pro-legalization movement within the party. His team acted undemocratically by manipulating the convention voting process to ensure that a resolution on legal marijuana never made it to the floor for debate. Despite the fact that legalizing marijuana had broad grassroots support, Lavigne made it clear that the NDP power brokers did not want any help from the legalizers.
By being reluctant on this important issue, Mulcair’s NDP left an opening for the Liberals, which they have taken. I’m sure that the NDP now feels that to come out strong on marijuana will make them look like they’re falling into line behind Trudeau’s stance. A
PRESCRIP TION VICTORY
FOR
Trudeau has taken ownership of the marijuana issue, and at this point Mulcair is likely to keep his current stance, supporting a vague form of decriminalization while tut-tutting about the dangers of increased potency. Yet this would be a mistake.
Marijuana is an issue that is growing in strength and prominence every year. This fall, voters in Alaska, Oregon and Washington DC will have the chance to bring their states into the legalization fold with Colorado and Washington. It is going to A MISSED OPPORTUNITY seem more and more inevitable that Canada can and should Upon becoming leader, Mul- also legalize. cair had the opportunity to rebrand the party. Unfortunately, I believe that if the NDP had he decided to be more like Brad fully embraced legalization unLavigne and less like Jack Lay- der Layton, they would have ton. Mulcair immediately alien- been ahead of the curve, and ated the marijuana movement. could have used this issue to Instead of focusing on the core showcase their forward-thinkissues around ending marijuana ing approach. I am also conprohibition, he brought up tired vinced that if Mulcair had called myths about marijuana’s in- for legalization upon becoming creased potency. leader, the NDP would be leading in the polls today. Trudeau NDP strategists seem to think would have been left without a that marijuana is only an issue signature issue, and his endorsefor fringe parties, and that be- ment of legalization would have coming a serious mainstream been seen as just following the contender means giving up on NDP lead. such impractical idealism. The success of Trudeau after anInstead, the NDP was too nouncing his pot policy shows afraid of controversy, and now that they are wrong. they’ve lost the momentum they gained under Layton. The NDP It’s true that most Canadians has fallen back to third place in don’t rank marijuana as a top is- the polls, and their evasiveness sue when a pollster calls, but it is on marijuana policy is a big part nevertheless a powerful issue for of that drop. drawing attention and stirring debate. Marijuana is a potent My prescription for the NDP wedge issue, one that quickly is to get back to their roots, emserves to define a candidate. brace the populist honesty that On marijuana, Harper is mean marked Jack Layton’s campaign and vindictive, Mulcair is eva- style, and present a detailed plan sive and shifty, while Trudeau is on how they will repeal marihonest and modern. juana prohibition upon forming government. That is a winning Trudeau has released very few strategy, and it’s not too late to policy positions, and of those, make it happen. his stand on marijuana is the only prominent one that is entirely in opposition to the Conservatives. Indeed, Trudeau’s stand on marijuana is by far his most well-known policy. If the NDP had adopted a better marijuana policy when they had the chance, Trudeau would be left without a defining issue.
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Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
SENSIBLE BC FIGHTS ON Preparing For the 2015 Election
galized, and we’ll be working to difference, but we’ll need your SENSIBLE BC FIGHTS ON ensure it remains a major issue help! in the federal election, and to ensible BC was launched defeat the Conservatives in key Our approach will be nonlast year to try and force a ridings. partisan. For example, we would marijuana referendum in BC by almost certainly be endorscollecting signatures. Although Sensible BC will be work- ing sitting MPs Libby Davies we didn’t hit the target to get a ing across the province to help (NDP), Joyce Murray (Liberal) provincial vote, we did build an elect the candidates who most and Elizabeth May (Green) as impressive team of volunteers support reform marijuana re- all three have been outspoken and activists across the prov- form and who have the best in their support for legalizaince. chance of winning. We have the tion. numbers to start making a real We’re continuing our push for marijuana reform, and have been busy building local chapters, putting on protests and growing our team strength. We just hosted our first provincial convention in October. Sensible BC has become Canada’s largest legalization team, and we invite you to join us!
S
BC will be a major battleground province in next year’s federal election, with the Conservatives currently holding almost two-thirds of BC’s seats. The vast majority of British Columbians want marijuana le-
I invite you to get involved with our growing network of community leaders and local activists. We can help you to make change a reality, in your own neighbourhood and all across the country. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by, contact us and become a part of the Sensible BC team today! www.SensibleBC.ca; info@sensiblebc.ca
Issue Number 42
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PUBLISHERS NOTE: Here We Grow Again holidays. We have started selling advertising on our web pages now to take advantage of this increase in viewers, as we are still struggling to break even. There are several ways that you can work with us to help legalize cannabis. Information is power, and by working together to create, collect and share important knowledge we can try to ensure that cannabis policies continue to improve. By helping spread the information contained in the Cannabis Digest, you are doing a small part to help free the weed. If you keep your paper, then keep Ted Smith it out where guests can see and read it. Encouraging your friends igger and better than ever, and family to read the paper is a the Cannabis Digest is evolv- great way to help convince people ing as we all watch the cannabis sitting on the fence that legalizaindustry explode around the world. tion is a valid approach to canIn fact we could have even tried to nabis. Since cannabis users have make the last issue 32 pages but we historically been portrayed as lazy, actually forgot to put several of our uneducated addicts, it is important advertisers in the paper, for which to have publications like the Canwe profusely apologize. Hopefully nabis Digest. They show that there we will continue to get more ad- is a mature side to the cannabis vertisers and grow even bigger in culture, one that does not focus on big buds and pretty girls. the future.
B
Meanwhile, our on-line presence has rapidly improved with the addition of daily blogs in June. In May we only had 3,000 hits on our site but that grew to 17,000 in June and 65,000 in July! Though the page slowed down a bit in August, that is likely due to summer
If you do not want to keep the paper around, then please do not throw it out. Pick a good friend who might be interested and share it with them. Or find a local coffee shop that has a place for newspapers or magazines and stick it there. One of my favorite things
to do on the bus is leave a paper sitting on a seat nearby. If no one takes it, then I grab it when I get off and try again next time. Of course, we are always looking for high quality contributors. We have at least one guest blog a week and are happy to publish relevant insights, personal stories, political commentary, scientific discoveries, industry developments, legal arguments or information about hemp. In order to stay focused we have left information about growing cannabis and new products to other media, in part so our readers never feel we are trying to promote something other than legalization.
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the newspaper to their customers, we charge $25 per bundle, $13 for ½ bundle, to ship them in Canada. It is also greatly appreciated when someone is willing to cover the shipping costs to distribute papers at events or friendly stores. For those on the internet, there are many more ways you can help us. Sharing our daily blogs on various social media sites is the best way to get the word out about our work. We love getting comments on our page, so feel free to contribute your two cents.
The Cannabis Digest also has one of the best cannabis forums on-line. With so much happening Certainly supporting our adver- in the cannabis industry, it is imtisers and letting them know how portant to have one site from which much you appreciate the newspa- you can get all of the important per is an easy way you can help us. daily updates. While we already We are having to increase our ad- have a top-notch team keeping the vertising and subscription rates be- forums up-to-date, there is always cause we are growing, so it is very room for more information. We important to us that our advertis- have also just launched a youtube ers feel their money is well spent. channel, and anticipate producing Our advertisers generally support many interviews and editorials. the newspaper because they believe in the work we are doing, but it alWith such a great Cannabis Diways helps when they feel they are gest team already, we have no doubt gaining customer appreciation. our future is going to be bright. As we grow to new heights, our vision Finding new advertisers is the of legal cannabis becomes more best thing you can do for the paper, clear. Together we shall make sure as ultimately the Cannabis Digest Canadian cannabis policies suit has many expenses and I need food. our needs. Alternatively, for businesses that do not feel advertising would be worth it but still want to distribute
EDITORS NOTE: A Rant From The Editor
Judith Stamps
his is a unique time for T public education on the subject of cannabis. The
movements toward legalization have achieved more in the past two years than in the previous forty. We’re witnessing an implosion: militarization of the police exposed, the brutality of civil forfeiture exposed, lies exposed. We’re witnessing the kindling of new hope: new medicines, new freedoms, new vistas for recreational cannabis, and new products for industrial hemp. We’re seeing a breakdown of long held ideologies that reveals itself in striking contradictions: cannabis destroys the teenage brain; cannabis protects the infant brain from neural damage. Cannabis shrinks the brain; cannabis heals the concussed brain. Cannabis destroys memory; cannabis
protects against Alzheimer’s. These contradictions cannot be maintained. For every one of us helped by cannabis, a dozen more wake up to the truth. With every passing day the old anti-cannabis warnings strike one more person, one more group, and one more family as pernicious and hollow. Every month another newspaper declares itself part of the movement: The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times. It’s not trendy yet, but it will be. For the first time in a very long time, history is on our side. But this is no time to sit on the sidelines. What history needs now is a massive push. At this juncture, and given our momentum, we can do so much. We can, each one of us, reach out to someone who is new to this subject. Talk, after all, is legal. This very day let’s set aside our hesitations. Let’s raise the subject with our aunt, our cousin, our neighbor, or the guy that runs our favourite café. This month, let’s write a letter to the editor, a letter to the city council and a letter to an elected official. They won’t be shocked. No one is shocked by talk of cannabis any more. Between this issue and the next, let’s
see how much communication we can manage. We might try our hand at producing a pamphlet; drawing a cannabis cartoon and pinning it up on a public notice board; teaching ourselves to draw a cannabis leaf; drawing a few on our napkin to leave behind at our next restaurant meal; writing a song on the subject or helping to promote someone else’s. Need a plan? Here’s one. This month, start an educational explosion with you at
its centre. If you have a better plan, do that one. And while you’re at it, enjoy this issue of the Cannabis Digest. It’s not in every decade that we get to change the world so much. Shine a light today, and help us end this miserable war. Oh. And don’t forget to drop us a line or contact us through the Cannabis Digest Blogs. We’d love to hear from you. Editor@Hempology.ca
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Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
Updates, Warnings, and Suggestions The UBC Hempology 101 club held its first annual ‘bongfire’, which was well attended. Corbin has done an amazing job keeping the club going and active. I am hoping to go to the meet and greet in October.
Gayle Quin igh there folks. I hope you H have had a great summer. It has been a blur for me. Can
you believe it? We are at issue #42! Bigger and better than ever. So my sincere thanks to everyone who has written, advertised, drawn and helped distribute our little paper. But the biggest thanks go to all of you devoted readers who keep us going. I hope you have been enjoying the Cannabis Digest Blogs online, too, and thanks to those who have helped share those.
