Northwestern study: Marijuana users have abnormal brain structure and poor memory

[Scientific Playa]

i posted this in the boiler room thread for the coli money pros ...


MediSwipe Inc
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Stock in Marijuana Companies Skyrocket After Colorado Sells $1 Million on First Day



Sam Walsh, left, a budtender, and facility manager David Martinez set up marijuana products as the 3-D Denver Discrete Dispensary prepares to open for retail sales on January 1, 2014 in Denver, Colorado.

The long lines stretching around Colorado marijuana shops have apparently not gone unnoticed by investors, with the price of shares for cannabis-related companies skyrocketing since the drug became legal throughout the state on January 1.

One of the claims most often cited by marijuana legalization advocates is how profitable the policy would be both for state governments and the local economy. While a sample size of just a few days is small, the initial success indicates the claims may prove to be true.

A study cited by AFP estimated that the Colorado state government could reap an annual $10 billion by 2018, but private companies already have reason to celebrate. MediaSwipe Inc, which has built a business on selling transaction processing systems to the medical industry and now works with cannabis stores, has seen its shares jump 88 percent over the past month of trading and 69.4 percent on Thursday alone.

Sharing the sudden success is GreenGro Technologies, a growing equipment dealer, with share prices rising 52.3 percent to 6.7 cents. Medical Marijuana Inc, a California grower of medical marijuana, also saw an increase, up 22 percent to 18.9 cents.




Tyler Williams of Blanchester, Ohio selects marijuana strains to purchase at the 3-D Denver Discrete Dispensary on January 1, 2014 in Denver, Colorado.

Most of the companies have yet to make an impact, perhaps because legalization is so new or because it is still limited to Colorado. But researchers with ArcView Market, the same study cited by AFP, said they expect the national legal marijuana market to grow in size from $1.44 billion to $2.34 billion this year. That forecast will likely rise again soon as Washington state is scheduled to legalize cannabis later this year and a number of other states are considering similar legislation.

“Gains will come in the form of increased demand in existing state markets, as well as from new state markets coming online within the five-year horizon,” the ArcView study noted.

Most of the cannabis stores are located in an around the Denver area, where shop owners estimated they collectively sold $1 million within the first 24 hours. Retail buyers are charged a 10 percent tax for every sale and a 15 percent excise tax which varies based on the average market rate. The first $40 million in taxes will be put toward the school system with any tax dollars after that dedicated to regulations.

Yet, because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, business owners are prohibited from putting their profits in the bank – making it difficult for many to know exactly how much they’ve earned.

“We all know this needs to be fixed because there is not one good reason why these businesses are not allowed to have banking accounts – only bad reasons: security concerns and accountability concerns,” Mike Elliott, executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group trade association, told Denver’s KDVR-TV.

State regulators have said they have been in contact with federal officials and expect the discrepancy to be resolved soon, yet none of the remaining hurdles have been enough to dampen customers’ spirits.

“This feels like freedom at last,” said Amy Reynolds, who owns two medical marijuana shops in Colorado Springs. “It’s a plant, it’s harmless, and now anyone over 21 can buy it if they want to. Beautiful.”

Source:

 

[Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson]

marawona need to be aleagle becuh it make blas and messicans uncuhtrolably luss for and rape whie wimmen.

 

[Serious]

No dummy.

everythign you ingest that alters the chemical function of the brain or body in some way is a drug.

the extent that you want to alter that however is where drug regulation becomes an issue.

lets try and not approach this like the fukking illiterate ass taliban and come to some useful conclusions about how biochemistry works.

definitely an underrated poster in HL

 

[BlvdBrawler]

lmao no way!!! let's do one of these where they have them start drinking every day for 3 years(or any other drug for that matter), and see how fukked up their brains get at those ages. what a fukking waste of money.

everythign you ingest that alters the chemical function of the brain or body in some way is a drug.

We should feed 3 year olds a diet high in sodum every day and see if putting certain substances in our bodies continuously over years and years has any effect at all on brain chemistry. It blows my mind that this hasn't been postulated before by anyone, anywhere, ever.

 

[ugksam]

im high right now

 

[TLOL is back]

The brain abnormalities and memory problems were observed during the individuals’ early twenties, two years after they stopped smoking marijuana,

Solution - keep smoking marijuana

 

[Poetical Poltergeist]

Believe the safest substance known to man is the worst brehs

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

T

The motivation part is not proven.

Soon as you smoke pot you start to mainline heroin and coke. true story.

 

[Scientific Playa]

State of NY already smells the tax revenue money.

January 4, 2014
NY Set to Allow Limited Use of Medical Marijuana
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York would become the 21st state to allow medical use of marijuana under an initiative Gov. Andrew Cuomo will unveil this week.

