New Initiative to Regulate Pot Use Filed in Nevada

Eating or vaporizing it does not prevent brain damage.

I realize you believe that calling it a "flower" makes it sound harmless but you do realize poisonous flowers exist as well as ones that cause brain damage.

You seem to have a hard time following the conversation, too much pot maybe? I am not talking about the legality of it.

A weak minded loser pot head calling someone else a dope-head? Too funny.

What part of I 100% support you being able to give yourself brain damage and cancer do you not understand?

Why do you want to tax and regulate it? Ron Paul does not support taxation and regulation.

Heavy Long-Term Marijuana Use Does Not Impair Lung Function, Says New Study

April 3, 1997, Los Angeles, CA: Habitual marijuana smokers do not experience a greater annual rate of decline in lung function than nonsmokers, according to the latest findings by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. The results of the eight-year study appear in Volume 155 of the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Donald P. Tashkin, who headed the study, is one of America's foremost experts on marijuana smoking and lung function."Findings from the present long-term, follow-up study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept that continuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of [chronic lung disease]," concluded the UCLA study. "Neither the continuing nor the intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of decline in [lung function]" as compared with those individuals who never smoked marijuana. Researchers added: "No differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and nonsmoking of marijuana." These findings starkly contrasted those experienced by tobacco-only smokers who suffered a significant rate of decline in lung function.

Researchers also failed to find any synergistic effect between marijuana and tobacco cigarettes. According to the report, individuals who smoked
both did not suffer any faster rate of decline in lung function than individuals who smoked marijuana alone. "The long-term findings of this study clearly refute the prohibitionist argument that marijuana smoking poses a significant danger to lung function," stated NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.
A total of 394 young Caucasian men and women agreed to participate in the study. Researchers classified 131 of the participants as heavy marijuana smokers who did not smoke tobacco cigarettes, while 112 smoked both tobacco and marijuana. An additional 65 men regularly smoked tobacco only and the remaining 86 participants were nonsmokers. All participants were screened for pre-existing chronic chest diseases and found to be healthy upon entering the study. Each participant underwent pulmonary function testing at the start of the study, and again on multiple occasions over the course of the next eight years. During that interval, a number of patients were lost to follow up, but 255 participants (65 percent) completed the study and were tested again at up to six additional sessions.
The results of this latest long-term study on marijuana and health echo findings reached by an Australian group of researchers at the National
Drug and Alcohol Research Centre just one month ago. That study, which involved interviews with 268 marijuana smokers and 31 non-using partners
and family members, concluded that the health of long-term marijuana users is virtually no different from that of the general population.
Researchers from both studies cautioned that their results do not imply that regular marijuana smoking is free of all potentially harmful
pulmonary effects. Both groups stated that regular marijuana smokers were more likely to suffer mild respiratory problems such as wheezing and
bronchitis than nonsmokers. For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of NORML @ (202) 483-5500. A summary of the UCLA study appears in the March 1997 edition of Forensic Drug Abuse Advisor.
=======

Marijuana Less Harmful to Lungs
than Cigarettes
by Louise Gagnon
Medical Post, Sept. 6 1994

L'ESTEREL, Quebec -- Heavy marijuana smokers show less evidence
of lung injury than heavy tobacco smokers, and it may be
cannabinoids that are protecting them from developing a condition
like emphysema.

That's according to the principal investigator of a study done at
the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Speaking at the third annual meeting of the International
Cannabis Research Society here, Dr. Donald Tashkin, a
pulmonologist and UCLA professor of medicine, concluded heavy
marijuana use did not cause the same degree of lung injury as
tobacco smoke.

"My own feeling is that marijuana smokers probably will not
develop emphysema as a consequence of smoking marijuana," he
said, but cautioned that does not rule out the development of
other conditions like respiratory carcinoma.

"It may be that the THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) in
marijuana could have different effects on inflammatory cells,
which may mediate injury in the lung."

His study, which aimed to measure the pulmonary effects of
habitual marijuana use, followed nine tobacco smokers, 10
marijuana smokers, 10 nonsmokers and four smokers of both
marijuana and tobacco. He gave both quantitative and qualitative
explanations for his finding.

Marijuana users in the study smoked three or four joints daily
for 15 years on average, while tobacco smokers in the study
smoked 25 cigarettes daily over a period of 20 years, indicating
a marked difference in exposure to smoke.

"There is a seven-fold difference in the amount of smoke to which
marijuana and tobacco smokers are exposed," he said.

"It's the quantitative difference in smoke exposure that might
explain the difference in the degree of lung injury as assessed
by these physiologic indices."

Moreover, the phagocytes gathered from the lungs of marijuana
smokers do not have the same properties as those gathered from
the lungs of tobacco smokers.

"We have previously shown that the macrophages that are harvested
from the rinse-out of the lungs of marijuana smokers seem not to
be activated," he said. "They do not release toxic oxygen
species, either under basal conditions or under stimulated
conditions nearly to the extent that tobacco macrophages do. If
anything, basal secretion of superoxide seems to be reduced in
the marijuana smokers."

Dr. Tashkin measured the clearance of the molecule diethylene
triamine penta-acetate (DTPA) from the lung, believed to be a
more sensitive indicator of lung injury than measuring the lung's
diffusing capacity.

If DTPA clearance is accelerated, then it implies an increase in
the leakiness of the alveolar epithelial membrane, which implies
injury to the membrane, he said.

Dr. Tashkin noted DTPA clearance is accelerated in tobacco smoke-
related lung injury.

