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      "body": "Congratulations @simpacarter! You received a personal award!\n\n<table><tr><td>https://steemitimages.com/70x70/http://steemitboard.com/@simpacarter/birthday1.png</td><td>1 Year on Steemit</td></tr></table>\n\n<sub>_[Click here to view your Board](https://steemitboard.com/@simpacarter)_</sub>\n\n\n**Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:**\n<table><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/christmas/@steemitboard/christmas-challenge-send-a-gift-to-to-your-friends-the-party-continues\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/http://i.cubeupload.com/kf4SJb.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/christmas/@steemitboard/christmas-challenge-send-a-gift-to-to-your-friends-the-party-continues\">Christmas Challenge - The party continues</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/christmas/@steemitboard/christmas-challenge-send-a-gift-to-to-your-friends\"><img src=\"https://steemitimages.com/64x128/http://i.cubeupload.com/kf4SJb.png\"></a></td><td><a href=\"https://steemit.com/christmas/@steemitboard/christmas-challenge-send-a-gift-to-to-your-friends\">Christmas Challenge - Send a gift to to your friends</a></td></tr></table>\n\n> Support [SteemitBoard's project](https://steemit.com/@steemitboard)! **[Vote for its witness](https://v2.steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=steemitboard&approve=1)** and **get one more award**!",
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      "body": "https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ISMOKE-MAG-BANNER-TEMPLATES-1.jpg\n\nToday on ISMOKE we’ll be taking a look at how the mainstream media’s negative stereotyping and far too often derogatory portrayal of Cannabis consumers is causing far more harm than good.\n\nIn some ways, we have come a long way from Reefer Madness and the days of “One puff and your hooked” propaganda. However, misinformation and Cannabis demonetisation continue with the proliferation of these negative stereotypes that do nothing but continue to perpetuate the stigma around Cannabis consumption and of those who enjoy it.\n\nIf the only experience you have of someone high on cannabis is a depiction on screen, then you could be forgiven for believing that all “stoners” are afflicted with a short attention span, an inability to maintain a conversation and a rather like, totally limited errrrm… vocabulary maaaannnn.\n\nThis is fundamentally untrue; as many of you will be aware a great number of writers, novelist and authors have consumed and continue to consume Cannabis while still producing timeless literary works.\n\nWilliam Shakespeare\n\nhttps://www.biography.com/.image/t_share/MTE1ODA0OTcxNzgzMzkwNzMz/william-shakespeare-194895-1-402.jpg\n\nSited as the greatest writer in the history of the English language is believed to of consumed Cannabis, which in his day would not have suffered the same degree of odium as today.\n\nPipes found on The Bard’s former property were found to have cannabis residue still inside. We’ll let him off – they probably didn’t have the isopropyl alcohol to keep it clean back then!\n\nRead more: http://time.com/3990305/william-shakespeare-cannabis-marijuana-high/\n\nAlexandre Dumas\n\nhttp://kalamu.com/neogriot/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/alexandre-dumas.jpg\n\nThe man behind the literary classics “The three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” often meet up with fellow French authors to enjoy Hashish which had recently become popular in France following the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon.\n\nRead more: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview34\n\nHoward Marks\n\n http://piratebeatboatcruise.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/howard_marks_joint.jpg\n\nWrote many books about his own adventures as well as many works of fiction.\nIts difficult to imagine that Mr Nice would have been any less masterful of the English language or of lived any less of a life worth reading about in the absence of his daily (when jail permitted) Cannabis consumption,\n\n“I am sure we were meant to take drugs because otherwise we wouldn’t get stoned”\n\nRead our interview with Howard Marks here\n\nLee Child\n\n\nTom Cruise as Jack Reacher\nThe writer of the Jack Reacher novels which have sold some 70 million+ books which have in recent years been made into a movie starring Scientology poster boy Tom Cruise admits he keeps his writing razor sharp by working while high on Cannabis and even claims it should be compulsory.\n\nRead more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396190/Lee-Child-Ive-smoked-cannabis-nights-week-44-years-dealers-speed-dial.html\n\nHunter S Thompson\n\nhttp://www.whizzpast.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/hunter-s-thompson-quotes.jpg\n\nThe eccentric father of the Gonzo journalism movement and author of “Fear and loathing in Las Vegas” “Hells Angels” and “The Rum diary” was a proponent of many mind-altering substances and rather a fan of Cannabis.\n\n“I have always loved marijuana. It has been a source of joy and comfort to me for many years. And I still think of it as a basic staple of life, along with beer and ice and Grapefruits – and millions of Americans agree with me”\n\nHunter’s widow is also apparently planning to release some of the strains from her late husband’s personal garden.\n\nAnother persistent myth promulgated in popular entertainment media is that consuming Cannabis negatively affects your intelligence.\n\nWell, someone better tell some of these people who are considered by many to be possibly some of the most influential intellectual figures of recent history:\n\nFrancis Crick\n\nOne of the 1962 Nobel prize winning team behind the discovery of the double helix shape of DNA indulged and was a firm advocate of Cannabis and was even a founding member of the Cannabis legalisation group Soma.\n\nCrick also credited LSD with aiding in the discovery of the elusive DNA model.\n\nCarl Sagan\n\nhttps://www.seti.org/sites/default/files/carlsagan.jpg\n\nThe famed astrophysicist was a staunch advocate for the legalisation of Cannabis even penning a letter in 1969 under the pseudonym Mr X, which was later published in Dr Lester Grinspoon’s 1971 book “Marihuana Reconsidered”\n\nRead more: http://marijuana-uses.com/mr-x/\n\n“The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.” ~ Carl Sagan\n\nIt is evidence of the fear and stigma the prohibition of Cannabis creates within academia that Sagan’s identity as Mr X wasn’t publicly revealed until the 1999 posthumous publication of Keay Davidson’s Book “Carl Sagan: A life” following his death in 1996.\n\nRichard Feynman\n\nWas an extraordinary intellect who revolutionised modern physics. The American Physicist who worked on the atomic bomb was another Nobel prize winning “pothead” who won the prestigious award for his work with the team that provided fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics in the 1960’s.\n\nFeynman utilised Cannabis to heighten his experimentation with sensory deprivation and consciousness expanding drugs such as LSD.\n\nBill Gates\n\nThe famed Billionaire behind the ubiquitous and instantly recognisable brand Microsoft voted yes to pass Initiative 502, legalising Cannabis for recreational use in his home of Washington State in 2012 and is now working with the Los-Angeles based start-up Kind.\n\nA Financial business founded in 2013 with the mission to make it easier for cannabis-related businesses to make safe and secure transactions, within the law. Kind will be running software used for governments in Microsoft’s cloud, Azure.(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/microsoft-kind-financial-weed-marijuana-cannabis-bill-gates-a7086946.html)\n\n“As for drugs—well, marijuana was the pharmaceutical of choice…” ~ Bill Gates\n\nTimothy Leary\n\nThe American Psychologist and writer is most well known for wanting to “turn on” the world with LSD in the 1960’s. Is arguably one of the most influential people of the 20th century shaping cultural and political trends for decades to come.\n\nTim was also an avid proponent of Cannabis, famously even reshaping modern US law when in 1969 he took his own Cannabis arrest court case (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/395/6/) to the highest body of legal authority, the US Supreme court where he successfully argued that the Marihuana Tax Act was flawed, because in order to pay the tax you’d have to incriminate yourself. This broke the US constitution violating the fifth amendment.