Cuomo plans to use administrative powers rather than legislative action to allow a limited number of hospitals to dispense marijuana for certain ailments. He will formally announce his plans in his state of the state speech Wednesday.

The New York Times first reported Cuomo's plan Saturday. It represents an about-face by Cuomo, who had previously opposed medical marijuana. Administration officials told the newspaper the medical marijuana policy will be more restrictive than in states like Colorado and California and subject to New York Health Department standards.

In states that permit medical marijuana, it is commonly prescribed for chronic pain, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, glaucoma and some other conditions. Other controlled substances like narcotics are already authorized for medical use in New York.

Although marijuana remains illegal in New York, possession of small amounts has been reduced to a low-level violation subject to a fine.

The Drug Policy Alliance, which was briefed on the Cuomo plan Saturday, said it would be a huge change, but New York should still enact legislation authorizing a state medical marijuana program that has been blocked so far by the state Senate's Republicans.

"This is a good development as an interim step," said Gabriel Sayegh, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. After the briefing, he said the timing was still unclear as well as precisely who will have access to the program.

The Cuomo administration did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat, and Democratic Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island have recently held hearings on a bill they are sponsoring called the "Compassionate Care Act," which would regulate and tax medical marijuana. It has previously passed in the Assembly, but failed to get through the Senate.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, another Manhattan Democrat, has been pushing legislation to legalize and tax recreational use of marijuana, arguing state policy outlawing the drug has been costly in terms of law enforcement resources and the futures of people convicted of crimes.

 

[Scientific Playa]

Parents of children with epilepsy lobby lawmakers over medical marijuana
By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

CAREGIVERS: Seth and Danielle Hyman, of Weston, are seeking to have a strain of marijuana legalized to help prevent seizures in their 8-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who has a genetic disorder. .
WALTER MICHOT /
CAREGIVERS: Seth and Danielle Hyman, of Weston, are seeking to have a strain of marijuana legalized to help prevent seizures in their 8-year-old daughter, Rebecca, who has a genetic disorder. .
There isn’t a day that goes by that Danielle and Seth Hyman don’t live in fear that one of the epileptic seizures that course through their daughter dozens of times daily could be the one that kills her.
“At any given time, my little angel could be taken to heaven,’’ said Seth Hyman of Weston. His eight-year-old daughter Rebecca suffers from a rare genetic disorder that results in hearing loss, visual impairment, frequent daily seizures and requires her to be fed through a feeding tube to supplement her nutrition.

For years, the couple tried powerful medications to control the frequent, often silent, seizures but the toxins weakened their daughter’s organs and produced little improvement. Now, the Hymans are among a growing number of Florida families holding out hope that they can persuade lawmakers to legalize a strain of marijuana that has been shown to control seizures in children.

The strain is high in cannabidiol (CBD), the ingredient that controls seizures, but is low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the compound that creates a high. It can be administered without smoking — ingested in oil form or vaporized in a feeding tube. But, like all marijuana in Florida, it is illegal to possess, distribute and sell — unless lawmakers make an exception.

After years of rejecting proposals to allow marijuana to be sold for medical purposes, Florida’s Republican-led Legislature has agreed to hear a bill to allow medical distribution of the specialty strain, known as Charlotte’s Web. The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee will hold a workshop Thursday to hear from parents, growers in Colorado, and medical professionals about Charlotte’s Web.

The political breakthrough was prompted in part by the popularity of a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize doctor-authorized cannabis under certain circumstances.

The medical breakthrough came just over a year ago. The parents of a Colorado child, Charlotte Figi, persuaded the growers of the strain to let them extract the oils of the plant to give to their five-year-old daughter as a last-ditch attempt to control her seizures.

Charlotte suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare and intractable form of epilepsy. But after days on the marijuana oil, her symptoms subsided. Now the marijuana strain has been named after her and growers have formed a foundation to produce and distribute it, giving hope to families across the globe.

“I’ve not seen a single other state that is focused on a cannabinoids through the lens of the THC content,’’ said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. “I want to know who those people are and who they are helping.”

Under the proposal, to be wrapped into a larger sentencing reform bill that reduces criminal penalties for possession of some drugs, only strains lower in THC would be allowed.

The bill is sponsored by Democrat Katie Edwards of Plantation. Her proposal to get a broader bill authorizing marijuana sales for limited medical purposes was killed by House and Senate leadership last year.

The goal, she said, is to allow research and development of the marijuana strain at one of Florida’s state universities and have it tightly regulated. She hopes the partisan politics over the constitutional amendment doesn’t spoil the bill “because I think it’s wrong to tell a family you can’t have access to something you know could help your child.”

