26.12.12

Teens brainwashed by pro-pot propaganda of "harmless pot"

Teens' views on dangers of pot fall to 20-year low
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press, 12/19/12
WASHINGTON -- Teenagers' perception of the dangers of marijuana has fallen to the lowest level in more than 20 years, a new study says, prompting federal researchers to warn that already high use of the drug could increase as more states move to legalize it.

The annual survey released Wednesday by the National Institutes of Health found that only 41.7 percent of eighth graders believe that occasional use of marijuana is harmful, while 66.9 percent regard it as dangerous when used regularly. Both rates are the lowest since 1991, when the government first began tracking this age group.

Teens' perception of marijuana risks diminished even more as they got older. About 20.6 percent of 12th graders said that occasional use of pot is harmful. Roughly 44.1 percent believed that its regular use was detrimental, the lowest rate since 1979.

The government-sponsored study said teens' dwindling concerns about the dangers of marijuana, despite the risks, "can signal future increases in use.".....click "Read More" below...

More and more deaths expected from drug-DUI

MADD Canada report calls for drug testing at roadside checks
Nearly 40 per cent of drivers between the ages of 15-24 report driving under the influence of cannabis, study finds
By Zoe McKnight, Vancouver Sun, December 25, 2012
Mothers Against Drunk Driving are calling on police officers to perform saliva tests at roadside checks, in an effort to combat driving under the influence of drugs as well as alcohol.

A recent report by two Western University law professors, prepared for MADD Canada, says drug-impaired driving is catching up to alcohol impairment, and may be even more common than drinking and driving among young people.

Since 2008, the Criminal Code has allowed for police officers to conduct a standardized field sobriety test (SFST) for physical impairment, but the report’s authors criticized the practice as being “cumbersome, expensive and readily susceptible to legal challenge ... It is therefore likely that drug-impaired driving is, and will continue to be, dramatically under-enforced in Canada.”

Erika Chamberlain and Robert Solomon argue in their paper Drug Impaired Driving in Canada: Review and Recommendations, released this fall, that enforcement would be more practical and effective if drivers were tested using saliva tests, administered like a breathalyzer, and recommends the creation of maximum limits for commonly used drugs in Canada.

According to the MADD report, young people are more likely to smoke up and drive than drink and drive.

Nearly 40 per cent of drivers between the ages of 15-24 report driving under the influence of cannabis, compared to 21 per cent of drivers the same age who report driving after drinking, as reported in the national Canadian Addiction Survey.

“It’s surprising that so many young people are driving after drug use,” Chamberlain said.

“This generation has been told about the dangers of drinking and driving for a long time, and that they understand,” she said, adding young people may not understand the risks associated with drug-impaired driving, and are also well aware that Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (R.I.D.E.) programs of random roadside checks do not typically test for drug use.

Among all drivers, the percentage of drivers who reported driving after using drugs went up from 1.5 per cent in 2002 to 2.9 in 2006, and in B.C., 7.2 per cent of drivers during a 2010 roadside survey tested positive for drugs other than alcohol. In comparison one in 10 drivers tested positive for alcohol and 1.8 per cent had a blood-alcohol level above B.C.’s legal limit of .05 per cent.

Sgt. Randy Fincham of the Vancouver Police said this holiday season, officers have busted three alcohol-impaired drivers for every one driver under the influence of drugs. Officers rely on field sobriety tests and do have officers trained as Drug Recognition Experts.

“The consequences for being found operating a motor vehicle while being impaired by drugs is the same as it is for alcohol, including charges of refusal, impaired and the administration of roadside suspensions, as well as criminal and civil liability in the event that someone is hurt as a result of the impairment,” he said.

A breath test or drug evaluation using blood, urine or saliva takes place at the station.

In a news release from Western University, Chamberlain said a saliva test would likely be challenged under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 2010, 915 people were charged with drug-impaired driving, just 1.4 per cent of the 65,183 charges laid for alcohol impairment.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/cx8znqc

11.12.12

University Of Colorado (at Boulder) Students Accused of Sickening Professor and Classmates with Pot Brownies

Reuters--By Keith Coffman,12/09/2012
BOULDER, Colo, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Two University of Colorado at Boulder students are accused of bringing marijuana-laced brownies to a college class, sickening their unsuspecting professor and five classmates, police said on Sunday.

Thomas Cunningham, 21, and Mary Essa, 19, were arrested Saturday on suspicion of second-degree assault, fraudulently inducing the consumption of a controlled substance and conspiracy charges, university police spokesman Ryan Huff said.