\n\nThis paradox was accepted as prejudicial and he won a unanimous verdict forcing the American legal system to draft what became the Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 which still stands to this day, Well, until someone challenges it!\n\nFar to often cannabis consumers are still depicted in popular culture as unmotivated, lazy, weak and undisciplined.\n\nTell that to the fastest man on Earth and multiple gold medal winning athlete Usain Bolt and the most decorated Olympian of all time Michael Phelps who both enjoy Cannabis recreationally as does Canadian gold medal winning Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati.\n\nUsain Bolt\nUFC fighters Nick Diaz and Ronda Rousey have both come out as advocates of cannabis use for after fighting to aid healing.\n\nBasket Ball player Cliff Robinson, 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, Ultramarathoner Avery Collins who runs 100+ miles while high all utilise Cannabis. As do a growing numbers of NFL players Jake Plummer, Ricky Williams and Kyle Turley who having developed CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) from consecutive concussions is fighting for NFL players to have the right to access cannabis medicinally (http://herb.co/2017/01/02/cte-cannabis-treatment/) to help with the growing numbers of CTE injuries and the rampant opioid abuse epidemic within the sport.\n\nNot one of those athletes would I ever consider weak, lazy or unmotivated.\n\n“Cannabis consumers are “Wasters” “drop outs” and never amount to anything.” This is another vicious myth that needs to be expunged from our culture.\n\nSeveral American presidents (http://hightimes.com/culture/11-us-presidents-who-smoked-marijuana/) Bill Clinton, Barak Obama, James Monroe, John F Kennedy, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington all consumed Cannabis and went on to what the Americans consider to be the best job in the land., so what’s the problem?\n\n“Don’t smoke weed little Jimmy, you might grow up to be president”\n\nThere are also innumerable successful business men that have also enjoyed the company of Mary Jane while in the boardroom.\n\nGeorge Zimmer The former Mens Warehouse CEO confessed to a half-century-long relationship with the plant. George is worth in the area of $150 million.. What a loser huh?\n\nSteve Jobs The visionary behind many of Apples devices admitted to smoking Cannabis when he was younger to relax and that he regularly enjoyed eating cannabis and using drugs like LSD to help open his mind and expand his consciousness.\n\nMichael Bloomberg former three-term mayor of New York and head of Bloomberg media company is quoted when interviewed by New York magazine and asked if he had ever smoked marijuana as famously answering, “You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.” His current net worth $50 Billion (With a B)\n\nMark Johnson was CEO of Zite, a Silicon Valley company that customised mobile content, and said in an interview with the above mentioned Bloomberg media company (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-02-28/silicon-valley-is-high-on-innovation-dot-and-pot) that he smoked Cannabis “day in and day out” and that “pot” use was so widespread among Silicon Valley tech workers that it simply isn’t an issue.\n\nSilicon Valley is of course considered to be a hive of intellectual activity, technological innovations and creative next generation revolutions this does not sit well the narrative that cannabis dulls the consumer’s mind and dampens their creative capacity.\n\nAlso, you have to consider the absurd amount of great musicians throughout history that have enjoyed and espoused Cannabis in their music, as Bill Hick said\n\n“If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favour, go home tonight and take all of albums, all your tapes and all your CD’s and burn them because you know what the musicians who have made that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years.. RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4krjE679dM)\n\nCannabis has positively been contributing to music industry for easily a century now, and since first exploding onto the Jazz scene it has revolutionised music genres around the globe, further defying the prohibitionists narrative of being a demon weed.\n\nMovies are not immune from perpetuating popular misconceptions and can often be the primary vessel for perpetuating propaganda.\n\nFor decades Hollywood has been portraying cannabis consumers as paranoid, irresponsible, incompetent, both mentally and emotionally stunted imbeciles with poor posture, dirty clothes, a forgetful nature and who’re constantly switching between being obsessed with food and maniacally laughing as is epitomised best in this example from Euro Trip:\n\nhttps://youtu.be/em7rDSQHhDU\n\nThe movies of the past quarter century have also done their part to perpetuate further the negative image that was well established by their predecessors, the likes of Cheech & Chong, Fast times at Ridgemount High, Dazed & Confused and the “Bill and Ted” movies.\n\nAll helped to plant the seeds of prejudice in fertile new minds. Also films like: Dude where’s my car, Puff-Puff Pass, Dazed and confused, How high, Half baked, Don’t be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Grandma’s Boy, the trilogies of Friday and Harold and Kumar, Jay and Silent Bob strike back, Mac and Dev go to High School, Pineapple Express; although comical in nature, they still portray for the most part cannabis use and its users in outdated often offensive negative stereotypes.\n\nhttp://images.contentful.com/7h71s48744nc/4MrLbGvrkQ0QCuS6WCGS4W/79d6004c90f7cf08fa26b9e2e4c7cc2c/dude-wheres-my-car.jpg\nScreenshot from Dude, Where's my Car?\n\nTV has also played its part in the demonisation of Cannabis culture the same attitudes and ideologies permeates into the world of small screen entertainment as much as it does with the big screen.\n\nAlthough never directly mentioned or addressed there are many TV shows with characters consuming or being inferred to be under the influence of cannabis, with them ultimately being depicted as being negatively impaired by its effects.\n\nTV shows like “That 70s show” “Scooby Doo” “Beavis and Butthead” all had “dopey” protagonists teaching the youth the previous generations prejudices.\n\nAn interesting exception to this trend is Popeye who is visibly enhanced by his implied consumption.\n\nSo as cannabis continues to gain cultural acceptance the public perception is gradually changing and as always network executives, TV producers, Movie directors and general entertainment corporation bigwigs are paying attention and slowly cottoning on to the potential profits of exploiting cannabis culture by creating neutral and positive content about cannabis consumption and the wider culture.\n\nNow with less comical shows and more factual programs such as Weediquette, to cooking programs like ‘Bong Appetite’ which has evolved from the stereotype of Shaggy and Scooby rooting around in the kitchen of whatever haunted mansion they’d been forced to explore to cannasseurs dinning on gourmet meals made by guest chefs – with myriad of medicated ingredients and infusions of all kinds with extracts and oils.\n\nTV shows that depict cannabis use in a comical way but that doesn’t stigmatise or pigeon hole the stars in a negative way are emerging slowly from the remnants of the old Hollywood clichés. Shows like MTVs Mary And Jane and HBO’s comedy series High Maintenance and Netflix's Disjointed are all comedies which are set to pave the way for the normalisation of cannabis on television in the US and eventually we can hope someday to the UK too.\n\nSimpa\nDCCC",
