Marijuana May Prevent Memory Loss In The Elderly

Despite what the federal government would have you believe, marijuana is an effective treatment for many medical ailments -- a treatment with no bad side-effects.

Now it looks like there's another condition that marijuana could help with -- memory loss due to aging, and possibly even delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. That's the conclusion that German researchers have received after performing experiments with mice.

Here is what they found (from the Daily Mail):

Cannabis could help prevent memory loss in the elderly, a new study has found.

Researchers in Germany, who are set to begin human trials later this year, say the drug may even help delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease by slowing the brain's natural ageing process.

The mental power of older mice improved dramatically after they were given THC, the psychoactive part of marijuana that makes users 'high'.

In fact, their brain connections in the hippocampus - which controls learning, memory and emotions - were firing as well as those of young adults.

It's hoped the same may apply to humans, with trials expected to begin this year.

Psychologist Professor Andreas Zimmer of Bonn University in Germany said the findings are essential in the movement to understand cannabis as a form of medicine. . . .

His team whose findings are published in Nature Medicine say it's too early to say if their remarkable results could be achieved in patients.

But they offer hope that drugs based on cannabis or THC could be given to middle or old aged people. . . .

In the latest experiments three groups of mice that were 18 (old), 12 (mature) and two months (young) were regularly injected with low doses of THC for 28 days.

The equivalent ages in human years would be 64, 58 and 20, respectively.

Both before and after the treatment they were challenged with a series of tasks that tested their learning and memory skills.

These included negotiating their way around a water maze, locating objects and recognising other mice.

In young mice THC impaired their performance. But the same therapy actually improved learning and memory in both of the older sets of animals.

Prior to receiving THC they did poorly. But afterwards they were as efficient as the young mice had been before being given the compound that, interestingly, reduced their mental skills.

Prof Zimmer, a psychiatrist at Bonn University, said THC boosted genes that control neurons in the hippocampus - restoring them to the same patterns observed in young animals. . . .

The study was published in Nature Medicine. 

Majority Of Texans Are Ready To legalize Marijuana

This may surprise some people, but Texas voters have moved on the question of legalizing marijuana. A majority of Texas voters (53%) now agree with the majority of national voters that marijuana should be legalized for recreational use. Another 31% would legalize the use for medical purposes only, and 16% want to keep it completely illegal.

The chart above reflects the results of the newest University of Texas / Texas Tribune Poll -- done between June 8th and 17th of a sample of 1,200 registered Texas voters, with a margin of error of 2.83 points.

Could Marijuana Be Used To Stop Brain Aging ?

(Photo of marijuana plants is from The Daily Dot.)

Here's some exciting news about another possible medical use for marijuana. This
is part of article is from Forbes.com, and was written by David DiSalvo.

Since the legalization movement began hitting full stride, new research discoveries about marijuana’s potential health benefits have been surfacing with regularity. Among the most recent, a study shows that the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), restores cognitive function in the brains of mice by rolling back the aging process.

The study builds from a theory that the brain’s endocannabinoid system (home of the receptors that THC binds to) is related to cognitive aging and decline. The older we get, the more the activity in this system slows down; our brains gradually produce fewer naturally occurring endocannabinoids. The outcomes from this slowdown aren’t entirely understood, but there’s enough evidence from animal models to suggest that it’s tied to memory loss and decreased learning ability.

"With increasing age, the quantity of the cannabinoids naturally formed in the brain reduces," quoting Professor Andreas Zimmer, one of the study’s authors. "When the activity of the cannabinoid system declines, we find rapid aging in the brain."

So, if it’s possible to somehow recharge the system, it could be possible to reverse or at least reduce the cognitive slowdown. That’s what the researchers tried with old mice, and the results were remarkable. When they studied the brain tissue and gene activity of the mice after a low-dose THC treatment, they found that the genetic signature no longer looked like that of old mice, but of very young mice. And they found increased nerve links in the brain tissue, which correlates with learning and thinking speed.

Again quoting Zimmer, “It looked as though the THC treatment turned back the molecular clock.”

Public Says NO To Enforcing Federal Law In Legal Pot States

The Attorney General has sent permission to officials working for the Justice Department, giving them permission to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized either recreation or medical use of the plant. I don't know why he would do such a silly thing -- unless it's to force his own personal agenda on the public (or that of the idiot in the White House).

