As part of an ongoing series, we’ll explore the great big world of herbs in general.

As you know, marijuana has numerous medicinal properties. And many of you are probably already hip to the other herbs out there that possess their own special healing and protective properties.

What you may not know is that herbs possess a more concentrated amount of antioxidants than you’ll get from fruits and vegetables alone. Not only that, but herbs often possess a wider array of antioxidants. So by integrating herbs into your diet, you are protecting your body from free radical damage in a substantial way.

So if  marijuana is part of a holistic lifestyle choice, then that lifestyle should include any ways we can return to nature as a method to heal and protect ourselves.

Last month, we explored the myriad of benefits of thyme.

This week, the spotlight is on rosemary.

 

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves. It is native to the Mediterranean region and a member of the mint family Lamiaceae. The name is derived from the Latin name rosmarinus, meaning “dew of the sea,” based on the fact that in many locations it needs no other water than the humidity carried by the sea to live.

Health Properties:

• A study published in the August 23, 2010, issue of Phytotherapy Research confirmed that rosemary does increase circulation by dilating arteries and noted that rosemary has antioxidant properties that reduced atherosclerosis risk in young healthy adults by improving serum activity.

• According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, rosemary has been shown to have antioxidant properties that can prevent free radicals from damaging cell membranes and altering DNA, which can result in cell death.

• Rosemary has been shown to increase the blood flow to the head and brain, improving concentration.

• Rosemary contains anti-inflammatory compounds that may make it useful for reducing the severity of asthma attacks.

• This herb is exceptionally rich in many B-complex group of vitamin, such as folic acid, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin.

• The herb extractions of rosemary when applied over scalp have stimulating function on the hair-bulbs and help preventing premature baldness. It forms an effectual remedy for the prevention of scurf and dandruff. [I have no clue what scurf is but the name conjures up enough.]

• Rosemary tea is a good remedy for removing nervous headache, colds and depression. [I’m drinking this stuff now and high as a kite. It’s potent.]

• Recent research is now revealing even more benefits attached to this rosemary, including its ability to help prevent cancer and age-related skin damage, boost the functioning of the liver and act as a mild diuretic to help reduce swelling.

• Many people gargle rosemary tea to help heal mouth ulcers, sores and as a mouth wash.

Cooking with Rosemary:

Whenever possible, choose fresh rosemary over the dried form of the herb since it is far superior in flavor.

Fresh rosemary herb should be stored in the refrigerator inside plastic bags. Dried rosemary should be kept in an air tight container and placed in a cool, dark and dry place where it will keep fresh for several months.

Finely chopped fresh rosemary is used in the preparation of delicious sauteed rosemary potatoes.

Rosemary complements fatty, strong-tasting meats such as lamb, pork, duck, and game. Add to casseroles, tomato sauces, baked fish, apples, summer wine cups, cordials, vinegars and oils.

Rosemary matches well with garlic and red wine. The spicy, pungent tough leaves of late season rosemary are strongly aromatic and peppery and will add to the roasting or grilling of meat. Use rosemary sprigs to flavor grilling charcoals or use sprigs to brush olive oil on meat and poultry before roasting.

Rosemary flowers are sweetly perfumed and delicious on salads, rice, pasta, or fruit salads.

Use the branch of rosemary to skewer meat and poultry before grilling. It infuses the food with the taste.

When burned, rosemary branches give off a distinct mustard smell, as well as a smell similar to that of burning wood, which can be used to flavor foods while barbecuing.

Random Facts and Tips about Rosemary:

• In ancient Greece, the smell of rosemary was thought to enhance one’s memory. Students used to wear a sprig of rosemary behind their ear when studying and then later when taking their exams.

• In Ancient Greece, people burned rosemary branches on the altars of the gods, considering it a sacred herb. The plant was also sacred for the Romans (who gave it its name) and Egyptians (the evidence to that was finding traces of rosemary in the pharaohs’ tombs.)

• The custom of burning rosemary branches has become a practice in hospitals in France – where it has been maintained until the 20th century – and used for cleaning the air.

• The goddess Aphrodite is associated with rosemary, as is the Virgin Mary, who was supposed to have spread her cloak over a white-blossomed rosemary bush when she was resting; according to legend, the flowers turned blue, the color most associated with Mary.