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      "body": "http://www.geekbinge.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/FP-Mary-Reefer.jpg\n\nExploring the etymology and the origins of the word Marijuana and why this antiquated and racist term should be removed from our vocabulary.\n\nCannabis, as you will well be aware, goes by many names all over the UK and indeed around the world. Weed, Dope, Bud, Reefer, Green, Ganja, Herb, Pot, Grass, I could go on – its correct botanical name, however, is Cannabis, which we get from the Greek word kánnabis.\n\nCannabis has been the standard term in botanical vernacular since the publication of Carl Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum in 1753 which was the first major attempt to list all the known plant species with the now commonplace, two-part Latin naming system known as Binomial nomenclature.\n\nAlthough it isn’t as prevalent a term here in the UK as it is in the states, the term “Marijuana” is still being used in the global vocabulary, also to describe medical Cannabis. In fact, our cousins across the pond have taken to calling it “Medical Marijuana” or MMJ for short, but where do we get this strange term for weed? Where does the word Marijuana come from? And why does it continue to persist in the public vernacular?\n\nMost people would point back to Harry J. Anslinger as the man who popularised the term.\n\nAnslinger, who was a firm advocate for alcohol prohibition, believed that if only the government could crack down hard enough and arrest enough people then they’d be able to rid the country of alcohol. Alcohol was, at the time, the preferred scapegoat to all societal ills. Currently, this scapegoat has evolved to include drugs in general, with special attention being paid to any substance that can expand consciousness, induce empathy or one that threatens the pharmacological cabal in any way.\n\nAnslinger would later adopt this extreme ideology and methodology when in 1930 he was tasked with being the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), which in 1968 merged with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (BDAC) to become the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. This was the predecessor to what would later become the modern day DEA, The Drug Enforcement Administration, which was founded in July of 1973 by prohibitionist hero and avid Cannabis adversary Richard Nixon.\n\nFollowing his employment as commissioner of the newly created FBN, Anslinger set about trying to convince individual states to police all drugs the same way that they were now regulating Opium and Cocaine. His first attempt failed to convince the population of the dangers of the Cannabis plant which up to this point had enjoyed a reputation as a rather benign substance with a myriad of medicinal and industrial applications.\n\nPrior to the end of alcohol prohibition, Anslinger had even himself claimed that Cannabis was not a problem, did not harm people, and that “there is no more absurd a fallacy than the idea it makes people violent”.\n\nThis changed when unemployment loomed for Anslinger, as prohibiting opium and cocaine alone wouldn’t justify his department’s continued existence.\n\nNot being satisfied with just enforcing opium and cocaine prohibition, which was done as a way to control the Asian and African American populations in the early 1900’s, Anslinger drafted the Marihuana (Yes, we spelt that right) Tax Act of 1937. This was the first federal law to ban the possession and sale of the drug, with the exception of approved medical and industrial uses. The Bill put a tax of one dollar on anyone who sold or cultivated the cannabis plant, aimed primarily at the poor and lower classes mainly Mexican immigrants. It also allowed them to ban Hemp as an industrial resource.\n\nIn that address to Congress, Anslinger stated that “We seem to have adopted the Mexican terminology, and we call it marihuana.”\n\nThis may seem at first like the simple adoption of pre-existing terminology, but ultimately it was a deliberate tactic chosen to put emphasis on the Mexican immigrants who were seen as the primary consumers of Cannabis at the time in the South West USA.\n\nIt is also around this time the nomenclature began to change. Cannabis which up until the early 1900’s had been primarily been know as “Indian Hemp”, became more commonly known by the Spanish word for Cannabis, Marihuana. This was now also spelt with a J, Marijuana, as in Tijuana to emphasise Anslingers narrative that the plant was a foreign scourge brought in by immigrants.\n\nThis is further evident as when Anslinger or other government agencies discuss the medicinal or industrial applications they used the terms Cannabis or Hemp.\n\nSo Anslinger set his sights firmly on cannabis, which at the time was mainly being imported into the southern ports from overseas and brought across the Mexican border. It was being enjoyed by travelling Jazz musicians, celebrities and other various cultural movers and shakers, who were predominantly minorities who were helping to popularise its consumption.\n\nAnslinger, who I feel its safe to say at this point was clearly a racist, spent a great deal of time collecting some 200+ rather dubious anecdotes, which he referred to as his “Gore files” of reefer induced violence, and sex crimes by mainly minorities to shock the mass media and politicians.\n\nAnslinger took every available opportunity to promulgate the terms marijuana and reefer madness while he continued to escalate the levels of propaganda, misinformation, scare stories and flat out lies spread amongst the American public about Cannabis, some of which persists to this day.\n\nIt is a testament to Anslinger’s skills at media and political manipulation that the primary nomenclature in the US is still Marijuana, some 40 years after his death.\n\nThere are signs emerging of change on the horizon. Hawaii recently passed a bill that states that the word “marijuana” “carries prejudicial implications rooted in racial stereotypes” dating back to the early days of prohibition and seeks to replace all mentions of “medical marijuana” with “Medical Cannabis” so steps are being taken to address this outdated and unnecessary term and replace it with the correct and ubiquitous term, Cannabis.\n\nIf you’d like to learn more about the early days of Prohibition and Harry J Anslinger, Then I’d highly recommend you read Johann Hari’s book, Chasing The Scream: The first and last days of the war on drugs. Buy it here.\n\nSimpa\nDCCC",
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      "body": "It will come as no surprise to the initiated amongst you that the consumption of Cannabis before bed will have you sleeping on a cloud of smoke and will often result in you getting a great night’s sleep, but is this really the case?\n\nLets take a look at how consuming Cannabis affects your sleeping pattern, your dreams and the length and quality of sleep that you get after you light up before heading off to the land of nod.\n\nCannabis has long since been utilised to not only induce a good night’s sleep in its recreational consumers, but also medicinally to treat varying sleep disorders, such as RLS (Restless leg syndrome), Sleep Apnoea, and one of the most common sleep complaints, Insomnia.\n\nThe traditional treatment model for Insomnia has been a short burst of opioid-based medications, but these drugs unfortunately come with a raft of rather severe side effects, as well as a high risk of abuse and dependence and are too often insufficient to help many patients relieve their symptoms.\n\nAs medical professionals are now more aware of the dangers of opiate addiction, patients tend to be now treated psychiatrically in the hope that behavioural therapies will address the issues that have created and continue to cause their condition and potentially addictive pills being strictly a last resort.\n\nAnother common complaint is the length of time it takes to fall asleep, and the inability to remain asleep once they’ve dosed off again – this was, until recently, mainly treated with opium-derived sleeping pills. A study found that sleeping pills although growing in popularity seemed to have a much smaller effect on the users sleep cycle than first thought. On average the pills only add 11 minutes of sleep time and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep by a mere 13 minutes.\n\nIt hardly seems worth the side effects with such a low risk/reward ratio, especially when THC has also been shown to help reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and the length of time that the consumer remains asleep for without the varying detrimental side effects of its pharmacological counterpart.\n\nRead more: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2013.12003.x/abstract\n\nThere is less evidence on the efficacy of using CBD to treat sleep disorders. A study found that when researchers administered CBD to Rats during their waking state it increased wakefulness.  CBD has also been found to help with somnolence, a state of or strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods.\n\nThere doesn’t seem to be studies of any combination of CBD and THC but it’s not a giant leap to assume that the combination of CBD and THC, when added with one of the below-mentioned terpenes, couldn’t make a great sleep-inducing strain with other medicinal benefits to the consumer.\n\nAnother Cannabinoid worth mentioning is CBN (Cannabinol). This has been shown to be the strongest sedative cannabinoid discovered so far.\n\nSteep Hill Labs state that 5mg of CBN is as effective as a 10mg dose of Diazepam one of the drugs often prescribed to treat Insomnia. Read more: http://steephill.com/blogs/34/Cannabinol-(CBD):-A-Sleeping-Synergy\n\nIt is worth noting that ingesting Cannabis means it is broken down by the liver and turns the THC into 11-OH-THC (11-Hydroxy-?9-Tetrahydrocannabinol) which is thought also to produce a sedative effect on the consumer but again there is little academic evidence of this and the primary evidence is anecdotal.