It's certainly not going to help him (or Trump) win over anyone (or help the Republicans in the next election). The American public is against federal law being enforced over state marijuana laws. Eight states have now legalized recreational use, and many more have legalized medical use. And by a 47 point margin, the public wants those state laws to be respected.

In fact, the public goes even further. By a 22 point margin, they think marijuana should be legalized, and by a whopping 85 point margin, they think marijuana should be legalized for medical use. Sessions and Trump are out-of-step with the American people.

These charts use information in a new Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between January 5th and 9th of a random national sample of 1,106 voters, with a 3.6 point margin of error.

Idiot Attorney General Declares War On Legal Marijuana (Including Medical Marijuana)

(Caricature of Attorney General Jeff Sessions is by DonkeyHotey.)

Republicans in the past have tried to get the federal government to do less, and leave more decisions to the state and local governments. The idea was that the government entities closest to the people could make the best decisions.

But today's Republican Party is different. They only believe state and local governments should make decisions when the Republicans disagree with national policies. But when the states and local governments disagree with Republican policies, they want the federal government to overrule them. It's the height of hypocrisy.

A prime example of this is Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- a longtime proponent of states rights. He has now decided that states don't have the right to legalize marijuana (even for medical purposes).

Here is how Alan Pyke reports it for Think Progress:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions will soon announce a crackdown on state cannabis legalization using federal law enforcement tools, according to the Associated Press.

Sessions was long expected to make such a move. He has criticized marijuana and its users in showy terms throughout his political career. Now, the AP reports, he is tearing up the so-called “Cole memo” that ensured an uneasy truce between anti-pot feds and pro-legalization states over the past few years. Written by an Obama-era Justice Department official, the policy meant federal criminal justice resources wouldn’t be used to interfere with legalizing states so long as they prevented cannabis from spreading outside their borders.

Many thought Sessions might just rip up the Cole memo immediately upon swearing in last year. Though he showed more patience than that, Sessions signaled repeatedly that it was a matter of when and how, not if.

He sent letters — some containing factual errors — to the leaders of four states with legal cannabis markets. He asked Congress to give him permission to prosecute medical marijuana companies, targeting an even older policy of federal non-interference with cannabis patients. Even with President Donald Trump making a big show of declaring opioid overdoses a public emergency that requires new resources to combat, Sessions made clear he was not interested in the research suggesting that cannabis can be an effective tool for opioid users to break addiction cycles.

The legalization, taxation, and close regulation of adult-use recreational weed has been a massive economic boon to the handful of states that have thusfar joined the experiment. Colorado alone saw $2.4 billion in economic activity and 18,000 new jobs from cannabis in 2015.

With California’s legalization regime kicking in officially this month, the total market for legal American cannabis is projected to top $20 billion in annual sales within the next decade. All those sales generate huge tax windfalls that help fund schools and other public services — a chain of positive reactions which Sessions would now wind around the necks of states that budget in anticipation of weed revenue.

Legalization has also made the drug safer by ending black-market transactionsand bringing users and growers into the light. The boom in investment and advanced industrial business practices within the cannabis realm since Colorado’s legalization experiment first launched will be a difficult thing to reverse, even for the Attorney General.
And this is not going to go over well with the American public (64% of whom support legalization).

Not Allowing Marijuana For Medical Use Is Just Wrong

Back in the 1930s, the United States government made marijuana illegal -- both for recreational use and for medical use. And in the 1970s, the Nixon administration doubled-down on that by declaring a "war on drugs" (and made marijuana one of the primary drugs they attacked).

The reason they gave for making marijuana illegal was that it was a dangerous drug. At the time, many people accepted that, but we now know it was just a lie to get people to accept the law. Marijuana is probably the safest drug known to man -- a drug that cannot cause death by overdose, and is much safer that almost every legal drug.

The truth is that the law wasn't passed because marijuana was dangerous. It was passed as a tool for social control -- first for the control of Blacks and Hispanics, and then later for White counter-culture young people. Fortunately, people are starting to realize that the government lied to them. More now know marijuana is not dangerous, and should never have been labeled as a dangerous drug.

But that was not the only lie the government told about marijuana. They also claimed there was no legitimate medical use for marijuana. That laughable, because marijuana has been used for medical purposes for thousands of years. And most doctors today will admit that marijuana has properties that can be used to treat many medical conditions.

