Cannabis College: A Master's In Marijuana

The 35-year-old son of a prominent cannabis rights activist goes back to school...to study pot (at Oaksterdam University in Oakland).

So, what do you think? How do you feel about medical marijuana? Would you ever attend Cannabis College? Do you think it should be considered a real school? Tell us your thoughts below!

Comments

[yeomalt]

People want freedom

http://tinyurl.com/36t5vp

[QueenOfViolets]

There's plenty of legitimate science worth studying on this topic. For example, this is worth studying -- THC can kill glioma cells without harming surrounding healthy tissue:

http://www.norml.org//index.cfm?Group_ID=7008

That's something worthy of public discussion and further research. Unfortunately, the Schedule I status of marijuana greatly impedes American research into the anti-neoplastic properties of marijuana. The social stigma of marijuana impedes science journalism on this subject in America.

As a result, Americans have been kept from finding out that a renewable carbon-consuming weed might be able to produce a treatment for glioma that is as effective as, and safer than, the expensive drugs manufactured by Big Pharm.

There are lots of young scientists in Europe and Israel who are getting their Ph.D.'s in cannabinoid science, because the research isn't stigmatized or governmentally impeded over there like it is here.

[RTIII]

I'm glad to hear that cannabis science is progressing elsewhere in the world. Too bad it's been dead in the U.S. for a long time. I recall that in the late '70s the feds forced Tulane to give up its cannabis research - gave em "financial incentives" to do it and the University bit...

[GrainOSand]

Why is it that the war on drugs did not at least involve a skirmish if not an all-out-assault on the hucksters of prescription drugs? Why is alcohol legal and pot illegal? Why is it that cigarettes are legal and pot is illegal? Marijuana kills brain cells it is said. Living in a toxic divided society of hypocrisy kills more than one's brain and may drive one to drink alcohol, pop pills, chase the dragon, go tripping, or take a toke, or worse -- cling to guns and religion and to vote your ethnicity (the ultimate high).

You can find no answers to life"s problems via the use of drugs. Drug use can exacerbate life"s problems. However, let the public policy concerning the availability and use of drugs be coherent and fair and not something that only makes a select few rich and a larger set of people misinformed and doped up with needless drugs (Elvis or Anna Nicole anyone). If Elvis had just smoked a joint he might be alive now though he would probably be obese from the munchies.

To those with real ailments of mind and body seeking a little comfort I give you the following link for your listening pleasure as you drift in the sativa high that brings comfort to what ails you.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=fazo+riding+high&hl=en&sitesearch=#

[memphispaul]

As a 100% disabled veteran and chronic pain management patient I can attest to the benefits of medical marijuana.
The process is Oakland is a three step, independent from each process and it works really well.
I only wish that the government would get out of the way and let Doctors treat their patients rather then having lawyers and police treating patients.
For those of you out there that think the concept of medical marijuana is a joke I ask you to talk with providers of hospice care and after doing so ask yourself if you would deny a dying family member an option because of your social conditioning that causes them unnecessary suffering.
For those of you that think medicine must come in pill for to be medicine I'll tell you that this option is available in Oakland as well.

[armyman72]

Drug laws are just to keep Poor people from Voting. Give them a Felony and they can't vote. Rich people have good lawyers.

[Titonwan]

I quit drinking four years ago and do nothing but smoke pot now. Feel tons better and actually get a few things done now. Pot inspires me and provokes thought. Besides, anything that makes you horny, hungry and sleepy can't be all bad! Go Barack! Bring on the WEED!

[Citizen4Justice]

Looking at all the responses to this article reminds me of why its illegal. Nearly all the responses are ambivalent or pro legalization. What kind of people read Huffington Post?

If you look back over the past century, mostly religious conservatives emboldened with self-richeous anger and fear of drugs, drug users, and drug sellers have been the PRIMARY cause for the movement away from legalization and the movement toward harsher punishments. I don't hate them, I try to understand their ignorance. I hate their behavior. They truly believe the propaganda they see on TV (paid for with our tax money) and the propaganda they get in school (DARE, etc..). They fail to see many of the greys. Getting rid of evil is good. And so they create more problems in the world trying to do just that. America is by far the world leader in citizen imprisonment partially because of the drug laws.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education could be a good thing if it lived up to every word of its name. It's really drug traffic resistance propaganda. They don't go into detail about why the drugs are bad, they attack the image of the seller/user instead. The result is that the program is ineffective at best and it encourages drug experimentation at its worst. When a young person realizes that they were sold a lie, they get angry and rebelious and then ignore authorities when they tell them anything, lies or otherwise.

[Merdebush]

A well written post, Citizen4Justice. However, while all posters expound the harmful and helpful sides of the plant one needs to remember that the US government's position is solely based on greed and ignorance.

Everyone has forgotten (or don't know) the timber industry lobby and DuPont played a big role in helping outlaw the plant through their successful efforts to lobby Congress to outlaw the growing hemp.

