420 Girls

[420RedHead]

A recent study in the journal PLOS One found that in states that legalized medical marijuana between 1990 and 2006 the crime rate either remained the same or decreased. Another study looked at the Lambeth borough of London, which depenalized cannabis for 13 months in 2001 - 2002. The study found that this actually reduced other types of crime, because Lambeth police could focus their energy elsewhere. These results fit with common sense. Cannabis has a range of effects on mood and behavior, but they don't include violence, impulsivity or other traits that would turn otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals.

 

[420RedHead]

One of the markets important women are dispensary owners. When we did our research and began meeting owners we were pleased to learn about half were women. It is only in the past few months, reading articles which led to scouring board lists, and then searching for more women owned businesses, that we are seeing that the prevailing perception is this, there are not nearly enough women business owners in the cannabis industry. To help women succeed in the cannabis industry the meet-ups, networking, mentoring, and education are all great ways to help women enter and grow in the cannabis industry. However, we believe the best way to ensure women will continue to enter and stay in the cannabis industry is to support their businesses.

 

[420RedHead]

Cannabis has been shown to effectively treat a slew of conditions including seizure disorders (often quite dramatically), glaucoma, and symptoms related to chemotherapy. There is even evidence it can reduce certain types of cancerous tumors. This is all well known and well documented, and yet cannabis remains a Schedule I drug. While it's hard to find anyone who will still defend this policy, it remains the law of the land, and a major stumbling block on the path to reform.

 

[420RedHead]

Whatever the risks of pot smoking, the current laws make matters worse in many respects. Paraphernalia laws have impeded the development and marketing of vaporizers and other devices that could significantly reduce the harmfulness of marijuana smoke. Prohibition encourages the sale of pot that has been contaminated or adulterated by insecticides, Paraquat, etc., or mixed with other drugs such as PCP, crack and heroin. Finally, of course, criminal punishment is itself more harmful to personal welfare than smoking marijuana. Unlike the government, NORML is interested in reducing the dangers of pot smoking. California NORML and MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) have sponsored research on alternative inhalation systems, in particular vaporizers, which are designed to deliver smoke free cannabinoid vapors. The results indicate that it is possible to virtually eliminate the risk of smoking related respiratory damage by using vaporizers instead.

 

[420RedHead]

Some critics exaggerate the dangers of marijuana smoking by fallaciously citing a study by Dr. Tashkin which found that daily pot smokers experienced a "mild but significant" increase in airflow resistance in the large airways greater than that seen in persons smoking 16 cigarettes per day. What they ignore is that the same study examined other, more important aspects of lung health, in which marijuana smokers did much better than tobacco smokers. Dr. Tashkin himself disavows the notion that one joint equals 16 cigarettes. A more widely accepted estimate is that marijuana smokers consume four times as much carcinogenic tar as cigarettes smokers per weight smoked. This does not necessarily mean that one joint equals four cigarettes, since joints usually weigh less. In fact, the average joint has been estimated to contain 0.4 grams of pot, a bit less than one half the weight of a cigarette, making one joint equal to two cigarettes (actually, joint sizes range from cigar sized spliffs smoked by Rastas, to very fine sinsemilla joints weighing as little as 0.2 grams). It should be noted that there is no exact equivalency between tobacco and marijuana smoking, because they affect different parts of the respiratory tract differently. Tobacco tends to penetrate to the smaller, peripheral passageways of the lungs, pot tends to concentrate on the larger, central passageways. One consequence of this is that pot, unlike tobacco, does not appear to cause emphysema.

 

[420RedHead]

Despite anti-drug education campaigns which state marijuana is a gateway for harder drug use, new research from the University of New Hampshire says for most people that is not true. But pot does serve as a "gateway," says Dr. Karen Van Gund, associate professor of sociology, mainly for young people who are poor, unemployed, and subjected to severe psychological stress. In other words, the path to other drugs is not necessarily the pot, but rather the potholes young people encounter on the road. - CBS news

 

[420RedHead]

Can marijuana make you crazy? Not according to the scientific literature, which finds scant evidence that marijuana causes mental illness. Some users do experience anxiety and paranoia, and too much weed can cause toxic psychosis. That's when you lose contact with reality. The effects are temporary. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says that although depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances are linked with chronic use, it is not clear whether pot causes those problems or is used to "self-medicate" against them. - CBS news

 

[420RedHead]

There has never been a single, controlled scientific study showing drug urinalysis improves workplace safety. Claims that drug testing works are based on dubious anecdotal reports or the mere observation of a declining rate of drug positives in the working population, which has nothing to do with job performance. Such scientific studies as have been conducted have found little difference between the performance of drug urine positive workers and others. The largest survey to date, covering 4,396 postal workers nationwide, found no difference in accident records between workers who tested positive on pre-employment drug screens and those who did not. The study did find that drug positive workers had a 50% higher rate of absenteeism and dismissals. Put another way, however, drug users had a 93.4% attendance record (versus 95.8% for non-users) and fully 85% kept their jobs for a year (versus 89.5% for non-users)! An economic analysis of postal workers in Boston concluded that the net savings of drug testing were marginal, and that there could be many situations where it is not cost effective. Another survey of health workers in Georgia found no difference in job performance between drug-positive and drug-negative workers.

 

[420RedHead]

It used to be claimed that there is new evidence showing marijuana is more harmful than was thought in the sixties. More recent studies have confirmed marijuana's safety, refuting claims that it causes birth defects, brain damage, reduced testosterone, or increased drug abuse problems. Some studies even suggest that the active ingredients in the plant, know as cannabinoids, have anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant, and neuro-protective properties (see "Emerging Clincial Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids" by NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano). The current consensus is well stated in the 20th annual report of the California Research Advisory Panel (1990), which recommended that personal use and cultivation of marijuana be legalized, "An objective consideration of marijuana shows that it is responsible for less damage to society and the individual than are alcohol and cigarettes."