Now we learn that marijuana may be even more medically useful than even its supporters knew. The federal government now admits that marijuana may well be useful in the treatment of cancer -- a vicious disease that afflicts far too many people in this country (and the world). Take note of this quote from a report by the National Institute of Health's National Cancer Institute (a U.S. government agency):

Antitumor activity

• Studies in mice and rats have shown that cannabinoids may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow. Laboratory and animal studieshave shown that cannabinoids may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells.
• A study in mice showed that cannabinoids may protect against inflammation of the colon and may have potential in reducing the risk of colon cancer, and possibly in its treatment. 
• A laboratory study of delta-9-THC in hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) cells showed that it damaged or killed the cancer cells. The same study of delta-9-THC in mouse models of liver cancer showed that it had antitumor effects. Delta-9-THC has been shown to cause these effects by acting on molecules that may also be found in non-small cell lung cancer cells and breast cancer cells.
• A laboratory study of cannabidiol (CBD) in estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells showed that it caused cancer cell death while having little effect on normal breast cells. Studies in mouse models of metastatic breast cancer showed that cannabinoids may lessen the growth, number, and spread of tumors.
• A laboratory study of cannabidiol (CBD) in human glioma cells showed that when given along with chemotherapy, CBD may make chemotherapy more effective and increase cancer cell death without harming normal cells. Studies in mouse models of cancer showed that CBD together with delta-9-THC may make chemotherapy such as temozolomidemore effective.

We already knew that marijuana was very effective for cancer patients in combating nausea, treating pain, and restoring appetite after radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Now it looks like it could be an effective treatment in killing off cancer cells.

Personally, I think marijuana should be legalized for possession and use by any adults. But one thing is becoming very clear -- that denying sick people the medicinal benefits of marijuana is unethical and immoral. Marijuana should, at the very least, be legalized for medical use in every state. And the federal government should investigate much more thoroughly the medical uses for this wonder drug.

Pot Is More Popular Than Politicians In 3 Swing States

The chart above is from a recent poll in three key swing states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida) done by Quinnipiac University. It seems that marijuana is more popular than the presidential candidates of both political parties in those states. The numbers for the candidates are their favorability numbers, and for marijuana it is the number that want it legalized. Notice that while Hillary Clinton is the most popular presidential politician in all three states, her numbers are less than the number who want to legalize marijuana (both medical marijuana, and for recreational use). It either shows the unpopularity of the politicians, or the changing attitudes toward marijuana -- probably both.

Marijuana Did Well On Election Night

(This image is from the website of Forbes Magazine.)

There was a bright spot in the 2014 election. The various proposals regarding marijuana in the states and cities where it was on the ballot did very well. We have now doubled the number of states where the recreational possession and use of marijuana is legal -- as Alaska and Oregon join Washington and Colorado, and some cities in the places followed suit. Here is how marijuana issues fared on election night, according to the Marijuana Policy Project:

* Oregon and Alaska became the third and fourth states to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older and establish systems in which it will be regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. Measure 91 was approved by more than 54% of Oregon voters (as of last night’s count), and Ballot Measure 2 in Alaska was ultimately approved 52-48. MPP was the largest contributor to the Alaska campaign — financially and in terms of donating staff support — and I’d like to thank everyone who helped us score this huge victory.

* Voters in Washington, D.C. approved Initiative 71 by a margin of 65-28, removing all penalties for possession and home cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana by adults 21 years of age and older. This was the largest approval rate of any marijuana policy reform initiative in history!

* South Portland, Maine voters approved a measure 52-48 making it the second city on the East Coast — and the second major city in Maine — to make marijuana legal for adults at the local level. A similar initiative received 45% of the vote in Lewiston, and although it didn’t win, it helped generate substantial news coverage and public dialogue. MPP ran both of the campaigns — as well as the successful campaign in Portland last year — to build support for a statewide legalization initiative we will be supporting in 2016. 

* About 58% of Florida voters approved Amendment 2, which would have allowed seriously ill people to access medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it. Unfortunately, it failed because 60% approval was required for adoption. Backers of the initiative have pledged to continue working to pass a medical marijuana law next year in the legislature and, if necessary, a ballot initiative in 2016.

* In Massachusetts, 14 districts approved Public Policy Questions directing their state representatives to support making marijuana legal for adults. While non-binding, they set the stage for a 2016 statewide ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol that MPP will be supporting.

* Voters in the Michigan cities of Saginaw, Port Huron, Mt. Pleasant, Berkley, Huntington Woods, and Pleasant Ridge approved measures to decrease or remove penalties for simple marijuana possession. 

