Evidence-Based Science: Relative Risks of Smoking Cannabis

"Occasional and low cumulative marijuana use was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function." - That is the conclusion of a 20 year longitudinal study of more than 5000 men and women by NIH researchers just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: Association Between Marijuana Exposure and Pulmonary Function Over 20 Years - http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/2/173.short

Patients Out of Time has previously highlighted similar results from the leading pulmonary research on the long term effects of smoking cannabis.

Dr. Donald Tashkin, Medical Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory and Professor of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, presented the results of twenty-five years of observations (on cannabis smokers; tobacco smokers; a combination of the two; and non-smokers) at our Fifth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, held in April, 2008 in Pacific Grove, CA. His presentation is viewable here in three videos:
Does regular marijuana smoking cause COPD, Emphysema and/or Lung Cancer?

Yellow Ribbons

I'm not sure I'll get the words just right, and you do not want me to sing, but it seems to me it went something like:

“Oh she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon, she wore it for her love who was far, far away. Oh she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon, she wore it in the winter and in the month of May. Oh she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon, she wore it for her love who was far, far away.”

It's an old US Army, Calvary tune. The Calvary wore yellow bandanas whether they were white troops or buffalo soldiers. It meant something to them when their women wore yellow.

Times change but in the US I see yellow ribbons on trees in front of houses, in some small towns they hang from the street light poles or beneath our flag and the POW banner. The back of every other car sports a ribbon or two.

Does it mean anything? These yellow ribbons. Or is it just the latest politically correct symbol? My vote is being held on those questions.

I'm waiting to see what the White House of the United States does with a petition they have received from citizens of both the US and Canada that do care about yellow. The signers of the petition were not yellow, anything but. The spirit that moves them is the other yellow, the yellow that says I care. I really do care.

“And when I asked her why she wore the ribbon, she said she wore it for her love who was far, far away.” Far away in danger or back at “home” she cared, she supported her troop.

The petition:  “Allow United States disabled Veterans access to medical marijuana to treat their PTS(d).”

www.Veteransformedicalcannabis.org (VMCA)  was the originator of the petition which was accessed on the White House web page. In a month VMCA easily met the 5,000 signature requirement that the White House says will give the petition a professional review and a published finding of white house action on the petition. I'm waiting. Seems simple enough. This country allows some Vets to have therapeutic cannabis. The feds issue cannabis to four Directors of Patients Out of Time. Why just them? Why not all disabled Vets? Why not all patients?

In response to the federal government's refusal to allow research into cannbias treatment of post traumatic stress, Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access has initiated a petition at the White House's website - please sign and contact your representatives on this urgent matter:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/allow-united-states-disabled-military-veterans-access-medical-marijuana-treat-their-ptsd/1MD2nrHC//

PRESS RELEASE (MAPS) - Oct 1, 2011:

NIDA Refuses to Sell Marijuana to Scientists,

Blocking FDA-Approved Research for Vets with PTSD

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.–A proposed pilot study of marijuana for 50 veterans with chronic, treatment-resistant post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is at a standstill, following a refusal by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to sell researchers marijuana for the study.

The study, to be conducted by Dr. Sue Sisley of the University of Arizona-Phoenix and sponsored by nonprofit research and educational organization the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), has clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, the monopoly held by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on the legal supply of marijuana for research allows it to deny researchers permission to purchase marijuana regardless of FDA clearance.

Hundreds of veterans in medical marijuana states already report using marijuana to control their PTSD symptoms. The growing number of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat-related trauma combined with large numbers of treatment-resistant veterans highlights the pressing need for research into additional treatments for PTSD. To date, no studies have examined marijuana for PTSD.

On April 28, the FDA accepted MAPS’ study protocol. That same day, MAPS submitted the protocol to be reviewed by NIDA and the Public Health Service, bothpart of HHS. This additional review is required solely because of NIDA’s monopoly. Researchers do not need approval from NIDA or the PHS when initiating studies into the therapeutic uses of more controversial compounds, such as MDMA and LSD.

Re-release of the First Medical Cannabis Video -

The award winning video, "Marijuana as Medicine", opened in 1993 a new era of education into the newest prohibition policy of the US, cannabis prohibition. The key participants in this documentary are the first five patients in the US to receive medical cannabis (marijuana) from the FDA.

Their honesty concerning their physical ailments and the remarkable stories they voice about their journey to get for their health legal medical cannabis is riveting. These men and women, at great risk by taking the federal government to task for untruthful, myth slinging statements about the therapeutic utility of cannabis, forever changed the way their fellow citizens think about the curative effects of medicinal cannabis.

Take a look - 17 minutes. Listen to true citizens speaking the truth.

Then do something.

Send the video to your network and ask that they do the same.

Call or write your Senators and Representative. Send the video to them. It means a lot and only you can do it.

Stand up and be counted. Join the bravery of five patients who are after all,

Patients Out of Time