Initially, the chronic effects of marijuana smoke were measured
in comparison to those of tobacco smoke: DTPA clearance was
measured at about 12 hours after the last marijuana or tobacco
cigarette smoked.

To determine the acute effects of marijuana and tobacco smoking,
Dr. Tashkin restudied these smokers a week or two later, giving
them a single joint of marijuana or a single tobacco cigarette or
both, and then measuring DTPA clearance 15 minutes subsequently.

"What we found was the clearance of DTPA was abnormally rapid
from the lung in the tobacco smokers," he said. "It was about
twice the rate of non-smokers. In the marijuana smokers, there
was a tendency toward a much less rapid rate of clearance. There
was no acute effect in either tobacco or marijuana, and there was
no added effect of marijuana or tobacco."

As with the lungs to tobacco smokers, when the lungs of marijuana
smokers are "washed out", a marked increase in the number of
alveolar macrophages is witnessed.

But whereas tobacco smoke has a concomitant effect of activating
the macrophages, leading to the subsequent release of certain
toxic substances, marijuana smoke fails to activate the
macrophages, Dr. Tashkin said. He noted this difference could be
attributed to differential regulation of cytokins.

"It may be that the macrophages from marijuana smokers release
certain suppressive cytokins, like transforming growth factor-
beta, which is known to suppress the inflammatory activity of
nearly all of the site populations," he said. "That's our
hypothesis, which we are currently exploring."
===============

A marijuana-like chemical that occurs naturally in the body may control coughing and various respiratory functions, a University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine research team has found.
The finding, which appears in the Nov. 2 issue of Nature, provides the first insight into the causes of certain types of coughing and eventually may result in the development of new treatments to combat chronic, dry or nonproductive coughing spells. The study, conducted on rats and guinea pigs, also helps answer a decades-old question of why certain patients respond differently to anti-coughing drugs.

Daniele Piomelli, professor of pharmacology, and his colleagues found that a naturally occurring neurotransmitter related to marijuana called anandamide binds to receptors on muscle cells in the lung, controlling the lungs' reactions to chemical agents that often trigger dry coughing.
``Experiments with patients in the 1970s showed that the active ingredient in marijuana helped some patients with chronic asthma, but actually made the symptoms worse in several patients,'' said Piomelli. ``Naturally occurring anandamide in the lung controls the lungs' ability either to constrict and cough or to dilate and ease breathing. This gives us new insight into how coughing is regulated and may help us eliminate the side effects of certain drugs and create new and safer treatments for certain chronic coughing disorders, but without the long-term toxicity and side effects that marijuana's active ingredient causes.''
Types of chronic dry coughing affected by the body's anandamide system are seen in people with some cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hay fever and asthma, and can be brought about by the side effects of medications for blood pressure and other disorders.
The researchers found that aerosols containing anandamide completely stopped the cough produced in the animals by the active ingredient of red pepper. Anandamide also relaxed muscles in the lungs and opened up tiny airways called bronchioles. However, when the vagus nerve -- a major nerve controlling lung constriction (and coughing) -- was cut, anandamide actually constricted the lung.
``Cutting the vagus nerve relaxes the lung muscle well below its normal tone. Under these conditions, adding anandamide contracts the muscles and restores normal muscular conditions in the lung,'' Piomelli said. ``But when the lung muscle is too contracted, as happens with various lung diseases, anandamide will relax it. At the same time, anandamide blocks coughing. All these actions occur in the respiratory tract, which explains why anandamide aerosols are so effective in animals.''
The researchers are now looking at what factors regulate the levels of anandamide in the lungs and how they may be related to disorders resulting in chronic coughing.
Piomelli has been studying the actions of anandamides in the body for several years, and was the first to discover the anandamide network in the nervous system. The network of neurotransmitters has been shown to play a role in the body's management of pain and movement, and has been implicated in a host of diseases, including schizophrenia, autism, Parkinson's and Huntington's.
Much of this research is taking place at the UCI Biomedical Research Center, which is providing much-needed laboratory and clinical facilities for researchers addressing the major health challenges of the 21st century. When complete, the center will focus on research in the neurosciences, the genetics of cancer, immunology and infection and other medical issues. The center's first building, the William J. Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility, is home to the Reeve-Irvine Research Center and Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia. Construction of the second building, the Robert R. Sprague Family Foundation Hall, began in February.
Piomelli's colleagues in the study included Antonio Calignano and Giovanna La Rana of the University of Naples, Italy; Istvan Katona and Tamas F. Freund of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary; Ken Mackie of the University of Washington, Seattle; and Franck Desarnaud and Andrea Giuffrida of UCI. The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Media Contact: Andrew Porterfield, UC Irvine Communiations
Phone: 949-824-3969
Contact: amporter@uci.edu
Complete Title: Marijuana-Like Chemical in Nervous System May Control Coughing, Lung Function
Posted: November 1, 2000
Irvine, Calif., Nov. 1 (AScribe News)
AScribe - The Public Interest Newswire - 510-645-4600
© 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, postnet.com
Website: http://www.postnet.com/
Related Article:
Marijuana-Like Chemical Helps Relieve Coughs
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7521.shtml
CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml

I had a huge brownie about 90 minutes ago and you're bringing me way down. Thanks.

That science was cooked up by the Tobacco industry. FIND ME ONE PERSON WHO DIED FROM CANCER FROM CANNABIS? ONE!

I care about the propaganda that it is "safe". The sad part is those pushing legalized Pot don't push for legalized crack cocaine because they are brainwashed that pot is harmless.