HALLOWEED!!! Get your hot glue guns and darning needles out. It is time to transform yourselves into stunning visions of creativity. My favourite time of year for sure. Boy am I ever going to work hard to be healthy enough to get to the courthouse The Mount Allison University this year. If you want to win a Hempology 101 club and Medi- beautiful bong; all you need to do cine Hat College Hempology 101 is join the costume contest. clubs are still going fine. Thanks to everyone who has helped to Continuing on the good news, educate people about cannabis in Marc Emery is free and home at these smaller cities. last. Jodie is looking better than ever and I am proud of her beHappy ‘daze’ are here again. ing named our Queen of CanWe are on the road to Ottawa nabis. Just before they left for one more time. This time we Europe we had the great pleasure are going to the Supreme Court of having Marc and Jodie come of Canada. Has a nice ring to to spend the night with us. We it, eh? Over the past 5 years the had a wonderful visit, full of stoVictoria Cannabis Buyer’s Club ries and catching up, with much has been going through a court plotting for the future. Look out challenge to make cannabis ex- world! He is back, rested and tracts legal. It is a slow process ready for anything. Although he but we are ready to supremely really just wants to help Jodie so kick some more government butt. she can rest and gather strength The downside is travel and court to kick Harper’s butt the heck out expenses. So please keep a look of office. Go Jodie, go!!! They out in Cannabis Digest Online are a team to be reckoned with. for upcoming fundraisers. We are planning several kinds of parties I surely hope the winter holidand hope to have lots of fun as we aze are warm and fuzzy for you get ready to finish this off. If you all. It is the time of year when I have a good idea please email it to wish I could clone myself, there us. For a complete picture of the are so many folks who need an trial check out our Cannabis Di- extra sweater, or a hug, or a joint, gest Forums online, in the Court or just a smile. Be sure to bring Decisions and Appeals section. extras you can pass along to those
More thanks are necessary to the Hempology 101 gang for keeping the Reach For The Pot going this summer. They found Speaking of the VCBC, it will it very challenging but everybe holding its 2nd Annual Generone had a lot of fun. It felt very al Meeting in November. Watch weird not being able to attend the for news of time and place online meetings. and on the whiteboard at the club. Hempology 101 held its 19th If you are a member, then this is Annual Anniversary March in your chance to get involved and early September. It was very well learn more about how the group attended and the Legislature se- now works. It is your club, get curity guards seemed to be well involved and keep it rocking! entertained by us. Hempology 101 will also be holding its AGM, but this event Talk of security guards brings me to the subject of the UVic is happening as we go to print, so Hempology 101 club. The club you will have to look for results signed up almost 200 students online or wait until the next issue. on the first day! A new security At any rate, we hold our monthly guard showed up at 420 and re- meeting the first Tuesday of each minded Ted that what they were month at 7:30 pm at the VCBC. doing was illegal, and that stu- It is open to all who have an interdents could get into a lot of trou- est in helping the humble hemp ble. Ted said they knew it was plant regain its former glory. We illegal. He explained that this are well on the way to winning, is why they were protesting, and but we do not have a hemp patold the security guard he would per mill or hemp textile mill in need a better plan if he wanted to Canada yet. What a shame. stop them. Since then they have Oh boy, oh boy, it is nearly Ocbeen left alone. tober. You know what that means,
in need as the weather gets nasty. Remember, if you like caroling as much as I do, we have Cannabis Carol booklets for sale at the VCBC for just $2, or you can buy them online. They are packed full of fun songs and they are easy to color, too! We used to carol around town and hot-box City Hall and the Law Courts over the holidays, but those traditions have faded away. Now we just carol at home with our friends. On a personal note, my health has not been great. My tumor markers are slowly rising, so my naturopath, Dr Neil McKinney, has changed my medicine regime and we will be adding more treatments, too. On a positive side, though, I have been feeling a lot better. I am able to eat properly finally, and if it were not for continued muscle spasms, I would be able to say I felt great. This is mainly because of the all of the love and support I receive every day. I am totally awestruck and so grateful to everyone who has donated money, medicine, food, and their precious time for visits to prayers and well wishes. Everything is gratefully appreciated. You all keep me going in more ways than you can imagine. Love you all. Thanks for reading. xoxox
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
7
One Woman Versus Alberta Lisa Mamakind Kirkman’s Battles in the Badlands
Dean Schwind
the physician-approved method by which you use your medicine has been unofficially labelled a dangerous risk to anyone around you.
the full support of her medical team. There is currently no AHS policy in place banning the use of the vaporizer as medical equipment in AHS facilities. There is only a memo
I
f you think this story is about the famous sexpot goddess, activist, writer, caregiver, overgrower, and icon in the war to free the weed, Mamakind, you’re wrong. This is about Lisa Kirkman, a woman, a mom, a partner, and a patient who is fighting a debilitating illness while trying to raise and care for her family. Lisa Kirkman, like so many Canadians in this country, has had her difficult, life threatening illnesses made more difficult by the negative and intolerant attitude of both federal and provincial governments in Canada toward using medical marijuana. Canada has a health care system often touted as an example to the world. Depsite this fact, it’s hard to be a medical marijuana user in this country.
This denial of health services is not based on a law or policy. In fact, all the laws and policies are on Lisa’s side. The denial is based on an ignorant mindset that generated a memo from Alberta health officials to all AHS supported care facilities. The memo effectively bans vaporization of cannabinoid medicines, This story is about people’s basic and ensures that Lisa Kirkman canhuman rights to determine their not get medical care anywhere in own course of treatment and care. Alberta. It is about their being allowed to choose the best medicines, and how This is a horrifying scene, one you those medicines are administered to would expect from a for profit hosrelieve and cure whatever ails them. pital in the US. A Canadian citizen turned away from a Canadian Lisa Kirkman is made up of all hospital for any reason is unheard the powerful sexy brave activist stuff of in our socialized medical system. that gives life to Mamakind, former The system may be flawed and cripeditor and sex columnist at Skunk pled by lack of funding, but it is not magazine, and a force in the war known for a lack of compassion and against prohibition. Still, at the end outright discrimination. of the day, she is just like so many sick people in this country who are Lisa has been licensed medical not famous, but find themselves marijuana user since 2009. She unwillingly entangled in a needless has severe ostioarthritis and, beand expensive struggle with Canacause of a gastric bypass, is unable dian health authorities over their to medicate by mouth with opiates basic right to survive and thrive. or other pain medications. Thus, Lisa has been vaporizing cannabis Imagine getting really sick one medicines with the full support of night as a result of an ongoing, inher doctors. She is in constant pain. creasingly serious illness. You feel Until March 2014 and the infamous you need immediate medical attenmemo from by AHS, she was vaportion, as you have had in the past. izing in the hospital as she needed So you make your way to your local to with support of her doctors and emergency ward. You expect to renurses. ceive the same compassionate care and attention any Canadian would This situation is odd and confusget from health care professioning because AHS agrees that use of als who have taken the HypocratLisa’s medicine is permitted by her ic Oath, and work in our national federal licence. The Volcano vaporhealth care system. But when you izer she uses has been inspected by arrive, the hospitals officals won’t let AHS and approved as safe. She has you in. They turn you away because
from an AHS official approving the use of vaporisers in negative pressure rooms only. Most major hospitals in our country have a few negative pressure rooms to accommodate patients who have communicable diseases or need a specialized environment. But smaller or older hospitals and some emergency care facilities lack these special rooms. The AHS memo on vaporizers does not take into account the number of negative pressure rooms in Calgary hospitals or their availability at any one time. Nor does it offer alternatives for Lisa should those rooms be unavailable when the ambulance arrives with her in medical crisis. So hospital officals have opted to follow the spirit of the memo and send her away without care. Calgary ambulance services won’t come anymore because of the liability of being stuck with a gravely ill person turned away without alternatives. Systematic cancellation of her medical and counselling appointments followed, all because of a lack of the negative pressure rooms as required by the memo. Cut off from medical care and too sick to work, she is not even able to apply for Alberta or CPP disablity support; she cannot be examined and tested to compile the nessessary information need to complete the applications. With her illness becoming worse, and after failing to reach an agreement with AHS herself, she had no alternative but to file a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, citing AHS for denying her the use of a federally licenced and physcian approved medicine.
ic position to the Human Rights Commission in a 200 page document. AHS claims complaints by the nurse’s union about the smell. It makes the unfounded assertion that second hand vaporization is a risk to staff and patients. Finally, it cites an Alberta workplace heath and safety directive banning workers from entering a patient’s home where vaporization has taken place within the prior three hours. After many months and arguments presented to the commission by Lisa herself, the decision came down in her favour with an official statement from the Alberta Human Rights Commission that AHS was indeed guilty of denying her basic human right to goods and services by preventing use of her federally licenced and physician-approved medicine. AHS has asked for an extension until summer 2014 to reply to the finding. Meanwhile there is no medical care or financial support for Lisa or her family in Alberta. But this is unlike a criminal or civil trial. A finding of guilt from the Human Rights Commission takes years to arrive at a point of actually applying penalties to any guilty person, company or government agency. The eventual outcome will surely benefit Lisa and countless other medical marjuana users by preventing provincial health agencies from writing policies banning vaporization in the future. However, without care she does not have the luxury of years to wait. Trapped in limbo and on the advice of supportive Calgary police officers, Lisa filed a civil court case seeking a judicial injunction against AHS to stop them denying her medical treatment. The simple question before the court is: What is keeping Lisa from care in AHS facilities if all policies and laws support her position? A civil trial is relatively quick when compared to the Human Rights Commission process. It would immediately force AHS to allow Lisa to receive medical care like any other resident of Alberta. In July 2014 Lisa found the legal support she needed in the Calgary law firm, Parlee MacLaws. They are repesenting her pro bono in the civil case and advising on the human rights case. AHS has countered with a motion to throw out the civil trial claiming that the matter is already being tried by the Alberta Human Rights Commission and she cannot run similar cases in two courts. The judge has since ordered a meeting to hear arguments in special chambers in March 2015 regarding this AHS assertion.
Penniless, arguably in the most discriminatory, anti-pot province in the country, and without the support of a local compassion club or the thousands of fans, pot friends and connections Mamakind had enjoyed during her career, she made her way to the Calgary courthouse Stalled by the courts, denied by armed with her trusty Volcano and AHS, sicker and poorer each day, a sign that read, “I need a lawyer” Lisa is caught with little support. taped to the front. She is yet another victim of prohibition in an unnessessarily slow and AHS has defended its barbar- cruel legal race. This race against
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014 the pace of the legal system may prove so lengthy as to outlast the time she has left to live. Ironically, the woman who spoke to the world’s potheads about amazing strains of marijuana from the pages of Skunk Magazine has no access to affordable quality medicine, and survives on donations of old shake and the occasional black market purchase while she waits to enjoy what has already been determined to be her right. She fears that AHS will extend its discrimination to her son who also suffers from a disease that requires vaporization as treatment. Multiple court appearences and constant conflict, coupled with the denial of care are taking their toll on Lisa. They add
to her illness and create undue stress for her and her family. Her “fund me” site has seen little to no donations as she has refused to reach out with a direct appeal for funds to her Mamakind fan base, even though fans would surely rally to support her. Lisa chooses to fight her fight as an average Canadian, not the pot icon she has carefully created. Using the tools of protest she has learned from the movement, and a backbone of steel inherited from her ancestors, Lisa Kirkman fights for us all in one of the many quiet battles in the war on marijuana ignorance and prohibition in Canada.
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Issue Number 42
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The Wild West
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Struggles of Medical Marijuana Distribution in Canada and Victoria, but outside of these major urban centers there are not very many. There are even fewer storefront clubs now, as four have been raided this summer: Farm Assist in Halifax as well as two WEEDS locations and Budzilla in Vancouver. The justification for these clubs has been strengthened, though, by the recent Owen Smith court decision in the BC
Ted Smith
D
escribing Canadian medical cannabis distribution as the wild west show might seem like a stretch to some, but to those in the field there has never been as much interest, excitement, opportunity and disappointment as we are witnessing right now. The Green Rush is real, very real. With so many special interest groups working on the front lines and behind the scenes, it is almost impossible for even the veterans of this movement to keep on top of things. Right now patients have four general potential options to obtain cannabis products. Obviously, there is the black market. Ironically for many this is the best source of medicine, as it can even be cheaper than at a compassion club, and often people have dealers that live close by or who may give them a decent price for decent product. Some dealers even subsidize their sales to patients; they do not charge full price to some who need it most.
down every plant in my garden and stole every gram that was in storage, all completely with the limits of our MMAR license extended by the Allard injunction. They took every ballast, bulb, reflector and 90% of the fans. They stole at least $50,000 in hydroponic equipment inventory, as we also use a garage at my production site for the storage for The
“Right now patients have four general options to obtain cannabis products.” Court of Appeal. This decision confirms the rights of patients to access cannabis extracts, products available mainly at the clubs. Each raid appears to have occurred for a different reason, though many believe the Vancouver Police Department is checking out each dispensary it can find to see how strict its rules are. For many the most disturbing is the raid on Budzilla, as it does not seem to be based upon a complaint so much as on the VPD targeting it because of its name and the products it produces. “The appearance and packaging of many of these items could be potentially very appealing to children,” read a VPD statement. Police also cited the fact Budzilla had products in other dispensaries. Clearly the police have been looking around and taking lots of notes.
