LIVING, THIKNING + BEING
Medical School says ‘Cancer can be controlled by Hemp/Cannabis’ It can also treat “heart disease, inflammation, pain, STDs, mental disorders, eating disorders, to name just a few,” according to the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Health Sciences, Columbia. (EJMO 2019;3(2):77-91) www.ejmo.org/10.14744/ejmo.2019.46574 These miracles are only possible because, ‘cannabis molecules’ regulate our organ and tissue systems. That’s why, as Professor Glass, Head of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Otago University says, “Our cannabinoid receptors are the target for 50% of all therapeutic drugs on the market.” ($890Bn+) Plant Cannabinoids are found throughout nature (pepper, echinacea and more), but most abundantly in hemp/cannabis. It’s a fact that, many cancers can be killed by eating cannabis in ‘dose dependent fashion’ (the bigger the dose, the smaller the cancer). Other cancers may require us to reduce the levels of our own cannabinoids, which can be done with diet. Science is still involved, and medical professionals will still be needed. But it’s time to move past harmful treatments like chemotherapy. However, Chemo is a USD$100Bn ‘market’, and a plant based cure is unwanted competition for big pharma. Although pharma has the most patents on cannabis, it has the least interest in it. Because, without political protection, (eg. ‘medical’ cannabis) legal public access to hemp will reduce their profits. What’s going on at Otago University? Who benefits from denying the public safe, cheap, effective treatments for pain ($50Bn), epilepsy ($5Bn), anxiety ($15Bn+), stroke ($22Bn), cancer ($100Bn) and other hard to treat conditions?... It’s not the public, our Ministries of Health, or our Treasury. In 2012 Assoc. Professor John Ashton of Otago wrote “there is mounting evidence that cannabinoids may be more efficacious in the treatment of chronic pain conditions, such as neuropathies (than opioids).” Neuropathic Pain, www.intechopen.com/books/ neuropathic-pain, edited by Cyprian Udeagha, Intech. CLASSIFICATION OF CANNABIDIOL Professor Ashton then did important work with cannabidiol (CBD) in 2016 with the The International Cannabinoid Research Society. As New Zealand’s Cannabis Doctor, Doctor Graham Gulbransen, has shown, CBD is safe and effective for many conditions. Cannabidiol Prescription in Clinical Practice: An Audit on the First 400 Patients in New Zealand, www.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32019776/.
Furthermore, the World Health Organisation says CBD is safe, non toxic, and has therapeutic value for anxiety, pain, stroke, epilepsy, psychosis, dementia, cancer and much more. Despite this, in 2016 CBD was made a controlled drug, like Heroin, Cocaine, or Oxycontin. www.who.int/medicines/access/controlled-substances/ CannabidiolCriticalReview.pdf. Even though Professor Ashton’s colleague, Professor Cynthia Darlington was a ranking member on the government’s Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs then (Professor Darlington remains on the EACD, while Professor Ashton is now its Chair.) Even though it’s controlled classification was opposed by the governments own science lab, www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/classification_of_ cannabidiol_-_17_february_2016_redacted.pdf. Even though, EACD co-founder, and ESR GM, Doctor Keith Bedford, went to the High Court, ”to defend the integrity of the criminal justice system” over this issue. (ESR is no longer represented on the EACD) MedSafe finally overcame these objections via ‘anonymous legal advice’, which was then rubber stamped by the EACD. Then in 2017, Professor Ashton told New Zealand that “Cannabis obviously isn’t the same league as strong opioids.” How does cannabis actually affect the human body? www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/94429983/how-does-the-cannabisplant-actually-work-in-the-human-body. Despite having written the opposite in Neuropathic Pain five years earlier. Pain is the second biggest market for pharma drugs after cancer. Medicinal cannabis shortcut raises questions and patient safety risks, www.odt.co.nz/opinion/medicinal-cannabis-shortcut-raisesquestions-and-patient-safety-risks. Why would this be? Who benefits from a fearful medical/ public ignorance about cannabinoids? Its time to #makeitlegal. The governments legalisation and control bill is deeply flawed, but it represents the first steps to kiwis having access to a safe and effective plant medicine that has been denied from us all. Make sure you vote YES. (TADHG STOPFORD PN
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78 PONSONBY NEWS+ August 2020
PUBLISHED FIRST FRIDAY EACH MONTH (except January)