• It was said to be draped around Aphrodite when she rose from the sea, and was originally born of Ouranos’s semen. [Oh, mythology, you’re so weird.]

• Rosemary tea is a popular flavor drink in Mediterranean region.

• Rosemary can be used in place of rice at weddings. It’s the herb of remembrance (good for remembering vows) and smells lovely when people walk on it.

• Throw some rosemary in the fireplace on the outer edges of the burning wood and your space comes alive with a delightful, pine-scented aroma.

Recipes:

Tattooed Potatoes with Rosemary

1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
6 small fresh rosemary sprigs
3 russet potatoes, unpeeled, cut in half lengthwise

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Pour the olive oil into a medium-sized glass baking dish and add the salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Press a rosemary sprig or parsley leaf on the cut side of each potato half and place cut side down in the oil.

Note: A glass dish works well in this case because you can check for doneness by carefully holding the dish overhead and looking to see if the potatoes are browned. When you do this, be careful not to spill the hot oil. A metal pan will do, too, but testing for doneness will not be as easy.

Bake until the potatoes are nicely browned, 40 to 45 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, using a spatula, gently move them every now and then to keep them from sticking. When they are ready, remove them from the pan, turning them flat side up and carefully leaving the pressed herb in place. Arrange on a platter and serve immediately.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Interactions:

If you have epilepsy, don’t take medicinal amounts of rosemary. The camphor in the herb could potentially aggravate seizures.

Pregnant women and those with high blood pressure should not take Rosemary extract. (However, the amounts that typically appear in food or cosmetics pose no risk.)

Antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs (blood-thinners) — Rosemary may affect the blood’s ability to clot. It could interfere with any blood-thinning drugs you are taking, including:

• Warfarin (Coumadin)
• Clopidogrel (Plavix)
• Aspirin

ACE inhibitors — Rosemary may interfere with the action of ACE inhibitors taken for high blood pressure.

• Captpril (Capoten)
• Elaropril (Vasotec)
• Lisinopril (Zestril)
• Fosinopril (Monopril)

Diuretics (water pills) — Because rosemary can act as a diuretic, it can increase the effects of these drugs. That can raise your risk of dehydration.

• Furosemide (Lasix)
• Hydrocholorothiazide

Lithium — Because of its diuretic effects, rosemary might cause the body to lose too much water and the amount of lithium in the body to build up to toxic levels.

Diabetes — Rosemary may alter blood sugar levels and could interfere with any drugs taken to control diabetes.

Sources:

LiveandFeel.com

WHFoods

The Healthier Life

Bright Hub

What’s Cooking America

Livestrong

Harvest to Table

Urban Times

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at a local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

If that dull Hallmark card with the trite and dusty expressions of motherly love is just not cutting it this year (did it ever?), consider sending this e-card, created by The Women’s Marijuana Movement.

As part of an ongoing monthly series, we’ll explore the great big world of herbs in general.

As you know, marijuana has numerous medicinal properties. And many of you are probably already hip to the other herbs out there that possess their own special healing and protective properties.

What you may not know is that herbs possess a more concentrated amount of antioxidants than you’ll get from fruits and vegetables alone. Not only that, but herbs often possess a wider array of antioxidants. So by integrating herbs into your diet, you are protecting your body from free radical damage in a substantial way.

The way I see it: if marijuana is part of a holistic lifestyle choice, then that lifestyle should include any ways we can return to nature as a method to heal and protect ourselves.

 

This week, the spotlight is on thyme.

Thymus vulgaris grows as a small, woody shrub with petite and flavorful gray-green leaves. There are up to 400 subspecies of thyme; common thyme and Spanish thyme are often used interchangeably for medicinal purposes. Thymol is the primary volatile oil constituent of thyme. It’s powerful health-supporting effects continue to unfold, after centuries of use.

 

Health Properties:

• A study at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Milan in Italy has concluded that thymol has the ability to interfere with the formation of candida, a yeast that lives in your gut. (Candida can result in a serious condition called candidiasis, which causes a range of symptoms including chronic fatigue, thrush, abdominal bloating, depression and irritable bowel syndrome. Candida has reached epidemic proportions because of the large amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates we typically consume.)

• In studies on aging in rats, thymol has been found to protect and significantly increase the percentage of healthy fats found in cell structures. In particular, the amount of DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) in brain, kidney, and heart cell membranes was increased after supplementation with thyme.