In Nova Scotia, police issued warrants on three locations in August, laying multiple charges against Chris Enns, Sherri Reeve and one other man. While it is speculaSecond, there are dispensaries tion, this raid seems to have been that provide cannabis products to instigated by the police in a milipeople with documented medi- tant approach to medical cannabis. cal problems. Dispensaries are common in Toronto, Vancouver According to Chris, “They cut
backed up by the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club, Dr David Pate and Kirk Tousaw, is ready to prove that cannabis resin and extracts should be legally available to patients. In the other corner, the crown, as directed by Health Canada, will not back down from its position that there is a lack of scientific evidence to show that these drugs are safe. They claim there is no scientific basis for allowing patients and Licensed Producers to make cannabis extracts legally. Mr. Tousaw was very happy with the majority decision from the BC Court of Appeal. “The court found that section 7 protected the rights of patients to make the reasonable choice to use medical marijuana in forms other than dried marijuana. The court determined that these types of medical decisions go to the core of what it means to be an autonomous person living with dignity in our society.”
Grow Op Shop. They left a large 5 gallon still and all the jars being used to make extracts as well as many obvious garbage bags of shake that were beside the still at the production site. One hundred fifty grams of dab that were in storage at the residence were left untouched, but all cannabis and cash from the house (also a legal production/storage site) were also stolen. Interesting, a handful of mother plants and clones at the It is strange to think that all of the house were also not taken.” hard work of Kirk will likely end up making it legal for LPs, not It seems the police and crown in dispensaries like the VCBC, to sell Nova Scotia have realized that cannabis extracts. However, that convicting anyone for a cannabis is exactly what is going to happen, extract charge right now is virtu- as the courts are not endorsing ally impossible, yet in Vancouver clubs in this decision but are recthat seems to have been the main ognizing a patient’s right to make reason for raiding some clubs! In medicine from this plant. Once another case out East, Terry Wood that is allowed, the crown must had his cannabis resin charges find a legal means to supply those stayed in court, with the crown products and the only legal game citing Owen’s case as the reason in town is the new Marijuana for for dropping the matter. It seems Medical Purposes Regulations. to be the case across the country that some charges are being with- Currently, a third option for obdrawn while others are still pro- taining cannabis products is ceeding. home growing. The injunction, we should remember, is still proWith Kirk Tousaw and Owen tecting patient gardens across the Smith now waiting for a date with country. the Supreme Court of Canada, the stage is set for an epic battle cont. next page ... in Ottawa. In one corner, Owen,
10
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
Contrasting Clubs and LP s Struggles of Medical Marijuana Distribution in Canada
... cont. prev. page Health Canada had planned upon ending the MMAR on April 1, 2014, and replacing it with the MMPR, much to the bitter dismay of many patients. But in the spring a Federal Court of Canada judge ruled that patients and their designated growers, as licenced under the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, would be allowed to continue growing medicine until a full hearing was held. The crown has appealed the injunction, hoping to reverse the Federal Court decision before the full hearing in held in February 2015. Veteran lawyer John Conroy is ready for a couple of weeks of court, with testimony expected from patients and Dr David Pate, the star witness in the Smith trial. Conroy is adding many of the arguments used in Smith, which was based almost entirely upon the evidence of Dr Pate, in large part because Owen was busted when the MMAR was in effect, and it is unclear whether or not that decision could force the government to change its new regulations.
donations, and ensure the money Tweets in early Sept claimed the is there to pay for everything re- partners involved were ignorant quired. and the head grower a liar. Other tweets stated lawsuits were beThe fourth and final option for ing filed against the RCMP and obtaining cannabis is the group Health Canada. The most colorof producers licensed under the ful one told readers the best way MMPR. Since April 1 almost to kill a LP application was to 10,000 patients have signed up make anonymous phone calls to to various LPs, although this is the RCMP claiming the people number far smaller than these ea- behind it are linked to organized ger companies had hoped for. The crime. While the president, Jean
“Since April 1 almost 10,000 patients have signed up to various LPs”
government would have preferred all patients to gain access to cannabis through the MMPR, but things have not gone smoothly. Certainly the continued existence of clubs, along with the injunction, has meant that the patients who already use cannabis in any large amount have a supply chain in place.
In my almost 20 years of activism, I have never seen anything Problems with the new LP system like this. With so many factors at include recalled crops, lack of supply, resistance from the medical community, changing protocols from Health Canada and a rather sudden halt on the granting of new applications. Many potential LPs are losing a great deal of money waiting for final approval, but Health Canada seems to have shut the door on them, with no new licences granted since May. Investors are getting worried, as there is concern the government has decided to change course from the projected 50-70 LPs it originally claimed would get approved to fulfill the predicted $1.4 billion dollar industry by 2020.
Many patients across Canada are currently able to meet their medical needs by using the protections earned in the Smith trial and the injunction. Several benefits have been organized by the MMAR Coalition Against Repeal, the group behind the injunction, with more expected for both legal challenges, as these court proceedings are expensive. Fear of what will One of the potential LPs that aphappen if either of these cases pears to be imploding is Medifails will hopefully help to inspire jean, based out of Richmond BC.
j
Chaisson, has claimed that someone from within his company must have used his Twitter account without his permission, he has confirmed the basic content to be true, including that his is quitting after spending $10 million on the company.
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play, no one knows how things we will work out in the end, but one thing is for certain. The cannabis floodgates have been opened. From corporate boardrooms to basement gardens, people have never been so aware of the potential of cannabis to help people with a multitude of ailments. It will be many years before it has all settled into a uniform system but for now the excitement of working within the medical cannabis industry here in Canada will likely continue to grow for some time.
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
AugmenteD Cannabis Oil
11
What is in Your Vapor Pen?
David B. Allen M.D.
T
he new vapor pens are all the craze now and can be seen everywhere. Originally designed for vaporizing tobacco and nicotine products these pens are great for vaporizing cannabis oils. These pens vaporize the cannabis oils and leave an almost undetectable odor and can be used in public without little or no notice by anyone. I recently went to Las Vegas and saw many people at slot machines with these pens in one hand and the one arm bandit in the other. Some of the pens are as large as a king’s scepter and apparently offer a status symbol and possibly a blunt weapon for defense against unruly patrons. To work properly these pens are dependent on the oil viscosity being able to flow into the wicking device. The oil or wax, produced by an extraction process, frequently does not have the proper viscosity to be used in pens. Manufactures of oil sold for use in these vapor pens, are now adding various agents to these oils to make them flow properly. In some cases these additives can have additional benefits or possible health concerns for patients using them. Propylene Glycol is approved as an additive for nicotine vaporization in the U.S.A and is considered safe for this purpose by the FDA. (When have they ever made a mistake?) Cannabis oils and waxes can be diluted with Propylene Glycol and vaporized in a similar fashion. Do other terpenes used as a dilluant of cannabis oil offer this same safety when vaporized? The answer is complex and cannot be answered in the current climate of political ban on scientific study of cannabis and cannabinoids. To make the situation even more complex, is the composition of the many different turpenes that are contained in the various strains of cannabis. Recently Cannabis Cup events in California have been publishing the presents of
different turpenes profiles of each cannabis strain entered. Some of the cannabis testing labs have booths at these cup events and have samples of 15 or more different turpenes they use for standardizing and calibration of their lab equipment. You can smell samples of each of these volatile turpenes some smell fragrant and sweet others pungent and repulsive. Each of these turpenes have different properties some with beneficial medical effects in themselves or when combined with cannabinoids. The combination of all the different terpenes, make a unique smell that is characteristic of the strain of cannabis that produced that particular terpene profile.
thing from each different batch. They then add the extract back to all of the tobacco and then add a proprietary blend of other herbs and spices (1% this and 3% that) and then they have a consistent product that always taste the same. The resulting blend is then consistent in flavor and can be carry a brand name. So the race is on, for companies to find combinations of turpenes they can add to cannabis products to augment the smell or medical effect.
matherapy. They are classified as substances generally recognized as safe. Many of the terpenes are in our food products or may be taken orally as supplements. Companies offer oral preparations of these terpenes, with warnings of; “no daily value requirements are known for these substances.” Terpenes have utility as cleaning solvents and other industrial applications. Plants make terpenes to repel insects, and some of these terpenes can be used as insecticides or insect repellants. D-limolene is a terpene that is contained in dog flee shampoo. These substances are classified as; “substances that are recognized as safe” but may not be safe for human consumption as a vaporized product. Can augmented oils with these flavoring agents be used safely for vaporization? Is the safety of vaporizing these chemical agents as safe as vaporizing the cannabis oil? Only clinical trials will determine this and these questions are fraught with ethical questions of exposing humans as guinea pigs.
Currently you can purchase flavoring agents for tobacco or cannabis. Each of these different agents may have effects or health The point of this article is this! concerns which are not presently known. What is known safe as Do you want some chemist to add for GI absorption may not be chemicals to your cannabis oil without knowledge of long term effects. They are trying to sell you a nice smelling oil product that may later causes you some health issue? Just because it smells good does not mean it is good for you. The perfume industry can give testimony in this regard.
The practice of augmenting oils with flavoring agents and terpenes will also occur with the plant. No doubt you will soon be able to purchase lime or other flavored cannabis. Why would someone change the flavor of cannabis? Why risk adding a substance that could possibly cause harm? Many would say you can’t improve on the taste of cannabis so why even try this? Humans always want something different Each spike identifies a different terpene on this sample of cannabis and a variety of choices. Business knows this and will provide what The common person would look safe when vaporized. It is not the customer wants. The multiat the results of these turpenes only the agent, but the combus- tude of flavored tobacco products profiles for a particular strain of tible byproduct that could be of are proof of this. cannabis and conclude you could concern. There is no testing on just add a pinch of this and a bit these agents for long term effects To actually prove these augmentof that and make any swag smell on humans. ed products are safe would relike the best purple bud you adquire a double blind study which mire? Unfortunately the situation There are many labs now sell- is illegal in the United States. is much more complex than that. ing vapor pens with flavored oils. This would be costly and almost These Cannabis oils are aug- impossible to do ethically or leTobacco companies have long mented or “fortified” with tur- gally. ago addressed the problem of penes that have lime, lemon, orvariation in the taste of different ange or other flavors. Terpenes I have previously published an tobacco fields. Brand name prod- are the primary constituents of article entitled; Rootless Transucts must have the same quality, essential oils of many types of port Mechanism (the RTM or consistency and flavor. The To- plants and flowers. Essential oils Dr. Allen’s Procedure) in Treatbacco companies purchase tobac- are used widely as natural flavor ing Yourself Magazine issue 18 co from many different sources additives for food, fragrances in pp 80. This was again reprinted in and they combine all the differ- perfumery, and in traditional and Treating Yourself Magazine issue ent tobacco’s and extract every- alternative medicines like aro- 35 pp 74-76. This new reprint of
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014 the original article included original diagrams explaining Osmosis and Tonicity and explanations of MK-ULTRA a plan to weaponize cannabis. In this article I developed a method of flavoring cannabis with different chemicals that the plant roots would not absorb. If you cut the roots off, the plant can absorb larger charged particles like flavoring agents or flavanoids. These flavoring agents would be delivered to the bud directly without the roots as a filter. Using this method you can make vanilla flavored cannabis by placing the plant with the roots cut off in a vanilla extract. Virtually any flavoring agent could be used as well as antibiotics, steroids, bronchodilators or even Viagra! (That’s right! Boner Bud!) This could develop into a new process where the root growth would be inhibited in a hydroponic application to allow absorption of large particles. Megaponics? (Hydroponics without Roots) The plants would be bathed in a ICU type environment and fed large molecules to change the composition of the end product of the plant. This would allow precursors of THC (phenols and terpenes) to be absorbed by the plant and make super THC, CBD or other cannabinoids. Additional methods of Augmentation or Flavoring of Cannabis; Spraying a topical substance on cannabis is an age old problem. Some people were known to spray Coca Cola and other crazy substances on cannabis for varied, absurd reasons. This technique was used to increasing the weight of the cannabis. Cannabis that is sprayed with a water soluble substance or dye may be exposed by placing a bud in a bowl of water. The bud sprayed with dyes or water soluble substances will leach the dye out in the water.
