Source: IACM

25 October 2009

1. USA: The federal government will no longer prosecute patients
who use cannabis for medicinal purposes in states where it is legal

People who use cannabis for medical purposes and those who
distribute it to them should not face federal prosecution, provided
they act according to state law, the Justice Department said on 19
October in a directive with far-reaching political and legal
implications. In a memorandum to federal prosecutors in the
states that allow the use of medical cannabis, the department said
that it was committed to the “efficient and rational use” of its
resources and that prosecuting patients and distributors who are in
“clear and unambiguous compliance” with state laws did not meet
that standard.

“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute
patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are
complying with state laws on medical marijuana,” Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement accompanying the
memo, “but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind
claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are
clearly illegal.” Graham Boyd, director of the Drug Law Reform
Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the Justice
Department’s move “an enormous step in the right direction and,
no doubt, a great relief to the thousands of Americans who benefit
from the medical use of marijuana.” Mr. Boyd predicted that
states and cities “will have a strong incentive to create regulated,
safe and sensible means of getting marijuana to patients who need
it.”

More at US Ministry of Justice

(Sources: New York Times of 19 October 2009, [Reuters of 19
October 2009->http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE59I3XD2 0091019])

2. USA: A majority of citizens in western states support the
legalization and taxation of cannabis.

According to a representative poll the support for legalizing
cannabis reaches a new high and a majority in the West favours
taxing cannabis sales to boost state revenues. Gallup’s October
crime poll finds 44 per cent of Americans in favour of making
cannabis legal and 54 per cent opposed. U.S. public support for
legalizing cannabis was fixed in the 25 per cent range from the
late 1970s to the mid-1990s, but acceptance jumped to 31 per cent
in 2000 and has continued to grow throughout this decade. On the
website of Gallup this development is presented with a graph.

Public opinion on legalization of cannabis has been changing this
decade, and is now most tolerant. If public support were to
continue growing at a rate of 1 to 2 per cent per year, as it has
since 2000, the majority of Americans could favour legalization of
the drug in as little as four years. Results of the poll are based on
telephone interviews with 1,013 adults, aged 18 and older,
conducted in October 2009.

(Source: Gallup of 19 October 2009)

3. News in brief

World: Cannabis use

An estimated 166 million people worldwide have either tried
cannabis or are active users of the drug despite scientific research
showing its adverse effects on health, two researchers in
Australia said.

The figure, taken from the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), means one in every 25 people between the
ages 15 and 64 in 2006 had had some experience with the drug,
the researchers wrote in a paper published in The Lancet.

(Source: Reuters of 15 October 2009)

USA: California

The ban of the city of Los Angeles on new medical cannabis
dispensaries is invalid, a judge said on 19 October in a decision
that undermines the city’s 4-month-old drive to shut down
hundreds of the stores. The judge issued an injunction banning
enforcement of the moratorium against Green Oasis, a dispensary
in Playa Vista that had challenged the ban. But city officials
acknowledged the ruling would effectively block current efforts to
enforce the ban against other dispensaries. (Source: Los Angeles
Times of 20 October 2009)

Science: Schizophrenia

Researchers at the University of Bristol, UK, calculated the
additional risk for cannabis users to get schizophrenia, if there is a
causal link between cannabis use and schizophrenia. They found
out that for men there would be one additional case of
schizophrenia in 2800 heavy cannabis user aged 20-24 years and
one additional case of 4700 heavy cannabis user aged 35-39
years. In women the numbers ranged from one additional case of
schizophrenia in 5470 heavy cannabis users in those aged 25-29 to
10,870 in 35-39-year-olds. The risks for occasional users were
even much lower. (Source: Hickman M, et al. Addiction
2009;104(11):1856-61.)

Science: Epilepsy

According to research at the University of Rome, Italy, levels of
the endocannabinoid anandamide were reduced in the
cerebrospinal fluid of patients with untreated newly diagnosed
temporal lobe epilepsy. (Source: Romigi A, et al. Epilepsia 2009
Oct 8. [Electronic publication ahead of print])

Science: Huntington’s disease

According to Spanish researchers the activation of CB2 receptors
of microglia cells, immune cells in the brain, were neuroprotective
in an animal model of Huntington’s disease. (Source: Palazuelos J,
et al. Brain 2009 Oct 5. [Electronic publication ahead of print])

Science: Ileus

Cannabinoid receptors are involved in septic ileus. Ileus is a
disruption of the normal propulsive motor activity of the bowel.
Cannabinoids reduced this motor activity, while cannabinoid
receptor antagonists prevented the delay of bowel transit of food
in animal studies. The Chinese researchers concluded that
cannabinoid receptor antagonists “may be powerful tools in the
future treatment of septic ileus.” (Source: Li YY, et al.
Neurogastroenterol Motil 2009 Oct 14. [Electronic publication
ahead of print])

Science: Liver cirrhosis

Researchers of the University of Bologna, Italy, observed that the
levels of the endocannabinoids anandamide and to a greater
extent of oleoylethanolamine (OEA) and palmitoylethanolamine
(PEA) were significantly higher in the blood of patients with liver
cirrhosis than in healthy subjects. PEA and OEA were also
increased in the cirrhotic liver tissue. Researchers concluded that
“the endocannabinoid system is upregulated in human cirrhosis.”
(Source: Caraceni P, et al. Liver Int 2009 Oct 14. [Electronic
publication ahead of print])

Science: THC concentrations

According to a study of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in
Baltimore, USA, with six cannabis smokers, who received high
doses of oral THC for seven days, mean THC concentrations
22,5 hours after last dose were 3,8 ng/ml and THC-COOH
concentrations were 197 ng/ml. Participants received oral THC
capsules (20 mg) every 4-8 hours in escalating total daily doses
(40-120 mg). (Source: Schwilke EW, et al. Clin Chem 2009 Oct
15. [Electronic publication ahead of print])

NEW BOOK

The book “Hanf als Medizin” by Franjo Grotenhermen is now also
available in French in an updated version.
* Grotenhermen F. Cannabis en Médecine : un guide pratique des
applications médicales du cannabis et du THC. Editions Indica,
2009, www.editions-indica.com. ISBN 978-2-9534898-0-4

(More at the IACM-Bulletin archives)

International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines (IACM)

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 D-59602 Ruethen

 Germany

 Phone: +49 (0)2952-9708571

 Fax: +49 (0)2952-902651

 Email: info@cannabis-med.org

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