* Guam became the first U.S. territory to approve an initiative that would allow seriously ill residents to use medical marijuana in the treatment of debilitating medical conditions.

Another Positive Medical Benefit Found For Marijuana

(This photo of marijuana plants is from Forbes magazine.)

For several decades the federal government has been lying to the American public about marijuana (so they could continue to keep it illegal and used as a tool for social control). One of the most outrageous of these lies is that marijuana has no medicinal value. We know now that this gentle herb has a variety of medicinal uses (without any of the negative effects that other drugs have, including most legal drugs).

Now researchers have evidence that marijuana is neuroprotective (that it can protect those with a head injury from significant brain injury or death). They found that marijuana users who received a head injury were 80% less likely to die from that injury than people who do not use marijuana. Here is how Reuters reporter Anne Harding tells the story:

People who use marijuana may be more likely to survive a serious head injury than people who don't, a new study suggests.

At one hospital, the death rate after traumatic brain injury was lower among people who tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active ingredient in marijuana) than among people who tested negative for it, researchers found.

“This data fits with previous data showing that (THC) may be neuroprotective,” Dr. David Plurad, one of the study's authors, said in a phone interview.

Experiments in animals have found that THC may protect the brain after injury, Plurad and his colleagues write in The American Surgeon. Little is known about the specific effects of THC on brain injury in humans, however.

For the new study, the researchers reviewed data on 446 adults treated at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California for traumatic brain injuries. All had been tested for THC.

Overall, approximately one in five patients tested positive for THC and one in 10 patients died after their injury.

About 2.4 percent of people who tested positive for THC died, compared to about 11.5 percent of those with negative THC tests.

People who tested positive for THC were about 80 percent less likely to die, compared to people with negative THC tests, researchers found after they adjusted the numbers to account for age, gender, injury severity and type.

Previous studies have also suggested that alcohol may protect the brain in traumatic brain injuries, Plurad said. Those studies did not account for the presence of THC, however.

“We included the presence of alcohol in our statistical analysis, and it didn't turn out to be as protective as the presence of the marijuana,” he said, adding that future studies examining the effects of alcohol on traumatic brain injury should account for the presence of THC.

Marijuana Not Only Has Medicinal Value - It Saves Lives

(The cartoon image above was found in The Oklahoma Observer.)

Ever since the federal government made marijuana illegal to possess in the 1930's, they have been claiming that marijuana has no medical value -- and because of that claim, they made it a Schedule I drug (like heroin) and came down hard on those who would use it. Of course that was a lie.

People have known for many centuries that the gentle herb known as cannabis (marijuana) has many medicinal uses. But the government couldn't admit that -- because if they did, then the public would never have allowed it to be made illegal. The truth is that marijuana is not dangerous (probably the least dangerous drug known to mankind), and has many medicinal uses.

Marijuana was not made illegal because it had no medicinal use, or because it is a dangerous drug (because neither of those claims is true). It was made illegal so it could be used as a social weapon against minorities (and after the 1960's) against young people -- the groups that might challenge the policies of the White power structure. It was a tool to quash social unrest.

But now at least half of all Americans have tried marijuana (and probably even more than that, since many people won't admit to breaking a law -- even in the past). And these people know they have been lied to about marijuana. They realize that it is not a dangerous drug, and they are starting to understand it has many medicinal uses. That's why a growing number of states are starting to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Now we learn, through a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, that in the states with legal medical marijuana, that marijuana use as an analgesic may actually be saving thousands of lives. Those states offer marijuana as an alternative to other painkillers -- painkillers that can not only have serious side effects, but can easily be overdosed (causing death). Marijuana cannot be overdosed and has no side effects (other than a gentle euphoria).

The study was done between 1999 and 2010, and it showed the states which had medical marijuana (13 states during that time period) had a lower percentage of overdose deaths among those trying to treat their pain. Dr. Marcus Bachhuber (the study's lead author) said, "We found there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law."

The study found that those 13 states have about 1,700 fewer overdose deaths than would have been expected without the medical marijuana laws (using statistics from before those laws were passed). That's an average reduction in overdose deaths of 131 for each of those 13 states. Just imagine. If all 50 states had a medical marijuana law during that period, more than 6,500 deaths could have been prevented.