Huff said three of those who ate the brownies were hospitalized, suffering from the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active property in marijuana.....click "Read More" below ...

26.11.12

Marijuana is harmless? Are we blinded by a smoke screen?

Marijuana is harmless? Are we blinded by a smoke screen?
ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN, The Globe and Mail, Nov. 22, 2012
We used to fear Mary Jane, then we laughed about her, and now many of us think she’s downright wholesome. Marijuana’s public image has undergone a stunning transformation since the scare-mongering of Reefer Madness and the dope comedies of Cheech and Chong, but many doctors believe that weed’s rehabilitation as a virtual wonder drug may be distracting us from its real health dangers.

It seems that plenty of people have bought the idea that marijuana is a harmless herb, or better. Stories proclaiming the benefits of “medical marijuana” – for ailments as varied as arthritis, MS, glaucoma and Alzheimer’s – abound in mainstream media like International Business Times, and at patient support sites such as Livestrong.org. Voters in Washington and Colorado recently approved measures to begin legalizing pot, and a reinvigorated movement in B.C. is pushing for similar changes. A poll in the summer showed that two-thirds of Canadians are okay with decriminalizing weed for personal use.

Pot supporters promote its supposed benefits at big trade shows like the Treating Yourself Expo, which celebrated its third annual edition in May in Toronto. Doctors aren’t nearly so well mobilized on the issue, but many say the health risks of smoking marijuana are more extensive and better understood than ever before...

Smoking 'rots' brain, says King's College study

Smoking 'rots' brain, says King's College study
BBC, 25 November, 2012
Smoking "rots" the brain by damaging memory, learning and reasoning, according to researchers at King's College London.

A study of 8,800 people over 50 showed high blood pressure and being overweight also seemed to affect the brain, but to a lesser extent.

Scientists involved said people needed to be aware that lifestyles could damage the mind as well as the body.

Their study was published in the journal Age and Ageing.

Researchers at King's were investigating links between the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke and the state of the brain...

Marijuana -- also harmful externally

House arrest for man who blew himself up in Edmonton-area house while making hashish
By Tony Blais, Edmonton Sun, November 19, 2012
An Ontario man who is lucky to be alive after blowing himself up while making hash at a rural home west of Edmonton was put under house arrest Monday.

Scott Koncir-Squires, 24, was given a two-year conditional sentence to be served in the community after pleading guilty in Court of Queen’s Bench to producing a controlled substance and arson causing damage to property.

Federal prosecutor Melina Rawluk told court Koncir-Squires “caused an explosion” while using butane to convert marijuana into hash at a rented home in Parkland County in January 2011.

Rawluk said police responded to the home and seized 500 grams of hash and 200 grams of marijuana.

Court heard the explosion lifted the roof off of the home and resulted in Koncir-Squires being in hospital in critical condition with burns to 70 percent of his body.....

6.10.12

Enough of pro-pot's same old tired arguments

(Below was a letter appearing in a newspaper on Oct. 1, 2012)
Potent marijuana is a danger to society
Vancouver Sun,  October 1, 2012
Re: Municipal leaders take pot decriminalization to a vote, Sept. 25

It's a naive argument to say marijuana legalization would cause the drug's dealers, and their associated crime, to largely disappear. Common sense will tell you that these "entrepreneurs" will instead merely begin pushing other more potent drugs to make themselves their desperate buck.

The Netherlands was largely free of international drug-trafficking criminals when it began innocently trying to decriminalize personal-use pot.

Now it is the illegal drug capitol of Europe, producing a frightening array of designer drugs that requires its own "war" fought by a specialized police force.

Amsterdam has recently banned foreign cannabis tour-ism. The Netherlands', or any other country's marijuana social experiment is nothing we need to duplicate.

Pot continues to evolve into anything but a soft drug with THC content rising above 25 per cent from the 1970s' two to four per cent. When does marijuana become a "hard" drug? Does anyone really believe "safe, recreational" marijuana has no THC upper limit?

And maybe it's a little-known fact that marijuana contains the same myriad poisonous chemicals that cigarettes have, except nicotine.

Every year we see new peer-reviewed studies highlighting marijuana's dangers. The list is long. Examples: Canada's Maerten study proves marijuana smoke is toxic to cells and DNA (compared to cigarette smoke). An Australian study shows marijuana may speed or even cause psychosis in some people. California has identified marijuana smoke as cancer-causing after reviewing 30 studies. Who would vote for legalization after seeing these? Who would vote for marijuana even if they believed the jury is still out on the question of public safety?

