““It’s time for us to recognize that marijuana does not do harm,” said Grosso. “It’s not a gateway drug like people think it is. It’s not causing massive accidents or causing people to go crazy on the streets. And it’s just leading a lot of kids right to jail…””
“Despite anti-drug education campaigns which state marijuana is a gateway for harder drug use, new research from the University of New Hampshire says for most people that’s not true.” “But pot does serves as a “gateway,” says Dr. Karen Van Gund, associate professor of sociology., mainly for young people who are poor, unemployed, and subjected to severe psychological stress. In other words, the path to other drugs is not necessarily the pot, but rather the potholes young people encounter on the road.”
“We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the typical pot smoker — a lumpy, lazy couch potato with one hand wrapped around the remote and the other elbow-deep in a bag of nacho cheese Doritos.
But new research out of France gives a different spin to the stereotypical stoner.
“Cannabis is supposed to increase appetite,” says Dr. Yann Le Strat, a psychiatrist at Louis-Mourier Hospital in Colombes, France and co-author of a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology. “So we hypothesized that cannabis users would be more likely to have higher weight than non-users and be more likely to be obese.”
Instead, Le Strat and his colleagues found just the opposite.
“We found that cannabis users are less likely to be obese than non-users,” he says. “We were so surprised, we thought we had [made] a mistake. Or that our results were due to the sample we studied. So we turned to another completely independent sample and found exactly the same association…”
“I know when we think about smoking pot, one of the jokes is that it gives you the munchies and dry mouth so you drink a bunch of water and eat a bunch of Cheetos,” she says.
“Maybe we need to adjust the stereotype.””
More: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/pot-smokers-skinnier-non-tokers-study-says-1C6437141
“Cannabis is the medical term for marijuana. In it’s botanical form, it’s plant is called genus. Three plant forms govern the name cannabis, and have been known for their healing/medical properties since ancient times. All three types are used medically, however, they all have different results and are taken for different reasons. Although there has been much controversy over legalizing cannabis in many states through out our nation, medical experts are standing up to the challenge as scientist continue to reveal new studies indicating the importance of legalizing it strictly for medical reasons.”
“First Experimental Demonstration of the Multipotential Carcinogenic Effects of Aspartame Administered in the Feed to Sprague-Dawley Rats” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1392232/
“Aspartame induces lymphomas and leukaemias in rats ” http://www.scribd.com/doc/74930468/Aspartame-induces-lymphomas-and-leukaemias-in-rats
“Rat Study Shows Cancer, Aspartame Link” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176258,00.html
“Study: Aspartame linked to blood cancers” http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/336384
“Aspartame Causes Cancer in Rats at Levels Currently Approved for Humans” http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/34040.php
“Saundra Young of CNN.com delved into the heated debate of medical marijuana and children, in her story about a little girl who has a rare, and severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. While the debate continues, the pro-legalization side may have won a small victory in the form of Charlotte Figi, 6, who was given her life back by marijuana…
Desperate for a treatment, Charlotte’s father Matt searched the Internet and eventually found a boy with a similar case in which medical marijuana helped his seizures. The Figi’s turned to the Stanley brothers, one of Colorado’s largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners, for help.
“These six brothers were crossbreeding a strain of marijuana low in THC, the compound in marijuana that’s psychoactive, and high in CBD, which has medicinal properties but no psychoactivity,” writes Young. But the Stanley brothers didn’t know what to do with this particular strain, as no one seemed to want to buy it. Then they met Charlotte.
The first time Charlotte tried a small dose of cannabis oil, the results were astounding:
“When she didn’t have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was the first sign,” Paige recalled. “And I thought well, ‘Let’s go another hour, this has got to be a fluke.'”
The Stanley brothers started the Realm of Caring Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides this particular strain of medical marijuana to adults and children suffering from a host of diseases. The strain used by Charlotte and 41 other patients is affectionately called Charlotte’s Web.
Charlotte’s seizures stopped for seven days after her first dose and today she is eating, and walking on her own — even riding a bike, her parents say. Charlotte gets a dose of the cannabis oil twice a day in her food and her seizures are down to 2 to 3 per month.