This means our ridiculous prohibition of marijuana is not only making criminals of otherwise honest and hard-working citizens, and costing our governments huge sums of money -- it is actually costing thousands of lives. I personally believe marijuana should be legal for use by adults and taxed -- but at the very least, it should be made legal for medicinal purposes in all 50 states as soon as possible. All people trying to control serious pain (from a variety of sources) should have the option of using this far safer drug.

U.S. House Votes To Protect Medical Marijuana

In spite of federal government denials and propaganda, it has been known for many centuries that marijuana is an effective treatment for many medical conditions. It has been shown to be effective in reducing pain, treating glaucoma, restoring appetite after chemotherapy, and many other uses -- and now it has been learned it may even be effective in treating cancer.

And one of the best things about marijuana is that it is one of the safest drugs known to mankind. It has no side effects (other than a mild euphoria) and cannot cause death even with a massive overdose.

Because of this, many states have defied federal law and legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes (with a doctor's prescription). Unfortunately, there are unfeeling demagogues in the federal government, mainly the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), who have no compassion for the sick -- only a hard-hearted and vicious determination to subvert the will of the people in states who have legalized marijuana for medical use. They continue to raid medical marijuana shops, and threaten their landlords with seizing their property if they allow those shops to continue to exist -- and they even arrest sick people possessing marijuana through a doctor's prescription.

There is a lively debate in this country right now over the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, and I believe the gentle herb will eventually be made legal throughout the United States (as it is in Colorado and Washington). But it is simply unconscionable to deny sick people an effective remedy for their illness. Fortunately, a majority of the United States House of Representatives realizes that.

Last week, the House of Representatives voted 219 to 189 to block the DEA and any other federal agency from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. The bill (which still is not law until passed by the Senate and signed by the president) would prevent any actions to harass patients or marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical marijuana. In short, the federal government must respect state marijuana laws.

The vote was generally along party lines, although some Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill, and a few Democrats joined Republicans in opposing it. Voting for the bill were 170 Democrats and 49 Republicans, while 17 Democrats and 172 Republicans voted against it. If you'd like to know how your representative voted you can go to this site -- The Daily Chronic. Here is how the representatives from Texas voted:

District 1 - Louie Gohmert (R) -- NO
District 2 - Ted Poe (R) -- NO
District 3 - Sam Johnson (R) -- NO
District 4 - Ralph Hall (R) -- NO
District 5 - Jeb Hensarling (R) -- NO
District 6 - Joe Barton (R) -- NO
District 7 - John Culberson (R) -- NO
District 8 - Kevin Brady (R) -- NO
District 9 - Al Green (D) -- DID NOT VOTE
District 10 - Michael McCaul (R) -- NO
District 11 - Mike Conaway (R) -- NO
District 12 - Kay Granger (R) -- NO
District 13 - Mac Thornberry (R) -- NO
District 14 - Randy Weber (R) -- NO
District 15 - Ruben Hinojosa (D) -- NO
District 16 - Beto O'Rourke (D) -- YES
District 17 - Bill Flores (R) -- NO
District 18 - Sheila Jackson Lee (D) -- YES
District 19 - Randy Neugebauer (R) -- NO
District 20 - Joaquin Castro (D) -- YES
District 21 - Lamar Smith (R) -- NO
District 22 - Pete Olson (R) -- NO
District 23 - Pete Gallego (D) -- NO
District 24 - Kenny Marchant (R) -- NO
District 25 - Roger Williams (R) -- NO
District 26 - Michael Burgess (R) -- NO
District 27 - Blake Farenthold (R) -- NO
District 28 - Henry Cuellar (D) -- NO
District 29 - Gene Green (D) -- YES
District 30 - Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) -- YES
District 31 - John Carter (R) -- NO
District 32 - Pete Sessions (R) -- NO
District 33 - Mark Veasey (D) -- YES
District 34 - Filemon Vela, Jr (D) -- DID NOT VOTE
District 35 - Lloyd Doggett (D) -- YES
District 36 - Steve Stockman (R) -- YES

(The medical marijuana image above is from the website of the Cannabis Therapy Institute. The image below is from Facebook.)

Florida's Scott Looking Like 1-Term Governor

The probability is that the gubernatorial race in Florida in 2014 will feature former governor Charlie Crist (a moderate who has switched to the Democratic Party, and leads other possible Democrats by a wide margin) against current governor (and GOP teabagger) Rick Scott. That would not be a good match-up for Scott.