Gassification.
It may take a long time to determine under what conditions these additives are safe to use and There is a new, almost undetect- what conditions they are not safe. able, technique for flavoring cannabis by using volatile flavanoids David B. Allen M.D. retired Carand heating them to a vapor and diothoracic and Vascular Surexposing the cannabis to this gas. geon. You can use Tobacco flavoring agents and place them on a cloth David B. Allen M.D. and place the cloth in a bag of (Cali215doc@gmail.com) cannabis and let it set in the sun for a little while. The cannabis will have the same smell as the flavoring agent. I first encountered this technique after learning about an instance where cannabis had been sent in the mail. The cannabis was isolated in a separate baggy, but the package was shipped along with a bag of laundry detergent. The mail must have taken several days and most likely was in a hot truck during transport. You can guess what the result was. The heat had gasified the laundry soap perfume. The cannabis was bomb, but it all smelled like you were smoking ultra-clean underwear! Even though the detergent was in a separate container it flavored the cannabis with a disgusting perfume. Cannabis and its concentrates can be adulterated or augmented with terpenes and other flavoring agents. Be cautious of vendors selling cannabis oils that are flavored or augmented with anything that is not approved for vaporization until more is known. The war on Cannabis goes on and will not go away anytime soon. There will most likely be new regulations to “protect the public” and as always; Beware of those who want to protect you from something, they are often the people you need protection from. Often laws are made on assumption rather than science.
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
Who Really Discovered THC?
13
Setting the Record Straight: Recognizing Roger Adams
Judith Stamps
A
nyone who del ves into cannabis history, in pulp form or online, will have read that THC, the molecule and its specific structure, was discovered in 1964 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Israeli researcher, Raphael Mechoulam and his associates. Cannabis Culture calls him ‘The Man.” If books aren’t your favourite, do a Google search on who discovered THC and you will see this fact for yourself. Until recently, I thought the same. Then, this spring, I went on a self-guided history tour: the reading variety. The readings took me through a series of ‘truth serum’ experiments conducted by the US government during World War II and the cold war that followed it. One of the ‘sera’ used was cannabis. In both phases, researchers had used THC infused cigarettes: liquid THC mixed with tobacco. The first set of experiments was conducted in Washington DC during the war years 1942-3; the second set began in 1953 and ended officially as late as 1973, although its scope had already been limited by 1964. I also read a study commissioned by Fiorello La Guardia, New York City’s anti-prohibitionist mayor. Conducted by medical experts from 1939 to 1944, and recorded in the 1944 La Guardia Report, it had concluded that cannabis is harmless. These experts too had relied on cigarettes injected with THC. At some stage of this tour I stopped to ask this question. How did American scientists do trials with THC before THC had been discovered? According to the record, they were supposed to have had it before 1942. Opportunities to ask questions of this sort are rare; you don’t normally run into major contradictions in the literature. Intrigued, I switched directions, and started a different kind of search with a brand new question: Who discovered THC in 1940? This work had to be done online, as there appear to be no pulp based cannabis histories that provide a clue. I have to say, in anticipation of the story’s end, that the answer was not hard to find. Indeed, it was hidden in plain view.
essay by a British chemist, Roger G Pertwee, who identified a Roger Adams as having discovered THC in 1940. That was easy. Then I looked up Roger Adams. That was a revelation. It turned out that Adams was not at all obscure. He was a renowned and extensively published American organic chemist. There were more surprises. It soon became clear that Adams is widely recognized for his discovery of THC. He is invisible to cannabis historians. Who knows why? But he is very well known to the folk chemistry community: those DIY characters with labs or access to labs,
‘marihuana.’ 1 This was a planning meeting to implement prohibition, and an information session to learn more about the plant. There were experts on psychological effects, on hemp crops, and on ‘marihuana’ chemistry. Of the psychologists we need say little. A key researcher present that day was James C. Munch. Munch had been testing ‘marihuana’ on dogs and rats. He thought it was shrinking their brains. He had also testified at a murder trial in which the defendant was claiming ‘marihuana’ induced insanity. Upon cross-examination, Munch stated that he had tried smok-
The first tests using ‘marihuana’ were conducted during the years 1942-43 at. St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC
ing it himself. After two puffs, he said, he had been transformed into a bat, had flown about the room and then into a deep inkwell. Opium, I suspect.
who have been learning to make elaborate cannabis extracts all these years, and to test their potency. Look up the ‘Adams Scale’ for determining THC levels and you will see what I mean. Follow this magical trail a bit further and you will find Adams everywhere. So in honour of Adams and his followers, I offer the following ramble.
In 1937, under the direction of Harry Anslinger, Prohibition Commissioner of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), cannabis became a banned substance in the US. In 1938, Anslinger convened a meeting of 23 individuals, each The first thing I found was an of which had some expertise in
Then there were hemp specialists. It was explained to Anslinger that hemp plants were typically cut down at the end of their growth cycle, and left over the winter to ret in the fields. This process provided usable fibre, but created a problem. By popular report, the flowers were in the habit of disappearing; the neighbours liked them. There had been concern that these flowers might be “physiologically active.” Researchers of the day had a test they could use: the Beam test, developed in 1911, in the wake of Egypt’s prohibition of hashish.2 When applied to local hemp flowers, the test had confirmed the presence of an essential oil similar to that found in hashish, presumably CBD. They were thus thought to contain the “active principle” as the researchers called it, and hemp was termed a “public nuisance.” Finally there were the chemists. The FBN was keen to hunt down this “active principle,” whatever it was, but the commissioners’ chemists were floundering. A
senior FBN chemist, Siegfried Loewe, decided to pass the work on to his friend, Roger Adams. Adams turned out to be a marvel. From 1940 through 1949, he and his associates carried out 27 studies on cannabis, published in the American Journal of Chemistry. He isolated Cannabinol (CBN), Cannabidiol (CBD) and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). He synthesized them. He developed THC acetate. The chemists of 1964 had the benefit of a new method of observation: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. But Adams’ drawings of the respective molecules look like any of the others you are likely to meet. He inferred their structure and basically got them right. When you Google Adams and THC or THC acetate, you encounter detailed accounts on how Adams refined and super-refined potent cannabis extracts. You read about charcoal filtering in the ether phase; fractional distillation; producing THC from CBD, the virtues of THC acetate, and so on. Good sites are Kind Green Buds 3 and The Vaults of Erowid, but there are many. Having cleared up the THC story, I continued reading about truth serum. The first tests using ‘marihuana’ were conducted during the years 1942-43 at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC. They were done under the auspices of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor to the CIA. The goal was to invent techniques useful for questioning prisoners of war. Drug testing of this sort dated generally from the 1930s, and had made use of mescaline, scopolamine, and sodium pentothal, a barbiturate. The ‘marihuana’ was smoked as THC infused cigarettes, based on a liquid form provided by Adams’ laboratory. It was tested initially on employees of The Manhattan Project, the US’s ultra secret project to build an atomic bomb. Presumably the testers felt that this group already had a high level of security clearance. The cigarettes were tried subsequently on soldiers at US army bases. It was wartime, and they were looking for subversives. Truth to be told, no one concluded that ‘marihuana’ was a truth drug. It produced interesting results, entertaining results, but unveiled no secrets. This fact did not stop the CIA from repeating such efforts in the 1950s and 60s. During the cold war era, under the supervision
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
of its mind control group, MK ULTRA, THC laced cigarettes were offered to prisoners, mental patients unwitting vagrants, and sex workers. They didn’t reveal any secrets either. St. Elizabeth’s has since become the US office of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, Roger Adams turned out to have a whimsical side. During a lecture to the National Academy of Sciences, detailing his work, he remarked casually that ‘marihuana,’ when smoked, had “pleasant effects.” This remark caused a major uproar. Anslinger snarled at Adams, and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) wanted him labeled a security risk. Members of his team argued that they could not do without him. They called upon the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover to intervene. Hoover lied. He told ONI that Adams was a very common name, and they must have gotten the wrong guy. Adams was placed, after this event, on a list of “people to be watched.”
and the rest is history. It is hard to fathom the selective bias that has coloured so many historical accounts. But the next time they tell you that THC was discovered in 1964, don’t believe it. It just ain’t so.
References 1. This is the same spelling that the Harper Government uses. I think it’s the prohibitionist spelling. 2. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/ en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/ bulletin_1962-01-01_3_page005. html As you will see from this link, Adams was a subject of study in the 1960s for researchers in the former Yugoslavia. 3. http://www.kindgreenbuds. com/cannabis-alchemy/isomerization/
4. http://hempshare.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/laguardia. Unrepentant, he became an equal pdf opportunity supplier. If you read the La Guardia Report, you will come across this statement. “We are indebted to Dr. Roger Adams at the University of Illinois, and to Dr. H. J. Wollner, consulting chemist of the US Treasury, who supplied some of the active principles of marihuana which were used in the study.”4 Anslinger was enraged, called the study unscientific, roared at the chemists,
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
Dr. David Pate’s Scientific under the MMAR Coalition injunction, you have access to your own trim. You can make affordable edible products by cooking it into a vegetable oil or reducing it safely into a concentrate. Patients of the MMPR Licensed Producers will not be able to purchase extracted products, however they may now make edible products from the dried marijuana t has been almost 5 years since I was that they purchase. arrested as the baker of the Cannabis Buyers Club in Victoria. It has been It is counterintuitive that while it is over two years since we won in the BC now legal to make an extract in your Supreme Court, removing the restric- own kitchen, it is still illegal to pay a tion to “dried marihuana” for patients company with sophisticated, analytical who are authorized to possess cannabis equipment to do it for you. My lawin BC. On August 14th, the BC Court yer, Kirk Tousaw, related that “If my of Appeal delivered its decision on my grandma wants to use medical cannabis constitutional challenge to legalize can- to deal with arthritis pain, I think she nabis extracts for patients. The judges should be entitled to go and purchase it voted 2-1 in my favor, sending a mes- from someone who can say, ‘Look, eat sage to parliament that the cannabis half a cookie and you’re ingesting 14 mg laws need to be redefined within a year; of THC, … Then she can know for herand to patients, that in the meantime self what the appropriate dosage is.” it is within their constitutional rights to produce extracted products from the The decision is binding on trial level plant’s bulk to suit their particular con- courts across Canada; persuasive on ditions better. provincial appellate courts. Predictably, the decision has once again been apThe majority ruled that: pealed by the Canadian Government. It is now destined to become the first case “a person of reasonable sensibility would to present evidence regarding medical find the restriction to dried marijuana cannabis to the Supreme Court of Canto have a serious and profound effect on ada. The government is appealing on their physical and psychological integ- the basis that the previous judges misrity.” interpreted the law and that I don’t have the right to challenge the medical can“Where the state interferes with an in- nabis regulations at all (see standing). dividual’s capacity to make decisions The Supreme Court does not typically concerning the management of those accept new evidence, and the governhealth problems by threat of criminal ment has not challenged the scientific sanction, the state is depriving that in- facts established in the initial trial in dividual of the power to make funda- 2012. mental personal choices” Read for yourself the unchallenged sciconcluding that: “the limitation in the entific facts that were accepted by JusMMARs is of no force and effect un- tice Robert Johnston of the BC Supreme der s. 52 of the Charter to the extent Court, and are on their way to Ottawa. that a person who has been granted an ATP is permitted to possess only dried marijuana.” From Dr. Pate’s evidence I accept:
I
• These glandular trichomes contain resin, and it is in the resin where the plant secretes THC and CBD. • The highest concentration of glandular trichomes is found on or near the outer surface of unfertilized female flowers. • From the perspective of either a medicinal or recreational marihuana user, it is the contents of the glandular trichomes that are important. • There are various methods for separating the glandular trichomes from the plant itself: one can agitate dried flowers from the marihuana plant over a fine mesh or screen, causing the glandular trichomes to fall off and pass through the mesh, leaving the host plant material behind; one can immerse the plant material in cold water, then strain the water through a fine mesh to capture the glandular trichomes. • Both these methods remove the glandular trichomes intact, with the resin still contained inside. • If the results of these methods of extraction are compressed, it is often referred to as “hash” if the dry sieve method is used, or “bubble hash” if it is wet sieved. If it is not compressed, but left in dry powdered form, it is often referred to – erroneously according to Dr. Pate – as “kif ” or “pollen.” • Other methods extract the resin from the glandular trichomes: one might rub the flowers in his/her hands, then scrape the resin off the hands; one could soak either the trichome-bearing plant, or just the separated trichomes themselves in fat such as butter or food-grade oil, as the contents of glandular trichomes are fat soluble. Alternatively, one could soak them in alcohol, as the glandular trichome contents are also alcohol soluble.
