Hemp: A super food?

Premium Kratom from Malaysia and Thailand

source: Fox News
By Chris Kilham

Hemp is a low THC variety of the plant Cannabis sativa, which is also known as marijuana. While marijuana is psychoactive and imparts a high, hemp does not do so. You cannot get high using hemp in any manner, regardless of the quantity.

Hemp is a crop that has been grown since antiquity, and the fiber made from hemp cloth is a major component of the U.S. Constitution, the original United States flags, and virtually all sail cloth up until the last fifty years or so. Henry Ford once built a car, the body of which was made largely of hemp plastic, which was as strong as steel.

During World War II, the United States had a nationwide program and government-sponsored black and white film entitled “Hemp for Victory,” which implored all American farmers to grow hemp as a crop to supply the U.S. military with badly needed rope, cordage and cloth. To an extent, hemp made a great contribution to the Allied war effort in World War II.

Hemp provides high quality fiber for the purposes of cord and cloth, and makes an excellent source of biomass for ethanol production. Hemp clothing is almost impossible to wear out, and hemp paper is remarkably strong and durable. Hemp does not require pesticides to thrive, making it an excellent crop from an environmental standpoint. Though the plant’s cultivation is not allowed in the U.S., it is cultivated in China, Canada, Chile and North Korea on a commercial scale, and so hemp products are available on the world market.

When mature, hemp yields an abundance of seeds. In India, I have seen sacks of these seeds in the markets, where people purchase them to cook into vegetables to boost the taste and nutritional value of a wide variety of dishes. In parts of Siberia and far northwestern China, I have driven past vast tracts of hemp that stretch on for hundreds of miles at a time. Today in the U.S., hemp seed products – such as so-called “hemp nuts,” hemp seed butters, hemp seed energy bars, hemp seed meal, hemp oil and even hemp seed milks – are widely available in natural food stores.

Hemp seed has a pleasing flavor, not dissimilar from many other nuts. Rich in complete protein and an excellent source of healthy oils – including vegetarian omega-3 fatty acids – hemp provides superior nutrition with very good taste. Hemp protein is high in globulins, types of proteins that enhance the immune system. Hemp seed butters, much like peanut or almond butters, can be used liberally on toast or employed in baked goods. The primary difference with hemp butter is its rich green color.

Hemp oil is also available today and makes a very good addition to salad dressings or in cooking. The oil has a pleasant, nutty flavor and is a versatile food. Hemp seed milks are beneficial to those who are lactose intolerant but still enjoy a “milk” of some type in cereal or coffee. Hemp seed milk is good as a base in a smoothie.

Many websites provide recipes for incorporating hemp seed products into the daily diet. You can find recipes for baked goods, desserts and other foods through a quick search.
Hemp seed is low in sodium, contains absolutely no cholesterol, is a good source of the mineral zinc, and provides a total of about 175 calories in 30 grams of shelled nuts. You will find many good hemp seed products on the market. Incorporating hemp in your diet can boost your nutrition and make a valuable contribution to your health.

Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. He teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Explorer In Residence. Chris advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide.  His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France. Read more at www.MedicineHunter.com

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Allow free trade in marijuana

 

Source: The Jamaica Gleaner est 1834

That part wasn't lawful, but yesterday in Seattle, near the city's iconic Space Needle tower, scores of users lit up marijuana cigarettes in celebration of the legalisation of the drug in Washington state.

Washingtonians, 21 or older, can now possess up to an ounce of marijuana, for their own use; up to 16 ounces of solid cannabis-infused goods like, say, buns or cakes; and up to 72 ounces of the product in liquid form - ganja tea, perhaps.

While it remains illegal for smokers to light up in public, on pain of a small fine, or to share their personal stash, Washingtonians will soon be able to purchase marijuana in state-licensed stores that will pay taxes and, generally, meet the same requirements to which the tobacco industry is subject.
On January 5, a similar law will come into force in the state of Colorado, with the addition that individuals will be allowed to cultivate a few ganja plants for their own use.

Although marijuana remains a federally prohibited drug, and Washington and Colorado are the first American states to fully legalise its use, 16 others have decriminalised the drug and/or allow its medical consumption.

The developments in Washington and Colorado - the result of voter initiatives in those states - could signal the start of something profound, akin to the ending, nearly 80 years ago, of Prohibition. For as one Seattle lawyer observed: "If they legalise the recreational use (of ganja) and the sky hasn't fallen, that opens the more political space."