\n\nThe evening consumption of Cannabis can also help other types of patients to get a good nights sleep. Pain patients, for example, can also benefit greatly from a nightly intake of Cannabis allowing for continuous and consistent dormancy during the night allowing the patient the maximum amount of sleep to facilitate a sound slumber through potential discomfort and pain, enabling them to awaken feeling re-energised and well rested.\n\nEvening Cannabis consumption can also be exceedingly useful for dream suppression as well, which is rather useful for PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), BPD (Borderline personality disorder) and other trauma-based mental health disorders. Cannabis is effective because it can help to suppress potential nocturnal trauma, memories, dreams and nightmares which could cause the unconscious patient to relive their trauma upon waking, leading to an opening of old wounds and an incredibly difficult waking state filled with anxiety, distress, confusion and emotional volatility.\n\nThere is further evidence that Cannabis aids sleep in the fact that a Cannabis pharmaceutical company in the states called CannRX (http://www.cannrx.com/) is teaming up with iCAN, the Israeli-based Cannabis pharmaceutical company to produce the world’s first Cannabis-derived sleep aid. The product which will be branded as “ican.sleep” will be made from plant extract and be made available in a spray form in countries with a Medical Cannabis infrastructure. There is no confirmed release date yet for “ican.sleep” but the producers anticipate it to be available later this year or early in 2018. Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-american-partnership-launching-cannabis-sleep-aid\n\nAs our regular readers will be aware, Sativa strains and Sativa hybrid strains are known to have an uplifting, energetic and euphoric inducing effects on the consumer, and so they aren’t typically recommended for aiding sleep. High THC containing Indica strains have been anecdotally found time and time again by patients and consumers to help combat sleep issues and assist in a good nights sleep.\n\nAlthough it has not yet been confirmed it is theorised that Indica strains are best at aiding sleep because of the arrangement of terpenes in Indica dominant strains, and that’s what gives them their well-earned sedative reputation.\n\nIt is thought that cannabis contains over 200 terpenes, although many of these are found in trace amounts and may have negligible, if any, effect at all, here are two rather important terpenes I’d say that are worth keeping in mind when consuming Cannabis to treat sleep disturbances.\n\nMyrcene\n\nIdentifiable by its Earthy and musky tones, often with a hint of fruity flavour, it is the most dominant compound found in Cannabis and can make up to 60% of some strains, it is not only anti-inflammatory but also a muscle relaxant and when combined with large amounts of THC have been shown to have a sedative effect this could possibly contribute to the tired/stoned feeling often attributed to Indicas.\n\nSteep Hill Labs reports that Cannabis samples with more than 0.5 percent Myrcene will be Indica, while those with less than 0.5 percent will be Sativa.\n\nA study by GW Pharmaceuticals in 2008 investigated the pain-relieving properties of Myrcene. It found that the terpene also exhibits an analgesic effect that works in the body in a similar way that opium does, only without the potential for abuse and addiction.\n\nAn interesting side note about Myrcene, It is abundant in Mangos, meaning that if you eat one before smoking it will heighten the high.\n\nMyrcene heavy strains include: Pure Kush, Skunk #1, White Widow, El Nino and Himalayan Gold.\n\nLinalool\n\n\nTerpene images: The Leaf Online\nLinalool which is identifiable by its floral, citrus and candy-like aroma has been used for thousands of years as an anxiolytic and also as a sleep aid, most commonly by the inhalation of evaporated Lavender or other similar floral oils.\n\nLinalool is a remarkable terpene it has been found to show properties of an Analgesic, Anti-depressant, Anti- Epileptic, Anxiolytic, Anti-psychotic, Anti-Inflammatory as well as a rather effective relaxant and sedative.\n\nLinalool is also crucial in the production of Vitamin E in the body, which makes it a very important terpene for healthy and normal physical functioning.\n\nLinalool dominant strains include: Master Kush, Rockstar, Grand Daddy Purple, Kens GDP, G13, Lavender, LA Confidential and Amnesia Haze.\n\nTo best maximise the sedative effects of Cannabis consume it with other naturally occurring terpenes such as chamomile, Valerian root, Lavender, Melatonin, St Johns Wort, Mandarin etc\n\nThe majority of Cannabis consumers when they take either a prolonged tolerance breaks quit consuming Cannabis mention that the cessation in consumption leads to the return, with a vengeance of vivid and wild dreams.\n\nThis phenomenon is known as REM Rebound. This is thought to be because of the consumption of Cannabis which is believed to lead to less time in REM sleep, the final stage of the sleep cycle and so when they quit the REM sleep cycle increases.\n\nRandom fact about dreams: it is thought that each dream lasts between 4 to 20 minutes!\n\nAlthough consuming Cannabis appears to reduce the amount of time you spend in REM sleep, it increases the length of time that you’re in deep sleep. Deep sleep is one of the earlier cycles you go through when you fall asleep and is thought to be important in repairing the body. It gathers energy for the next day, aids growth, boosts the immune system and repairs muscle and tissues.\n\nDr Hans Hamburger, a Somnologist from the Amsterdam sleep centre-\n“Every night, you go through about four or five sleep cycles. Each cycle takes about 90 minutes, during which you go through different phases. There’s superficial sleep, deep sleep and finally REM sleep. During that REM period, you have most of your dreams. You don’t usually remember your dreams if you continue sleeping. The last REM period just before you wake up takes the longest – and you’ll only remember the dreams you had in that time if you wake up during it. If you don’t wake up during the REM period, you won’t remember a thing.”\n\n“You only remember the things that happen while you’re awake. We don’t remember the things that happen while we are sleeping, because we’re in a lowered state of consciousness. That has something to do with the fact that when you’re asleep, you’re processing the memories of things that happened during the day and essentially filing them away in your brain.”\n\nRead more: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/why-are-your-dreams-suddenly-so-intense-when-you-stop-smoking-weed-876\n\nThere is still no definitive answer as to why we dream, let alone the importance of the activity. Ultimately the ability to remember your dreams is not an indicator of the frequency of which you dream, so it is rather difficult to ascertain whether consuming Cannabis actually prevents REM sleep from occurring or simply allows for a more prolonged deep sleep cycle and a shorter REM cycle that remains uninterrupted until waking.\n\nIt is still, therefore, in my opinion, highly debatable as to whether Cannabis consumption truly has any effect on the REM sleep cycle other than the length of time spent within it and whether this is in any way detrimental to the consumer in either the short or long term is still unproven either way.\n\nSo as is far too often the case, much more research is needed to understand how the complex phenomena of dreaming and the consumption of Cannabis interact.\n\nBy Simpa Carter\nDCCC",
