+ 29th August 2008 | Support for clinical trials of cannabis

Source: The Australian
Author: Unknown

MOST Australians would support clinical trials of cannabis for medical use, a survey has found. More than 23,000 people over the age of 12 were quizzed about their personal use and attitudes to drugs for the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Almost 50 per cent of respondents said they would support regulated heroin injecting rooms. The nationwide survey found 70 per cent supported legalising cannabis for medical reasons, while approval of clinical trials for cannabis approached 75 per cent. Most people also looked favourably on needle and syringe programs, which were supported by more than 65 per cent.

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+ 29th August 2008 | Young SA women use cannabis the most

Source: The Advertiser
Author: JOANNA VAUGHAN

SOUTH Australian women, aged between 14 and 24, are the most prevalent cannabis users in the country and one in three people drinks alcohol to harmful levels. Those are among the "disturbing" findings of the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.

SA women in the 14 to 24 age bracket were the biggest users of cannabis out of all women in the state, with 19.2 per cent using it recently. That is more than SA men, of whom 16 per cent used cannabis and much higher than the national average of 4 per cent.

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+ 28th August 2008 | Drug sniffer dogs to be used at nightclubs

Source: The West Australian
Author: RONAN O’CONNELL and DANIEL HATCH

Police will use sniffer dogs to search Northbridge pub and nightclub patrons for drugs in a new bid to clamp down on rampant substance abuse. Supt Mark Gilbert, of the police dog squad, told The West Australian yesterday the unit was searching for drug detection dogs suitable for the task of prowling the queues outside Northbridge licensed venues.

Police could not use their present five drug detection dogs because they were taught to seek out illicit drugs actively rather than to just sit down next to a person as a sign that an illegal substance had been detected. A detection by the dog would give police the reasonable suspicion of a crime required for a person to be searched.

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+ 26th August 2008 | Medical-pot limit needs to be larger, some say (USA)

Source: The Olympian (WA, USA)
Author: Adam Wilson

What sounds like a lot of marijuana for pleasure isn't enough for medication, more than 100 people at the state Department of Health headquarters said Monday. The agency was directed by the state Legislature to define how much medical marijuana a patient is allowed to have, something that hasn't been settled since Washington residents voted to allow the product in 1998.

Thomas McCoy of Vancouver, Wash., said he had a stroke more than three years ago and decided to use marijuana to control his pain.

"I called the cops and said what I'm doing," McCoy said, explaining that he raised 75 plants at his home. Later, the police suspected he had too much, took his plants and destroyed his equipment, he said.

"They told us, 'Oh, we don't target medical patients.' That's bull," McCoy told a Department of Health panel. "Please give me some answers."

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+ 26th August 2008 | Killing bacteria with cannabis

Source: Ars Technica
Author: Yun Xie

Pharmacists and chemists have found another use for the multipurpose cannabis as a source of antibacterial chemicals for multidrug resistant bacteria. Ironically, inhaling cannabis is known to damage the lung's ability to fend off invading pathogens, but the ingredients in cannabis, particularly the cannabinoids, have antiseptic properties. Although scattered research has been conducted since the 1950s, no comprehensive study existed that relates the structure of cannabinoids with antibacterial activity. Giovanni Appendino, Simon Gibbons, and coworkers attempted to remedy that problem by examining the activity of five common cannabinoids and their synthetic derivatives.

All five cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBG, CBC, and CBN) were potent against bacteria. Notably, they performed well against bacteria that were known to be multidrug resistant, like the strains of MRSA that plagued U.K. hospitals. CBD and CBG have the most potential for consumer use because they are nonpsychotropic.

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+ 22nd August 2008 | Move Afoot in Poland to Legalize Marijuana

Source: StoptheDrugWar.org
Author: Unknown

According to Polish Radio, a campaign to loosen the marijuana laws is underway in Poland. A petition to the Ministry of Justice requesting the legalization of marijuana for personal use has already been signed by hundreds of people, including drug rehab specialists and members of Monar, a nonprofit group that works with addicts, the HIV/AIDS positive, and the homeless.