• The results of fat-based extraction • The active compounds of the cannabis methods are often referred to as “canplant are manufactured in cells at the nabis cooking oil” or “cannabis butter.” base of, and stored in structures called glandular trichomes. • Other methods of extraction involve using petrochemical solvents such as • The main active compounds are pri- petroleum ether to take up the resmarily tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) in from the glandular trichome, then and cannabidiol (“CBD”). evaporating off the solvent. The result of solvent-based extraction method is • Generally speaking, the concentration often called “hash oil.” of glandular trichomes increases as one moves higher up the cannabis plant, • These methods result in separation of with fewer glandular trichomes near the THC, CBD, and other potentially acroot, and many near the top. tive ingredients called terpenes from the plant matter. • Viewed microscopically, the glandular trichomes appear to be stalks rising • There is no known medical utility from the plant surface with a globular to the plant matter that is left behind top. Dr. Pate accurately analogized this after the glandular trichomes or their If you are still growing your own plants structure to a golf ball on a tee. contents are separated from the host This decision was about preserving the patients’ dignity by allowing them to make choices about their own health. Licensed Producers will have to wait for the government to create new regulations, while patients can now make better medicine from whatever they can access. This decision validates dispensaries that offer these products to their members. At the V-CBC, the club that launched this challenge, these products are inexpensive, diverse and organized to guide patients toward effective dosage plans. The court stated that “Presumably the behaviour of the VCBC can be regulated in ways that do not infringe the rights of seriously ill Canadians.”
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
Testimony on Cannabis Facts cannabis plant, or in the glandular trichomes themselves after the resin is ex- • Terpenes are compounds commonly tracted from them. associated with aromas such as pine or mint. • One caveat is the possibility that there may be some cannabinoid inside a leaf, • CBD also has some potential to innot as readily accessible or as easily ren- hibit the metabolism of THC by the dered as the glandular trichomes on the liver, thus reducing the body’s ability leaf surface. to intercept and eliminate the medical benefit of THC. • If the glandular trichomes containing the active compounds are not separated • There are different mechanisms for from the cannabis plant, a user can ac- getting the therapeutic components, cess the active compounds by smoking whether THC or CBD into the body, dried plant material with the glandular and Dr. Pate described each. trichomes still attached. • One can ingest the compound orally: if • Release of the active compounds does one were taking THC for gastro-intesnot require heat as high as that pro- tinal conditions such as Crohn’s disease duced by smoking, and an alternative or Irritable Bowel Syndrome this would way of inhaling the active compounds is arguably deliver the therapeutic benefit through a vaporizer, which releases the more directly to the site of pathology. active compounds at a lower temperature than smoking. The cost of vapor- • Oral ingestion also has the benefit of izers ranges from $200.00 to $700.00. prolonging the effects of the drug in the system, with the corresponding problem • The medical benefits from THC in- of taking longer to build in potency to clude anti-inflammatory and anti-spas- a therapeutic level than would occur, for modic effects, increased appetite for example, with smoking those whose appetites are suppressed by medical treatments such as are adminis- • Because of the slow build-up of the tered to AIDS patients, and alleviation drug inthe body, oral dosages are more of nausea in those taking chemotherapy difficult to manage, as it takes sometime for cancers. to determine when the optimum therapeutic level has been reached. • The well-known non-medical effect of THC is its psychoactive effects, an • Because orally ingested THC or CBD unwanted side effect from the official stays in the system longer, it would be medical point of view, a primary benefit better for someone with a chronic confrom a recreational user’s point of view. dition of pain or glaucoma, where some level of therapeutic dosage would re• CBD has some anti-inflammatory main while the patient slept. benefits, including some analgesic effects. • Smoking achieves a far quicker benefit, as the drug enters the body through • There may be some potential anti-psy- the lungs and is dispersed rapidly. chotic benefit from CBD in high doses, but that has not yet been fully studied. • The level of THC in the body also declines much more quickly with smoked • The glandular head of the trichome marihuana than with orally ingested also is known to contain terpenes. THC.
By Owen Smith clinical trial process and have become available. • One is Sativex, an extract of the cannabis marihuana plant that contains THC and CBD in equal proportions, taken as an oral spray. • Another is Marinol, a synthetic THC in a sesame oil capsule. • Another is Nabalone, similar to Marinol. • There is a risk that a cannabis compound mixed with another drug, like an opioid or alcohol, can have worse results than either drug alone. There is also a risk that the psychoactive effects of THC can adversely affect judgment, perception and reaction times in those operating automobiles or dangerous machinery. • Some research is being conducted on cannabis products, but a few more clinical trials are needed to bring cannabis products to market. • However one takes the active compounds in cannabis marihuana, it is unlikely that one will suffer any long lasting harm from an overdose. • There is reason to believe that terpenes have a role in the efficacy of cannabinoids, but this idea also needs much more research. • The cannabis marihuana plant and its active compounds are unlikely to cause physical harm, unlike other drug compounds where taking too much can lead to death. • t is not possible to tell by looking what the contents of a cookie might be, or what concentration of THC a capsule of oil might contain. Read the Full Decision Here
• Smoking would be a better way to take www.scribd.com/doc/117286282/R-va therapeutic dose in case of a sharp in- Smith crease in pain or discomfort. I am very thankful for the patient wit• Smoking has the side effects associat- nesses; our expert witness; our lawed with inhaling smoke which, although yer Kirk Tousaw and quarterback Ted less harmful than tobacco smoke, poses Smith; all the members of the V-CBC, some risks to health. caregivers, supporters and ultimately for the gifts that this tremendous plant of• A fourth application or ingestion fers humanity. I am glad the two female method would be to spray a solution judges had the reasonable sensibility to containing the active compound un- see the unjustified interference with pader the tongue. This method is called tients’ dignity, independence and autontrans-mucosal ingestion. Its advantages omy to make decisions concerning the include faster assimilation of the drug, management of their health problems. like smoking, without the risks associated with smoking. • There are some cannabis-derived products that have gone through the
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
Emery
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Flying High Again: Marc Emery Reflects, Reevaluates and Reacts I was in the band! An incredibly good band. So Grizz taught me three hours a day, every day, and six weeks later, on July 2, 2011, we did our first concert, 8 songs, and although I hit only the root notes of those songs, it went well. The other guys were so good that my novice ability was largely concealed. It was the only time I played only root notes in concert. By the Labor Day show in early September, I had gotten better and continued to improve.
An interview with Ted Smith
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oon after Marc Emery was released from prison I bugged him to grant me an interview. Luckily he had time before taking off to Europe for his first trip abroad with his wife, Jodie. Here is what he had to say. 1. Can you describe your f irst moments of freedom? I didn’t sleep the night before at Tansas Parish Prison in Central Louisiana, where I had been 5 weeks awaiting deportation after my sentence ended at Yazoo Federal Prison in Mississippi on July 9.
immediately very comfortable. At the podium people had brought fruit plates with every kind of fruit, because interviews leading up to that day had described how I missed fresh fruit in prison most of all. There was a lovely prepared vegan vegetable plate too. Throughout the 90 minute press conference, I nibbled away at the fruit and vegetables. I had three tokes about two hours into the press conference. By next day I was smoking several joints.
At 3.30 am, they came to get me and the process started. By 4.30 am I was in a vehicle, in leg irons, a chain belt around my waist and handcuffs attached to the belt, which would stay on me for the next 12 hours until I arrived in Within 24 hours, the 54 month Windsor, Ontario. So all chained up I was until I got to Windsor. prison experience was quickly fadI was unchained in the Canadian ing from my consciousness. Immigration office, and taken to a 2. Did you have any pleasant surdiscreet door through which I was prises in jail? to exit ‘into Canada’. That moment, opening the door and coming through was like going through a time/space portal, from a world of black & white into a starburst of colours. The drab, grey Immigration office instantly opened up (at 4.20 pm remarkably) into a brilliantly sunny world of hurrahs and cheers as I was greeted by 20 or so glass eyes (TV and video cameras), 100 people, wafts of pot smoke (Immediately blown at me!), and Jodie, who hugged me and then handheld me and pulled me along to a podium in front of Windsor City Hall two blocks away. I felt
I was in six US prisons in my 4 1/2 years there, and in each one I encountered very polite, considerate and friendly inmates. In fact, I rarely heard an unkind word said to me by my fellow prisoners, and that was probably the greatest and most welcome surprise. Federal prison guards are very professional over-all too.
I practiced every day and over my 3+ years at Yazoo did 14 yard I befriended them and asked if they needed any music books as shows and had so many wonderful the prison had none, tab books memories of being in the band. from which these guys could learn We had a terrific electric studio songs. I offered to order some. and amplified sound, and it was So after I had a number of them really the most awesome thing.
arrive by mail, I hung out with the On my return to Vancouver, I musicians a bit and tried to learn was given a Fender precision Jazz guitar. I had never played or even bass by some good friends. I hope picked up a musical instrument to play it in a band here at the before. BCMP lounge, but my schedule I struggled with a guitar for for the next year is such that I will about 10 days when ‘Grizz,’ a mu- struggle to find opportunities to sician in the band I admired, came play. to me and said: “If you put that 3. For a while in jail you were guitar away and pick up the bass guitar and learn it, you could be in very ill with an infection. Did they treat you well? my band, we need a bass player.” At the immigrant private prison Apparently, the band had rein Georgia, I got an infection on configured and now needed a bass my buttock that was Methicillinplayer. resistant Staphylococcus aureus I was dumbfounded. These guys (MRSA). This was a 50 cent piece were ace musicians with 15-30 sized hole in my ass, one side of which was red & inflamed, that years experience each! was very painful for several days I said: “You’re saying, if I start until it broke the surface of my learning to play bass, I can be in skin and then wept blood and pus your band? That would be amaz- for two weeks. I know what you’re ing, incredible, and hard to be- thinking. It is even more uncomlieve. I know nothing. How can fortable to have it in prison, particularly in a dorm of 64 guys usthat be?” ing just 4 toilets.
