I've posted on this subject, but, wow, check this out.

[beachguy_inthongs]

The official policy of the BC NDP is now that the party supports a legalized marijuana regime, including regulated access to marijuana, no penalties for personal cultivation and use, and amnesty for all past convictions for marijuana possession. (Copied)
http://www.endprohibition.ca/news.php

They are the party in power in Canada.

I'm posting this for everyone to see, whether they care or not, but you may think again after reading this promising report:

Cannabis and the Brain: A User's Guide
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6812

Please read. And thanks for listening.

[beachguy_inthongs]

Okay, I've learned that they are the second party in charge. I'm sorry, I don't know my Canadian Politics.

[beachguy_inthongs]

Does anyone care that the government has been lying and withholding information from us, since the 70's? Cancer has killed millions, I'm sure you know some of the deceased. Marijuana cures it. It raises Melatonin levels 4,000%, which prevents cancer, and heart disease, but they didn't discover that until the 80's. They (the government) knew that it can cure, yet, they send billions of cancer patients to the death chamber, all because of why? Too many people out there who still think "pot makes you stupid".

Well, if you follow that second link, you will find out, exactly, what it does.

How did my Brother become successful in Virginia Beach, and build a home in Lago Mar, being as ignorant as he is? He'd erase my e-mails if I tried to show him the neuro-capabilities of Cannabis. Marijuana is on his hit list. And I fear that there are many other successful people who feel the same way as he does. And they are the majority. The voters.

Dr. Xiao Zhang, et al, have been proving, for decades, the medicinal purposes of Cannabis and they have proven it being beneficial for every living species, from smokers to cancer patients to Joe-raising-a-newborn.

If you smoke cigarettes, you can use cannabis as a natural lung expectorant, with the only harmful side-effect being "the activation of cannabinoid receptors", or "getting high". You see, it's a different "high" from Heroin, because Heroin doesn't get you high by activating your cannabinoid receptors.

I've, also, posted the list of the actions of cannabinoids. THC is a cannabinoid. THC can cure cancer. Mice and Rats won't self-medicate THC.
Here's the cannabinoid list, again.

http://www.thc-ministry.net/cannabisinfo.htm

I've been studying this since my experiences with marijuana, and other drugs, were noticeably different, before T.B.I. and after, and that began five years after, in 1999.

[Recoil]

The article was an interesting read. It's amazing how alcohol is OK but MJ isn't.

THC can be purchased legally from a Dr. though. It's called Marinol. My wife took it when she was fighting cancer and it helped bring back her apetitite -- and made her feel better.

She did not develop an addiction either.

Quite frankly, I would like to see the Gov't legalize and tax it like gas, cigarettes and alcohol.

I don't think it will happen in my lifetime though. The moral majority will block any movement.

Steve

[beachguy_inthongs]

THC is only one cannabinoid. Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that has great medicinal purposes.

It's been proven that mice and rats won't self-medicate THC, I don't know if I've said that, here, before, but I figure we have a little more willpower, and intelligence, than a rat. Or mouse.

I looked up Marinol and found this:
Many users complain that not only is the cost of Marinol greater than the cost of the amount of marijuana needed to produce the same effect, but it is also lacking in many of the properties of the whole plant, which contains hundreds of different cannabinoids. However, Marinol is available for free to those who can demonstrate their financial need to Roxane and Unimed Pharmaceuticals. In addition, it takes over an hour for Marinol to reach full effect, but it's duration is longer and it is available in controlled dosages, avoiding the uncontrolled strengths that occur when smoking marijuana. It is difficult to maintain an exact level of effect (which is important to most medical users), as well as making its use difficult for people suffering from nausea and vomiting, since they often expel the medication before the it takes effect.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Marinol

[beachguy_inthongs]

Recoil, you've mentioned that it's (not right) that alcohol be legal and a medicinal-plant, such as Cannabis, be illegal. I found this study from Australia, don't know when it was done.

Executive Summary

1. A study was designed to examine the effects of marijuana and alcohol when taken alone and in combination on human skills performance and mood.
2. Four dosage conditions were employed for each drug (placebo and three active doses). All possible combinations of these dosage conditions were tested (ie 16 dosage groups).
3. Twenty subjects were used for each dosage group, the experiment employing 320 subjects in all. Each subject attended the laboratory on one occasion only.
4. Data collected were for psychomotor performance using a battery of computer-presented tests, mood effects, subjective assessments of the nature and degree of intoxication, and the subjective assessment of the effects of the drugs on driving skills and willingness to drive a motor vehicle.
5. The performance battery included tests of human skills related to those considered necessary to drive a motor vehicle with safety.
6. The population sample were recruited by advertisements on two Sydney "Rock music" FM radio stations. All volunteers were non-naive as regards marijuana use and were indeed heavy to very heavy users of this drug. The extent of alcohol use by the volunteers was considered to be within the normal range of use of this drug within the community.
7. The attitudes expressed concerning the dangers associated with the use of the two drugs indicated that the population sample was heavily biased against alcohol and in favor of marijuana
8. The subjective assessment of the doses of each drug employed indicated that they were comparable. The subjects assessed the degree of intoxication by marijuana as being of a similar intensity as that produced by alcohol. The doses selected therefore appear to be relevant to those used within the social experience of the volunteer population
9. Both drugs produced significant dose-dependent effects on the performance measures, on the intoxication rating scales and on some of the mood measures.
10. However, there were both quantitative and qualitative differences between these effects, both on the performance measures and on the subjective mood effects of the two drugs.
11. By far the major effects on these tests were those produced by alcohol.
12. The effect on skills performance of alcohol and marijuana when taken in combination was essentially one of addition. Marijuana tended to increase the intensity of the performance impairment produced by alcohol. However there was evidence to suggest that the lowest dose of marijuana produced a degree of antagonism of the effects of alcohol.
13. Marijuana had no effect on the absorption or metabolism of alcohol. The blood alcohol concentration was not affected by any of the doses of marijuana used.
14. The results of this study indicate clearly that alcohol and marijuana are distinctly different drugs. The effects produced on the performance measures were qualitatively and quantitatively different. In addition, the differences in the nature of the drug-induced subjective intoxication and the self-reported changes in mood effects such as anxiety and alertness, strongly suggested different drug actions.
15. The ability to discriminate and assess the degree of intoxication with alcohol was not affected by marijuana. However, the ability to assess the intoxication due to marijuana was greatly affected by alcohol. The subjective intoxication produced by marijuana appears to be of a more subtle nature than that produced by alcohol.
16. Evidence is presented which suggests that under the influence of alcohol, subjects engage in a "speed-accuracy trade-off". They are prepared to make a hasty response to a question rather than to spend more time to ensure a correct answer. This effect could be related to a risk-taking behaviour. The results with marijuana on the other hand suggested a slower and more careful approach to the problem, though as with alcohol, an increased error rate in responses was recorded.
17. Evidence is presented which suggests that marijuana produces periodic attentional lapses.
18. The results strongly suggest that the performance deficits and mood changes produced by alcohol are of a greater magnitude than those produced by marijuana.
19. Recommendations for directions of further research are made.


http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/mjdriv1.htm