Now, would-be legalizers are trying a new tack: direct contact with members of parliament (MPs). "Cannabis canvassers" recruited via the Internet have been paying visits to politicians in an effort to win them over, and it seems to be working. The canvassers have already collected the signatures of five MPs, including former health minister Marek Balicki.

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+ 21st August 2008 | NDLEA to destroy 750,000kgs of cannabis in Edo (NIGERIA)

Source: PunchNG.com
Author: Fidelis Soriwei

The Edo State Sector Commander of the Nigeria Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Mr. Okey Ihebom, has stated that the command will destroy more than 750,000 kilogrammes of cannabis sativa from some suspected drug barons operating in the state.

Ihebom stated that the total volume of cannabis known as Indian hemp seized by the operatives of the command, also involved about 985 bags of the hard drugs from an Owan-based drug baron, who is currently facing prosecution at the Federal High Court, Benin.

Speaking to journalists in Benin on Wednesday, the NDLEA Zonal Commander stated that the owner of the 985 bags of drugs loaded them in a heavy truck and was taking them to Abe, a community in Delta State, when operatives of the agency arrested him and impounded the truck with registration number Edo XM 105 BEN and its contents.

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+ 20th August 2008 | Switzerland backs the legalisation of cannabis

Source: PR.CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Unknown

Four federal parties have rallied in support of an initiative to replace a ban on cannabis use for adults, while strictly enforcing its prohibition for those under 18.

Swiss voters are set to vote on the issue, rejected by parliament four years ago, in a November 2008 referendum.

A coalition of federal Swiss political parties of various stripes has renewed a bid to decriminalize marijuana in the country. Elected members of the Radical, Christian Democrat, Socialist and Green parties endorsed an initiative that would regulate cannabis use while making it illegal for children under the of 18.

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+ 20th August 2008 | Satnav turtle locates cannabis stash

Source: RegHardware.co.uk
Author: James Sherwood

A turtle with a GPS tracker attached to its shell has accidentally stumbled across a teenager’s secret horde of cannabis plants. According to a report by local US news service WUSA, “Jimmy the Turtle” was being tracked by GPS for “research purposes” in Rock Creek Park, Washington when it wandered into a remote section of the park.

A ranger in charge of the turtle went to retrieve the animal and discovered that the animal had walked – albeit slowly – into the middle of a covert marijuana field. Local police later arrested 19-year-old Isiah Johnson of nearby Chevy Chase on suspicion of growing ten cannabis plants.

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+ 18th August 2008 | 1600kg of cannabis lay drying among the corn (BULGARIA)

Source: SofiaEcho.com
Author: Elitsa Grancharov

About 1600kg of partially dry cannabis plants were found during a specialised police investigation on August 16 in the Petrich-region village of Gabrene, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on August 18 2008. The cannabis had been spread out to dry over a field of about 0.3 ha, belonging to a 58-year-old villager.

A similar investigation by anti-mafia police forces around Petrich found rootstock for 218 cannabis plants planted near the village of Skrut. A teenager safeguarding the field was taken into custody, with a police order to be detained for 24 hours.

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+17 th August 2008 | Remove cannabis from the war on drugs

Source: PR.CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Unknown

In an astonishing legislative U-turn, its been announced that a draft set of rules exists which would provide judges with new guidelines for dealing with suspects who are found to be dealing cannabis. Under current regulations a cannabis dealer can face a maximum custodial sentence of 14 years.

But the reality is often very different, with drug-dealing large-scale cannabis growers receiving on average only 18 month sentences and if there is a good defense lawyer in place a prison term can be avoided altogether, and all too easily.

Even without a jail term to show for the conviction its still a costly exercise convicting cannabis dealers. Court cases can often be long, drawn out affairs costing hundreds of thousands of pounds in the name of justice.

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+ 17th August 2008 | Medical cannabis for the UK?

Source: PR.CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Unknown

Did you know it actually works out cheaper NOT to pursue a medical cannabis court case, and to employ "master-builders" to carry out the 'community service' instead.