Currently, Crist leads Scott in a head-to-head match-up (47% to 40%). About 53% of voters say Scott doesn't deserve to be re-elected, while only 37% say he does. In addition, more voters disapprove of the way Scott is handling the job as governor than approve, while a majority of voters approved of the job Crist did while governor. This means that unless something unexpected happens in the next few months, it looks like Rick Scott will be a one-term governor -- and that's a very good thing for the people of Florida.

The information above is from the latest Quinnipiac University Poll (conducted between November 12th and 17th of 1,646 registered voters in the state of Florida, with a margin of error of 2.4 points).

The poll also had some interesting results on the issue of legalizing marijuana -- an issue that has not been too popular in Florida (and other Southern states) in the past. Things are changing fast across the nation though, and legalizing marijuana for medical purposes now has overwhelming support in Florida. Legalizing pot for recreational use has also gained support -- with 48% supporting that and 46% opposing it. That's within the margin of error, and means the issue of recreational use is dead even in Florida now.

Texans Want Legalization Of Marijuana

As you probably know by now, two states (Colorado & Washington) legalized the possession, taxation, and recreational use of small amounts of marijuana by adults in the last election. This was a huge step forward in this country, and many (including me) now expect other states to follow suit in the next few years.

But I don't think anyone expects Texas to be one of those states. After all, the people of Texas keep voting keep putting ultra-right, reactionary, fundamentalists in positions of power in the state -- and those officials are unlikely to loosen the marijuana laws any time soon. In Texas currently, marijuana is illegal, and the possession of a small amount (an ounce or less) can result in a $2000 fine and a year in jail -- and possession of more than that tiny amount can result in many years in a state prison.

But we may have sold the citizens of Texas short. A new poll shows that a clear majority of them do not support the prohibition of marijuana that has been imposed and supported by the state government. That new poll is a survey done by Public Policy Polling of 860 randomly selected Texas voters between September 27th and 29th (with a 3.3 point margin of error).

It seems that Texans are tired of jailing and/or heavily fining people for the medical or recreational use of marijuana, resulting in needlessly giving honest & hard-working people a criminal record. A fair sized majority (easily exceeding the margin of error) wants doctors to be able to prescribe marijuana for their sick patients (58%), and wants possession of small amounts of marijuana decriminalized, making it a civil rather than criminal offense, and reducing any fine to no more than $100 (61%).

But even more unexpected is that a majority of Texans would support legalizing the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana -- and taxing and regulating that in a fashion similar to alcohol. That would be supported by 58% of the citizens of Texas (and opposed by only 38%). And note in the chart below that this support stretches across age, gender, racial & ethnic, and political lines. The only people without majority support for the idea are Republicans (and 48% of them would support legalization).

It seems that the support for legalizing marijuana is picking up steam, and even has significant support in normally-backward states like Texas.

Your Apology Is Accepted, Dr. Gupta

(The picture above is from Wikipedia, where it was posted by Cannabis Training University.)

Regular readers of this blog will know that I favor the legalization of marijuana -- both for medical and recreational use. I firmly believe that the American people have been lied to by the government about marijuana for decades now. It is not a dangerous drug. In fact, it may be the least dangerous drug known to man (and far less dangerous than many legal drugs being used for both medicine and recreation). It's legalization would not harm Americans, and would actually help -- by saving the costs of incarcerating users and dealers, and by heavily taxing it to help defray the cost of other government functions.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a physician, and the CNN spokesman for medical affairs. In the past, he has been against the legalization of marijuana -- even for medical use. But he recently did some intensive research and travel to investigate marijuana, and make a documentary on the subject for CNN. That documentary, entitled "Weed", can be seen on CNN on August 11th at 8:00 pm (eastern time). And his eyes have been opened. He now knows that the government has not been telling the truth about marijuana, that it does not deserve to be classified as a category 1 narcotic, and that it definitely does have many medical uses. And in an article he wrote for CNN, he has apologized. I urge you to read the entire article, but here are some excerpts from it:

Over the last year, I have been working on a new documentary called "Weed." The title "Weed" may sound cavalier, but the content is not.

I traveled around the world to interview medical leaders, experts, growers and patients. I spoke candidly to them, asking tough questions. What I found was stunning.

Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled "Why I would Vote No on Pot."

Well, I am here to apologize.

I apologize because I didn't look hard enough, until now. I didn't look far enough. I didn't review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis.

Instead, I lumped them with the high-visibility malingerers, just looking to get high. I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have "no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse."

They didn't have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn't have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works. . .