• Thyme contains a variety of flavonoids (antioxidants found naturally in plants), increasing thyme’s antioxidant capacity. Combined with its status as a substantial source of manganese, thyme places very high on the list of antioxidant foods.

• The volatile oil components of thyme have also been shown to have antimicrobial activity against a host of different bacteria and fungi. Staphalococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Shigella sonnei are a few of the species against which thyme has been shown to have antibacterial activity.

• Thyme possesses expectorant and bronchial antispasmodic properties, making it useful in the treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis, whooping cough, and inflammation of the upper respiratory tract.

• A preliminary in-vitro study has determined the effectiveness of thymol, and other oil extracts in treating onychomycosis, the fungal infection of toe and fingernails.

• The vapors of essential oil of thyme and thymol have exhibited suppressive activity on molds from damp buildings and can be used for disinfection of moldy walls.

• Carvacrol, p-cymene, linalool, alpha-terpinene, and thymol are all ingredients derived from the essential oil of thyme and have been studied for their mosquito repellent properties (equal to, or more so, than commercial repellents).

Cooking with Thyme:

Restaurant critic Jeff Cox, a gardening and cooking guru, says if you have only one pot to use for an herb planting, plant thyme. And it’s one of the easier herbs to grow. (Trust me, I just look at plants and they wilt and die.)

Thyme, either dried or fresh, should be added near the end of the cooking process since heat can easily cause a loss of its delicate flavor.

Thyme can enhance the taste of:

• Pasta sauce
• Egg dishes
• Bean dishes
• Poached fish (place sprigs of thyme in the liquid)
• Soups and stocks
• Butters and mayonnaise

Random Facts about Thyme:

The Ancient Egyptians used thymol and carvacrol because of their ability to preserve mummies. Thymol and carvacrol are now known to kill bacteria and fungi, making thyme well suited for such purposes. (So if mummification is in your future, don’t forget thymol. Your mummy will remain fresh and clean.)

Thymol and carvacrol are extensively used in book binding because of its ability to kill spores in the books which needed to be rebound after damage from mold.

The English word “thyme” comes from the Latin thymus, derived from the Greek thymon, “courage.” It also means “to fumigate or cleanse”, possibly because of its use as an incense throughout time.

A soup recipe of 1663 recorded the use of thyme and beer to overcome shyness.

Scottish highlanders drank tea made of wild thyme for strength and courage and also to prevent nightmares.

Thymol, one of the active ingredients in thyme leaves, is still used in cough preparations.

Thyme tea can be used as a digestive tonic, for hangovers, and as an acne wash. (Good for partying teens with sensitive stomachs.)

Thymol was used as a powerful antiseptic chemical in World War I to disinfect battlefield wounds.

Thymol is one of the ingredients in the antibacterial Listerine mouthwash.

Thyme may have the ability to attract fairies. (Now that’s a real added bonus, in my opinion.)

Just as sage is often used, thyme can been burned to cleanse the air and ward off evil spirits.

Interactions:

Do not use thyme essential oil internally. For instructions on how to use thyme for medical conditions, read here.

Theoretically, thyme may decrease levels of thyroid hormone. Patients taking thyroid replacement therapy or anti-thyroid agents should use cautiously. Monitoring may be necessary.

Although not well studied in humans, thyme may interact with agents with estrogen or progesterone receptor activity. Examples of agents that may be affected include hormone replacement therapies and birth control pills.

Topical (applied on the skin) thymol may increase the absorption of 5-fluorouracil. Caution is advised in chemotherapy patients, as 5-fluorouracil is often used in cancer chemotherapy. Consult with a qualified healthcare professional, including a pharmacist, to check for interactions.

Although not well studied in humans, thyme may interact with herbs with estrogen or progesterone receptor activity. Caution is advised when combining thyme with other herbs and supplements with proposed hormonal effects, such as black cohosh.

Sources:

Sunland Herbs

Antioxidants for Health and Longevity

Integrative Practitioner

Vegetarian Nutrition Info

Health-Herbal.com

Healthier-Life.com

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at a local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

UPDATE from Americans for Safe Access:

“The Maryland State Senate voted 41-6 to pass a bill today that would give an affirmative defense to qualified patients who are arrested and prosecuted for possessing or growing medical marijuana. Senate Bill 308 amends the 2003 Darrel Putnam Compassionate Use Act, which already allows for a “medical necessity” defense but still results in a misdemeanor conviction and a $100 fine. The new Senate legislation would keep patients with “clear and convincing evidence” from being convicted and from sustaining a punitive fine.