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      "body": "https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/cannabisprohibition.jpg\n\nWhen thinking of 420 friendly cities and hot spots for Cannabis activism around the world where comes to mind?\n\nDenver, Seattle, Barcelona, Amsterdam… Durham? Could the land of Prince Bishops really become the UK’s Amsterdam?\n\nThis week on ISMOKE we take a closer look at how this northern county is leading the UK with its progressive drugs policies and focus on harm reduction and maximisation of the potential benefits that drugs can have on the consumer and the wider society.\n\nThe northeast county of Durham has garnered a great deal of attention these past few years – ever since Its Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg announced his intention for the force to deprioritise the personal consumption and cultivation of Cannabis in the Durham constituency in July 2015. Since then, the county has gone from strength to strength.\n\nAs a result of these relaxed and liberalised policies there are now several Cannabis clubs in the county:\n\nDurham City Cannabis Club\nDurham County Cannabis Club\nDurham Cannabis Collective\nWear Valley Cannabis club\nDurham City Dank Collective \n\nThere are also many more in neighbouring territories including Teesside CC’s club Exhale – the northeast’s first cannabis club to have a physical location.\n\nThese clubs and communities are all doing their own thing, hosting events, connecting the community, Providing educational material and a point of contact for the general public to access unbiased information about Cannabis consumption and cultivation through social media and meet up events from experienced growers, consumers and activists.\n\nThis year the county clubs bought together by Durham City CC, Durham Cannabis Collective, Wear Valley CC and Tyneside CC worked together to organise the counties first and what will no doubt become an annual 420 event. \n\nOn the day, 300+ attendees enjoyed music, speakers, stalls, the sunshine and of course the herb, With no police presence, the event went off without a hitch even leaving the area cleaner than when the clubs found it!\n\nWatch our video filmed at the Durham 420 celebration this year:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg98nHWZ3V8\n\n\nThere are still raids going on in Durham however, but these seem to be primarily focused on large-scale industrial grow operations and groups of individuals already involved in criminal activity. These people are exploiting the fact that Cannabis remains illegal in the UK, and can, therefore, be used to generate extraordinary amounts of money tax-free to fund their criminal enterprises.\n\nThese criminals are cultivating large quantities of cannabis without taking the time or care to ensure crops are well grown, or to make sure that they don’t use horrible chemicals or PGR’s (Plant Growth Regulators) which are unsuitable for Cannabis cultivation.\n\nDurham constabularies police force are now the only force out of the 43 UK forces to be ranked outstanding by the government’s independent watchdog HMIC (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary).\n\nThe Durham Police Force’s fortitude and bravery in adopting such initiative drugs policies has been well received; not just in the local, but also the national press and by the majority of local constituents. In 2016 Mr Hogg was re-elected with a larger majority than his first term, a testament to the popularity of his policies. Now many of the other PCC’s around the country are looking to emulating this policy, and hopefully his popularity too.\n\n“It’s time to review the legalisation of the Class B drug, (Cannabis) I want the benefit of drugs to be explored, Look at morphine, it comes from poppy seeds, the same as heroin”- Ron Hogg\n\nWith Ron Hogg and Mike Barnes at the helm, Durham constabulary has been following a general ethos of harm reduction from drugs in the county. There is also a proposal to open safe injection rooms for the region’s heroin addicts. First proposed back in 2013, the idea is to prescribe addicts with medical pure and unadulterated heroin and clean needles to consume in a safe environment and to have access to healthcare professionals to help them stabilise their lives and get the help they so desperately need.\n\nThis works, and it has been trailed around the world time and time again. It reduces inquisitive crime which makes up a lot of the petty charges on a heroin users criminal record, as they steal to support their addiction. It reduces the spread of HIV and Hepatitis as well as providing these poor souls with chemically pure heroin that doesn’t have any adulterants in that could kill the consumer and it allows them to stabilise not just their dose and but also their lives.\n\n“The successes of trials around the world, and within Darlington, have led both myself and the Chief Constable Mike Barton to believe that using drug consumption rooms to treat heroin addiction should be explored further, certainly county-wide” – Ron Hogg \n\nhttp://volteface.me/app/uploads/2017/03/Ron-Hogg-landscape.jpeg\nRon Hogg. Image: Volteface\n\n“Over the last five years, police budgets were reduced by 22% and we lost 32,334 officers and staff at a time where the crime is changing, becoming more costly and complex to investigate and other calls for our service have increased. It’s a simple reality that we are required to prioritise more.” – Chief Constable Michael Barton\n\nDealing with drugs as a health issue rather than a punitive one makes the most sense even the Liberal Democrat’s are now beginning to realising that legalising Cannabis is the best way to negate the black hole of funds and officer time that attempting to police this peaceful plant generates.\n\n“Research by the party drawn from official figures shows a total of 87,247 police caseloads relating to the drug were opened in 2015, with the average cost to the taxpayer per case being estimated at £2,256”\n\nAnother way in which Durham is becoming more like Amsterdam is its progressive attitude towards the way in which the force policies prostitution, keeping with their harm reduction theme Durham’s PCC commissioned the charity Changing lives, \na national charity that aims to provide specialist support for thousands of vulnerable people and their families, to investigate the scale and intracity of sex work in the region.\n\n“The sex industry in these areas does not rely on street-working, but rather women are more likely to sell sex to drug dealers, advertise in newspapers or online, pick up men opportunistically in pubs, or exchange sex for drugs, alcohol or accommodation”\n\nRead more: http://www.changing-lives.org.uk/news/peer-research-sex-durham-darlington/\n\nThe report recommends the establishment of a specialist sex worker and sexual exploitation service in County Durham. There is a distinct need for a service which can reach and support sex workers and those who are most vulnerable to sexual exploitation in County Durham.\n\nAs one professional puts it, “there is a missing piece” within service provision in the region, as also acknowledged by the police who were interviewed for this research.\n\nDetective Superintendent Fuller, the safeguarding lead for Durham Constabulary, said: “It is fair to say that women involved in sex work in County Durham have not always had the confidence to report (assaults, rape) and ensure they get the support and understanding they need.”\n\n“We are working to improve confidence to report by prioritising this area.”\n\n“Thousands of front-line officers had had training in how to deal with sexual violence, trauma and abuse, and more than 1,000 taxi drivers across the county had received sexual exploitation and vulnerability training”\n\nSo generally Durham constabulary are taking a new approach to policing attempting to understand the reasons behind why people are breaking the law and not just punishing them for breaking it in the first place.\n\nThey’re also seeking to reform the existing laws as prohibition is far more harmful and detrimental to the individual and society than the substances these prohibitive laws attempt to govern.\n\nSimpa\nDCCC\n\n\nThis article was written by me and originally posted on https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/barcelona-amsterdam-durham/",