The alcohol-induced carnage on our streets is plenty enough. We do not need even more fuzzy-headed people motoring near our families. Maybe some-day marijuana inebriation will be as detectable by the police as is alcohol.

Think of the enormous effort it has taken to turn our society against smoking tobacco. Smoking used to be cool. Smoking is now banned at my daughter's high school, as it should be. Classrooms are awash in anti-smoking posters. Imagine the mixed-messages and challenges cannabis legalization would bring. Not to mention even more first-and second-hand smoke.

It was recently announced that a medical marijuana has been developed without the high. Miraculous healings to follow.

Marijuana intoxication remains serious stuff. I say we at least wait and see how all the scientific and social revelations play out before we decide to open Pandora's stash bag.

Rob Brandreth-Gibbs, North Vancouver
http://www.vancouversun.com/Potent+marijuana+danger+society/7323838/story.html#ixzz28Z2zDU7p
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Here is another letter from Rob Brandreth-Gibbs published on 
Oct. 10, 2012 in the Vancouver Sun): ....click "Read More" below to continue....

28.9.12

Tenants have had it with smokes from cigarettes and marijuana

Smoking banned in 42-storey Vancouver condo tower
Offenders face penalty, after first offence, of up to $200 for smoking in any of the building’s 237 units
By Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun, September 27, 2012
Dozens of strata members at Vancouver’s tallest all-residential tower hooted and hollered after a motion passed Tuesday outlawing smoking in any of the building’s 237 units.

Roughly 70 strata members of the 42-storey Melville building in the city’s tony Coal Harbour neighbourhood voted to fine residents caught smoking, while about nine opposed the bylaw.

“When it passed the room came alive,” said Dwight Wamboldt, a 65-year-old who has lived in the building with his wife, Tanya, since its construction in 2007. “We’ve been fighting this for years and finally last night we got it passed with a majority three-quarters vote.

“This kind of thing throughout the city is just long overdue, in particular when it affects other people’s health.”

The Wamboldts said they had registered dozens of complaints to building management over the years due to the intrusive cigarette and marijuana smoke that filters into their unit...

16.9.12

Pot smoking tied to testicular cancer

By Frederik Joelving, Reuters, Sep. 10, 2012
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A small government-backed study strengthens the link between recreational marijuana use and testicular cancer in young men, U.S. researchers said Monday.

They found people who said they had used the drug were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with the disease as were never-users. The link appeared to be specific to a type of tumor known as nonseminoma.

"This is the third study consistently demonstrating a greater than doubling of risk of this particularly undesirable subtype of testicular cancer among young men with marijuana use," said Victoria Cortessis of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who led the work.

28.6.12

Marijuana worsens mental conditions of people with mental issues

Medical Examiner: Causeway Cannibal Not High On Bath Salts (only marijuana)
CBS, June 27, 2012 11:08 PM
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Rudy Eugene, the Causeway Cannibal who ate the face off a homeless man he attacked along the MacArthur Causeway, was apparently  not high on bath salts or any other exotic street drug at the time of the attack, according to a report released Wednesday by the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner.

The news leaves law enforcement officials wondering what drove Eugene to strip off his clothes, attack homeless man Ronald Poppo, and chew off pieces of flesh from Poppo’s face.

Speculation about the cause of Eugene’s rampage on Poppo’s face centered on drugs, specifically bath salts, after police union officials claimed an increase in bizarre behavior among people on the street using such drugs.

The much-anticipated toxicology report released by Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma found marijuana in Eugene’s system, something CBS4 News had previously reported, but no evidence of  any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs, or any adulterants found in street drugs.

The report said this includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Ecstasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.

Hyma’s office specifically ruled out bath salts, a class of synthetic drugs that have been known to cause bizarre behavior and overheating of people who use them, two things that made some believe Eugene’s cannibalistic behavior could be blamed on the drugs.

“The department has also sought the assistance of an outside forensic toxicology reference laboratory, which has confirmed the absence of “bath salts,” synthetic marijuana and LSD,” the report said.

“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories, marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”

The news from the medical examiner sends investigators back to square one as they look for what caused Eugene’s bizarre behavior.

A girlfriend and a friend who had seen Eugene hours before the attack said he had used marijuana, but had seen him use no other drug before traveling to the Urban Beach Weekend on Miami Beach the morning of the attack.