SB 308 was amended earlier this month when its House companion bill stalled in committee due to opposition from the new administration’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH). Both houses of the state legislature were prepared to pass a comprehensive bill this year that would have protected patients from arrest and prosecution altogether, and would have established a state-run production and distribution system. However, the new DHMH Director estimated the cost of such a program at more than $7 million over a 5-year period, despite a fiscal impact assessment of less than 1/10th of that amount for an almost identical bill debated last year. Advocates called this year’s fiscal impact extremely inflated, based on an inaccurate needs assessment.

“Rather than endure another failed attempt to pass meaningful medical marijuana policy in Maryland, patients have instead decided to support this stopgap measure,” said Caren Woodson, Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group. “It’s not ideal, but the bill will help patients avoid what is now a guaranteed conviction if arrested.” ASA worked with State Senator Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County) to craft the amended version of SB 308, which also includes language to study the elements of a comprehensive policy change with the aim of passing such legislation next year.

SB 308 will now proceed to the House of Delegates for a floor vote and, if passed, will then go to Governor O’Malley for signature. Patient advocates have vowed to pass more comprehensive legislation next year by working with DHMH and the legislature to design a policy that not only protects patients from arrest and prosecution, but also establishes a system of licensed cultivation and distribution.”

Further information:
Text of SB 308: http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org/downloads/Maryland_SB308_Amended.pdf

Maryland is moving on bills that would legalize medical marijuana for ill residents and decriminalize possession for all adults. Both had committee hearings scheduled on March 3.

HB 291/ SB 308, the medical cannabis legislation is sponsored by Dan Morhaim, the only licensed physician in the MD Assembly.

But in a battle of the doctors current Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein,  voiced concerns over using cannabis as medicine.

“This is not just because marijuana is a controlled substance. It is also because marijuana, unlike approved pharmaceuticals, has not been characterized, studied, and determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be safe and effective.”

In late February, the Maryland General Assembly also held a hearing for a bill to decriminalize the personal possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults.

HB 606 would reduce punishment for  small amount of pot to a civil citation and a nominal fine. Currently Maryland prosecutes possession of any amount as a criminal misdemeanor.

Phillip Strause, a marijuana activist local to Maryland and Virginia had this to say about HB291,

“The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene requested to work with Delegate Morhaim to ‘craft a better bill.’ The bill is currently not scheduled to be voted on for this reason. I believe political fear drives the system in MD, as few are willing to condone such a shift in policy.”

He added, “HB 606 has been heard in committee but has yet to be voted upon. I feel this is an excellent step in the correct direction but insufficient in fixing the heart of the problem, the perception that cannabis is more dangerous than it actually is.”

Ken Wolski, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana—New Jersey (CMMNJ) submitted supporting testimony for MD through Americans for Safe Access saying,

“The Maryland bill closely resembles the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act that passed into law in January 2010 in the Garden State. Over one year since the NJ law passed, not a single patient has yet received legal medical marijuana in  state; there is not a single dispensary even close to opening; and not a single, legal, marijuana plant is even growing in this state.

Maryland needs to propose a bill that has at least some chance of actually getting marijuana to qualified patients. A provision for home cultivation is really the only way to guarantee this, as New Jersey’s experience proves.”

Read – Health chiefs in NJ and MD fight marijuana as ‘medicine’

Find out more about the efforts in The Free State:  http://www.mpp.org/states/maryland/

Diane Fornbacher has been a cannabis law reform activist for 15 years. She has worked with some of the top reform organizations (NORML, Drug Policy Alliance, ASA, The November Coalition). Fornbacher is the current Vice Chair of the NORML Women’s Alliance and serves on the board of The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ). When she isn’t working to change the cannabis laws, she enjoys photography and writing/performing poetry.  Contact grassroots {at} freedomisgreen.com

Legislation is active in the Bay State to legalize and regulate medical marijuana through 18 distribution centers. A non-binding referendum last year regarding medical cannabis showed overwhelming support among voters.