What ultimately defeated Prohibition was that it didn't reduce drinking in America, but turned the manufacture and distribution of alcohol into a business controlled by mobsters. Many people see a parallel between Prohibition and the 'War on Drugs'. The fact that marijuana is not perceived to be in the same category as other hard drugs makes of it a good foundation on which to build a review, without the deep divisiveness that might attend another drug.

What is taking place in America has lessons and policy implications for Jamaica.

Parliament is still asleep 

First, it is absurd that more than a decade after a committee chaired by the late Barry Chevannes recommended the decrimalisation of ganja use in Jamaica, our Parliament is still asleep on the matter. The upshot is that each year, thousands of young men are arrested and convicted and made to assume criminal records for having in their possession very small amounts of ganja, primarily for personal use.

The Government should, without delay, remedy this nonsense by implementing the Chevannes recommendations and, perhaps, draw on the laws now in place in Washington state and Colorado. The national Treasury might be a big beneficiary, if the tax earned from tobacco is any guide.
Jamaica should also be positioning itself to take commercial advantage of the developments in the US, especially should the federal prohibition on ganja come to an end. In cases where the consumer experience from the product is indistinguishable, regardless of where it is sourced, what creates market differentiation is branding. There is no doubt that the Jamaica brand is hot. Ganja could find a niche, like Blue Mountain coffee.

JAMPRO, the export promotion agency, should get ahead of the curve by encouraging product development and lobbying America to end its prohibition on ganja and its trade.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.

Cannabis & Health - Science & Research A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Loading World Seed Banks Get this Widget

Not Feeling Well? Perhaps You're 'Marijuana Deficient'

source: AlterNet
By Paul Armentano

Scientists have begun speculating that the root cause of disease conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome may be endocannabinoid deficiency.

 

For several years I have postulated that marijuana is not, in the strict sense of the word, an intoxicant.

As I wrote in the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009), the word ‘intoxicant’ is derived from the Latin noun toxicum (poison). It’s an appropriate term for alcohol, as ethanol (the psychoactive ingredient in booze) in moderate to high doses is toxic (read: poisonous) to healthy cells and organs.

Of course, booze is hardly the only commonly ingested intoxicant. Take the over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen (Tylenol). According to the Merck online medical library , acetaminophen poisoning and overdose is “common,” and can result in gastroenteritis (inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract) “within hours” and hepatotoxicity (liver damage) “within one to three days after ingestion.” In fact, less than one year ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration called for tougher standards and warnings governing the drug’s use because “recent studies indicate that unintentional and intentional overdoses leading to severe hepatotoxicity continue to occur.”

By contrast, the therapeutically active components in marijuana — the cannabinoids — appear to be remarkably non-toxic to healthy cells and organs. This notable lack of toxicity is arguably because cannabinoids mimic compounds our bodies naturally produce — so-called endocannabinoids — that are pivotal for maintaining proper health and homeostasis.

In fact, in recent years scientists have discovered that the production of endocannabinoids (and their interaction with the cannabinoid receptors located throughout the body) play a key role in the regulation of proper appetite, anxiety control , blood pressure , bone mass , reproduction, and motor coordination , among other biological functions.

Just how important is this system in maintaining our health? Here’s a clue: In studies of mice genetically bred to lack a proper endocannabinoid system the most common result is premature death.

Armed with these findings, a handful of scientists have speculated that the root cause of certain disease conditions including migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and many other functional conditions alleviated by clinical cannabis — may be an underlying endocannabinoid deficiency.

Now, much to my pleasant surprise, Fox News Health columnist Chris Kilham has weighed in on this important theory.

Are You Cannabis Deficient?

via Fox News

If the idea of having a marijuana deficiency sounds laughable to you, a growing body of science points at exactly such a possibility.

… [Endocannabinoids] also play a role in proper appetite, feelings of pleasure and well-being, and memory. Interestingly, cannabis also affects these same functions. Cannabis has been used successfully to treat migraine, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and glaucoma. So here is the seventy-four thousand dollar question. Does cannabis simply relieve these diseases to varying degrees, or is cannabis actually a medical replacement in cases of deficient [endocannabinoids]?

… The idea of clinical cannabinoid deficiency opens the door to cannabis consumption as an effective medical approach to relief of various types of pain, restoration of appetite in cases in which appetite is compromised, improved visual health in cases of glaucoma, and improved sense of well being among patients suffering from a broad variety of mood disorders. As state and local laws mutate and change in favor of greater tolerance, perhaps cannabis will find it’s proper place in the home medicine chest.

Perhaps. Or maybe at the very least society will cease classifying cannabis as a ‘toxic’ substance when its more appropriate role would appear to be more like that of a supplement. 