“I literally see Charlotte’s brain making connections that haven’t been made in years,” Matt said. “My thought now is, why were we the ones that had to go out and find this cure? This natural cure? How come a doctor didn’t know about this? How come they didn’t make me aware of this?”
Read the full article on CNN.com.”
More: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/Marijuana_stops_childs_severe_seizures.html
“Jayden was diagnosed with Dravet, a rare form of epilepsy, when he was a baby. Since then, he has had seizures preventing him from walking, playing and living life.
“At one point Jayden had seizures 24 hours a day lasting an hour and a half,” David said. “I went to my doctor and said, ‘I don’t think Jayden is going to last, he can’t sleep, can’t eat, he hasn’t used the restroom, he can’t do anything.'”
David said his son has been taken away in an ambulance more than 40 times. He’s also taken 22 pills a day — 12 different kinds and none of them worked.
David said it got so bad that he wanted to kill himself and put a gun to his head.
But now, those thoughts are long gone.
As a last resort, David turned to medical marijuana. Specifically, a liquid form that contains a component known as CBD.
Jayden’s pediatrician prescribes it to Jayden and says the liquid form maintains medicinal qualities, while giving less of a high.
Jayden has been getting a few drops a day for the past two years and David said it’s been a remarkable difference.
Jayden is the most independent he’s ever been. He plays well, can walk and give his dad high fives, David said.
“(The) first day I gave him medical marijuana, thank God. (It was) the first day he went seizure free in his life,”he said.
David said he wants to share his story to help other parents in the same situation.
He says parents need to educate themselves and do what’s right for their own children.
The father and son have been featured in numerous articles and television shows. Jason and Jayden will be featured as a small piece in a special about medical marijuana with Dr. Sanjay Gupta that airs Sunday on CNN.
Jayden’s pediatrician said he is seeing more children with autism and seizures who are benefiting from medical marijuana.
The doctor admits not a lot of studies have been done on medicinal marijuana, which is why doctors across the board may have differing opinions.
However, doctors at the University of California-San Francisco are now studying the affects the CBD component in medical marijuana has on epileptic children.”
With no alternate options, the doctor prescribed a liquid form of cannabis called CBD, which gives less of a high. It was the first day of his entire life that Jayden went seizure-free. In the two years since, he’s taken CBD daily and now walks, plays and laughs happily. Jason credits medical marijuana with saving his son’s life — and says he’s speaking out now to help other parents with children in Jayden’s situation. “How can I not tell people, ‘Hey, save your children’s lives?'” he asks.”
http://now.msn.com/jayden-david-6-was-saved-by-medical-marijuana-dad-says
Buoyed by previously published reports and You-Tube videos of the child’s remarkable recovery, several New Jersey parents have been pushing for the opportunity to give cannabis to their seriously ill children. They want Gov. Christie to sign a bill that would pave the way.
Paige and Matt Figi said in the CNN interview that their daughter, Charlotte, had 300 seizures a week before she was administered drops of cannabis under her tongue a year ago. She had been in a catatonic state, unable to eat, talk, or walk. Now, after regularly using cannabis, she has only one seizure every seven days, the parents said. Footage shows her talking, walking, laughing, riding a bicycle and also a horse.
Forty-one other children had similar results, according to the documentary.
Gupta traveled around the world, interviewing other seriously ill patients who got astonishing results by using cannabis. In Israel, some studies show the drug has helped sufferers of Crohn’s Disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and cancer.
There also are detractors – doctors who say not enough research has been done, as interviewed by Gupta. The American Academy of Pediatricians also oppose giving it to children.
Meghan and Brian Wilson, the parents of two-year-old Vivian, who live in Scotch Plains, in North Jersey, have spent the last few months lobbying to get changes in New Jersey’s three-year-old marijuana law to make it easier for children to use cannabis. It’s legal in the state for children to use it – in fact Vivian was issued a marijuana card in February because she too suffers from a severe type of epilepsy. But cannabis is not allowed to be sold in edible form and requires three doctors to sign off on it before a child can obtain it.
A bill that was overwhelming passed by the legislature is sitting on Gov. Christie’s desk. He has said he is reluctant, but will consider it. He has until Friday, Aug. 16, to decide.
It’s not known whether Christie watched the CNN documentary.”