The sponsoring legislator told the Boston Herald:

“Since the 1930s, we’ve been fighting marijuana as the killer weed, and that has to stop,” said state Rep. Frank I. Smizik, a Brookline Democrat championing the bipartisan bill. “There are so many people suffering with serious diseases where marijuana is the only way to stop the pain and keep them going.” Read full

A lot of new territory is opening up on the East Coast for the medical marijuana industry. Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Washington DC are all currently in the process of approving medical marijuana production and distribution facilities.

Massachusetts made news in 2008 when voters decriminalized minor marijuana possession for adults. Those caught with small amounts of cannabis are currently issued a non-criminal ticket and are not arrested.

More info: http://masscann.org

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Contact Chris Goldstein to discuss your project or event: 267 702 3731 or [email protected]

Medical Cannabis helps ALS patient outlive her own doctors

Last month, Cathy Jordan sat on a panel at the Cannabis Therapeutics Conference in Arizona.  Before taking the stage, she discussed the medical use of cannabis for ALS with Jahan Marcu, the Science Editor at Freedom is Green.

Cathy Jordan first noticed something was wrong in summer of 1985 when she couldn’t pick things up. Her muscles weren’t responding. In 1986, she was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is characterized by the death of motor neurons leading to loss of limb control, breathing, swallowing, speech and widespread cellular dysfunction. Most cases of ALS are sporadic; it is not a viral or autoimmune disease.

“Most people start using a feeding tube because they are afraid of choking to death”, says Cathy.

In 1986, she was given 3 – 5 years to live according to her neurologi st. Nearly 3 decades later, she is still alive and living with ALS.

“All my docs are retiring or dead. I’ve outlived 5 support groups and 4 neurologists,” said Cathy. This actually posed a problem for Cathy who lost her social security benefits because she lived passed her expiration date. The state of Florida said her ID and regular documentation wasn’t good enough to prove she was alive and to continue to receive benefits. She had to ask her neurologist to fill out paperwork to prove she was still alive.

Mrs. Jordan began using Cannabis from a Florida grower to treat her ALS in the late 80’s. “Donny Clark provided my medicine, grown in the Myakka River Valley…he was busted and sentenced to life in prison, and that strain of Cannabis was lost.

“You know, they say the fountain of youth is in Florida. Maybe it was something in the soil that made this plant helps me…and I don’t understand why doctors wouldn’t study me. But I still would like to know why this is helping me.”

At first, doctors wouldn’t accept Cathy’s that marijuana could be responsible for her extended life span. Other doctors thought that smoking anything would impair her lung function and even threatened to have this paralyzed women committed, simply based on the fact that she thought Cannabis was actually helping her.

“I visited a neurologist at Duke University. When I told him that I was smoking Cannabis, he didn’t know what to do with me. He was afraid. He wouldn’t even take my blood pressure because I was using an illegal drug.”

Cathy adds:

“I asked my docs if they would take a drug if it was neuroprotective, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. They say ‘yes’ and ask me if I know of one. Cannabis, I tell them.”

Nearly three decades later, the science has caught up with this miracle patient. Scientists created a mouse with ALS, which was very exciting for Cathy. Research has shown that THC and other cannabinoids can benefit mice with ALS. The mounting evidence of cannabinoids halting the progression of ALS has started to change the attitudes of doctors and prominent researchers have recently called for ALS clinical trials with Cannabis or cannabinoids.

“They all agree today that I should smoke Cannabis,” says Cathy. Twenty six years later, my original neurologist fought [successfully] to make sure Cannabis is legal for patients in Delaware.”

Researchers think Cannabis may help ALS patients relieving pain, spasticity, drooling, appetite loss and has minimal drug-drug interactions and toxicity.

“There are ALS patients associations that fight for the right of patients to die with dignity. But what about my right to life?” asks Cathy. “Keeping my medicine illegal removes my right to life.”