There are quite literally, legions of otherwise law abiding citizens around the UK, who grow and consume cannabis as a result of a medical condition. And for doing so, they face trips to court, (for many its their first), a criminal record which can hinder job prospects, and in the case of one unfortunate medical cannabis grower from Rugby, a 1 year jail term.

Just weeks before Christmas 2007, Roderick Cotton was sentenced to 1 year in prison by Warwick Crown Court, after he told the Judge he refused to stop growing cannabis.

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+ 16th August 2008 | Pupils let hemp go to their heads

Source: Stuff.co.nz
Author: Tina Law

Cannabis and teenage boys are not often seen together in a positive light, but a group of Christchurch students are attempting to change that perception. Five St Thomas of Canterbury College students have created a business designing, making and selling caps made from 100 per cent hemp.

Enviro-Fern partners Thomas Scott, 16, Louis O'Brien, 18, Graeme Sullivan, 15, John Strang, 15, and Oliver Burgess, 15, were taking part in the Young Enterprise Scheme run by the Enterprise New Zealand Trust. The scheme encourages students to set up a company, create a product or service, market it and sell it.

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+ 15th August 2008 | Europe: French Police Start Saliva-Testing Drivers for Drugs

Source: StopTheDrugWar.org
Author: Unknown

French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie went to the French Riviera town of Antibes on Monday to give a public kick-off to a new French campaign to crack down on drugged drivers. In the new campaign, some 50,000 drug screening kits will be handed out across France.

With the saliva tests, drivers are asked to spit on a stick, which is then dipped in a chemical substance to test for the presence of marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, or amphetamines. If no drugs are present, a red line appears on the stick after a few moments. If drugs are detected, the stick stays white.

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+ 14th August 2008 | Seattle Hempfest 2008: A celebration of all things cannabis

Source: SPISeattle.com
Author: Unknown

This weekend on the Puget Sound waterfront, Myrtle Edwards Park plays host to America's largest marijuana law reform event in the 17th annual Seattle Hempfest. The festival, the purpose of which is to educate the public on the many uses and benefits of the cannabis plant, runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and promises nonstop entertainment.

Hempfest will include five stages featuring hundreds of speakers and music performers. Key speakers include PBS travel show host Rick Steves, author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes Jack Herer, and NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) founder Keith Stroup.

The Hemposium Stage will offer attendees a chance to participate in panel discussions with many of the Hempfest speakers, which John Davis, the event's board chairman, said is an opportunity not to be missed.

"The panels will provide a chance to hear people that really know what they're talking about discuss the issues," Davis said, adding, "It's really a neat experience to get to talk directly to the speakers."

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+ 13th August 2008 | Police seize cannabis in $1m bust

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Author: Arjun Ramachandran

Police have charged a man and after seizing over $1 million worth of cannabis plants and discovering a cannabis set-up in the roof of a house on the state's Far North Coast yesterday. Police searched the house at Ocean Shores, near Byron Bay, about 12.20pm and arrested a 42-year-old man.

He was charged with cultivating a large commercial quantity of enhanced hydroponic cannabis, supplying a prohibited drug, possessing cannabis and using electricity without authority.

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+ 12th August 2008 | WA Liberals vow to crack down on cannabis

Source: Perth Now
Author: Unknown

THE Liberal Party has pledged to repeal Labor's "soft on drugs" cannabis laws if they win the WA election next month. Smoking implements and tools would be banned from sale, there would be no allowable possession of cannabis plants for personal use and the cannabis possession threshold would be reduced by two-thirds.

Opposition Leader Colin Barnett said Labor's drug laws sent the wrong message to young people that so-called social or recreational drugs were acceptable. "If elected, a Liberal government will repeal Labor's soft on cannabis laws,'' Mr Barnett told reporters.

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+ 10th August 2008 | Cannabis Seed Issue Causes Voters to Reconsider

Source: PR.CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Derek Williams

Its a political trend at the moment and one that looks set to continue for some time to come. It all started with David Davis, then shadow Home Secretary (or was it Foreign Secretary), who decided to resign his post in Parliamant to fight a personal by election, which he went on to win by a country mile.