When I arrived at Yazoo prison, a few days later there was a ‘Yard Show’, musical performances by bands. One group of musicians was terrific, and I watched them “I’ll teach you. Our next show is The medical care system in any do a 30-song set of classic rock in 6 weeks, you should be ready by prison is under-staffed and songs that were note perfect. then.” cont. next page....
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
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cont. from previous page.... harried, but they were really overwhelmed at D Ray James, the privately owned GEO Group prison in southeast Georgia, near Jacksonville, the farthest I would be from Jodie in all of the US. Still, they know how to deal with MRSA infection outbreaks and I had this giant white pill (Bacterum) to take every 12 hours for 14 days.
My experience won’t really be the experience of anyone else. I almost never heard an unkind word said to me in 4 1/2 years in 6 US federal prisons, and even 66 days in North Fraser Pre-Trial in BC while awaiting extradition. I was always myself. I was always busy. I had lots to do. I had a daily NY Times subscription. I received 25 magazine subscriptions. I read a book every ten days. I learned bass guitar, played in a band for over 3 years, did 14 outdoor electric rock concerts.
I would not want to make Jodie’s life as an MP difficult and embarrassing. Any great political ideas will have to be phrased just right to achieve results and not have any others lose face or become defensive.
a band when Jodie & I are speaking in Europe for much of September, October, and November, and doing a Canadian university tour in January.
8. Aside from the drug war, what 7. Rumor has it you are forming a is the next biggest problem our sociband. Will you be going on tour? ety faces? Ending the drug war, ending all prohibitions on consenting behaviour is the direction of a civilized society, and will greatly alleviate other crises: war, refugees, the
I got 2 more annoying but far less threatening MRSA infections within the next three years at Yazoo Medium. 4. Did anyone smuggle anything into jail for you? Nothing was smuggled into the prison. Everything I wanted came into the prison through routine channels. What did I want? Vegetables, fruits, any special meats. I paid $5 for an onion, $5 for a bell pepper, $2-$3 for a tomato, $10 for a bag of mushrooms, $10 for a bag of broccoli, $10 for a bag of cauliflower. Bananas and apples were only 50 cents each. Pears, when they appeared, were 50 cents each. This food was stolen by an inmate from the warehouse, the kitchen or the officer’s eating place, and then it would be sold to another inmate. I was known to pay the most because this food was vital to me, and I had the money. Black market food cost me $300-$500 a month, always. Why did I need to buy these common food items? The commissary does not sell any raw fruits or vegetables; it sells only processed food that is, almost without exception, non-nutritious and harmful to health.
militarized police state, burdensome taxes, police accountability, etc. The next challenge will be to end war. War is deadly to cultures, the environment, and human life. It is so destructive to economies. Government and war are linked, and all weapons of war are paid for with your tax dollars. So we have to cut off the funding, worldwide.
Fresh raw vegetables entered the prison, but were served only in excessively boiled form. And even then, these vegetables were almost always green beans or cooked carrots. 5. Do you have any advice for someone going to face a jail sentence? I’d like to know if it’s a Canadian or American prison. There are humane prisons in Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, or Belgium. You definitely don’t want to be in any prison in Latin America, Central America, Mexico, Africa, or Asia. I really don’t know what advice I would give. I would need to consider their circumstances, charges, and expected sentence, because my circumstances were very unique.
A US federal prison, medium security, which has dozens if not hundreds of people sentenced to life without parole for drugs, and not necessarily large quantities of drugs either, was a very safe place for me to be.
I loved the band I was in, called YAZOO. These were extraordinarily talented musicians, all having 15-30 years experience, people who in the real world would never play with a novice like me. So I had great teachers. Talented people, they made me sound great, 6. When Jodie becomes an elected and that made my 3 years in prisMP will you still say nasty things on extremely gratifying. about the government? But now that I’m home it is goProbably not. Telling the truth ing to be a struggle to practice, will be done more diplomatically. meet a practice schedule, and be in
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
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RASTAFARI REPORT The GFGPA Calls For a One Pound Amnesty and the Jamaican State. What are With reference to spirituality, the correlations between Ganja use how much Ganja is burned on the and performance? By performance Rasta Man’s Alter and consumed we mean ‘work’ performance, by him often as sacrament? which is the ability to “carry out or execute” work assignments sucI will argue that a One Pound cessfully. (The Cassell Concise Amnesty is only the beginning, be- Dictionary 1997) The term ‘percause Jamaicans should be allowed formance’ can be placed into two to carry up to several pounds of categories: ‘academic performance’ Ganja on their person in accor- and ‘non-academic performance.’ dance to their indigenous cultural My hypothesis is that “there is rights and traditions. These were a positive relationship between once widely practiced during the Ganja use and performance.” Re20th century, but unconstitution- search data on this hypothesis, ally made illegal in 1939 by the when collected, could be analyzed Jamaican State, and brutally en- and tested using well-established forced by components of the jus- social science methods. The RYIC tice system such as the police. is willing to construct such a reOn the third of August 2014 search project Right Now. Is the
about this youth’s untimely death. Ras Kahleb also noted how Mario Deane shall never be forgotten by Jamaicans home or abroad, and will go down in Jamaican history as a Ganja ‘Martyr.’ He further noted that the RYIC must become more active in the cause for Ganja reform in Jamaica, and should support the recent call by the GFGPA for a One Pound Amnesty.
With reference to a newly proposed amnesty to the government of Jamaica by the GFGPA, Ras Kahleb the Hon. Neville Livingston ( Jah Bunny Wailer) state in a recent inhe Ganja Future Growers terview with The Observer News and Producers Association Paper: “This amnesty of one pound (GFGPA) are increasing their soof uncompressed ganja would imcial justice activism towards Ganja mediately remove the criminalisreform in Jamaica with an imme“Jamaicans should be allowed ... several pounds ing actions that have caused such diate call to the Government for a One Pound Amnesty. The idea of a of Ganja on their person in accordance to their untold damage to our young brothers. This I can completely relate to, One Pound Amnesty was recently indigenous cultural rights and traditions.” as I had to serve 18 months for a introduced to the GFGPA by its spliff at hard labour in Richmond Chair, Mr. Orville Silvera, and for the purpose of representing the Mario Deane was incarcerated at UWI willing to fund this research Prison in St Mary [in 1967], for a constitutional right of all Jamai- the Barnett Street police station project? The point made here is case — that I later learned in my cans who use Ganja for various in Montego Bay, St. James without that many lies are continuing to career — that was withdrawn. I purposes unconfined to smoking. bail for a single Ganja spliff. While be told about Ganja use and pre- should never have gone to prison.” But what is meant by the phrase, ‘a in police custody, he was mur- dominantly in a negative way. Re- (The Observer 2014) To facilitate One Pound Amnesty?’ According dered by two mentally challenged member Reefer Madness. Prayer- the discourse, Wailer is organising to Mr. Silvera, who spoke at the cellmates. It was on the sixth of fully the recent MOU between the the eastern chapter of the NationGFGPA’s second steering com- August ( Jamaica’s Independence UWI and Strains of Hope, which al Council of the Ganja Industry mittee meeting held on the 27th Day) that Deane succumbed to his is based on scientific research, through the Ganja Future Growof September in St. Andrew, Ja- injuries at the hospital. Corpo- will reveal positive and medicinal ers and Producers Association, and maica: “the One Pound Amnesty ral Elaine Stewart, District Con- truths about Ganja, and will bring launching this Chapter on Octospeaks to each individual being le- stables Marlon Grant and Juliana about change soon. Meanwhile the ber 11 in Morant Bay, St Thomas. gally permitted to having at least Clevon were all charged with man- activism for legalization of Ganja According to the surviving Wailone pound or less of uncompressed slaughter, attempting to pervert continues, and with renewed en- er: “on October 11, the Rastafari ganja on their person.” (Silvera the course of justice, and miscon- ergy especially since Jamaica and community, through the Rastafari 2014) He further noted that: “A duct in a public office. In fact, the the world does not want another Millennium Council, will lead the nation in planting an organic call has already been made to the sensimilla seed in our sacramental Government to enforce the One spaces in memory of Mario Deane, Pound Amnesty until legalization. and let the brutality of his sacrifice It is to be placed on their order bloom organically into the Mario pipe (agenda of parliament), and Deane Sensi, that in six months a press conference will be held in will be harvested and brought to front of Gordon House on Tuesday Jamaica House, King’s House and when parliament will be discussing Gordon House in April 2015, as the issue of Medical Ganja” (Silthe new budget is read,” (The Obvera 2014). server 2014) In support of this One Pound One component of Ganja reAmnesty I will raise questions that form is the expunging of criminal are historical, cultural traditional records. Member of Parliament and religious. Raymond Pryce fervently noted: The Ganja Future Growers and Producers Association “we have to let the 63 members In the past, how much ganja was in the house know that this reused by members of the Rastafari recent jailing and murder of Mario Mario Deane situation! form of Ganja law is a number one Community in healing rituals such Deane, a 31-Year old construcAt a recent General Meeting priority…Justice Minister Mark as baths used to treat people who tion worker who was on his way to work in Montego Bay (a major held by the Rastafari Youth Initia- Golding is piloting this cause in had various infections of the skin, tourist destination) is reflective of tive Council on the 21st of Sep- the upper house and Minister of including eczema? the inefficient and brutal justice tember 2014, the very same Sun- National Security Peter Bunting Culturally, how much Ganja was system here in Jamaica. To note, day on which Mario Deane was is piloting this same cause in the used daily by the Jamaican people in Jamaica having a spliff ready for buried, there was a brief moment lower house…presently the Ganja in treating community members ‘work’ is a cultural practice among of silence in memory of him. The reform matter is being attended with lung ailments such as asthma construction and other workers, General Secretary of the RYIC, to.” (Pryce 2014) Pryce also noted who also perform pretty well. As a Ras Kahleb, noted how the death that the parliamentary debate on and bronchitis? member of the GFGPA’s steering of Deane is inevitably going to in- Ganja reform this Tuesday, SepIn terms of tradition, how much committee representing the Rasta- crease the social activism towards tember 30th 2014 is an entryway Ganja is given away daily by those fari Youth Initiative Council, here Ganja legalization in Jamaica. We call to the immediate expunging who give good tidings to the peo- is a question that I put to the Uni- will have the help of the Jamaican of the criminal records of persons versity of the West Indies (UWI) Diaspora who are also disgruntled arrested for possessing minute ple?
T
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014 amounts of ganja. A Press conference by the GFGPA is to be held at The Gordon House Park in front of the parliament building on Tuesday as well, and will outline a program of activities on public education, information and other expected positive vibes regarding the development of a ganja industry in Jamaica.