Video: Tucson AZ – The Use of Cannabis for ALS – Jahan Marcu & Cathy Jordan

Jahan Marcu is currently investigating the pharmacology of cannabinoid receptors. He was working at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute when exciting discoveries were made showing enhanced anti-cancer effects with THC and CBD from the Cannabis plant. The findings were published in the Journal of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. In 2009 he received the Billy Martin Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS). Jahan is currently the vice-chair the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board at Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Questions?   Contact   [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent any University, business or affiliates. While the information provided in this blog is from published scientific studies it is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

2/16/2012 – Activists are preparing to gather at the Federal building in Trenton today to destroy a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ruling as part of a national medical marijuana protest. Members of NORML-NJ and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey will shred a copy of The Federal Register Vol. 76 No.131 dated July 8, 2011. The document contains the DEA’s most recent denial of a petition to reschedule marijuana.

Thursday’s protest is organized by Americans for Safe Access and is taking place in cities across the country. Portland, Maine is another East Coast city participating in the “Rally for Safe Access.”

The Schedule I status under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 is the reason that marijuana is prohibited. Schedule I drugs are described as having “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States;” and lack “accepted safety for use under medical supervision;” and, have “a high potential for abuse.”

In the past 40 years voluminous criminal code has since been created at the federal and state level to enforce the Schedule I prohibition of cannabis. Suffering the worst part of this continued effort are seriously ill Americans. They live in fear of losing their lives not just to their disease, but to prison because they find relief from a medication that remains illegal.

Advocacy groups including NORML and MAPS petitioned the DEA for many years seeking to move cannabis to another schedule. The most recent denial last summer culminated a process that the DEA under several presidents, obfuscated for more than a decade.

There are two important factors in the re-scheduling debate. The first is a 1972 report entitled “Marijuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding.” Commissioned by President Nixon and Congress it was crafted by former Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer who lead a group that spent almost two years on the issue. Their final recommendation was that cannabis should not be regulated under the CSA or prohibited with criminal laws.

“The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only ‘with the greatest reluctance.”

The second important factor is a ruling from an Administrative Law Judge within the DEA. In 1986 Francis L. Young said that “Marijuana is one of “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. (T)he provisions of the (Controlled Substances) Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II.”

In ’72 and again in ’86 the Executive Branch tossed aside serious and well-thought recommendations about cannabis policy. Instead of considering solid information millions of Americans have been arrested, trillions of tax dollars spent and untold lives lost or ruined.

Modern science that investigates the natural plant and its component cannabinoids continues to re-verify the tremendous medical benefits of cannabis. The reality is that marijuana is used as a medicine every day by millions of seriously ill Americans – legal or not. That’s why medical marijuana activists say the DEA ruling is good for nothing but shredding and recycling.

More on the ASA rally locations: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/article.php?id=7062

More the CMMNJ Trenton action: http://cmmnj.blogspot.com

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

6/29/2011 – Pennsylvania recently passed a law banning some synthetic cannabinoids and New Jersey has pending legislation. These new prohibitions are intended to curb to the use of  fad drugs that are sold under hundreds of brand names but commonly referred to as “K2” or “Spice.” Users seek a high with the ability to pass a standard drug screen.

Earlier this year the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) permanently prohibited six synthetic cannabinoids, including a common Spice ingredient JWH-018.

Dozens of chemicals, including some synthetic cannabinoids, are found in the products. The chemicals are sprayed on random plant material (never real marijuana) and packaged as fragrant, mood affecting incense.

Wholesale K2 suppliers have purchased advertising on websites and in magazines (even setting up booths at trade shows) that target natural marijuana consumers. But, compared to the ubiquitous market for natural cannabis these synthetics were fairly uncommon…until states started banning them.

In a predictable irony, K2 sellers have benefited greatly from the effort to ban their products. Massive advertising campaigns have appeared on billboards, in print and on television that are funded by drug prevention groups and even tax dollars. The awareness efforts have skyrocketed the drugs out of obscurity and successfully made them a household name.

Part of the problem is that prohibitionists have mislabeled the K2 fad drugs as “synthetic marijuana.” But now authorities are finding that K2 manufacturers have altered their recipe. New K2 products have ingredients that are not technically illegal. This makes the bans fully ineffective and the products continue to be sold in retail stores and online.

Another shift for the issue is that a Willow Grove, Pa. based company started marketing urine tests for synthetic cannabinoids this year.  But these tests are not widely available.

