There's Hope for Old Stoners

If you're old enough, you may come to like your prime minister a lot more on October 17. That's when the recreational use of marihuana will become legal in Canada.

If you're old enough as in "old" enough.

Researchers in Germany have found that an active ingredient unique to cannabis produces some remarkable effects on the minds of really old mice.  After a few weeks of low dose THC, Methuselah mice, 16 to 18 months old, were mentally rejuvenated.

We implanted so-called osmotic mini-pumps—tiny pumps that we put under the skin of these mice—and they constantly released the drug that we wanted to administer. And then, after four weeks, we stopped the delivery, waited for a week, and then afterwards, there were several tests on learning and memory.

A very simple test, for example, is that mouse needs to learn how to find a hidden platform. And mice learn this typically within a few days—actually, they're quite good. 

And what we observed was quite staggering. They remembered where the platform was just as well as a young animal—and also, their working memory was absolutely indistinguishable. Then we tested the animals in many different paradigms that also test memory function, and we basically couldn't distinguish [between] the old mice and young mice. These [old mice] were between 12 and 18 months, which is very old for a mouse.

But there's a hitch. There's always a hitch. The mental improvement was only found in old mice.

Cannabis is a drug that has opposite effect on young animals as opposed to old animals. It worsens memory in young mice. It also worsens memory in young humans.

So, how does it work on geezers? It reverses your endocannabinoid decline, whatever that is.

We had previously observed that the endocannabinoid tone declines as we age, so the levels of endogenous substances decrease in older individuals. And this means they're present inside our bodies to begin with. So what the plant compound does is just mimic our endogenous compounds. What we were attempting to do is to normalize the level, or bring it back to the level of young individuals.

Wow, Not Quite Sure What to Make of This One.

Driving high on pot is safer, a lot safer than driving after drinking.  From the ordinarily staid Washington Post:

A new study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finds that drivers who use marijuana are at a significantly lower risk for a crash than drivers who use alcohol. And after adjusting for age, gender, race and alcohol use, drivers who tested positive for marijuana were no more likely to crash than who had not used any drugs or alcohol prior to driving.

For marijuana, and for a number of other legal and illegal drugs including antidepressants, painkillers, stimulants and the like, there is no statistically significant change in the risk of a crash associated with using that drug prior to driving. But overall alcohol use, measured at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold of 0.05 or above, increases your odds of a wreck nearly seven-fold.

The study's findings underscore an important point: that the measurable presence of THC (marijuana's primary active ingredient) in a person's system doesn't correlate with impairment in the same way that blood alcohol concentration does. The NHTSA doesn't mince words: "At the current time, specific drug concentration levels cannot be reliably equated with a specific degree of driver impairment."

If It Scares Canadians, It's Manna from Heaven for the Tories

Manipulating the public with carefully tailored fear is despicable.  It's also the entire first chapter in Stephen Harper's playbook.  He's been incredibly successful in using fear as a weapon to motivate his own political base from the outset.

If you own a working television set chances are you've seen the Harper government's anti-marijuana ad.  It's ostensibly the work of Health Canada but the ad bears the imprimatur of the Prime Minister's Office because it's based on falsehoods calculated to scare gullible parents.

An ominous 30-second ad now on YouTube and TV warns that smoking too many joints can seriously harm a teen's developing brain, with the words "Decreased IQ" crossing the screen.

The spot was chosen after that message got the strongest reaction from focus groups of parents who were privately shown a similar ad and several alternatives in cities across Canada in June.

The parents, described by the interviewers as "generally uninformed regarding marijuana health risks," reacted with alarm when told marijuana can trigger psychosis, schizophrenia and a drop in IQ in young, still-developing brains.

The information on the harmful effects of cannabis on mental functioning was "surprising and scary" to them, says a newly released report by Harris Decima, commissioned by Health Canada at a cost of $95,000.

It's been an aspect of HarperLand that the public service has been transformed into a personal partisan agency of the prime minister.  The ad that is being aired was chosen based on focus group reactions according to which they found most alarming.  It's obviously designed to give Harper's anti-marijuana stance more public support in the 2015 election and, best of all, it's electioneering on the public dime.

Will British Columbia be the Last Pacific Jurisdiction to Legalize Pot?

Washington took recreational marijuana off the state criminal books two years ago.  Last night voters in Alaska and Oregon followed suit.  California is expected to do the same in 2016.