Paul Armentano is the deputy director of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), and is the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink (2009, Chelsea Green).

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Parents Defend 7-Year Old Mykayla Comstock’s Medical Marijuana Use

source: The Daily Beast

Little Mykayla Comstock consumes a gram of cannabis oil every day. She’s also battling leukemia—and her embattled parents tell Winston Ross it’s ‘amazing’ how much the marijuana has helped their daughter. 

 

Mykayla Comstock, 7, one of Oregon's youngest medical marijuana patients, shows a type of cannabis butter the family uses in cooking, November 2. (Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian / Landov)

MILWAUKIE, Ore. — Two weeks ago, Mykayla Comstock was an ordinary 7-year-old girl living through an extraordinary ordeal. She’s been battling leukemia since June, when a basketball-size tumor was discovered in her chest.

Now Mykayla is in the middle of another battle—and in the national spotlight—over whether children should be able to use marijuana to mitigate the crippling effects of chemotherapy. A newly registered member of the state’s Medical Marijuana Program, she has consumed a daily gram of cannabis oil, encapsulated in a pill, since shortly after her diagnosis. The leukemia quickly went into remission, say Mykayla’s unapologetic parents, and in the months that followed she has been able to cope with the debilitating symptoms associated with her traditional cancer treatments.

She also likes the way cannabis makes her laugh.

“It’s like everything’s funny to me,” she tells The Daily Beast.

Mykayla’s controversial but perfectly legal cannabis use rose to national attention late last month when an Oregonian reporter wrote a piece on her after discovering her Facebook page. The story quickly went viral, and Mykayla’s mother, Erin Purchase, says she’s since fielded phone calls from producers from Dr. Phil and Anderson Cooper. Local television reporters also bang incessantly on the family’s door in Gladstone, Ore., she says.

Purchase says she never sought or anticipated this kind of attention. She and her boyfriend, Brandon Krenzler, whom Mykayla calls “daddy,” always knew they would obtain a medical marijuana card if their daughter needed one, she says. When oncologists diagnosed the 7-year-old with an aggressive form of cancer known as T-cell leukemia earlier this summer, Purchase and Krenzler drove Mykayla to The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation clinic in Southeast Portland clinic and got her enrolled in the state program.

Purchase and Krenzler tell The Daily Beast they aren’t the least bit embarrassed or ashamed of their actions. They’re convinced the cannabis oil their daughter now ingests in two pills each day not only has mitigated the effects of her chemotherapy but also perhaps knocked her leukemia into remission. But they made sure those early visits to the clinic where Mykayla gets her medicine were “discreet,” through a side entrance, they say. They did not tell the girl’s biological father, who they say has been out of touch for most of the child’s life. They kept it quiet, to themselves.

Now they’re famous. And they’re being attacked, they say, by people who don’t understand the power of marijuana as medicine, who call them lousy parents, who’ve seized on the comment Jesse Comstock, the girl’s biological father, made in that first newspaper article—that he visited in August and found his daughter “stoned out of her mind.”

  

‘I’m not drugging my child. 

I use this for her medicine.

 It’s amazing, and I think people should know that.’

 Mykayla admires her dress while her dog, Chase, looks on November 2, 2012. The dress, made for her by a family friend, contains 1,000 folded origami paper cranes. The crane folding holds cultural significance in Japan, where the gesture of folding and offering that many cranes to someone symbolizes prayers or well wishes to the recipient. (Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian / Landov)

Comstock couldn’t be reached for comment for this story, but he’s not the only one nonplussed that each month little Mykayla consumes the distilled equivalent of a pound of marijuana, which remains classified by the federal government as a Schedule 1 narcotic, right up there with LSD and heroin. 

Purchase and Krenzler say the oncologist who was treating Mykayla “blew up on us” when she found out about the cannabis use and that the doctor-patient relationship became so strained they asked for a new provider. (Neither the girl’s new oncologist nor her previous doctor returned phone calls from The Daily Beast.) The couple—he a handyman in between “technical” jobs, she a hemp jewelry maker—also say they’ve received vile emails from people declaring them not just unfit parents but also deserving of jail time.

“I hope they never have to be who I am,” Purchase says. “I hope they never have to feel what I’m having to feel, what she’s having to feel. I’m not drugging my child. I use this for her medicine. It’s amazing, and I think people should know that.”

But the two have discovered something else about being in the national spotlight: an overwhelming show of support, from all over the country. The number of “likes” on Mykayla’s Facebook page has tripled in the past few weeks, to 5,000. 

A call for donations to help the couple replace their broken-down car hit $2,000 last week, only a few days after the “Fairy