Freedomisgreen.com Editor Chris Goldstein and Science Editor Jahan Marcu have been covering the K2 story since late 2009. Below is an interview that was originally published at www.celebstoner.com

Jahan Marcu is one of the few cannabinoid scientists in America. He also serves on the medical advisory board of the national medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

Marcu is uniquely familiar with both natural marijuana cannabinoids and these new synthetics. He published a landmark research paper proving the anti-cancer properties of THC and is considered one of the top experts in this field. I sat down with Marcu to discuss this strange new trend of people smoking laboratory chemicals.

As someone who is familiar with JWH-018 and these other synthetic cannabinoids in the lab, what is it like to see these things on the streets?

Think about the guys who invented JWH-018. This is probably the worst nightmare imaginable for a researcher to have the product of their hard work for many years, decades maybe, turned into a designer drug of abuse. Because then it gets banned and essentially your chapter in research history is over because your access to the drug vanishes. If they go systematically down the list banning all of the JWH compounds, those are less compounds we can use to enhance our knowledge of how the endo-cannabinoid system works.

What do you think of the recent bans of K2 and Spice products?

Well, I’m not a politician. I’m not a legislator and I’m not in law enforcement. And they need to do what they think is necessary to protect people. As some who’s in research and education my idea would be: Well, let’s see how dangerous these compounds are. Let’s go ahead and fund a bunch of small studies in animals. Let’s have some people who are already taking these drugs volunteer for some tests. Then we can look at them with side-by-side comparisons with alcohol and marijuana for impairment, and really get a good risk assessment. But that’s not going to happen,. There’s just going to be bans and an absence of knowledge.

From the stand point of a cannabinoid researcher, are these synthetic cannabinoid compounds something that humans should be smoking?

I would go with: No. The main reason is the animal data that is coming back is not that promising. There are a lot of JWH compounds and JWH is unique; it’s very potent at low doses. What is a little scary is that around 10 mg per kilogram in rats there was some decreased breathing. We’re talking about 1 milligram per kilogram that was able to cause catalepsy in mice.

This may indicate some off-target effects. What I mean by that is some interaction with the opioid receptors or something else. We’re seeing decreased breathing rates in rats and sort of respiratory depression from these compounds that strongly suggests that those effects are not mediated through the cannabinoid receptor system.

I have seen some rumors of people seeking the benefits of medical marijuana turning to these synthetic  compounds so they can beat their workplace drug tests. Would they have any medical benefit?

At least when you’re going to whole plant cannabis, you can look to the scientific literature and know what you’re getting. There are over 500 compounds in the cannabis plant, but we know what they are. We even know what happens when it burns. No one has done those kinds of studies on Spice. No one has hooked up a Spice cigarette to a gas chromatograph and analyzed the smoke. Those studies have been done with tobacco and marijuana for decades. We have a wealth of information about whole plant marijuana. So you know way more what you are getting into when you use a drug like cannabis.

What’s up with the new urine test for K2?

The game might be over for some of the K2 and Spice compounds. The original research article on the metabolite in Spice – what the body does with them – was published by a group in Moscow. Basically, since only a small amount of the drug is needed to produce an effect, the levels of detection must be very sensitive in order to find these JWH-018 metabolites.

The structure of JWH-018 and (natural) THC is very different. If you looked at the two compounds side-by-side you would not have to be a chemist to see that they look vastly different. The unique part of JWH is the indol ring: It’s a two-ring structure with one nitrogen; this is a common motif found in other hallucinogens like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin, but is not found in (natural) THC.

Researchers have found that the body modifies the indol ring in JWH-018 and thus have developed the drug test around that modification. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing I saw marketed in California, but that is what is in the literature right now.

Do you think these will be effective tests or because of the detection levels someone will have to smoke a lot of this stuff to show up?

You’d have to be smoking a fair amount of Spice to be found in a urinalysis. It’s unclear right now because those studies just haven’t been done yet.

How is the lab community dealing with this K2/Spice phenomenon?

It definitely puts a time crunch on things. These compounds are very important to research. It would be a great loss to the scientific community if these compounds were no longer available for research. It’s a shame that unscrupulous business practices are ruining this for the scientists.

In the end, because there is no real labeling of these products, the most dangerous things in Spice may not be the chemicals we actually know about, but what we don’t. Some have been found to have synthetic opiates, Vitamin E and even acetone.

The continued prohibition of natural marijuana seems to be the only driving force behind the emergence of these new synthetic drugs. States that have decriminalized marijuana seem to have less of an issue with the fad drugs.

