Cannabis

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Cannabis

• So what is the big deal???

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Does cannabis have medicinal properties?

• Yes, without question.
• Select cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant
  have clear medicinal properties.
• Clear benefit for wasting disease
• Clear benefit for some forms of unique
  neuropathic pain.
• No longer efficacious for glaucoma, etc.

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Is it medicine?

• No, it is not.
• It does not come in a standard dose
• It does not come in a safe delivery system
• It has not been found to be efficacious in
  addressing illness as opposed to safer
  medications.

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Is there a medicine available?

• FDA clinical trials on Sativex.
• Marinol and derivatives are available.
• Other nations are ahead on this issue. We have
  let politics control science.

Sativex will make medical marijuana irrelevant
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Basic brain stuff
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What all the crud means
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From the old centers of the brain into the newest
regions, with impact throughout
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This is actually how it works
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Cannabinoid receptors

• Are throughout the brain and body
• Are more prevalent in certain areas of the brain,
  including the parts that influence pleasure,
  memory, thoughts, concentration, sensory and time
  perception, and coordinated movement.
• Learning and memory are impacted for days or
  weeks after acute effects wear off.
• Daily use often leads to suboptimal intellectual
  functioning.

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Is marijuana addictive?

• Yes, without question
• Addiction is defined as a state in which an
  organism engages in compulsive behavior that is
  reinforcing (rewarding or pleasurable) and the
  organism (user) has a loss of control in limiting
  intake.
• Dependence is manifested as a physical
  distrubance when the drug is removed (withdrawal)

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Treatment

• Fairly good treatment outcomes, but high relapse
  rate. Standard array of treatment tools work
  well, CBT MET vouchers
• Brain changes are detected in long term users.
• Over-activation of the stress response system
• Dopamine changes (depression) (motivation and
  reward system altered)

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Withdrawal syndrome

• Irritability
• Sleeplessness (very long term sleep disturbances)
• Poor appetite
• Anxiety
• Drug craving.
• TX 2008, 16 of all treatment admissions were
  for MJ, 73 male, white (51.5) and young (36.1
  between 15 and 19)

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Health impacts

• Marijuana is implicated in many mental health
  conditions.
• Increase in anxiety
• Increase in depression
• Increase in suicide
• Increase/exacerbation of schizophrenia
• Increase in psychosis
• Unclear if it causes, or exacerbates these
  problems, except schizophrenia and related
  disorders.

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Health impacts

• Heart rate increase-4.8 fold increase in heart
  attack first hour post smoking
• Lungs not good obviously
• Testicular cancer emerging research implicates
  marijuana in testicular cancers.

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Who is using this stuff?We areand our kids are.
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N
18 years old 4x per week
16 years old, daily abuse
In all cases there is decreased activity in the
prefrontal cortex and the temporal
lobes (attention, memory, motivation)
28 years old weekend use
38 years old 12 years of daily use
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57 year old physician who used for 30 years, and
could not stop without anger, and
anxiety Remember attention, memory, motivation
No THC in brain
With THC in brain-less activity
With THC in brain
No THC in brain
Source Daniel Amen Clinics
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How is cannabis used?
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As always, sex sells, and clever decorations make
something mundane into something special

• Good old smoking

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• Vaporized
• _at_600.00 for the base model to 800.00 for the
  digital with solid state valve
• There are many models and makes. This is
  considered the best.
• Research has documented that this is the safest
  method of ingestion for smoking

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Edibles
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E-cigarettes

• 41.7 THC

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Other methods of ingestion include tinctures,
oils, etc.

• Tinctures, made with 90 alcohol and marijuana,
  crosses transdermally, or orally.
• Rapid high-won the award at the Cannabis Cup.
• Matched with peppermint, sage, or cinnamon as
  well.

Endless video available on YouTube. You will
note that they do not discuss the medical
effects, but the quality of the high
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In Los Angeles a couple of years ago

• There were more marijuana stores than Starbucks.
• Marijuana vending machines
• In Chico, last year there was 1 storefront. This
  spring there were 8 storefronts.
• Delivery services are available locally.
• Smell a skunk? Bet it isnt one!

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Text of Prop 215

• To ensure that seriously ill Californians have
  the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical
  purposes
• (color and underline added)

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Do you REALLY think this is about medicine for
California?Do you REALLY think there are this
many sick people, mostly under 30?
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This many sick people?
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Juiced Marijuana Offered to Medical Users as
Alternative to Smoking June 15, 2010 News
Summary A California physician is offering his
medical-marijuana patients a liquefied version of
the drug that he says won't produce much of a
buzz but does contain chemicals helpful in
treating a variety of illnesses, the Washington
Post reported June 1. Willets, Calif., physician
William Courtney, M.D., said that marijuana with
high levels of cannabidiol (CBD) seems to have
the most medical potential ironically, CBD
levels seem to be lowest in marijuana strains of
the plant that are highest in THC -- the main
psychoactive substance in marijuana. "What has
happened is, almost all strains available in
America through the black market are THC
concentrates," said Ethan Russo, senior medical
adviser to GW Pharmaceuticals, which is
developing the marijuana-based pain medication
Sativex. "The CBD in almost all cases has been
bred out. The reason is cannabis in this country
has been cultivated for its intoxicating
effect." Medical-marijuana advocates want to see
more research into CBD. "The bridge to
legalization is medical marijuana," said Addison
DeMoura, one of the owners of the Steep Hill
Medical Collective in Oakland. "I believe the
bridge from medical marijuana to real science
will be CBDs." 
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This is about ABUSENot use.It is about
EXCESS.It is about destruction of our land,
water and way of life.I say, enough.Support
the Board.