Herb Inspires High Expectations
For hundreds of years, salvia divinorum, also known as diviner’s sage and magic mint, has been part of the culture of the ancient peoples of the Sierra Mazateca. In a manner similar to peyote, it has been used by local indigenous peoples to induce an altered state for spiritual or meditative purposes.
War On Drugs Assailed in Congress
This is a busy time in the nation’s capital. Congress is currently considering a number of bills and a nomination related to marijuana policy. As a result, the Marijuana Policy Project has sent many requests for action to its e-mail subscribers. You will be pleased to know that in this alert you will not be asked to do anything.
In the War on Drugs, Everyone’s a Loser
The War on Drugs has had a profound effect on me. I used to be a proud Republican, but the more I listened to law-and-order Republicans chatter about the dire need for ever more enforcement of the controlled-substance laws, the more Libertarian I became.
Entire Rainforests Set to Disappear in Next Decade
More than 23 million acres of the world’s forests – enough to cover the whole of Scotland – are disappearing each year because of logging, mining and land clearance for agriculture. The scale of deforestation is so great that some countries, such as Indonesia, could lose entire rainforests in the next 10 years. The appetite for wood for furniture, floors and building in Europe and North America is shrinking the world’s forests at a rate of 2.4 per cent every 10 years, official figures show.
Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn’t Damage Brain
Long-term and even daily marijuana use doesn’t appear to cause permanent brain damage, adding to evidence that it can be a safe and effective treatment for a wide range of diseases, say researchers.
Cannabis: “The Aspirin of the 21st Century?”
Cannabis, the third most popular recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco, could win a new role as the aspirin of the 21st century, with growing evidence that its compounds may protect the brain against the damaging effects of ageing.
Ninth Circuit Court Blocks DEA Hemp Rule
Late yesterday the Court granted the hemp industry’s Motion to Stay the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) “Final Rule,” which was issued March 21, 2003 and would have banned the sale of nutritious hemp foods containing harmless trace amounts of naturally-occurring THC under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. This “Final Rule” is virtually identical to an “Interpretive Rule” issued on October 9, 2001 that never went into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Court Stay issued on March 7, 2002.
Get Ready for PATRIOT ACT II
Matt Welch wrote in 2003 that “the ‘fog of war’ obscures more than just news from the battlefield. It also provides cover for radical domestic legislation, especially ill-considered liberty-for-security swaps, which have been historically popular at the onset of major conflicts” (Welch 2003).
Medical Maijuana Defense Bill – A Reality
The new medical marijuana affirmative defense bill in Congress is a reality! On Friday, March 21, three members of the California delegation — Democratic Reps. Sam Farr and Lynn Woolsey and Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher — sent a letter to all U.S. House members, informing them about the new bill and asking them to cosponsor it.
Database Has Deadly Facts About Smoking
Tobacco FactFile, a new Internet database unveiled by the British Medical Association (BMA), contains worldwide facts and figures about smoking, the Associated Press reported Feb. 27. Information in the database includes the death rate from smoking per country, the medical-care and productivity costs related to smoking, the profit the tobacco industry gains from every new smoker, and a multitude of other facts.
Lessons In The Use Of Mazatec Psychoactive Plants
During the mid-1980’s I participated in a caving expedition in the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico. Our group intended to explore and map the lower reaches of the Sotano de San Agustin, which at that time was the deepest known vertical cave in the western hemisphere. While waiting for the main party to arrive, I set off to look for cave entrances on the high limestone plateau of Cerro Rabon.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Deaths on Rise Worldwide
According to Professor Juergen Rehm, director of Switzerland’s Addiction Research Institute, an estimated 7 million people worldwide die each year from smoking, drinking, and taking illicit drugs.

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