Stowe, Vice Chair of the GFGPA and Director of the RMC, “the Sacramental Rights of the people who are followers of Rastafari will also have to be enforced by law if Medical Ganja and Industrial Hemp are to be enforced.” (Stowe 2014) The island of Jamaica is a major Ganja producer and transit country in the region, positioned in between Central and In expressing his view pertain- South America. Some Jamaicans ing to decriminalization in Ja- fear that there will be an increase maica, Raymond Pryce said that, in violent crime and a breakdown although more States in America of public order if Ganja were to such as Maryland are seeking to be legalized. Due to a 15 percent legalize Ganja, the US is still the increase in murder from last year, major stumbling block for Ganja citizens of the country and politireform in Jamaica. He highlighted cians alike seem to be divided over how some of the elderly Jamaican Ganja reform in Jamaica. politicians would never want to see Ganja decriminalized. Pryce also mentioned that Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson in a past public interview affirmed how he was not opposed to any research to do with medical Ganja. He also noted that Anthony Hylton, the Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce said in a separate public statement that he did not oppose to any formal dealings with industrialized hemp. On the issue of Medical Ganja and Industrial Hemp, the reform of Jamaica’s ‘Dangerous’ Drug Act would first have to take place. However, according to Maxine
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
22
Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
S uppositive M edicine How Cannabis Suppositories Can Save Lives Dispose of the glove or finger cot sanitarily and wash your hands thoroughly using soap and hot water, paying extra attention to cleaning under the nails and between the fingers.
Nicholas Fraleigh “You want me to put that WHERE?”
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his is a common reaction to the suggestion that cannabis can be used as a suppository. Rectal administrations (suppositories) have an unfairly bad reputation in North America, despite the diverse benefits they offer. This article aims to educate about the advantages associated with the rectal application of cannabis and provide a simple set of guidelines for the effective use of suppositories. There are many advantages to the rectal administration of cannabis not afforded by other routes. Medicine may still be administered even if the oral route is impaired (e.g., due to vomiting, an injured jaw or throat, or gastrointestinal difficulties) or disallowed due to the oral intake restrictions that are frequently required both before and after surgery. Avoiding the gastrointestinal tract also prevents first-pass metabolism by the stomach and liver, which break down many different molecules into their constituent parts (including Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, otherwise known as THC), and allows the active constituents to reach the blood in much higher concentrations. In the case of THC, the liver transforms around half of what is ingested into the significantly more psychoactive metabolite 11-Hydroxy-Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol. While not harmful in and of itself and potentially of therapeutic benefit, this molecule causes much more intense cognitive effects than THC. Rectal administration not only avoids these effects, but also allows a much greater proportion of THC to eventually reach the blood stream. This increase in overall efficiency is also shown in the different levels of bioavailability that different administration routes afford, as seen in Fig. 1. Rectal administration also allows for medicine to exert effects over localized ailments (e.g., hemorrhoidal tissue, inflammation of the rectum, or tumours in the rectal cavity). This form of use also has a much faster uptake than oral administration (around 10 minutes, on average) and leads to more consistent blood concentrations of the active constituents. The speed and reliability of their uptake combined with their circumvention of many of the issues surrounding both ingestion and inhalation make rectal applications an excellent addition to both new and pre-existing therapeutic regimens. When designing a personalized medication regimen, it is important to know the various timings involved with a given administration route. With suppositories, most people will begin to notice initial effects within the first 10 – 15 minutes after insertion. These effects usually last for between 4 – 8 hours, depending on the individual’s physiology and tolerance to cannabis.
Be very aware of the possibility of unintended expulsion of melted suppository residue during flatulence over the next few hours after insertion. If you have ANY doubts, use a toilet.
Fig. 1 – Comparative bioavailability of different administration routes Inhalation : 10 – 25% efficiency, highly variable, depends largely on the individual’s level of experience Oral : around 30% efficiency, highly variable, even between doses within a single individual Rectal : around 50% – 70% efficiency, with predictable effects even between different individuals This swift increase in effect allows for acute dosing in many cases, although this depends both on the situation and on specific individual needs. There are several issues that can slow absorption from the rectum to the blood stream. Diarrhea and fecal matter can slow or prevent the active ingredients from reaching the rectal wall and being absorbed. Tumours or cysts on the rectal wall can also slow or prevent absorption. In this case, less medicine would reach the blood, but as the tumours are likely the intended target(s) of the suppository, the direct delivery of the active constituents may help prevent an overall reduction in efficacy. Finally, rectal dehydration can drastically reduce the effectiveness of suppositories. Staying well hydrated by maintaining a healthy consumption of both water and electrolytes should prevent this in most cases, but specific medical conditions may cause it as well, in which case the solution may not be as simple. As always, if there are concerns, a medical professional should be consulted. Anyone who decides to take advantage of the benefits provided by suppositories should do so with a good understanding of the process involved. Although not overly complex, the few simple instructions outlined below will enable their effective use.
INSTRUCTIONS -Before insertion It is important to wash your hands thoroughly before insertion of a suppository, as germs and bacteria can enter the body through the rectum. Disposable medical gloves or a finger cot can be used for this purpose. Ensure that fingernails are trimmed and have no sharp edges. Ensure the suppository is firm enough to insert. If it is too soft, harden it in the package by placing it in either the fridge or freezer. Suppositories can also be quickly hardened in the package by running
cold water over them.
If only half of a suppository is being used, cut it lengthwise to make insertion easier. When cutting, make sure to use a sterile knife or scissors. Avoid sharp edges! Suppositories can be gently smoothed by hand. -Insertion Lie on your preferred side with your top leg pulled up towards your chest. Lift your upper butt-cheek to expose your rectum. Insert the suppository lengthwise, with the pointed tip first, using your index finger to push the suppository in. -Placement Ensure the suppository has been inserted past the anal sphincter. If not inserted fully past the sphincter, some or all of the suppository may be expelled without the active ingredients reaching the rectal wall and being absorbed into the blood stream. It is important to not place the suppository too high up in the rectum. If placed too high, the active constituents will enter the Superior (upper) hemorrhoidal artery, which leads to the liver. This presents the same problem as oral application, as the liver will metabolize a significant proportion of the active ingredients. The suppository should ideally be placed around 2 ½ to 4 centimetres (1 to 1 ½ inches) into the rectum, just past the anal sphincter. -After insertion Hold your buttocks together and tightly squeeze the muscles in your sphincter for a few seconds after insertion to help keep the suppository from sliding out. Remain lying on your side for several minutes after insertion to allow the suppository to fully diffuse through the rectum. This will also help to prevent the unintended expulsion of the suppository.
In order to better serve our diverse member base, we at the V-CBC are currently developing a selection of 3 distinct types of suppositoroes. With the different constituents and therefore different effects provided by each kind, we hope to be able to supply a suppository that works ideally for each member and their specific condition. Maintenance strength (low dose) For those with a lower tolerance to the effects of cannabis and for consistent dosing over the course of an entire day. Ingredients: Organic cocoa butter Three kinds of cannabis inflorescences (flowers) infused into organic coconut butter. Breakthrough strength (high dose) A strong dose, useful for those with a high tolerance to the effects of cannabis and for those days in which symptoms are especially intense. Ingredients: Organic cocoa butter Three kinds of cannabis trichomes (hash) infused into organic coconut butter. CBD (high efficacy, low psychoactivity) Low psychoactivity combined with the broad spectrum of medical effects afforded by a 1:1 ratio of CBD and THC. See our “CBD” pamphlet for more details. Ingredients: Organic cocoa butter Organic coconut butter infused with the inflorescences (flowers) of two different CBD+ varieties of cannabis. The unique properties provided by the rectal administration of cannabis have the potential to empower many individuals. Suppositories can be used to refine existing therapeutic regimens to greater effect. Individuals who have been prevented from using cannabis due to an inability to administer via either inhalation or ingestion can potentially derive benefit from this wonderful plant for the first time. At the V-CBC, we believe strongly in the philosophy of empowering our members with the education and resources to heal themselves. We hope that these new products will help to do just that.
Issue Number 42
www.CannabisDigest.ca
The Laugh Is On …? Are Cheech and Chong Still Smokin’?
Ted Smith
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ame and fortune are the goals of many youth, but few senior citizens truly get to look back at a long career and feel they have reached the top. Not so for Cheech and Chong, unquestionably the most well-known potheads on the planet. These two have reached the peak of cannabis stardom, gaining almost cult-like status among many young and old stoners alike. Given the limited understanding of most people in North America, it is no wonder these two have become so popular. For those who do not smoke cannabis and have not been properly exposed to its use in everyday life, Cheech and Chong’s films and albums provided a glimpse into a world foreign to them. For the rest of us, their comedy act gave us a chance to laugh at ourselves and the awkward situations prohibition puts us in. During my youth these guys were superstars. Many of my old friends will remember a Cheech and Chong party I once threw in the basement of my parents’ house, where everyone allowed in had to have a minimum
amount of hash or pot to smoke. Watching their movies together in this crowded, smoke-filled room was one of the best party experiences I ever created.
was tempting to ask if they were aware that by portraying cannabis users as fools, these comedians have helped prohibitionists convince the public that smoking weed makes you stupid. This has been a very Meeting the famous duo of Cheech strategic move by the US governand Chong would be a dream come ment, who had to change their initrue for most cannabis activists. tial reefer madness campaign when
Getting a chance to interview them together should be a huge break for anyone’s career in the cannabis scene, as fans flock to them and everything they do. Unfortunately, my opportunity to meet the biggest potheads of our era has been, in retrospect, a disappointment. Going into the interview I was trying to take a positive approach. It
it became clear that cannabis did not cause people to become raving killers. Making herb lovers appear like idiots was an easy way for Hollywood to entertain the masses, and drive propaganda down the throats of the unsuspecting viewers. In many ways, Cheech and Chong have been a great tool for the Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA has
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not even had to pay them to fulfill their mandate. Instead, this comedy team has made a good living entertaining people, leaving the activists to fight the terrible stereotypes they love to portray. Our meeting was just before a big show in Victoria, oddly enough their only performance in BC. Though I was told the interview would be about an hour before the show, ultimately Tommy did not arrive until 45 minutes before show time and then had to eat before we talked. When I did finally have a chance to sit down with them the only available room appeared to be a small dressing room that Tommy joked felt like a bathroom. Of course, I should be eternally grateful for the opportunity to meet them at all. By the end of the evening, though, it was clear to me that instead of being one of the highlights of my career, meeting Cheech and Chong turned out to be high on my list of lifetime letdowns. While I appreciate the efforts others made to get us together, and for the free ticket to the show, ultimately the experience has left me with another bitter taste of Hollywood. But I should have expected it.
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Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
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cont. from previous page...
In hindsight, trying to have a serious interview with these two was the wrong approach. Instead, I should have asked questions about sex, racism and self-indulgence. To a certain degree I tried to ask some entertaining questions, but this was supposed to be my one chance to learn more about the men the world identifies with smoking pot, and I was not going to spend the entire time joking around.
to regain his health, though, he gave more credit to the diet suggested to him by Dr. Neil McKinney than he
ed looking forward to it. Turned intellectual arguments to change the the lights down. Put on some jazz.” laws, or research the potential mediThat was about as serious as Chong cal benefits. They focus instead on his celebrity status.
did to the cannabis oil. To be fair, Dr McKinney is the best in this field in the world. He has written the bible for people suffering with various forms of cancer, and who are interested in using naturopathic
could get with me.