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      "body": "https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/9.jpg\n\nFew things in this world could ever match up to a mother’s love, and I am in no doubt that prohibition isn’t one of them.\n\nThis week on ISMOKE we meet the warrior women – the mothers of mercy desperately fighting to treat their children using cannabis and cannabis-derived medicinal products.\n\nToo often these women who are not only having to fight against the odds, but their doctors, the law and even the very services that have been established to help heal and treat their offspring’s ailments and to protect their health.\n\nThe fact that sick children are being deprived of accessing medications that have been shown to work for the same conditions in other countries is one of the more vicious and insidious by-products of prohibition.\n\nFar from deterring these mothers from accessing these medications the law only stands to further harm these children by denying them the means of which to lessen or end their suffering.\n\nMany mothers are out there everyday fighting to get the best possible care and treatment for their children – here we shall focus on three rather high profile examples.\n\nThe cliché “I don’t care if my child is X, I only care that they’re healthy” is an apt one here.\n\nVera Twomey\n\nhttp://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/image-1.jpg\nVera Twomey Image: Irish Times\n\nVera Twomey who previously completed a 162-mile walk from her home in Cork to the Irish Parliament to try and bring attention to the plight of her daughter Ava.\n\nVera is fighting to have access to Cannabis oil to treat her daughter who has a rare form of Epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome, which is being successfully treated using high CBD, low THC Cannabis oil by other parents who’s children also have this rare form of Epilepsy.\n\nUnfortunately, if you search for Cannabis or Cannabinoids on the Dravet Foundation website you will find no information about cannabis or CBD. This is tragically another case of a Charity being taken in by the propaganda that surrounds Cannabis to such a degree that it is actually doing harm to these charities and the patrons they’re meant to be helping by refusing to mention potential treatments.\n\nThe standard treatment model for Dravet’s syndrome is a continuous course of either Stiripentol or Valproate, both of which come with wide-ranging side effects including, nausea, dramatic changes in appetite, hair loss, depression, memory problems, unusual thoughts, nervousness, diarrhoea the list goes on. Benzodiazepine also seems to be utilised for long-lasting seizures, but this is often insufficient.\n\nContrast that with cannabis-derived products which are being used in other countries to treat Dravet Syndrome with little to no side effects – these products can give children a quality of life that otherwise would be denied to them by prohibition.\n\nCharlotte Figi, for example is a little girl from Colorado who also suffers from Dravet syndrome. The Stanley brothers cross-bred a special strain of low THC high CBD Cannabis, first named “Hippie’s disappointment” for its low THC content but later renamed Charlotte’s web after young Charlotte.\n\nVera’s extensive research she claims has shown her that combining the CBD treatment with THC could give Ava’s condition a one-two punch that might allow her the opportunity to experience a far better qualify of life. But as THC remains illegal in Ireland, when she recently flew back from Spain, where she legally obtained the medication that contains THC she was stopped and following a two-hour interrogation released without Ava’s medication.\n\n“This medication is available all over Europe. I am not doing anything wrong. It shouldn’t be illegal in this country. It is allowed in 11 different countries in Europe, in the US, in Canada, in Australia – they’re not wrong.”\n\n“This is what could save my daughter’s life, and that’s why I went. (Spain) What needs to happen now is that the legislation needs to be brought in so that people like us can get the treatment for our families.” Vera said.\n\nhttp://mm.aiircdn.com/157/581ae8b20b61d.jpg\n\nSpeaking afterwards, Ms Twomey said it was a “complete injustice” that the cannabis-based medication, THC, was taken by Irish customs.\n\n“I’d like Minister Simon Harris to do something rather than me having to travel to Barcelona – why should I have to do that? This is my country, this is my child in this country, she deserves medication in this country!”\n\nRead more: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/medicinal-cannabis-seized-from-mother-at-dublin-airport-1.3056831\n\nThe painful irony here is that there is already a Cannabis-based drug being developed to treat this and other forms of Epilepsy in the UK by G W Pharmaceuticals. The product is called “Epidiolex”. In Epidiolex’s most recent study GW announced that “Epidiolex achieved the primary endpoint of a significant reduction in convulsive seizures assessed over the entire treatment period compared with placebo”\n\nRead more: https://www.gwpharm.com/about-us/news/gw-pharmaceuticals-announces-positive-phase-3-pivotal-study-results-epidiolex\n\n“These placebo-controlled studies demonstrate that Epidiolex provides clinically meaningful reductions in seizure frequency together with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile”, stated Orrin Devinsky, M.D, New York University Langone Medical Centre’s comprehensive Epilepsy Centre.\n\nThe drug comes in the form of a viscous liquid to be dispensed in syringe droppers. It contains 98% CBD, and no psychoactive THC. The remainder is made up of trace amounts of other Cannabinoids and could easily be prescribed on the NHS\n\nCharlotte Caldwell\n\nhttp://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Charlotte-Caldwell.jpg\nCharlotte and Billy Caldwell\n\nCharlotte Caldwell from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland has been battling to save her epileptic son Billy’s life since his first 6-hour long seizure at only four months old.\n\nWhen the medications failed, doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast told Charlotte that there was nothing more they could do for her son and sent him home saying she should make him as comfortable as possible and giving Billy only six months to live.\n\nWhile desperately researching online Charlotte found a medical centre in Chicago that could provide tests and treatments that weren’t available on the NHS. Starting by contacting the local paper, Charlotte was able to raise the $400,000 required for Billy to get the care he needed and so in September 2007 Charlotte and Billy moved into a property in Glenview, Chicago, and he began assessment and treatment. Surgery was ruled out early on, so intensive occupational therapy and a strict diet that is low in protein and carbohydrates (that has been shown to reduce seizures) was chosen for Billy.\n\n18 months later and with Billy’s life being the complete polar opposite of when he arrived in the US, the family moved back to the UK in 2009. They did that with assurances from Health Minister Michael McGimpsey that Billy’s treatment could continue in Oxford, England and the cost of his care would be covered.\n\nhttp://cdn-03.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article35675614.ece/54c44/AUTOCROP/w620h342/ye%20-%20Belfa%202.jpg\n\nFollowing a U-turn by the Health Minister, Charlotte was forced to borrow £30,000 in loans from banks and family members before the Minister again performed another U-turn once again agreeing to pay for Billy’s treatment.\n\n“I’m completely puzzled and bewildered why we have had to go through this because it’s Billy’s life at the end of the day and we’re just trying to give him the best possible start in life.”\n\nAfter Billy’s health had deteriorated Charlotte took him once again for treatment in the US. After a costly spell in Los Angeles that left the pair homeless while they paid for treatment, they were able to return to their Castlederg home after flying to Dublin Airport, where they passed through customs with a supply of cannabis oil.\n\nAs Billy’s essential supply of Cannabis oil which contains CBD and a small amount of THC started to run out, Charlotte feared once again for her son’s life.\n\nWith only a few days left of the medication that has kept Billy over 80 days seizure free, and with no oil materialising from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Charlotte pleaded with her GP who agreed to prescribe the medication Billy so desperately needed at his own risk.\n\nDr O’Hare described the situation as ‘unique’. “Whatever the rights and wrongs, we had a child who had benefited and the child’s welfare was paramount, on that basis I issued a prescription”\n\n“I know we can do this and not only for Billy, but so many of our loved ones can benefit from medicinal cannabis.”\n\nAs of early May Billy is back in the US awaiting specialist treatment.\n\nIt is worth noting that Cannabis-derived products are also not mentioned in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence epilepsy treatment guidelines, keeping to successive governments narrative that “Cannabis has no medicinal value.”\n\nCallie Blackwell\n\nhttp://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/image.jpg\nCallie Blackwell and family\n\nCallie Blackwell’s son Deryn was first diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2010 at the age of 10 and then later in 2012 diagnosed again -this time with an incredibly rare and rather aggressive form of Cancer; Langerhans Cell Sarcoma. This is a condition so rare that less than less than half a dozen people are currently diagnosed with it.\n\nThought to be the only patient battling both conditions, Deryn has been dubbed “The boy in 7 Billion”, which is also the title of the Book which his mother Callie has written about their families journey through the ravages of Cancer to the rapturous joys of recovery.