But the hearing is an about-face for the Republican-led legislature, which has found itself on the wrong side of public opinion polls after refusing for three years to give a hearing to bills to either legalize medicinal use of marijuana or put an amendment on the ballot to allow for it.

In the last year, a private group funded by Orlando trial lawyer and Democrat John Morgan has collected nearly 1 million signatures to put a similar amendment on the November ballot. The group, United For Care, must submit the signatures to supervisors of elections across the state for validation on Monday and they must have the required 683,149 signatures verified by Feb. 1.

“We are only here because they wouldn’t allow a hearing,’’ Morgan said last week. “We’re feeling very confident.’’

He supports the proposal to legalize Charlotte’s Web, but believes it falls short of what the public wants.

“They’re basically saying let’s take care of everyone with seizures and epileptic episodes but let’s not take care of the people with cancer, AIDs, ALS and multiple sclerosis — so I think the public will see it for what it is,’’ he said.

Several polls show that Floridians — including a majority of Republicans — support the proposed amendment, which must win 60 percent of the vote to be adopted into the Constitution.

“I get a sneaking suspicion that a lot of my colleagues would vote for it if they were allowed to,” said Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, who has sponsored the medical marijuana legislation for the last three years. “The polling hasn’t changed their opinion so much as it has allowed them to voice their opinion.’’

Clemens said he will file a bill again this year to allow for legislative approval of marijuana for medical uses, with a regulatory scheme patterned after the most successful efforts in the 20 states that now allow marijuana for medical use. Only Colorado and Washington state have approved pot for recreational use.

The signature verification effort is not the only hurdle facing Morgan and United For Care. The Florida Supreme Court also must decide whether the ballot language is adequate or is misleading, as Attorney General Pam Bondi and Gov. Rick Scott allege.

Gaetz says the presence of the constitutional amendment had nothing to do with his change of heart about medical marijuana.

“I’m not motivated one way or the other by the proposed constitutional amendment because I don’t think that will be on the ballot,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, some parents aren’t waiting for the politics to play out.

Plantation residents Katherine and Michael Hsiao are in the process of moving to Colorado where they hope to get treatment for their seven-year-old son Kael, who suffers from Dravet syndrome.

“Our businesses are here. Our home is here and our family is here but our goal is to come back — when the law is changed,’’ said Katherine Hsaio. “We can’t wait. What if Kael dies?”

She said the anecdotal evidence shows that children with severe epilepsy have seen 50-100 percent seizure reduction as tracked over three months when they are treated the the Charlotte’s Web strain.

“We don’t know if that’s just a fluke, but we’ve got to try it,’’ she said.

The Hsaio’s are in a unique situation. Micheal’s mother, Dr. Jane Hsaio, is co-founder and vice-chairman of a pharmaceutical company and has been involved in the formulation and legalization of numerous drugs. She wants to do clinical trials on the marijuana extract in her lab in Miami but she cannot proceed without state or federal approval.

“She has all these resources and we still can’t get it,’’ Katherine Hsaio said.

At Miami Children’s Hospital, which has one of the leading epilepsy programs in the nation, doctors are working with a British drug company to get FDA approval to conduct clinical trials to produce a marijuana extract called Sativex. The extract is already legal in 22 countries for treatment of multiple sclerosis but the federal regulators have not approved it for treatment in the U.S.

For families like the Hymans, of Weston, the clock is ticking.

“All I care about is if there’s something out there that’s working in other states — whatever it is — that’s what we need here,’’ said Hyman, Rebecca’s dad. “Parents like us don’t have time to experiment.”

 

[ill]

Memory is overrated anyway. More people should smoke and forget the bullshyt they have in their past. People would be more friendly if they forget certain bullshyt that negatively effects their lives.

@Chris.B Alcohol is a gateway drug. You lose inhibitions and are more willing to try dangerous things. When you smoke pot, the opposite occurs. You get a bit of paranoia and the impulse to try hard drugs completely disappears. Quit regurgitating the bible belt arguements.

 

[TLOL is back]

Memory is overrated anyway. More people should smoke and forget the bullshyt they have in their past. People would be more friendly if they forget certain bullshyt that negatively effects their lives.

Congrats on zeroing on only one type of memory to make your point breh.

 

[ill]

Congrats on zeroing on only one type of memory to make your point breh.

I forgot to give a fukk about your irrelevant comment.

 

[Cuban Pete]

Weed can fukk up your memory and motivation... theres pros and cons though. I think people who smoke are more open minded. Weed changes the way you think, and makes you more receptive to new ideas/perspectives.

Its a good wavelength to be at... maybe if people in this country werent so fukking tense we would be better off

I take long breaks from weed depending on the situation but Im never planning on quitting

this. this right here.

 

[Liquid]

Most potheads I know are dumb as fukk