“It is not just about getting high. To be fair, Tommy Chong at least some cannabis. Cheech Not at all.” smokes Martin does not really appear inOne would assume that after using cannabis to fight off a close call with cancer and spending nine months in jail for selling bongs, Chong would
Personally, I take cannabis very seriously. I have seen this plant save lives. I see it ease suffering and improve moods every day. I know the potential it has for agricultural communities. I have seen the frustration caused by prohibition. I have seen the drain on valuable public resources in the enforcement of these laws. Cannabis is a very important part of my life, keeping me healthy and strong, and if more people around the world could understand its benefits we would see massive global Owen, Bill and Ted at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, BC changes that would dramatically improve the way our society functions. medicines, herbs and diet: NATU- be more determined to help make cannabis legal, but that does not It is not just about getting high. Not ROPATHIC ONCOLOGY. seem to be the case at all. During at all. Granted, it is hard to be totally the show, though, he joked about Even for Tommy Chong it is not serious when you are talking about how jail was not so bad for him all about getting high and making sticking things up your bum. “At first because he is Tommy Chong. No jokes anymore, or at least it should when I began using suppositories it doubt he was treated as well as one not be. He used cannabis oil to help was hard,” Chong recalled. “It was can be while still behind bars, but get his prostate cancer under control. embarrassing. But after the second it was rather lame to hear him joke When I asked him how he was able time it was like, oh, this is fun. Start- about being thrown in a cage when he was not even selling drugs. Since the interview was rushed I was not able to ask questions about their political activities, but a broader look at their work shows little effort to help cannabis actually become legal. Of course, being known for being potheads opens the door for others to ask them their opinion of the law, but rather than doing benefits for cannabis reform or using their fame to promote legalization campaigns this duo thinks it is all one big joke. A quick look through the posts on Tommy Chong’s facebook page shows that they lack any
terested in cannabis at all, and has seemed to do his best to distance himself from the very subculture that has worshipped him. When I tried to ask a serious question of him about whether or not the drug war had negatively affected his family, I should not have been surprised by his response. “We are Mexican so we have thrived with the War On Drugs” In fact, one would wonder what Cheech and Chong will do if cannabis becomes legal and the public no longer finds their immature antics funny. No doubt teenagers will always be drawn to watch their old movies, but hopefully the duo will do a better job with their new movie than they did with their Victoria show. It was full of decades old material, some straight from their old movies. We need celebrities and public figures of all types to speak out against the prohibition of cannabis and in favour of legalizing the herb. Certainly there will always be time to make fun of the cannabis culture and the silly things we do, but there are also times we need to be serious so long as good people are being thrown in jail for this wonderful plant. It would be wonderful if the two celebrities most known around the world as stoners could drop their routine for a minute and take the time to help the movement out once in a while.
Issue Number 42
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Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2014
Issue Number 42
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Slow U.K. to Change Grassroots Groups Hoping For Brighter Days here in the UK. It is great to see communities and social clubs come together via social network sites.
Mark Knowles High Cannabis Digesters!!
F
irst off, one of the good pieces of news to digest is the release of Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, after almost 5 years incarcerated in a land he was not allowed to visit on his own. It is great to see him and his wife Jodie reunited. They are now going on tour to spread the word of legalization. From what I understand, they shall be visiting Glasgow, Scotland and London, England in the UK,, and doing a whistle stop tour of Ireland. They will start the tour in Spain and get to see a bit of France, too. I shall be attending the Glasgow part of the tour & shall give an update, via the Cannabis Digest Blogs. There is a host of barbeques and picnic protests planned for the next coming months, before the winter
We had a slight sidetrack on the activism front in Scotland, with the vote for independence taking the hot seat for debate nationwide. Scotland never gained independence. With Scotland having one of the worse records for “drug associated crimes” in Europe, maybe a legalization model could have been implemented. We will never know. Currently in the UK, the Liberal/ Democrats will be reviewing a policy paper on decriminalizing personal drug use at the party conference in October. Hopefully the Emery tour of the UK and part of Europe musters up some forward thinking and ideologies within other political parties ranks. With Jodie running for a Liberal seat in Canada, we can hope there is a global domino effect! Apparently, the UK will be looking at the Portugal model of “quasi legal”, or decriminalized. Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs in 2000, considering drug use a health issue and not a criminal matter. These UK politicians will apparently also discuss the actual legalization of cannabis for personal use. The Liberal/Democrats are willing to look at the Uruguay model of a an “open regulated cannabis farmers market.” This would make sure the
industry is not overrun by big bucks, and would keep consumers in a regulated framework. Governments need to be realistic and look at the economics. Just watch tax revenue going up and drug associated crime rates dropping in Colorado from legalizing cannabis! Although they have great vision, the Liberal/Democrats are known as the third political party, Labour and Tories being the other main two here in the UK. But they could end up holding the balance of power in a minority government. Never say never. Nick Clegg of the Liberal/Democrats has been quite vocal on the need for change in drug policy. His conservative counterpart, David Cameron, though, will not look at even decriminalizing, never mind legalizing. In 2012, the Liberal/Democrats leader accused politicians of a “conspiracy of silence” about the problem of drug addiction. He argued that the UK was losing, and that “the war was being lost on an industrial scale”
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Jeremy Hunt, in August, asking for a review of the medicinal benefits and properties of cannabis. Anybody advocating cannabis has my vote! Well I must say, with having had spasms and tremors as a kid which turned epileptic in my teens, I am sure glad to see prohibition falling, brick by brick. This is partly due to US Dr Sanjay Gupta’s turnaround stance on the efficacy of what he was seeing for his own eyes: cannabis works and can stop seizures and spasms. This chemical entourage effect occurs when all the cannabinoids and other compounds work synergistically with each other. This is a holistic approach to making medicine. Cannabis regulates the brain’s neurons, which halts the seizures, spasms and tremors. On facebook, I had posted lots of news articles and videos of children with the likes of Dravet Syndrome. With half the videos I watched, I could not help help but shed a tear. Now if any professionals can deny that this is medicinal value, they should not be in their profession. All doctors need to learn about how cannabinoids function.
Norman Baker, the Liberal/Democrats minister in charge of drugs policy, has called on the coalition to legalise the widespread use of cannabis, with focus put towards relieving the suffering caused by certain Until next time my hempy friends, medical conditions, including the from the UK side effects of chemotherapy. Baker also wrote to the health secretary, One Love.
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Cannabis Digest â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2014
1)OscarWilde,2)WilliamShakespeare,3)RobinWilliams,4)GeorgeWashington,5)BruceLee,6)GeorgeCarlin,7)JoanofArc,8)JimiHendrix,9) BobMarley,10)HunterSThompson,11)BiggieSmalls,12)JohnLennon,13)AleisterCrowley,14)QueenVictoria,15)PeterTosh,16)JerryGarcia,17) JackKerouac,18)CarlSagan,19)AlexandreDumas20)JanisJoplin,21)SteveJobs,22)ShenNung,23)JackHerer,24)TimothyLeary
Crossword Answers Check out Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website to see some of her other comics, read her blog, and help her spread the good word by picking up a copy of her book of the Happy Hippie comics.
DECEASED STONERS
By Dieter MacPherson
HEMPOLOGY 101 CROSSWORD Issue Number 42
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Cannabis Digest • Fall 2014
CANNABIS CLUBS ACROSS CANADA AND THE U.S.A Cannabis dispensaries in Canada, due to a lack of regulation, all operate under unique and individual mandates. As such, the membership requirements of each dispensary differ. We recommend travelling with a copy of your original proof of condition (doctor’s note) which the VCBC staff will be happy to provide to its’ members. It is also recommended to research the dispensaries in the region you will be visiting and try to establish contact, if possible, before your visit. Please be discreet and polite when contacting another dispensary—you are representing the VCBC too! Keep in mind: Some dispensaries have problems with supply and accessibility. The VCBC cannot guarantee that another dispensary will have supply or accept your card as proof of condition. Please help grow this network and support your local clubs by encouraging quality gardeners to direct their product to local dispensaries, or by growing yourself.
British Columbia VICTORIA CANNABIS BUYERS’ CLUB (VCBC) 826 Johnson St., Victoria Tel: 250-381-4220 Email: hempo101@gmail.com www.cbc-canada.ca
THE HEALING TREE 529 East Hastings St., Vancouver Tel: 604-569-1091 http://delta9medical.ca/
NORTH ISLAND COMPASSION CLUB Tel:250-871-5207
RedMed 231 Abbott St., Vancouver Tel: 604-559-9444
OCEAN GROWN MEDICINAL SOCIETY 1725 Cook St Unit 1, Victoria Tel: 778-265-1009
Canna Clinic 758 East Broadway, Vancouver Tel: 604-558-2454
VANCOUVER ISLAND COMPASSION SOCIETY 853 Cormorant St., Victoria Tel:250-381-8427 Fax: 250-381-8423
Pacific CannaMed Society 1259 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: 604-558-3225
BC COMPASSION CLUB SOCIETY 2995 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Tel:604-875-0448 Fax: 604-875-6083 Email: info@thecompassionclub.org website: www.thecompassionclub.org
Pacafic CannaMed Society (2nd location) 8546 Granville St., Vancouver, BC Tel: 604-563-3250
GREEN CROSS SOCIETY OF B.C. 2127 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: 778-785-0370 Fax:778-785-0477 www.greencrossofbc.org VANCOUVER MEDICINAL CANNABIS DISPENSARY 880 East Hastings St. Tel: 604-255-1844 Fax: 604-255-1845 West End location: 1182 Thurlow St. Email: c.dispensary@gmail.com www.cannabisdispensary.ca YALETOWN MEDICAL DISPENSARY 1281 Howe St., Vancouver TEL: (604) 566-9051 FAX: (604) 558-2879 www.yaletownmedicaldispensary.com
T.A.G.G.S 11696 - 224th St., Maple Ridge, BC Tel: 604-477-0557 Fax: 604-477-0575 Email: taggs420@live.com NELSON COMPASSION CLUB #203-602 Josephine St. Nelsom, BC Tel: 250-354-4206 Email: nelsoncompassion@yahoo.ca BE KIND OKANAGAN GROWERS AND COMPASSION CLUB. 288 Hwy. #33 West Rutland, BC (Kelowna) Tel: 778-753-5959 Fax: 778-753-5755 Vernon Location: Email: bekindok@hotmail.com www.okanagancompassionclub.com
EDEN MEDICINAL SOCIETY 161 E. PENDER, Vancouver Tel: 604-568-9337 637 E. HASTINGS, Vancouver Tel: 604-568-9337 www.myeden.ca
Alberta M.A.C.R.O.S. 4121-118 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta Tel: 780-457-6824 Website: www.macros.ca
Ontario C.A.L.M. Toronto, Ontario Tel: 416-367-3459 Fax: 416-367-4679 Email: info@cannabisclub.ca Website: www.cannabisclub.ca TORONTO COMPASSION CENTRE Tel: 416-668-6337 Fax: 416-461-7116 Email: postmaster@torontocompassioncentre.org www.torontocompassioncentre.org RAINBOW MEDICAL CANNABIS CANADA Toronto, Ontario Tel: 416-927-8639 www.rainbowmedicinalcannabis.ca MEDICAL COMPASSION CLINIC 66 Wellesley St E 2nd Fl, Toronto Ontario Tel: 647-291-0420 www.medicalcompassionclinic.com
Maritimes
VAN CITY MEDICINAL SOCIETY 1594 Kingsway, Vancouver Tel: (604) 875-0002 Email: vcmsofficial@gmail.com
WESTCOAST MEDICANN 2931 Cambie St., Vancouver, BC. Tel: 604-558-2266 www.westcoastmedicann.com
THCC—FARM ASSISTS Tel: (902) 495-0420 http://thccsociety.wix.com/home
MED POT NOW SOCIETY 4170 Fraser St. , Vancouver Tel: (604) 569-2119 www.medpotnow.com
PAIN MANAGEMNT SOCIETY 2137 Commercial Drive. Vancouver Tel: 604-215-4551 Fax: 1-888-684-6906 www.painmanagementsociety.org
*To add your club to this list, please contact: editor@cannabisdigest.ca
Issue Number 42
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WARNING
E BRITANNIQUE - CANADA DUTY PAI
The Surgeon General... Said Nuthin’ About Smokin’ The Competition. Check Us Out Online at: www.thesmokezone.com Enter our contests Nanaimo, BC
The ORIGINAL
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