Hemp, which any good historian will attest to, was a major crop in this country up until after World War II. The industrial use of hemp during the war was essential. After the war DuPont had developed nylon rope and wanted to sell a sh**load to the Navy. The Navy was happy with hemp, and hemp was used extensively for other products as well. The timber industry viewed hemp as a major competitor. So, they joined forces and lobbied Congress to outlaw hemp - ALL hemp - and were successful by using fear - remember Reefer Madness?

Today, those that profit from the war on drugs have taken over the lobbying effort and continue to use fear to keep hemp (in this case the part of the hemp family that has THC) illegal. These groups have Congress by the balls so the prohibition continues.

One might want to enlighten oneself by realizing that lobbying in this manner - whatever it takes to protect their turf. This is easy when our government is manned by elected officials that are either dumb or are whores.

[comebackid]

May 22, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- In what advocates hailed as an important step toward protecting California law, the Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB 2743 by a vote of 9-7 today. The measure, authored by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego), would protect the integrity of California's medical marijuana law by making it the policy of state and local law enforcement agencies not to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration or other federal agencies in raids on state-legal medical marijuana patients and caregivers.

[RTIII]

My neighbors (in Oakland, CA) grew medicinal cannabis until they were raided by the S.F. PD.! There was no federal action. I know, I talked with the arresting officers...

AB2743 sounds like a step in the right direction, but there should be some protection afforded the growers also. Otherwise, where do you get it, illegal sources?

[newshawk14]

Both my parents were lifelong smokers, and died at the ages of 78 and 81 from lung cancer, one
the small cell form the other the large cell form. The death certificates gave cancer as the cause
of death, but the reality is both totally lost their appetite for food, and in a sense starvation caused
a decline in the quality of life, and hastened their deaths. If marijuana can help overcome the loss
of appetite, I'm all for its' medical use.

[RadioResearch]

This is a great post. I especially like the takeoff on the Harvard VERITAS logo.

BTW, when I discuss this subject in class with my students they find it hypocritical and moralistic to have cannabis illegal and alcohol legal. Many of them report having grown up with cannabis smoking parents and see it as less harmful than alcohol.

The anti-legalization effort and hysteria is really based on moralism (with racist overtones) about drug use in general so the government has to make iot look like they are doing something about it and thus go after the low hanging fruit - cannabis. For my part, I just drive up to Van-sterdam, B.C. - Canadians are much more enlightened, and nicer too.

P.S. Bill Buckley, the famous conservative, was all in favor of legalization as is the Republican candidate Ron Paul, for whom I, of course, voted.

[avraamjack]

.
Pot should be legal and soon will be.
.
Most people born after 1945 agree.
.
What should be illegal is letting gang stalkers poison people. How about arresting gang stalkers and leaving drug users alone?
.

[RobertAndropolis]

Of the dangers of cannibis, I have read studies about tar content being something like four times that of cigarettes, and a increase risk in things like emphysema and other respiratory illnesses. Anybody know the truth on this?

[RTIII]

Yes.

The last legal studies of marijuana were conducted by Tulane University, concluding sometime in the mid/late '70s. (I was a student there at the time.) They had a program wherein you could send in samples for analysis. What it VERY QUICKLY concluded was that the reports of high tar content was primarily from the seeds, but also from stems. Roughly, their analysis broke down like this:

+ The stems and seeds should never be smoked due to their high content of tars and other unhealthy molecules. Eating them is OK, and a porridge made from the seeds is very nutritious and particularly high in proteins and essential oils. Similarly, the stems were already famous for their use in making rope and linen.

+ The leaves (known as "shake") aren't much good for anything. They have a higher THC content than the stems or seeds but that's not saying much. They also include some tars and other harmful content and should not be smoked.

+ The flowers are where all the THC content is, as a percentage.

+ If you averaged in stems, seeds, and shake as commonly sold in "a bag" in the '70s, the tar content was about 20 times higher than tobacco as found in cigarettes of the day.

+ If you removed all stems and seeds and only considered flowers for smoking, the ratio to cigarettes was almost exactly the reverse: It took about twenty joints to equal the content of a then-current typical tobacco cigarette.

[comebackid]

Yes , The tars in cannabis are non carcinogenic. This means the tar in cannabis does not adhere to the air sacs or the lung walls.

For thousands of years the Chinese have used cannabis as an expectorant to clear the lungs. Rastas use it mixed with tobacco to inhibit the tars and nicotine from sticking to the walls of the lungs. Their are many lab studies to back this up. Find them in your search sites online.

[djelimon]

I think it's a little more complicated: the tar is carcinogenic, but the THC actually kills cells in the lung walls that start mutating to pre-cancerous stages. Nicotine, by contrast, encourages this mutation

http://www.lewrockwell.com/armentano-p/armentano-p11.htm

[comebackid]

Speaking of CIA, CLINTON, BUSH and COKE;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8681225708920427234

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

the legalisation of cannibas will never happen - it would cut into the cia's heroin and coke profits...

[clintfatigue]

Great posts here today. I wonder what the 420-level classes are like?