The party was divided with roughly half admiring Mr Davis for his one man stance, whilst the other half attaked him in the press for allowing the rumblings from within Conservative HQ, to permeate and perculate out into the press, where the Labour party were quick to seize upon one of scant few political moments they will wish to remember within the last twelve months.

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+ 8th August 2008 | Cannabis worth €1 million seized in Swords

Source: IrsihTimes.com
Author: Patrick Logue

Cannabis with a street value of €1 million has been seized in Swords, Co Dublin. The seizure was made after two trucks and a van were searched on Forrest Little Road at the rear of Dublin Airport at 6.30am. One of the trucks had arrived into Dublin Port on a car ferry this morning, a Customs spokesman said.

The 95kg of cannabis resin were discovered after a joint operation involving officers of Revenue's Customs service and the Garda National Drugs Unit. The spokesman said the operation resulted from intelligence.

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+ 8th August 2008 | Man in court after police recover £3m of cannabis plants in Jacksdale

Source: Chad.co.uk
Author: Unknown

A man has appeared in court after police have £3m-worth of cannabis plants from a disused factory in Jacksdale.
Thang Nguyen (48), thought to be a Vietnamese national, charged with producing cannabis, appeared before Mansfield magistrates on Friday.

Four other Nottinghamshire men, aged between 25 and 28, a 34-year-old Hucknall man and a 20-year-old foreign national have been bailed. Officers seized 3,000 plants in the raid on Barrows Hill Lane.

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+ 7th August 2008 | Cannabis - The First Twelve Thousand Years

Source: PR.CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Unknown

Of all the plants men have ever grown, none has been praised and denounced as often as marijuana (Cannabis sativa). Throughout the ages, marijuana has been extolled as one of man's greatest benefactors - and cursed as one of his greatest scourges.

Marijuana is undoubtedly a herb that has been many things to many people. Armies and navies have used it to make war, men and women to make love. Hunters and fishermen have snared the most ferocious creatures, from the tiger to the shark, in its herculean weave.

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+ 7th August 2008 | Cannabis trafficker jailed

Source: ABC Hobart
Author: Unknown

A southern Tasmanian man has been jailed for nine months for trafficking cannabis he grew in a shed. Police found more than 100 cannabis plants when they searched the shed at Campania earlier this year. A Hobart Criminal Court jury found 56 year old Leon Francis Wright guilty of trafficking cannabis between 2004 and 2008.

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+7 th August 2008 | Cannabis hope for cancer patients

Source: The Daily Record (UK)
Author: Unknown

GIVING cancer patients cannabis could cause their tumours to shrink, scientists have claimed. In tests on mice, researchers at Texas University found sensors on cells which detect cannabinoids - the active ingredient that causes a "high" - can control the spread of the disease.

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+ 7th August 2008 | Over 2.5K ha of cannabis-cultivated areas destroyed north (Morocco)

Source: Maghreb Arabe Presse
Author: Unknown

Taounate (north), Aug. 6 - A total of 2.7 thousand hectares of cannabis-cultivated areas was destroyed over the period running from May 9 to July 11, 2008.

15 people among growers of the banned substance were arrested during this operation which required $ 250,000. Others are wanted. The operation was preceded by a large awareness-raising campaign as to the dangers of this cultivation.

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+ 5th August 2008 | Approximately 152 kg of cannabis seized in southwestern Bulgarian village

Source: Information Agency FOCUS
Author: Unknown

Skrat. Approximately 152 kg of cannabis have been seized in the southwestern village of Skrat, in the region of Blagoevgrad, the press center of the Interior Ministry announced.

The police conducted a check on Monday in a real property owned by a 62-year-old man from the village. 110 kg of cannabis have been found.

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+ 4th August 2008 | An Ancient Look at a New Medical Approach for Pain

Source: Rocklin & Roseville Today (USA)
Author: Dr. Andrea McCreery

Cannabis: should it be legal or not? Decide for yourself after you read this interview with Dr. Philip A. Denney, a Carmichael medical physician, who expresses his views on medical marijuana below.