\n\nhttp://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/callie-blackwell-mum-gave-son-deryn-cannabis-cancer-miraculous-recovery4.jpg\n\nBy 2013, after nearly 4 years of hospital visits, various painful and invasive treatments and chemotherapy, it seems there was only one thing left for young Deryn – opiate drugs to ease his persistent pain and anxiety. He was being transferred to a children’s hospice where it seemed his tragically short life would soon come to an end – Deryn even began to plan his own funeral.\n\nAs any parent in a similar position would be Callie was desperate to find anything to alleviate her son’s suffering, and in much the same way that Charlotte discovered the doctor in Chicago who ultimately saved Billy’s life, Callie dedicated every spare waking moment to research.\n\n“I spent hour after hour researching on the internet, and that’s where I came across reports of a substance called Bedrocan, a cannabis-based painkiller that wasn’t prescribed in the UK. Surely it had to be a better option than mind numbing Morphine? But the doctor told me that while it was effective, it had not been tested on children and she couldn’t prescribe it.”\n\nIt was at this point that they did what I believe any parent would do when faced with similar circumstances. In defiance of the draconian British drug laws and risking up to 5 years incarceration for possession, Simon, Callies husband arranged to meet a local dealer at a nearby service station to get cannabis that they then made into a tincture to put into a Vape pen for Deryn to hopefully alleviate his suffering.\n\nDespite being given just days to live, Deryn battled his way back from the brink as his body began to produce white blood cells in a what they call a miracle recovery.\n\nTo test the theory that it was indeed cannabis that was helping Deryn Callie withdrew the cannabis tincture and saw her son’s white blood cell count fall again. After seeing the relief Deryn had got from the vaporiser, she began to wonder if a larger dose administered orally would have a greater therapeutic effect. Using a spare syringe she drew 5ml of the tincture and gave it to Deryn and within 30 minutes he was visibly calmer and less anxious, telling Callie “I feel relaxed, I’m aware of everything. I just feel at peace, it’s beautiful”.\n\nDeryn began to decline the powerful anti-sickness drugs to which he had become addicted and over the coming days, the long term pains that had ravaged his body began to lessen and disappear. His finger which was blackened and dying healed and he fought off three potentially fatal infections – later his palliative care doctor announced to the family that they no longer believed that Deryn was dying.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvJOAV7oAc\n\nNow going from strength to strength in recovery having passed his GCSE’s Deryn is now pursuing a career as a Vegan chief.\n\n“I really did try everything and I really did beg with the hospital to help us on all occasions, and there really wasn’t anything else they could do. I was left desperate and willing to try anything and I am glad I did.” said Callie Blackwell.\n\nAs discussed above, the examples here serve to highlight the urgent need for Cannabis law reform, These amazing mothers and their brave children wouldn’t be here today if they didn’t have the fortitude to stand up and say no to prohibition and by doing everything in their power illegally healing their children.\n\nUnder our current legal framework, these mothers are criminals and their children expected to die, this can no longer be allowed to continue.\n\nBy Simpa Carter\n\nOriginally posted to https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/warrior-women-mothers-fighting-legalise-cannabis-save-children/",
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      "body": "Imo, The number one reason for the above disparity is cannabis use cuts into medical profits, where as alcohol use exponentially increases medical profits. Alcohol propaganda has been seeded in every tv show, sports game, movie, & social event since before the radio. Hopefully posts like this will help change the culture.",
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      "body": "This week on ISMOKE we are comparing two of the most popular drugs that are consumed recreationally by the British public, alcohol and cannabis, and comparing the effects that these substances have on the consumer, society and on British culture in general.\n\nIn 2015, there were 8,758 alcohol-related deaths in the UK, an age-standardised rate of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 population.\n\nAlso in 2015, there were 1.1 million estimated hospital admissions where an alcohol-related disease, injury or condition was the primary reason for admission or a secondary diagnosis. Men accounted for two-thirds of those admissions.\n\nThe most common condition suffered by Alcohol users is liver disease and secondly Cirrhosis of the liver which when included in the cost of treating all other Alcoholic induced or exacerbated conditions to £ 3.5 Billion annually.\n\nhttps://media.giphy.com/media/sxppfOCrh8sj6/giphy.gif\n\nThere is a commonly held belief that Alcohol kills brain cells – this is, in fact, a myth (all be it a rather persistent one.) Even in alcoholics, continuous alcohol use doesn’t result in the death of brain cells.\n\nAlcohol is a neuro-depressant, which means it acts by slowing down the functions of the central nervous system including the brain. So what is happening is that consumption damages the ends of neurones, this results in problems in conveying messages between the neurones. The cell itself isn’t damaged, but the way that it communicates with others is negatively altered.\n\nIn contrast, the US holds a patent on cannabis as a neuroprotectant.\n\nAs discussed previously in this magazine, cannabis can be used by some medical users as a rather effective antidepressant equal to or better than the traditional regiment of SSRI/SNRI’s and without the associated 50% increase in violent and suicidal thoughts and actions. In contrast, alcohol is also known to act as a depressant.\n\nAlcohol is considered to be a social drug, because it is socially accepted by the population as a whole. There are special drug consumption rooms (pubs, bars and clubs) in every town and city for its use. Food outlets stay open to feed inebriated users and taxis to transport them home afterwards.\n\nThere are whole stores dedicated to this drug, as well as sections in shops dedicated to all the different varieties and flavours to take home and consume in the comfort of your own home without fear of arrest or persecution.\n\nIf a similarly applicable infrastructure were in place for the consumption of cannabis, then it would no doubt also be widely accepted as a social drug, and may eventually be welcomed in the same way that the British public embrace alcohol. It only isn’t now because of 80 years of sustained propaganda and decades of reefer madness stereotypes in movies and on TV – just look at the change in opinion in the US, where over 60% of Americans now think that cannabis should be legalised.\n\nIf Alcohol was discovered today, not only would it be banned under the psychoactive substances bill, (signed into power in January 2015 by David Cameron’s Conservative government), but it wouldn’t even clear the first of the endless hurdles of public perception.\n\nThere would be never ending scare stories in the papers of how millions of people are consuming “liquid apathy” a drug that makes them so intoxicated they often cannot remember how they got home or even what they did the previous evening or who with; stories about drunken one punch murderers; drunken drivers disregarding for human life; alcohol-fuelled sex crimes and violence.\n\nDaily headlines would likely be printed, instilling the desired level of fear through campaigns of “Bear-madness” and “one drink and you’re hooked” you know, those tales of addiction and loss, Sound familiar?\n\nAlcohol also takes a massive financial toll on society, Having to police nightly the negative consequences that Alcohol has on society is a losing battle.\n\nOur police have to attempt to corral the masses in town and city centres up and down the country when every Friday and Saturday nights (Sundays too, when there is a bank holiday). Nights when millions of otherwise law-abiding British citizens openly flaunt the law by being excessively intoxicated in public and often acting in ways that could – should – be considered anti-social behaviour. However, they remain free from incarceration because the officers overseeing this particular form of harm reduction will often be an alcohol user themselves and so can empathise with their usage and their subsequent intoxication and will show discretion.