Sunday, January 2, 2011

CLEMSON CHEMIST SAYS HIS WORK ABUSED TO MARKET FAKE MARIJUANA

Angie Theycall Mehippie’s Rant:

I cannot help but to say something here also. First of all, legalization of cannabis (marijuana) for responsible adult use would solve so many problems that are being quoted in these articles from our Palmetto State.

1. Studies have shown in our federal government’s own polls that places who have decriminalized or legalized cannabis saw a drop or at least a steady use of cannabis. The use rate didn’t go up. It is senseless to assume if we legalize cannabis for regulated, taxed, responsible adult use and make truthful information available to the general public about cannabis that simply because it’s legal someone would change their mind about usage of cannabis. If they don’t consider it now chances are not many more would if it became legal. Human history shows us that people will do what they want to do if they want to do it badly enough. Making harmful laws doesn’t make a noticeable dent in the actions of the public.

2. Legalization of cannabis will never mean we will see a “rise” in teenage use. Again having proper knowledge and sharing that knowledge with our youth is powerful in their decision making. Keeping it illegal makes it not only more attractive but also puts it in the hands of street dealers who do not ID. It is not easy for a underage person to acquire alcohol or tobacco. It doesn’t take very long for most youth to access street cannabis.

3. Street cannabis can contain some harmful things, however it is still safer than the “product” that came from this scientist’s lab at Clemson University. What God made in the real plant is better than anything humanity can make in a lab no matter for what purpose or what intent.

4. This is a drawback to states such as South Carolina that are only trying to get a medical use only legislation passed. A harsh example is New Jersey’s new law. Though it is technically legal for medical use now the restrictions and scenarios that the future holds for NJ may come to the point that it looks a lot like what this scientist did in an effort to help sick people under harsh laws against it. The more rigid the attitude of the people of the state and the state’s legislature the more rigid a medical cannabis bill would create making it virtually impossible for a “legal” patient to get any cannabis at all even if they have the doctor’s recommendation. In Canada we see the same thing. It could be in the least 6 months to a year for a patient to receive their medication. If you’re in pain when do you need your medication? A year from now? This is the situation that prohibition is creating. This is also a start here in South Carolina to a medical bill that could reign in what patients around the country are fighting against which is a scientific dictatorship by the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies to control and monopolize the cannabis market. Today in South Carolina it is tough to get the legal prescription pain medication. How much harder will it be for a drug that all the harsh lies have been told about to acquire? We already see people dying in the United States and other countries like Canada before they can acquire their medication.

5. What God made is fairly safe and much, much safer than anything on the pharmaceutical market. The substance this scientist used is an example of how dangerous any synthetic of a natural substance can potentially be. He was studying this to give to the pharmaceutical industry to get FDA approval and this would have eventually ended up in a patient’s body anyway. Seeing the results and reading this article below, would you want this in your body? I guess 10,000 years of use as a medicine natural cannabis has acquired is just not enough research? This is what happens in a lab. Really, do you want this?

 

I will get into pros and cons later in this blog. I don’t see the sense in having natural cannabis illegal then turning to or trying to turn to the more dangerous route as to put it in the hands of science such as this for the pharmaceutical industry when in reality the little boutique growers such as we see in legal dispensaries in the country are better for any medical issue than in the hands of the government…….. or better stated still in the hands of the government.

 

FIRST I FIND OUT SC IS THE ONE HOW TOOK DOWN (or tried to) MICHAEL PHELPS NOW K2 AND “FAKE POT” ORIGINATED HERE?!?!?!?!

Please show me the rationale of the morals this state is showing?!

 

Here’s the article:

 

http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v10/n177/a06.html

(Source:Greenville News)

15 Mar 2010

South Carolina
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CLEMSON - It's troubling but probably was inevitable, said Clemson University chemist John W.  Huffman, who after a lifetime of scientific research is seeing marijuana-related compounds he developed as lab tools in a quest to improve health used for a potentially dangerous high. 