We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that. . .

In 1944, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia commissioned researchto be performed by the New York Academy of Science. Among their conclusions: they found marijuana did not lead to significant addiction in the medical sense of the word. They also did not find any evidence marijuana led to morphine, heroin or cocaine addiction. . .

There is clear evidence that in some people marijuana use can lead to withdrawal symptoms, including insomnia, anxiety and nausea. Even considering this, it is hard to make a case that it has a high potential for abuse. The physical symptoms of marijuana addiction are nothing like those of the other drugs I've mentioned. I have seen the withdrawal from alcohol, and it can be life threatening. . .

Keep in mind that up until 1943, marijuana was part of the United States drug pharmacopeia. One of the conditions for which it was prescribed was neuropathic pain. It is a miserable pain that's tough to treat. My own patients have described it as "lancinating, burning and a barrage of pins and needles." While marijuana has long been documented to be effective for this awful pain, the most common medications prescribed today come from the poppy plant, including morphine, oxycodone and dilaudid.

Here is the problem. Most of these medications don't work very well for this kind of pain, and tolerance is a real problem.

Most frightening to me is that someone dies in the United Statesevery 19 minutes from a prescription drug overdose, mostly accidental. Every 19 minutes. It is a horrifying statistic. As much as I searched, I could not find a documented case of death from marijuana overdose.

It is perhaps no surprise then that 76% of physicians recentlysurveyed said they would approve the use of marijuana to help ease a woman's pain from breast cancer. . .

Looking forward, I am especially intrigued by studies like those in Spain and Israel looking at the anti-cancer effects of marijuana and its components. I'm intrigued by the neuro-protective study by Lev Meschoulam in Israel, and research in Israel and the United States on whether the drug might help alleviate symptoms of PTSD. I promise to do my part to help, genuinely and honestly, fill the remaining void in our knowledge.

Marijuana - A Cure For Aggressive Cancers?

By now, it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that the United States government has been lying to us about marijuana -- and those decades of lies are finally being exposed. They told us marijuana was a dangerous drug. We now know it is not dangerous at all. No one has ever died from an "overdose" of marijuana. Marijuana is much safer than any legal drug -- like tobacco and alcohol, and even the supposedly "safe" over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, cold remedies, and myriad others.

They told us marijuana was a "gateway" drug, and would lead users to to the use of harder and much more dangerous drugs. This has also been exposed as a lie. What has led some people to graduate from marijuana to other drugs are the government lies. After realizing that the government has been lying about the effects of marijuana, some are convinced that they were probably lying about other drugs as well. But there is nothing in marijuana (or about marijuana) that would make people want to use any other drug.

Then they tried to tell us that marijuana is dangerous because it's users are incapacitated like alcohol users and are dangerous to other people when driving. Another lie! Numerous studies have shown that drivers on marijuana are no more dangerous than drivers who have used no drug at all.

But perhaps the most egregious lie the government has told us is that marijuana has no medical value. The truth is that we know the drug has been used to treat many medical ailments for centuries, and the list of medical uses for marijuana continues to grow. Now researchers at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco have evidence that marijuana may be a very effective treatment for cancer -- and not just any cancer, but the most aggressive types of cancer, like breast cancer. Here is how The Huffington Post puts it in an article from September of 2012:

A pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco has found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer, potentially altering the fatality of the disease forever.

"It took us about 20 years of research to figure this out, but we are very excited," saidPierre Desprez, one of the scientists behind the discovery, to The Huffington Post. "We want to get started with trials as soon as possible."

The Daily Beast first reported on the finding, which has already undergone both laboratory and animal testing, and is awaiting permission for clinical trials in humans.

Desprez, a molecular biologist, spent decades studying ID-1, the gene that causes cancer to spread. Meanwhile, fellow researcher Sean McAllister was studying the effects of Cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-toxic, non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant. Finally, the pair collaborated, combining CBD and cells containing high levels of ID-1 in a petri dish.

"What we found was that his Cannabidiol could essentially 'turn off' the ID-1," Desprez told HuffPost. The cells stopped spreading and returned to normal.

"We likely would not have found this on our own," he added. "That's why collaboration is so essential to scientific discovery."

Desprez and McAllister first published a paper about the finding in 2007. Since then, their team has found that CBD works both in the lab and in animals. And now, they've found even more good news.

"We started by researching breast cancer," said Desprez. "But now we've found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers--brain, prostate--any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present."