Q: Dr. Denney, when did you first get interested in using marijuana for pain control?
A: I was a child of the 60s and a Viet Nam era vet. After serving in the military, I went to medical school and was amazed at all the scientific literature I found about cannabis. By the way, we call it “cannabis” because marijuana is a Mexican slang word.

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+ 2nd August 2008 | Cops destroy 2 pot fields (USA)

Source: The Courier News
Author: Cigi Ross

HEBRON -- Cannabis plants valued at nearly $4 million were eradicated from the Hebron area in two unrelated operations this week, authorities said. A Michigan man was arrested Wednesday after police eradicated more than 2,000 cannabis plants from a field southeast of Hebron. Miguel Talavera-Lopez, 25, of Battle Creek, Mich., was charged with unlawful production of cannabis sativa plants, a Class 2 felony.

Narcotics division Sgt. John Koziol said the cannabis growing area, located in a wooded area surrounded by corn and bean fields, was discovered on a routine police flyover. Koziol said police had been investigating the area for about a year. According to reports, police entered the area Wednesday and took Talavera-Lopez into custody. Another person fled on foot. A search of the area was conducted with the McHenry County Sheriff's K-9 unit but the second person was not located, reports said. According to reports, the subjects were living in the cannabis field to take care of the plants.

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+ 1st August 2008 | Finally, Congress Starts Moving on Reforming Pot Prohibition (USA)

Source: AlterNet.org
Author: Allen St. Pierre (NORML)

Congress is for the first time in a generation (1978) taking a serious look at reforming components of cannabis prohibition laws.

On July 30 something rather historic on a number of counts occurred in the nation's capital. Firstly, Congress is for the first time in a generation (1978) taking a serious look at reforming components of cannabis prohibition laws. In today's Congress, the support of the Congressional Black Caucus is pivotal to passing any substantive cannabis law reform. So I was so very heartened that Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and William Lacy Clay (D-MO) joined us on this very hot and oppressively humid day in DC, along with the always jocose Barney Frank (D-MA), the bill's primary sponsor (along with Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX).

Second, the media attending the press conference on HR 5843, a bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession and use for responsible adults, fairly captured the event's narrative, i.e., 'it makes no sense to treat cannabis consumers like criminals' and 'why not start controlling cannabis in the same way society (and government agencies) already control alcohol products?' with no double entendre or goofy 'stoner stupidisms'. You can view a CNN video of the press conference here. Also, you can check out some YouTube footage here of my opening remarks.

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+ 1st August 2008 | Cannabis-Linked Cell Receptor Might Help Prevent Colon Cancer

Source: USNews.com
Author: Unknown

A cannabinoid receptor lying on the surface of cells may help suppress colorectal cancer, say U.S. researchers. When the receptor is turned off, tumor growth is switched on. Cannabinoids are compounds related to the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in the cannabis plant.

It's already known that the receptor, CB1, plays a role in relieving pain and nausea, elevating mood and stimulating appetite by serving as a docking station for the cannabinoid group of signaling molecules. This study suggests that CB1 may offer a new path for cancer prevention or treatment.

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+ 1st August 2008 | The ideological, illogical war against cannabis

Source: OnLineOpinion.com.au
Author: Sandra Kanck

I’ve introduced a bill which would allow fines to be waived for the personal cultivation and use of marijuana for people suffering designated medical conditions. This would be on the proviso that a medical practitioner has signed a palliative cannabis certificate, saying that the person is suffering from a specified illness or disease, the symptoms of which might be palliated by the smoking or consumption of cannabis or cannabis resin.

Given that in South Australia cannabis is a controlled substance and is illegal under normal circumstances, under this legislation the medical practitioner is given protection.

Cannabis is a drug that has been referred to in literature in all cultures. It was being used in China as a herbal remedy 5,000 years ago; in the US the 1896 edition of the Pharmacopeia had 20 pages devoted to its uses; and until 1934 cannabis was widely used in pharmaceutical preparations in the US. Queen Victoria is said to have used it to relieve period pain.

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