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Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

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Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#51

> Federal law vs. state law: While the DEA was insisting on thoroughly vetting everyone who came into contact with the tiny amount of marijuana product used in our study, the reality was that less than a mile from the hospital, anyone could walk into a boutique shop or dispensary and buy it. Why does a drug have to be legalized to be studied? If it can be purchased down the road, why are you involving the DEA at all?…

Marijuana is defined as a schedule one drug by the DEA, meaning they believe it has no accepted medical value and should not be studied. Being in possession of or trying to purchase this drug for a medical study would therefore be illegal. Publishing the results would be admitting you performed a federal crime and you would be arrested. Additionally, human studies require approval by an on site or third party institu…

Look, this is absurd. Yes, it's illegal but so what? Plenty of people have MMJ cards, have scanned their ID at a dispensary, or have applied for state cultivation licenses.

The idea that academia is somehow prevented from engaging in this field because it's federally illegal is not credible and it tarnishes the integrity of the field.

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#52

Can these studies be conducted outside the USA, away from DEA and FDA control?

Yes, all of the R&D money is about to move to Canada.

Funnily enough when government funding for sex/sexuality research gets constrained - normally during a Republican tenure - researchers move to Canada https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/the-big-b...

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#53

Everyone confused about the fucked up laws around drug control and the like in the united states: It is about locking up poor people in order to keep them from voting. It is about filling our prisons with non-violent offenders so we can force them to work for slave wages, and line the owners of the prisons and the politicians they fund's pockets. It's about political suppression, not about some moralistic crusade to…

I cant find this interview anywhere. I only see the far left leaning media sites reporting on it. No evidence this statement was actually made by John Ehrlichman. Do you have any?

https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#54
post #32

> In March, Insys launched a multinational study of 190 children to evaluate cannabidiol as a first-line therapy for infantile spasms. We are eager to see how well the compound performs when given in the first days and weeks of the condition. If it turns out to be effective, cannabidiol would represent a substantial improvement over current drugs, all of which have serious side effects: One, for example, causes irrev…

This shows the derangement of the people in charge. Why is this? Why this derangement on the subject of cannabis? I've read a fair amount, and every time I've brought it up, I get downvoted to hell. So, I'll ask: Anyone have a hypothesis on why a large number of our leaders, who happen to be older white men, are insanely against this plant?

Personally I'm anti drug use because of how many friends and family members I've seen turn their lives to shit after starting weed etc. I know there's a lot of fine users but so many of my friends turned to weed to cope and then from there went onto harder stuff like crack/cocaine. And really, I don't support people altering their mind states through the use of recreational drugs, alcohol included. It saddens me to see that no one can see any reason against drug use besides "it locks up black people in prison" because for me at least, that has nothing to do with marijuana legislation at all.

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#55

Everyone confused about the fucked up laws around drug control and the like in the united states: It is about locking up poor people in order to keep them from voting. It is about filling our prisons with non-violent offenders so we can force them to work for slave wages, and line the owners of the prisons and the politicians they fund's pockets. It's about political suppression, not about some moralistic crusade to…

I cant find this interview anywhere. I only see the far left leaning media sites reporting on it. No evidence this statement was actually made by John Ehrlichman. Do you have any?

https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich...

https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/

His children dispute the claim, if that helps you, according the the CNN article. The man died in 1999 and it was reported years later.

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#56
post #32

> In March, Insys launched a multinational study of 190 children to evaluate cannabidiol as a first-line therapy for infantile spasms. We are eager to see how well the compound performs when given in the first days and weeks of the condition. If it turns out to be effective, cannabidiol would represent a substantial improvement over current drugs, all of which have serious side effects: One, for example, causes irrev…

This shows the derangement of the people in charge. Why is this? Why this derangement on the subject of cannabis? I've read a fair amount, and every time I've brought it up, I get downvoted to hell. So, I'll ask: Anyone have a hypothesis on why a large number of our leaders, who happen to be older white men, are insanely against this plant?

I feel this way, but apply it to the whole country. A vast majority of people who grew up in the mid to late 90s act like cannabis was created by the devil himself. But why? I get that most people dislike it because it's been illegal all their life, so they look down on it. I like to use Red from that 70s show as a good example. Look how much he hated it, he hated it with his entire being. Why though? It never did anything to him, never affected him in a negative way, why does he have such an ingrained pure hatred for it? > I do not partake of cannabis. This is just a topic that interests me. Now I understand that the hatred for it in modern politics in large comes from a financial perspective. You get into the whole war on drugs, how it's a talking point for potential candidates, how the funding for it is padding pockets, etc. This hatred goes beyond that though, people despised weed way before it become a common symbol of degeneracy.

It's not just cannabis though. This whole ideology can be applied to many topics. Where older people grew up being taught to hate it, while younger generations seem to be more rational and open to understanding that these taboo subjects may not be as bad as society wants you think. Some other topics that fall into this category include abortion, female workers/pay, war.

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#57

Everyone confused about the fucked up laws around drug control and the like in the united states: It is about locking up poor people in order to keep them from voting. It is about filling our prisons with non-violent offenders so we can force them to work for slave wages, and line the owners of the prisons and the politicians they fund's pockets. It's about political suppression, not about some moralistic crusade to…

I cant find this interview anywhere. I only see the far left leaning media sites reporting on it. No evidence this statement was actually made by John Ehrlichman. Do you have any?

Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2016/03/23/nixons-d...

CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich...

The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/richard-ni...

Channel4: https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-war-drugs-...

These were all in the first page of Google results with the query 'John Ehrlichman quote drug law'.

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No need to hypothesize. The rampup of the drug war under Nixon was largely to attack blacks, hippies (antiwar), and other counterculture figures. [0] "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." (John Ehrlichman, Nixon's domestic policy chief) In the interim, it became a w…

Being that I dont trust CNN, do you have any other first hand sources, a video or a recording of this interview? Its my understanding that Ehrlichman never actually said this.

I don't feel like you gave the article due diligence; dislike of CNN aside, as you'd see that they are very open about the quote being contested (No surprise, given the sensitivity), but given the fact that Nixon contested pretty much all the things that we DO have on tape of him saying, (Some of which is in this exact vein, e.g. [1]) and that the end result of their policies WAS exactly as the quote describes, I find your disbelief somewhat surprising. (ESPECIALLY given Ehrlichman's role in watergate)

Nonwithstanding, I'm pretty sure the original source was via Dan Baum here [0], but given the preponderance of evidence towards an occams razor interpretation of Nixon's policy and the lack of any meaningful evidence to the contrary, it seems extremely reasonable to accept this as legitimate.

[0]http://www.antoniocasella.eu/archila/DanBaum_2016.pdf

[1]http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/20... “going after all these Jews. Just find one that is a Jew, will you.”

Re: Federal chokehold on marijuana stymies studies on epilepsy, autism

#59
"an agency so entrenched in bureaucracy, that the will of the people is far from them" should be the definition of the term "Deep State". Doing BS for so long, they ignore the people.

How people maintain cannabis as schedule I is Vogon levels of incompetence.

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