Cannabis in Cambridge

June 2          Julie Zauzmer of the Harvard Crimson surveyed the class of 2013 and reported, “38 percent of students have tried marijuana, and 3 percent use it more than twice a week. Of marijuana users, 44 percent started at Harvard; the rest started before college.”  

Zauzmer inquired about the students’ work plans for next year. The leading occupation is going to be “consulting” (16%).  This surprised your correspondent, who thought the word consultant implied expertise and a thorough understanding of the business at hand. I learned that one of the new meanings is “outsider more willing to propose lay-offs than old-timers with personal connections, however remote, to the work force.” 

The Crimson’s commencement issue included a piece about the class of 1963, whose 50th reunion was held last week in Cambridge. I’d been asked to give a TED-type talk, and put together a powerpoint presentation called “Ask Your Doctor if Marijuana is Right for you” (a soundbite suggested by Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD). read more

Pot Makes You Thinner!

  Can marijuana prohibition withstand that headline on the front page of the Enquirer? The tabloid has not yet broken the news at the supermarket, but it’s only a matter of time because this is one story that cannot be suppressed or ignored. Everyone in America wants to lose an inch and a half around the waist.

  On May 15 the American Journal of Medicine published online a paper by a respected heart specialist, Dr. Murray Mittleman, and colleagues showing that people who are currently using marijuana have smaller waistlines (93.6 centimeters) than those who never used (97.4 cm) or who once used but don’t anymore (97.6 cm). One centimeter = .39 of an inch.  The average reduction was an inch and a half —even though pot users consume more calories than non-users. read more

Cannabis Healed My Cancer by Michelle Aldrich

Michelle Aldrich’s story, “Cannabis Healed My Cancer,” is featured in the Winter/Spring 2013 O’Shaughnessy’s. Aldrich, 66, has been working for marijuana legalization —which she defines as “the right to grow it for free in your backyard”— for most of her life.  She and her husband Michael live in a comfortable old apartment near the San Francisco Marina which they moved into 40 years ago. The following is adapted from a talk Michelle gave in July 2012 to the Women’s Visionary Congress.

I had smoked cannabis since 1967 but early in 2011 I kept saying I could not get high. I was smoking a lot. I now believe that THC was going to the tumor and lymph nodes, which is why the cancer did not spread more than it had.

On November 15, 2011,  I was supposed to have lunch with Diane Fornbacher from the NORML Women’s Alliance. I was too sick to go. I felt like I had the flu…

Read Cannabis Healed My Cancer in O’Shaughnessy’s

Exacting About Extracting, Backes Backs Olive Oil

 Michael Backes kicked off an informative discussion about extraction methods with a recent post that quoted in full an FAQ piece by Arno Hazekamp. Here’s why Backes, who is director of research & development at the Los Angeles Patients & Caregivers Group, backs olive oil.

“I speak with hundreds of persons with cancer about cannabis.  Nearly all of them ask me about using cannabis oil to cure their cancer.  Here’s what I tell them… read more

MPP Wants us to Downplay Dabbing

 By Fred Gardner    March 20, 2013

The Winter/Spring 2013 issue of O’Shaughnessy’s came out February 14 with a page-one article by Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, under the headline “Use of ‘Dabs’ Gaining Popularity.” It explained:

“The popularity of high-THC ‘dabs’ —also known as ‘waxes’—  is largely a youthful and recreational phenomenon. The user inhales a small amount of vaporized and/or burned cannabis concentrate —a dab— that has been placed on a hot ‘nail’ with a tiny spatula or needle. A single deep inhalation has a stronger and faster psychoactive effect than any other delivery method can provide. In other words, the user gets more stoned and the dabs provide a mild ‘rush.’”

Hergenrather expressed concerns about the health impact of dabbing.  Butane and other toxic solvents may leave residue on the concentrated cannabis oil inhaled by dabbers. Tiny, toxic particles can flake off from metals that seem inert. Moreover, Butane is illegal and dangerous to use as a solvent. “Butane is a fire and explosion risk because it is highly flammable,” Hergenrather wrote. “Many people have been severely injured using butane to make cannabis oil extracts.” read more

Use of ‘Dabs’ Gaining Popularity

By Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD

No one listening to the radio or watching TV in the ‘50s and ‘60s can ever forget the jingle,

Brylcreem was a formulation of lanolin and grease that enabled men to comb their hair and have it stay in place. Hippie influence on the culture ended the demand for Brylcreem. Perhaps some entrepreneur in the cannabis industry should now buy the rights to the jingle, because “dabs” have become the latest rage in the administration of cannabis.

The popularity of high-THC “dabs” —also known as “waxes”— is largely a youthful and recreational phenomenon. The user inhales a small amount of vaporized and/or burned cannabis concentrate —a dab— that has been placed on a hot “nail” with a tiny spatula or needle. A single deep inhalation has a stronger and faster psychoactive effect than any other delivery method can provide. In other words, the user gets more stoned and the dabs provide a mild “rush.” read more

Medical Marijuana, Inc. Pitching CBD Products

By Martin A. Lee

Denver-based Dixie X Elixirs and Edibles recently launched a new line of ingestible CBD products to complement its medicated foodstuffs, tinctures and creams infused with THC.

Dixie X, founded in 2009 to serve the Colorado market, now operates under the umbrella of Medical Marijuana, Inc. (MJNA), a publicly traded start-up founded by Bruce Perlowin and based in San Diego. In the 1970s Perlowin was busted for shipping marijuana into the United States and spent seven years in prison. He is no longer officially associated with Medical Marijuana, Inc., but remains a key player in Hemp, Inc., another start-up company traded on the OTC stock exchange…

Read about Medical Marijuana, Inc. in O’Shaughnessy’s W/S 2013