Imagine.  British Columbia, the province once known for "B.C. Bud", could be the last jurisdiction on the Pacific Coast to have a criminal prohibition against marijuana growing, possession and/or sale.  And that, like so many other things that grate on British Columbians, is because the power to change is held by Ottawa - and held over our heads, as usual.

Ottawa has final say, sort of.  Law enforcement agencies in British Columbia normally can't be bothered to arrest individuals for simple possession.  Even growers rarely do prison time.

The greatest hit British Columbia's marijuana industry has suffered has not come from the feds or from law enforcement.  It's come from the loss of markets due to the legalization spreading through the US.

It could just be me but I've noticed a real increase in the Harper government's anti-pot TV ads lately.  I sense they're targeted at Harper's base - angry, fearful old white people.

You Know the Tories are Running Scared When They Go to Pot

Hey, hey - whatever happened to Harper's Reefer Madness?  Word from Elmer's unfortunate boy, Peter MacKay, is that the Harper regime is looking to backpeddle on its get tough on drugs policy.  Perhaps running scared from Justin Trudeau, the Tories want to make simple pot possession a ticket offence instead of a full-blown Criminal Code matter. 

Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning he has tasked the justice department "with looking at and coming forward with what could be a draft legislation." 

"We have not arrived on the exact mechanism in which that could be done. The prime minister has signalled an openness to this," he said.

However, MacKay is making it clear that this is not decriminalization or legalization of marijuana, but "giving police further discretion" when it comes small amounts of pot.

"The Criminal Code offences would still be available to police, but we would look at options that would give police the ability, much like the treatment of open liquor, that would allow police to ticket those types of offences," he said.

Hmm.  I wonder if senators will be able to expense those Zig-Zag rolling papers?

Swiss Inmates Going to Pot

Swiss prisons have a marijuana problem and Swiss prison guards like it that way.

A recent study published in the  International Journal of Drug Policy estimates that 50 to 80 percent of inmates in Swiss prisons use marijuana. Prison staff told researchers they found marijuana to be a relatively safe drug and that cracking down on consumption would have more negative effects than positive ones.

Surveys of detainees and guards revealed similar opinions on marijuana use, with both groups describing the effects of marijuana as analgesic, calming and a way to decrease the traumatic prison experience.  Negative consequences included sleepiness, social isolation, and decreased perception of danger. But survey participants also said that more restrictive regulation could increase fear, trafficking, and a shift to harder drug use.  

For The Sake of the Mob, Don't Decriminalize It!

Organized crime must have been delighted with prime minister Harper's decision to scrap the Martin government's marijuana initiative. Criminalizing the production of even small amounts of pot ensures that it will remain the exclusive preserve of organized crime. It also ensures these career criminals will be able to line their pockets with huge profits, completely untaxed, with which they can import other drugs like cocaine and even weapons. See, everybody wins - everybody except you and me, that is.

Now we all know that pot leads to harder drugs. According to the RCMP's annual report, this is especially true of oganized crime. From Canadian Press:

The Mounties say the involvement of organized crime has significantly expanded the Canadian drug trade, with outlaw motorcycle gangs and Asian groups the reigning kingpins of the marijuana industry.

The report notes crime groups that once specialized in a single drug have branched out into various substances, including popular club drug Ecstasy.

"These organizations are powerful, well-connected and are dealing in high profit-yielding illicit ventures across the globe."

Based on seizure data for 2006, Canadian police prevented an estimated $2.3 billion in drugs from reaching the streets. The report suggests, however, that may represent between just five and 20 per cent of the total amount of illegal drugs in Canada.

Some 90 per cent of Canadian-grown marijuana is produced in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

So Steve, keep up the good work. Organized crime is counting on you.

Just What Canada Needs - More "Criminals"

There was never a chance that our born again android, make that "leader", was ever going to decriminalize pot possession. Canada's cops got the Harpo message and are busting kids for pot just like the old days, introducing thousands of kids to life with a criminal record. After all, marijuana is much more dangerous and societally damaging than, say, alcohol. Wait, no it isn't, sorry.

A buddy of mine recently retired after a full career as a cop in a relatively upscale US community. He liked to tell how he'd dealt with all sorts of domestic violence, including a number of murders, where a bottle of Jim Beam would be front and centre, lying empty on a table and yet he'd never been involved with a violent crime resulting from someone smoking pot.

You go Steve! Canada needs more criminals.