To advocates, this is an additional and rather poignant public safety reason for natural marijuana to be fully legalized, right now.

Celebstoner.com: The Truth About Spice & K2

Examiner.com: Facts about new synthetic drugs K2 or Spice

Jahan Marcu’s blog

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

7/14/2011- Tubbs and Crockett could be issuing tickets for pot possession and saving their city’s tax dollars. Popular tourist destination Miami Beach is cranking up the heat for cannabis reform. Some dedicated advocates have spent the last year gathering 9,000 signatures for a decriminalization measure. This week the petition was submitted to the Miami Beach City Commissioners.

The reduction in penalties would mean that adults caught with less than 1 ounce of cannabis would face a $100 fine and no criminal record. That would be a big change from the possible year in jail and $1000 fine currently for up to 20 grams of pot.

Some nationally prominent marijuana activists are residents of the Miami area and have given significant momentum to the cause.

Robert Platshorn served the longest sentence in history for a non-violent marijuana offense: 28 years. He is involved with the campaign and was on the scene this week: “We went in to present the 9,000 signatures and ten of us also testified. Now we’ve verified most of them [signatures]. If 6,400 are verified they have to put it on the ballot or call a special election. The only concern by Commissioners was triggering a special election in these tough economic times. That would cost the city about 250,000 dollars.”

Although concerned about the technical details the Miami Beach Commissioners, including Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, did take the issue seriously. “They were really very receptive to the petition,” Platshorn said, “where we didn’t have a sponsor on the commission; we do now. They all made statements that they were not against it. Again, we were very well received….many of the speeches got applause from the Commissioners.”

Irvin Rosenfeld is one of the few federal medical marijuana patients and garnered some of those applause. Rosenfeld’s tins of 300 cannabis cigarettes are manufactured by federal authorities under a program created in the late 1980’s.Florida saw a state medical marijuana resolution introduced earlier this year but there was no legislative action.

“I care about medicine getting to patients,” said Rosenfeld,”decriminalization helps patients because now they don’t have to worry about being arrested.”

He brought his tin of cannabis to show the Commissioners, “I asked them to hold up their hands and asked if they paid federal taxes. And they all raise their hands and then I took out my tin – I said ‘Isn’t it silly that city police would be spending time and money chasing people down for the same thing you paid for that helps me!’”

Platshorn said that he was optimistic after the meeting, “The actual outcome was as good as we could hope for. We got a realistic appraisal.”

Basically the Commissioners would rather place the ballot on the election in 2012 rather than endure the cost of a separate election just for the decrim measure. This was not lost on activists. “The whole point here is to save the city money,” said Irvin Rosenfeld.

But there is another option where the penalty reductions could simply be adopted without an election. “The City Charter says that if we get 6,400 verified signatures that they may be obliged to call a special election, “ said Platshorn, “So they were willing to consider the possibility of a resolution just to pass the change in penalties on their own.”

The massive amount of tourists in Miami Beach was part of the challenge for the petition. Signature gatherers would be mobbed at popular locations but only a few in the interested crowd would be local voters. They had to shift strategies netting a few signatures at a time with more frequent outings to places like supermarkets.

A strong base of student activism was key to the petition drive, “Miami University, FAU, Florida Central NORML chapters…it really has been terrific down here. Eric Stevens did an amazing job,” said Platshorn, adding, “Then Rakontur Films really did a wonderful thing by supporting this too.”

Platshorn’s story was told in the documentary Square Grouper from Rakontur that showcased the common trade of South Florida marijuana smuggling in the 1970s. The film company gave much needed funding to the effort.

But the same tourism that made voters hard to sift out was another reason for decriminalizing in Miami Beach. There are now sixteen states with legal medical marijuana. Irvin Rosenfeld points out that medical cannabis patients may have been avoiding the area because of the harsh prohibition laws.

“Say I’m a patient in Maine and have to go to a wedding to go to in Miami? Now it would also be safer for patients who are also tourists or here visiting family,” said Rosenfeld, ”there would at least be that security.”

It will take some time for Miami Beach to officially verify the petition signatures but the organizers are confident. Bob Platshorn was inside federal prison for three decades over marijuana, emerging with his head up to re-build his life and family. He also resolved to change the law.

“I honestly believe that Miami Beach will be the first city in Florida to decriminalize.”

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]