Synthetic marijuana-related compounds he painstakingly developed over two decades to study their biological effects and ultimately develop medications to help AIDS, multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy patients, now are gaining popularity with recreational drug users as "fake" pot. 


He is concerned because of the potential harm these compounds may cause. 
"Evidently, some people have figured out how to make them and are putting them in products marketed as incense," said Huffman, 77, a nationally known researcher who has won the National Institutes of Health's Senior Scientist Award and whose work has been published in scientific journals. 


Huffman said he first learned through e-mails from a German blogger and some European chemists that two of his compounds were being used in some "fake marijuana" products under names such as K2 and Spice. 


"I figured once it got started in Germany it was going to spread.  I'm concerned that it could hurt people," Huffman said.  "I think this was something that was more or less inevitable.  It bothers me that people are so stupid as to use this stuff."


The compounds, developed in research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse almost continuously since 1984, aren't meant for human consumption, Huffman said.  The effects on humans haven't been studied, and the compounds should not be used as recreational drugs and could be toxic, he said. 


The products are legal and easily available over the counter and online.  No proof of age is needed, and Huffman and health officials are concerned. 


"This high-end blend is guaranteed to chill your mood," touts a product description on Amazon.com


"It's an emerging substance of abuse," said Jill Michels, director of the Palmetto Poison Center at the University of South Carolina's College of Pharmacy.  "Teens that are not even of legal driving or drinking age can get this substance."


Michels said the Palmetto Poison Center, which is South Carolina's poison control agency, has had no calls on the product yet.  Curtis Reece, manager of prevention at the Phoenix Center in Greenville, said counselors are aware of national concern but haven't seen evidence of local use. 


Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center has seen nothing unusual in this area, said spokeswoman Sandy Dees, though problems are beginning to crop up in emergency rooms elsewhere in the country. 


Huffman and his research team have developed more than 450 synthetic cannabinoid compounds in order to help understand diseases and provide information for development of medications. 


Cannabinoids include THC - the active ingredient in cannabis plants - but also other substances that interact with the cannabinoid receptors in the brain and other organs. 
"These receptors don't exist so that people can smoke marijuana and get high.  They play a role in regulating appetite, nausea, mood, pain and inflammation," Huffman said.  "They may be involved in the development of conditions such as osteoporosis, liver disease and some kinds of cancer."


Huffman said he gets angry when he's blamed for the harmful effects of the compounds that he developed to further scientific study that ultimately could improve the quality of life for millions of people and not for recreational use.  He holds users responsible for their own actions. 


"If you go around paying $40 for a packet of leaves that contains who knows what and smoke it, you are not a very responsible person.  This is akin to playing Russian roulette," Huffman said. 


The herbs are simply "an inert ingredient to spray the stuff on to deliver the product," said Dr.  Anthony Scalzo, professor and director of toxicology at St.  Louis University and medical director of the Missouri Poison Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. 
In recent months, Scalzo has seen more than 30 cases of young people, most between the ages of 14 and 21, coming into the emergency room with spiking heart rates and blood pressure after smoking K2. 


Scalzo said he started noticing scattered cases late last year and by January was seeing enough cases to call it a trend. 


Patients are agitated and very anxious, he said.  Heart rates race to 125 to 140 beats a minute and blood pressures are as high as 160 over 110. 


"This is serious blood pressure.  These patients are stimulated, and it's not a pleasant stimulation that's why they are in the emergency room," Scalzo said. 


Symptoms sometimes include hallucinations and tremors.  One 15-year-old was about to jump out of a fifth-floor window because he was hallucinating and didn't realize what he was doing.  Fortunately, said Scalzo, a friend stopped him. 


One of Scalzo's concerns is that the symptoms don't fit the typical marijuana high that lowers the heart rate. 


He's also concerned about the easy availability and has testified before Missouri lawmakers considering outlawing the product.  Patients have told him they buy the products at convenience stores and head shops.  One patient reported buying K2 at a bait and tackle shop, Scalzo said. 

 



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