Eugene abandoned his car on the beach and walked back to Miami on the MacArthur Causeway, stripping off his clothes during the three-mile trip, and at one point he was spotted swinging from a lamp post.

Once on the Miami side of the causeway, he encountered Poppo where the MiamiMover crosses the causeway, in view of security cameras atop the Miami Herald building. Those cameras detailed how the naked cannibal attacked the much older Poppo, knocked him to the ground, and stripped him of his clothing.

Once overcome, Eugene chewed flesh from Poppo’s face, but a later autopsy report found he did not actually eat it.

A police officer was called to the scene by people who spotted the bizarre attack. He tried to intervene but was forced to shoot, killing Eugene and apparently striking the badly wounded Poppo.

Poppo, who was taken to Ryder Trauma Center, survived the attack but has no memory of it. His face was virtually destroyed but doctors say much of it can be repaired.

Eugene’s family and friends say they are clueless about why he attacked Poppo, claiming the former high school football player and car wash employee had never shown such violent tendencies. Many believed drugs were to blame, but with Wednesday’s report the search has begun for a new cause for one of South Florida’s most bizarre crimes.
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/06/27/medical-examiner-causeway-cannibal-not-high-on-bath-salts/

Related news:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/327517
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/us/florida-cannibal-attack/index.html
Related news:


21.6.12

Ex-wife accuses snowboard champ Ross Rebagliati of smoking pot around son

By Susan Lazaruk, Postmedia News, June 20, 2012
VANCOUVER - The snow is being sprayed during divorce proceedings between the world`s first snowboarding Olympic gold medallist Ross Rebagliati and the mother of their toddler, with allegations of marijuana use in front of the child (him) and displays of courtroom histrionics (her).

Alexandra Rebagliati, 33, a Kelowna real estate agent, has accused Rebagliati -- who was briefly stripped of his 1998 Winter Olympics gold medal after famously testing positive for marijuana after the race -- of smoking pot around their three-year-old son, of whom they share custody according to an interim agreement.

Alexandra said in a filed affidavit that after the court ordered Ross not to use illegal drugs while caring for their son, the boy came home from his father`s mimicking Ross` smoking by holding his fist to his mouth and saying, ``Look, Mommy, I smoking,'' according to an online report.

Alexandra says Ross ``smokes marijuana on a daily basis'' and that it affects his mental thinking and ``presents a negative role model for the child,'' according to the custody agreement...

14.6.12

Columnist is deep on harms of pot---but superficial on pro-legalization

Casual attitude toward pot could be lethal
New study highlights ill-effects of marijuana use
By Jon Ferry, The Province, June 13, 2012
Last month I agreed with Vancouver pot activist Marc Emery that we needed to end drug prohibition in North America, if only because I couldn't imagine legalizing and regulating drugs would create more misery than banning them.

I also said I didn't view pot as harmless as drug crusaders like Emery, currently serving five years in a Mississippi jail on a marijuana rap, would have you believe.

Now, a major new report by the British Lung Foundation, based on a raft of medical studies, supports my view.

It warns that smoking marijuana is not only hazardous to the lungs, it can also cause everything from tuberculosis to Legionnaires' disease. It says there's stronger evidence than ever linking it to lung cancer...

26.2.12

Driving Under The Influence Of Marijuana - 1 In 5 Teens Have Done It

23 Feb 2012, by Christian Nordqvist, MNT
19% of teenagers in the USA say they have driven a car while under the influence of marijuana, compared to 13% who say they have driven after consuming alcohol, according to a new report issued by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and commissioned by Liberty Mutual Insurance. The authors added that marijuana use among 12-graders is at its highest level in three decades.

36% of teenagers believe that consuming marijuana has no negative effects on driving skills - this is a myth. Surprisingly, 19% of teenagers believe that consuming alcohol does not undermine driving safety...