\n\nhttps://media.giphy.com/media/Q22kcRdASuBvW/giphy.gif\n\nIn 2016 alcohol related crime, loss of output and ill health cost the UK up to £52bn.\n\nAlcohol also makes up 10% of the UK burden of disease and death, making alcohol one of the three biggest lifestyle risk factors for disease and death after smoking and obesity.\n\nIronically a lot of these detrimental health issues that are created by Alcohols consumption could be negated by nationally introducing “Alcosynth” a synthetic Alcohol developed by ISMOKE favourite Dr David Nutt.\n\nThis synthetic Alcohol doesn’t give the consumer a hangover and isn’t as destructive to the liver, but is banned under the government’s latest misguided and draconian prohibitive legislation the Psychoactive Drugs Bill.\n\nAlcohol prohibition\n\nNow I am not advocating Alcohol prohibition we are all well aware of the atrocities that resulted from the banning of Alcohol in the US in 1920’s.\n\nAlcohol prohibition was driven primarily by the Temperance Movement which stressed the reduction, limiting and banning of alcoholic beverages. The Temperance Movement built a strong following in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century because of the worsening epidemic of alcoholism.\n\nDrinking Alcohol was considered a contributing factor to spousal abuse, family neglect and chronic unemployment, and prohibition was seen as the best possible solution to the nation’s increasing poverty, crime, violence, and other ills.\n\nIt wasn’t at all, much in the same way as it isn’t the solution today for the same reason, Prohibition doesn’t work, Education does!\n\nAlcohol prohibition was repealed back in December, 1933 after over a decade of murder, political corruption, increased consumption, mass poisonings from inpure alcohol, crippling alcoholism and other health issues.\n\nSide note: In regard to alcohol addiction/dependence it is worth noting that Bill (William) Wilson the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous believed that LSD could be used to treat Alcoholism after using the drug to “cure” his own deep long standing depression. \n\nNow onto cannabis which it is sad to say is still currently illegal here in the UK.\n\nIt is often argued that cannabis remains illegal because of the most widely spread and incorrectly attributed harms of cannabis consumption, the British public’s practice of mixing their cannabis with tobacco, which can lead to severe health risks.\n\nCannabis remains illegal in the UK despite successive generations adding to the innumerable personal testimonies, anecdotal evidence and countless academic studies showing cannabis to be relatively one of the safest and most benign substances on the planet in its effects on the consumer and society!\n\nIt, however, remains in the highest possible drug scheduling in the UK – schedule 1 – which means it is classified as having no ACCEPTED medicinal value.\n\nCannabis is also grouped in class B, the second highest classification in terms of potential penalties for possession, production, distribution.\n\nIt is grouped together with other such drugs as Amphetamine, Ketamine and codeine all of which in some way run the risk of accidental overdose, unlike Cannabis which as you should all know by now has never killed anyone.\n\nhttp://weedfinder.com/dash/news/files/2015/05/safer-than-water.jpg\n\nIt is also worth noting that these drugs are scheduled in a lower classification even though they also have ACCEPTED therapeutic applications despite their high potential for misuse, dependence and accidental overdose, these are also risks associated with Alcohol abuse and excessive consumption.\n\nCannabis has also been found to be a rather effective and safe “exit drug” for users suffering from substance dependence and withdrawal from Opioids and Alcohol.\n\nIn fact, the taxation raised from legal sales of recreational Cannabis in Colorado is paying for substance abuse schemes to help those with drug dependence issues avoid prison and drug educational schemes.\nThis is something which could easily be replicated in Britain today.\n\nWhile every week brings with it welcomed news of another country’s decision to end cannabis prohibition, we here in the UK have to be content with the little victories we can get.It helps that many of the country’s police forces are now slowly decreasing the number of raids and arrests, the CPS (Crown Prosecution service) is also decreasing prosecutions for personal grows and possession. However, they’re still wasting a lot of resources and invaluable time targeting the mass consumers in an attempt to deal with the criminal element which would be negated anyway by legalisation!\n\nIt helps that many of the country’s police forces are now slowly decreasing the number of raids and arrests, the CPS (Crown Prosecution service) is also decreasing prosecutions for personal grows and possession. However, they’re still wasting a lot of resources and invaluable time targeting the mass consumers in an attempt to deal with the criminal element which would be negated anyway by legalisation!\n\nDurham, Avon and Somerset, Derbyshire and Dorset PCC’s are effectively allowing de facto decriminalisation through drugs policies that deprioritise the small scale cultivation of Cannabis and consumption for personal use, but this still fails to provide cannabis to the consumers. This means that consumers are still forced to acquire their cannabis through illegal means via dealers – usually a person motivated entirely by profit and someone who doesn’t care about providing contamination-free, Well grown, quality cannabis! Not everyone has the time, space or even the ability to grow.\n\nDecriminalisation is a good start, and not locking peaceful Cannabis consumers up is a great start, but it’s still not good enough. The stigma remains – weed prohibition has caused far more damage than cannabis itself ever could. And at a time of continuous severe budget cuts and ever-deepening austerity, to continue to waste money on cannabis prohibition is negligence at best and criminal at worst!\n\nWe need a national retail distribution system regulated by a governing body for commercial sale just as they now do with alcohol, having realised prohibition was causing more harm than good.\n\nThere needs to remain the right to grow your own cannabis, free from governmental intervention and excessive regulation.\n\nHomebrewing, for example, doesn’t require regulation. Nor does it detract from the alcohol industries market share. So to argue that growing your own weed would cause issues within a legal cannabis marketplace is absurd.\n\nhttps://media.giphy.com/media/4a1BW6oEvxPhK/giphy.gif\n\nUnlike brewing your own alcohol, growing your own cannabis will provide a purer, safer end product as the grower can control the whole process and tweak it to their environment and specifications.\n\nIt is also worth noting that alcohol sales in Colorado have been found to be increasing in tandem with cannabis sales, suggesting that the industries can, in fact, coexist.\n\nhttp://www.ismokemag.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/27baf59f835d389b0ef067b024fc2a3f.jpg\n\nAlthough both substances are used recreationally and are considered by their user to be a social substance, it is clear that alcohol has by far the most detrimental effects on society.\n\nSo I guess it’s fair to say that although all drugs are created equal, some are just more equal than others.\n\nKeep fighting to legalise it!\n\nSimpa Carter\n\n\nOriginally posted to https://www.ismokemag.co.uk/alcohol-legal-cannabis-isnt/",
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      "body": "Congratulations @simpacarter! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :\n\n[![](https://steemitimages.com/70x80/http://steemitboard.com/notifications/firstpost.png)](http://steemitboard.com/@simpacarter) You published your First Post\n[![](https://steemitimages.com/70x80/http://steemitboard.com/notifications/firstvote.png)](http://steemitboard.com/@simpacarter) You made your First Vote\n[![](https://steemitimages.com/70x80/http://steemitboard.com/notifications/firstvoted.png)](http://steemitboard.com/@simpacarter) You got a First Vote\n\nClick on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.\nFor more information about SteemitBoard, click [here](https://steemit.com/@steemitboard)\n\nIf you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word `STOP`\n\n> By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how [here](https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/http-i-cubeupload-com-7ciqeo-png)!",
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