 

[420RedHead]

It seems logical that smoking weed could lead to lung cancer. The American Lung Association says pot smoke has more carcinogens than cigarette smoke. Pot smokers also tend to inhale more deeply and hold the smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure. But the evidence, at this point, doesn't seem to back up the theory. A large study in 2006 found no link between weed and lung cancer. Surprising the UCLA research team, whose members expected to find a correlation. - CBS news

 

[420RedHead]

"Industrial hemp can be grown as a fiber, seed, or dual purpose crop. The interior of the stalk has short woody fibers called hurds, the outer portion has long bast fibers. Hemp seed/grains are smooth and about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long. "Although hemp is not grown in the United States, both finished hemp products and raw material inputs are imported and sold for use in manufacturing for a wide range of product categories. Hemp fibers are used in a wide range of products, including fabrics and textiles, yarns and spun fibers, paper, carpeting, home furnishings, construction and insulation materials, auto parts, and composites. Hurds are used in various applications such as animal bedding, material inputs, papermaking, and composites. Hemp seed and oilcake are used in a range of foods and beverages, and can be an alternative food protein source. Oil from the crushed hemp seed is used as an ingredient in a range of body care products and nutritional supplements. Hemp seed is also used for industrial oils, cosmetics and personal care products, and pharmaceuticals, among other composites." - Johnson, Renée, "Hemp As An Agricultural Commodity," Congressional Research Service

 

[420RedHead]

With the recent political debate around medical cannabis trials, you could be forgiven for thinking that the notion was something altogether new. In fact, cannabis has been used medicinally for thousands of years in India and Asia. It was introduced to western medicine in the mid-nineteenth century by an Irish doctor William O'Shaughnessy, upon his return from service in India, and become a popular therapy around the world. Even former US president Richard Nixon's 1972 National Commission on "marihuana" supported studies of its use in the treatment of conditions such as glaucoma, migraine and cancer (although Nixon subsequently ignored his own Commission's findings and instead declared a war on drugs). The criminalization of marijuana saw it swiftly fall from medical favor. However, it seems that medical cannabis's star is once again rising, with some evidence suggesting it may offer considerable relief in conditions where few other treatments are able to help. - ABC Radio

 

[420RedHead]

Your body already makes marijuana like chemicals that affect pain, inflammation, and many other processes. Marijuana can sometimes help those natural chemicals work better, says Laura Borgelt, PharmD, of the University of Colorado. - Web MD

 

[420RedHead]

More states are passing laws that allow people to use medical marijuana. So what does it treat, and who can and should use it? Pain is the main reason people ask for a prescription, says Barth Wilsey, MD, a pain medicine specialist at the University of California Davis Medical Center. It could be from headaches, a disease like cancer, or a long-term condition, like glaucoma or nerve pain. If you live in a state where medical marijuana is legal and your doctor thinks it would help, you'll get a "marijuana card." You will be put on a list that allows you to buy marijuana from an authorized seller, called a dispensary. Doctors also may prescribe medical marijuana to treat, muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, poor appetite and weight loss caused by chronic illness, such as HIV, or nerve pain, seizure disorders and Crohn's disease. - Web MD

 

[420RedHead]

"The costs of this national obsession, in both money and time, are astonishing. Each year, enforcing laws on possession costs more than $3.6 billion, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. It can take a police officer many hours to arrest and book a suspect. That person will often spend a night or more in the local jail, and be in court multiple times to resolve the case. The public safety payoff for all this effort is meager at best. According to a 2012 Human Rights Watch report that tracked 30,000 New Yorkers with no prior convictions when they were arrested for marijuana possession, 90 percent had no subsequent felony convictions. Only 3.1 percent committed a violent offense." Important here to note that New York is a decriminalized state, that is, personal possession of less than 25 grams of marijuana by an adult is supposedly decriminalized. - New York Times

 

[420RedHead]

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

 

[420RedHead]

 

[420RedHead]

Studies of a group of kids in New Zealand have found "that early-onset cannabis use is more common for those with poor self-control, prior conduct problems, and high scores on risk factors correlated with a low family socioeconomic standard," he says. So, Rogeberg simulated how these factors could have caused the IQ drop that the original researchers saw. His analysis was published today, Jan 14, 2013, in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences. He found that most, if not all, of the effect seen in the original study could be accounted for by the low socioeconomic standard factor. These kids with lower socioeconomic status are less likely to be put into intellectually challenging environments, which are part-and-parcel of an increasing IQ score throughout life. Though the original study, by Madeline Meier, et. al, claims to have controlled for socioeconomic standard, Rogenberg says his new analysis indicates that this could have created the link they found between IQ and weed use. - Business Insider

 

[420RedHead]

A study published in the American Journal Of Medicine on April 15 of last year suggested that pot smokers are skinnier than the average person and have healthier metabolism and reaction to sugars, even though they do end up eating more calories because of the munchies. The study analyzed data from more than 4,500 adult Americans, 579 of whom were current marijuana smokers, meaning they had smoked in the last month. About 2,000 had used marijuana in the past, while another 2,000 had never used the drug. They studied their body's response to eating sugars, their levels of the hormone insulin and their blood sugar levels while they hadn't eaten in nine hours, and after eating sugar. Not only are pot users skinnier, but their body has a healthier response to sugar. - Business Insider

 

[420RedHead]