17.2.12

Big Tobacco praying hard for pot legalization

(Letters  published in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Feb. 17, 2012)
Blowing a joint
Gary Mason suggests that legalizing marijuana will produce policy complexities (Legalize Weed, Yes, But The Demon’s In The Details – Feb. 16). Here are just a few: 1) Marijuana makes people with some mental illnesses more prone to psychosis. How will we protect vulnerable people from this harm?; 2) Marijuana smoke is as damaging to physical health as tobacco smoke; 3) Because raw marijuana has been accepted as a “medication,” anti-smoking regulations must be strengthened so they can be applied even to those who claim they are taking medication; 4) Legal marijuana will become a gift worth billions to Big Tobacco. The industry will devote its vast resources to obfuscating research on health effects, resisting regulation, targeting youth and maximizing marijuana’s addictive qualities; 5) Roadside tests must be developed to detect and prosecute drivers impaired by marijuana.
We need careful preparation before we jump on this bandwagon.
Judith Anderson, Burnaby, B.C.
-------------------------
Re Paul McCartney Quits Smoking Pot To Be A Better Parent (Feb. 16): Maybe Sir Paul is just trying to get back to where he once belonged.
Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

16.2.12

Paul McCartney quits smoking pot for daughter

'I smoked my share,' former Beatle tells magazine
CBC News, Posted: Feb 16, 2012
Sir Paul McCartney has reportedly canned his cannabis habit to be a better parent.

The former Beatle, who has spoken openly in the past about experimenting with harder drugs including cocaine and heroin, told Rolling Stone magazine in a recent interview he stopped smoking marijuana for the sake of his eight-year-old daughter, Beatrice.

"I smoked my share. When you're bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in, if you're lucky, at some point," he told the magazine.

Beatrice is McCartney's daughter from his second marriage, with ex-wife Heather Mills. He has four other children.

McCartney, 69, is currently married to American trucking heiress Nancy Shevell.

The rock legend's appreciation for pot has been well known for decades.

In 1980, he was arrested in Tokyo and deported while on tour with his band Wings, after customs officers there found nearly half a pound of marijuana in his baggage.

Mills claimed McCartney would smoke joints as often as people would drink cups of tea during their divorce proceedings.

The new Rolling Stone interview shows an apparent change of heart.

"Enough's enough — you just don't seem to think it's necessary," he said. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/02/16/mccartney-quits-pot.html
Related news:
Paul McCartney quits smoking pot to be a better parent

15.2.12

"Harmless pot" propaganda crash again

Weed Doubles the Risk of Causing Serious and Fatal Car Crashes

Cannabis twice as likely to cause road smash, British Medical Journal (BMJ) finds

Pot smoking doubles risk of crash: study

( It is clear that  pro-pot advocates, addicts and legalization supporters are willing to accept many INEVITABLE, ADDITIONAL deaths from vehicle accidents due to pot use--as a PRICE of legalization--in order to satisfy the pot cravings of some. It's just "collateral damage". No big deal. Pot smokers' happiness is much more important than a few thousand additional accident deaths per year in the future due to pot legalization)

More stoned-driving news

The latest threat on the road: stoned drivers
michael kesterton, Globe and Mail, Jul. 05, 2011
Driving while stoned
“It was his green tongue that helped give away Jimmy Candido Flores when police arrived at the fatal accident scene near Chico [Calif.],” reports the Los Angeles Times. “Flores had run off the road and killed a jogger, Carrie Jean Holiman, a 56-year-old Chico elementary school teacher. California Highway Patrol officers thought he might be impaired and conducted a sobriety examination. Flores’s tongue had a green coat typical of heavy marijuana users and a later test showed he had pot, as well as other drugs, in his blood. After pleading guilty to manslaughter, Flores, a medical marijuana user, was sentenced in February to 10 years and eight months in prison. Holliman’s death and others like it across the nation hint at what experts say is an unrecognized crisis: stoned drivers.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/social-studies/the-latest-threat-on-the-road-stoned-drivers/article2087398/

14.2.12

Why this city is the most drug-addicted in the world

Although the article below has nothing to do with pot, it is important in revealing why Vancouver is the most hard drug-addicted city in the whole world---drug liberalism carried to the most extreme...

Vancouver pro-drug lobby doesn’t deserve taxpayer dollars
VANDU gets $250,000 from province, $20,000 from city hall
By Mark Hasiuk, Vancouver Courier,  February 13, 2012

Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

That’s how much Vancouver Coastal Health, your public health authority, gave VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, last year. This year, according to VCH officials, VANDU will receive another $250,000 from taxpayers, continuing a provincial funding scheme established in 1999.

Most Vancouverites don’t know VANDU. Headquartered in a brick building at 380 East Hastings in the Downtown Eastside, it’s a non-profit hangout conforming to neighbourhood drug culture. Folks gather outside on the sidewalk and inside the lobby. Traffic seems to have increased since December when VANDU began distributing free crack pipes to addicts, part of a VCH crack pipe giveaway. But mainly, thanks to longtime leader Ann Livingston, VANDU exists for activism...